Deathstalker 08 - Deathstalker Coda

news didn’t even bother to smile anymore.
    Nina gave her audience hard facts, backed up by on-the-spot coverage, and her propaganda was at least something people wanted to hear. She never once exhorted her audience to rise up against Finn; everyone knew it wasn’t time yet. But she did invite everyone who thought they could make it to come to the Rookery, and join the growing rebel army—and a hell of a lot of them did. Parts of the Parade of the Endless were almost totally deserted now. They came because even more than safety, people need to be able to live without fear.
    The city outside the Rookery was falling apart. Power cuts, food shortages, lack of essential services. Madmen on the streets, wearing peacekeeper uniforms. Businesses closing down, industry grinding to a halt. Everyone knew it couldn’t go on like this. Even Finn.

    Douglas called everyone to his room in the Lantern Lodge, for an emergency meeting, and everyone who mattered was there. The King of Thieves sat back in his chair, and watched them assemble. Tel Markham hovered beside Douglas’s chair, as always; the quiet strategist who was actually the most radical and extreme of them all. He’d cleaned up nicely, but his eyes remained wild and savage. He was always the first to call for murder and mayhem in the outer city. He was Douglas’s very own junkyard dog, and he guarded his master fiercely, even growling at the Psycho Sluts who made up the man’s official bodyguards. Tel had been wounded in many ways, and his scar tissues showed.
    Diana Vertue, still sometimes known as Jenny Psycho, though never to her face these days, was also present, slumped easily in the only other comfortable chair. A small compact blonde who didn’t look anywhere near as dangerous as everyone knew she was. Diana and her followers, the effervescent Psycho Sluts, were the only ones who could still stroll openly through the outer city, and defy anyone to do anything about it. They didn’t fear armies or the ELFs, and their defiance cheered many an oppressed heart. Secretly, the uber-espers were pretty sure they could kill Diana Vertue, as they had once before over a hundred years ago, but they were still trying to work out how she’d managed to come back from the dead. Finn was pretty sure he could crush her, with enough guns and men and battle tech; but he couldn’t afford to lose as many men as he knew he would, on anything less than a sure thing. So he held back too. And Diana snubbed her nose at all of them.
    Running herd on the Psycho Sluts had actually taught Diana Vertue the value of patience and self-control, though neither came naturally to her. She had a horrible suspicion she was finally maturing.
    Nina Malapert and Stuart Lennox stood together on the other side of the room. As usual, Nina hadn’t been able to decide which of several styles to wear, so she’d worn all of them at once. She chatted cheerfully with Stuart, who just smiled and nodded and let her get on with it. Even old friends found it difficult to interrupt Nina in full flow.
    It was Douglas’s meeting, so he started first. “This meeting of the Let’s Stick It to Finn committee is hereby called to order, so shut the hell up and listen, and yes I’m looking at you, Nina. And don’t pout or I’ll get cranky. The good news is that all our military operations have been going very well. I’ve been using my old Paragon knowledge to identify vulnerable financial and security targets, and my attack teams have been able to do serious damage while remaining well below Finn’s radar. He hasn’t got a clue what’s going on, or how we’re doing what we’re doing, except that every morning he wakes up to discover a heap of smoking rubble where an important building used to be. Security officers draw straws now, to see who gets to go in and tell him they’re still baffled. They’ll be blaming it on pixies soon.”
    “We should be concentrating on people, not buildings,” growled Tel. “Take out the people who matter, and Finn’s whole administration would fall apart.”
    “We’ve had this conversation before, Tel,” Douglas said firmly. “Assassination is Finn’s way, not ours. And he still has any number of fanatical followers ready to jump into any position that opens up. Those crazy bastards worship him as a god. No, we stick to the slow and subtle way. For now, at least. Where was I . . . oh yes. Our computer hackers have also been having remarkable success of late.