Nightside 04 - Hex and the City

would do.
    Walker invited her to sit down at his table, and immediately the footman was there to pull her chair out for her, then push it back in again. Bad Penny accepted the attention as her due, but did deign to favour him with a flashing smile; and the footman did everything but wriggle like a puppy.
    "You needn't bother with a menu," Walker said calmly to the footman. "The lady isn't stopping."
    Bad Penny pouted. "Wouldn't eat here if you paid me, darling. I do have my standards."
    Walker waved the footman away, and he disappeared reluctantly. I leaned out a little way from Julien's table, to hear them more clearly. Bad Penny worried me; but then, she always did, even when she was supposedly on my side. Julien watched me, amused, but continued with his dinner. As editor of the Nightside's only daily newspaper, the Night Times, he knew he'd get a good story out of me eventually.
    I was just a bit surprised that Bad Penny was working for Walker. He was usually more subtle than that. Bad Penny, on the other hand, would work for anyone with enough money, on anything from espionage to assassination. Whether she was working on the side of Good or Evil had honestly never mattered to her; as she was only too happy to point out, gold has no provenance. She had no personal preference either way, nor any ethics worth the mentioning. She was utterly amoral and quite cheerful about it. I knew she'd occasionally done the Authorities' dirty work in the past, when they felt the need for a little distance or deniability. (Strictly pro bono, in return for which they agreed to turn a blind eye to some of her more notorious activities. Business as usual, in the Nightside.)
    "I do hope this isn't about a honey trap, darling, because I don't do those any more," she said flatly to Walker. "They're just too easy, my dear; there's no challenge in it. Been there, done that, starred in the video. These days I prefer to specialise in cunning thefts, daring exploits, and just a touch of the good old-fashioned ultraviolence now and again, to keep the blood flowing."
    "And a little discreet blackmail," said Walker. "To keep your coffers full."
    Bad Penny batted her long eyelashes at him. "A girl has to live. And I never was very good at investments. All I have to do is mention that I'm thinking of finally writing my memoirs, and you'd be surprised how fast the cheques come flooding in. Now, what is it you want me to do, Walker? Something frightfully nasty, no doubt."
    "You were listening to my little chat with John Taylor."
    "Well yes, but I can't honestly say it made much sense to me."
    "I want you to take care of Taylor."
    Bad Penny looked at him sharply. "Now you're going to have to be just a little more specific than that, darling."
    "I want you to do whatever it takes to prevent him from completing his mission. I want him off his present case, and I don't care how you do it."
    "So ... dear John is no longer under your protection?"
    "No," said Walker. "Can you take him?"
    "Of course, darling! He's just a man."
    "Distract him. Divert him. Do whatever you think necessary. But, if all else fails, you are authorised to eliminate him."
    "I get to kill John Taylor?" said Bad Penny. "Oh, result, darling! This will absolutely make my reputation!"
    "If all else fails," Walker said sternly, but Bad Penny wasn't listening.
    "How shall I kill thee, let me count the ways ... That Shotgun Suzie thinks she's so hot. I'll show her"
    I decided it was time to leave. Hell hath no fury like a woman you really shouldn't have slept with.

Five
    All Answers Become Clear, in Time.

    I 'd only just sneaked out of that august establishment and snobs' central, the Londinium Club, when my cell phone rang. (It plays the theme from the Twilight Zone TV show. What else?) I hauled the phone out of my coat pocket and looked at it suspiciously. It very rarely rang, partly because only a very few people have my number, but mostly because they all knew better than to use it for anything less than a real run for the hills emergency. The line is not secure. Not only is there never any shortage of people potentially listening in, sometimes they actually join in the conversation. There's also the problem of pop-in advertising, intrusions from other dimensions, and the occasional possession of the phone by pervert demons with a thing about technology. I have to admit I'm not even sure how cell phones work in the Nightside, well out of reach of the everyday world's satellites and