The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

couple of kids mummified and
condemned to hell for all eternity. I think you know them, Dante Vittori and
Kacy Fellangi?’
    ‘I know them,’ said Simmonds,
recalling the brief time that Dante had worked at the museum. ‘That asshole
Dante smashed a vase over my head once.’
    ‘Good,’ said Gaius, slapping
Simmonds hard across the back. ‘Then you’re in agreement?’
    ‘Umm, I guess so.’
    Gaius wrapped his arm back
around Simmonds’s shoulder and turned him back towards the middle of the hall.
Then he began walking him back through the hall towards the main stairs.
    ‘So, did you get what you were
after in the end?’ Gaius asked.
    ‘What’s that?’
    ‘The combination to Bertram
Cromwell’s safe, of course. That must have been one of the reasons you killed
him. Keeps a lot of cash in there, doesn’t he?’
    ‘I wouldn’t know about that.’
    ‘Elijah, my dear friend, if you
want to stay alive and run this museum for me, you’re going to have to start
being a little more honest with me. Cromwell’s job was never guaranteed to be
yours permanently was it? But if you could get your hands on the cash in the
safe, it wouldn’t matter, would it?’
    Simmonds smiled. Gaius had
obviously done his homework. ‘That safe is impossible to break into,’ he said.
‘Cromwell took the security combination to the grave with him.’
    Gaius laughed heartily. ‘My dear
Elijah, let me show you what I’m capable of. While my friends are down here
preparing the tomb, why don’t you and I go upstairs and I’ll show you how to
crack open a safe?’

 
    Forty-Two

 
    From the control room up in the
East tower of the Casa De Ville, Bull continued to stare out of the long narrow
window down at the courtyard below. The snow had begun to ease up, but the
moisture on the outside of the window was still slightly obscuring his view.
Even though it was difficult to make much out in the dark due to the added
hindrance of the falling snow, he had to admit he was impressed at how well the
vampires and werewolves had concealed themselves in the bushes and trees. These
creatures were like chameleons once they stood up against anything in the dark.
Occasionally he thought he caught sight of one moving, but as he stared at what
he thought was a member of the undead the movement would instantly cease, as if
they could tell he was watching them. But as Bull knew only too well, the
Bourbon Kid could move in and out of the shadows with great skill too. He could
blend into his surroundings as well as any creature of the night.
    Behind him Beth had just
regained consciousness after Razor’s blow to the temple earlier in the day. She
wasn’t so chirpy now that she had a bruise the size of an egg, swelling above
her right eye. Razor was sitting next to her with his left arm stretched along
the back of the sofa behind her, ready to clip her around the ear if she
attempted to move without asking first.
    Tex was still sitting in front
of the bank of monitors on the other side of the room, staring at them
intently, looking for any signs of an intruder on the premises. All of the
cameras around the grounds were beaming their signal into the control room.
Entry into the Casa De Ville undetected ought to be an impossibility.
    Through the window Bull saw a
sliver of blue light filter through the clouds above. The moon was finally making
an appearance. This was a signal. Night was here. And in Santa Mondega, the
beginning of night usually meant the beginning of carnage.
    The snow quickly eased and soon
stopped falling from the sky all together. As his view of the courtyard below
became clearer, he heard Tex called out from behind him. ‘I got somethin’ for
ya, boss.’
    ‘What is it?’
    ‘Message from Jessica.’ Bull
looked around to see Tex reading an email on one of the monitors. ‘She says the
Bourbon Kid is heading this way. One of her sources says he’s just come back
from the Devil’s Graveyard.’
    ‘Devil’s Graveyard?’
    ‘Yeah. Ever heard of it?’
    ‘Only in folklore. It’s s’posed
to be a place people go to make deals with the Devil. You know, sell their
souls for immortality and all that shit.’
    ‘You think that’s what he’s
done?’
    Bull shrugged. ‘Won’t make a
blind bit of difference. We’ve got an army of immortals down there. Anything
else?’
    ‘There’s one other thing you
should know,’ said Tex.
    ‘What’s that?’
    ‘It’s stopped snowing.’
    ‘Yeah, I can see