Wild Cards VIII: One-Eyed Jacks

by George R. R. Martin

  “I said get out.” Vivian glanced around for Sally’s clothes and snatched up her big flesh-toned bra, stiff with its underwire. “Here.” She threw it at Sally.

  Sally pulled it away from her face, fumbling for something to say and not thinking of anything.

  Then, as Sally began putting it on, Vivian picked up Ben’s pouched briefs and looked at them, making a mental note to buy something that would fit better tomorrow. At least he had kept to their basic bargain; the jeans were baggy on him, but would fit snugly around her pelvis. The thermal undershirt, turtleneck, and heavy winter socks, of course, were gender neutral, and she had never bothered to own a bra. Ben’s boots were always a little loose on her, but not much; their feet only altered a little during the change and the socks made up some of the difference.

  Sally’s face was bright red and taut with anger, but she had nothing to say. Once her bra was on, she kicked away the sheet and stood up, turning her back to Vivian as she finished getting dressed.

  Tomorrow morning Vivian would find the building manager, pretending to know nothing of Ben’s whereabouts. She would play the role of Ben’s worried sister and take over the rent. From what she remembered when Ben first took the room, the manager wouldn’t care if she lived there as long as the rent came on time.

  Bundled up in her scarf and winter coat, Sally glanced back over her shoulder. “Thank you for being so considerate,” she snapped. “If I don’t get killed out there at this hour, I’ll freeze to death.” She yanked open the door and stomped out, her blond hair swirling.

  Vivian suppressed a twinge of guilt. If Sally was old enough to get picked up in the Twisted Dragon, she was old enough to get home at night. As Vivian closed the door and locked it, she grudgingly decided she couldn’t blame her brother too much. Sally did look very nice and, of course, she had been willing.

  “Say good-bye, Ben,” she taunted in a whisper.

  Good-bye, Ben muttered sourly in her mind.

  Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen

  by Walton Simons

  THE COURTROOM WAS JAMMED with people. There seemed to be almost as many reporters as had been at Bush’s inauguration two weeks before. The rest were friends, or enemies, of Hiram’s, or just the idly curious. There were no jokers in the room, Pretorius being a notable exception. Kenneth had managed to get Jerry a seat.

  “All rise.”

  The judge walked in and the noisy courtroom grew silent. The old magistrate made her way to the bench and sat down slowly.

  The judge cleared her throat. “In the case of the People of the State of New York v. Hiram Worchester, I understand that the prosecution has seen fit to reduce the charge to involuntary manslaughter. Is that correct?”

  The prosecutor rose. “Yes, your honor.”

  “And how does the defense plead?” the judge asked.

  Pretorius arose. “Guilty, your honor.”

  “A plea bargain, as anticipated,” Kenneth said, above the muttering of the courtroom crowd.

  “Mr. Worchester,” the judge said, “please rise.”

  Hiram complied, standing as straight as his size would allow.

  “Given your stature in the community and the unusual circumstances involved in this case, I see no real benefit to yourself or society in imprisoning you. Therefore, I sentence you to five years probation. Any use of your wild-card ability during that time will constitute a violation of your probation. An individual with your unique gift should be ashamed that it was used to take another life. Society has grown tired of such foolishness. Hopefully, in the future you will be a positive example for us all. If not, you will find the court unsympathetic.”

  Hiram nodded weakly and wiped his brow. Pretorius stood and put his arm around him.

  The heavy wooden doors slammed open at the back of the room. A four-armed joker man pushed his way inside. “Murderer. You’re nothing but a rich murderer.”

  Two officers grabbed the joker, pushed him to the floor, and cuffed him.

  “We’re going to get you, Worchester,” the joker screamed as they dragged him from the room. “We’re going to see you dead, just like Chrysalis.”

  “Jesus.” Jerry nudged Kenneth. “Chrysalis is dead and it was an accident. Don’t they know that? Hiram was crazy. He’s suffered enough.”

  “Possibly,” Kenneth said. “Though the people who cared about Chrysalis might disagree with you. As they say, it depends on whose ox is getting gored.”

  Pretorius and Hiram began pushing their way through the crowd toward the doorway. Reporters clustered around them like sperm on an unfertilized egg.

  “I wouldn’t want to be in Jokertown tonight,” Kenneth said.

  “No kidding,” Jerry said.

  David Butler was driving a beat-up old Chevy. That was weird enough. Jerry hadn’t intended to end up in Jokertown and certainly wasn’t happy about it. Neither was his cabbie. He’d decided this was a good time to check up on David again. Jerry had tailed him a couple of times since losing him at the peculiar club, and had wound up bored to death. Once he’d even ended up at the opera.

  They passed a building with a big red heart painted on the wall. Valentine’s Day was less than three weeks away and the only person he wanted to give flowers or candy to was Beth. That would just piss Kenneth off. Not that anything had been said along those lines, but he’d detected a touch of resentment from his brother every now and then. That was the least of his worries now. He was tailing a possible murderer through Jokertown in an off-the-meter cab. Besides, it was beginning to snow.

  He’d almost decided to give up and tell the driver to take him home when a car at the far end of the street exploded into fire. David’s car skidded to a stop, straddling the curb. Jerry’s driver slammed on his brakes and crashed into a light post. Steam began hissing from under the car’s hood. Debris from the flaming car clattered onto the cab. A large group of jokers poured out of a side street. Several of them noticed the cars and pointed.

  “Holy shit,” Jerry said. “Get us the hell out of here.”

  The cabbie turned the key. There was a brief clicking sound, then nothing. “She’s shot. We’ll have to run for it.”

  Jerry clambered out of the car. David had abandoned the Chevy and was ducking down a side street. The group of jokers was moving toward them. Jerry couldn’t understand what they were saying, but from the tone it wasn’t friendly. He sprinted after David. A knot of jokers moved to cut him off, but Jerry turned the corner a good ten yards ahead.

  He began to change. Jerry thickened his brow ridge and lumped up his skull a bit. He put ugly knots on the backs of his knuckles. It wasn’t much, but should keep him from being taken for a nat.

  David, still running, turned and saw Jerry and the pursuing jokers. David stepped it up and began to put some distance between them. Jerry gritted his teeth and ran harder. The cold air stung his throat and chest, and he had to be careful to keep his Italian leather shoes from slipping on the ice-slicked pavement. The snow began to thicken and swirl in the wind.

  There were screams up ahead. David rounded a corner and disappeared from view. Jerry kicked hard after him with the last of his strength. He slipped down as he turned the corner and found himself at the edge of a crowd. There were at least two or three hundred jokers jamming the street. Several cars were on fire, casting a flickering glow against the surrounding buildings. A large, overstuffed dummy was being thrown around and torn at. Worchester in effigy, no doubt.

  Jerry couldn’t see David, but there was an open alley mouth nearby. Jerry walked over and slipped into the alley. It was empty. At least as far as he could tell. A few feet down there was a door hanging halfway off its hinges. Jerry pushed it open and stepped inside. He waited a few moments for his eyes to adjust, but still couldn’t make out much. He stepped out of the dimly lit doorway and strained to hear any movement inside the room, but there was only a faint dripping noise. After a few long moments, Jerry turned back to the door and was about to push it open when a
group of nats walked past. There were five of them, two boys and three girls. They were young, barely twenty, if that. One of the women had spiky dark hair, the other was shaved bald. They were flanking the blond boy who was obviously their leader. David.

  The crowd of jokers roared. Jerry peered over the kids and saw the mob part. A nine-foot-tall joker with green skin moved toward the center of the mob. It was Troll, and perched on his shoulders was Tachyon. There were a few angry shouts, but most of the jokers got quiet.

  Jerry heard a growling noise behind him. He turned and saw a pair of green eyes staring at him. They were too far apart to belong to a house cat. Jerry lengthened and pointed his own teeth. If there was a fight, he wanted to have some kind of weapon. One of his fangs cut painfully into his lower lip.

  “Listen, my friends,” Tachyon shouted. Jerry could barely make out the words, but calling the jokers his friends was being a little presumptuous after what had happened with Hartmann in Atlanta. “I understand your anger, but this is not the answer. The fires you’re starting here will only burn down your own homes and kill your own people. Hiram Worchester is not your enemy. Ignorance and blind prejudice are the true foes every joker must face. And the only way to defeat them is through decency and dignity.”

  “Let’s have some fun,” David whispered.

  “Go back to your homes now,” Tachyon continued. “Set an example for everyone, whether they’re jokers, nats, or aces.” Tachyon raised his arms in a pleading manner. David’s two girls grasped him tightly by the shoulders and his body shuddered.

  Troll laughed. He picked Tachyon up by the back of his lab jacket and let him dangle, feet kicking. The crowd began to yell.

  “Troll,” Tachyon screamed. “What are you doing?”

  Troll tossed Tachyon cartwheeling into the mass of jokers. Tachyon landed amid a tangle of bodies. Jerry could see him struggling to get back up.

  “Let’s build a fire the Fatman can see all the way up at Aces High,” Troll shouted. The crowd howled its approval and fists punched the air.

  Jerry heard another growl behind him, closer this time. He took a deep breath and bolted from the door, slamming into David and the two girls, knocking all three of them out into the street. Troll saw the commotion at the edge of the crowd and looked directly at them, his face showing panic. The giant joker swayed for a moment, then collapsed.

  The girl with the spiked hair helped David up. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

  Jerry rolled over and saw the bald girl standing over him. She raised her leg to kick him in the face. Jerry twisted out of the way and took the blow on his shoulder, then bit through her blue jeans into her calf. The girl screamed and tore away from him, then turned and limped after her retreating friends. Jerry spat the taste of blood from his mouth and struggled to his feet. Jokers were running everywhere. The fires were spreading. Troll wobbled into a standing position and moved toward Tachyon, who was still shielding himself with mind-controlled jokers. Troll cut his way through to the Takisian and gently lifted Tachyon up onto his shoulders. Tachyon gave him a questioning look, then motioned him to get moving. Troll shouldered his way back through the dispersing crowd. The clinic was only a few blocks away. Jerry figured it was the safest place to be and began plowing through the jokers after Troll.

  Jerry heard sirens from several different directions, all getting closer. He bounced his way to the edge of the mob and onto the sidewalk just as a police car swung into view. A bullet slammed into the brick wall behind him, spraying him with tiny rock fragments. Jerry didn’t know who’d fired the shot and didn’t want to find out. He dodged down a side street and headed for the clinic.

  Blaise made Jerry nervous, scared him even. The red-haired boy stayed at the window for half an hour, watching the rioting with a smile on his face. Sirens, both police and ambulance, had been passing by all night. Once, Blaise turned to Jerry and said, “Fire and blood. So much of it. So beautiful.” Other than that particular twisted observation, he’d seemed to regard Jerry as invisible. Jerry sat there in silence, folding and unfolding his check.

  It was 2:00 A.M. before Tachyon got back to his office. The right side of his face was bruised and puffy and his good arm was in a sling. “You should have waited, Jeremiah,” he said as he collapsed into his chair. “On a night like this, money is less of a concern.”

  “It’s not about money.” Jerry handed the check over. “But I might as well give it to you anyway. I was doing something else down here. How is Troll, by the way?”

  “Confused and embarrassed. He doesn’t remember throwing me. I went into his mind and there’s simply a blank spot during that period. Like he was blacked out.” Tachyon touched the purple skin above his eye and winced. “The timing for such an incident couldn’t have been worse.”

  “Could we talk alone for a few minutes?” Jerry looked over at Blaise.

  Blaise glanced hatefully at Jerry, then looked at Tachyon, who was pointing to the door. The younger Takisian stood his ground for a moment, then stalked out of the room.

  Tachyon sighed. “Now, what is it you want to discuss?”

  “What happened to Troll was no accident. He wasn’t in his own body when it threw you. Somebody else was. You’ve heard the reports about people having their bodies switched with someone else? There was a bank robbery—”

  “Yes,” Tachyon interrupted. “We have a mother and daughter in our psychiatric ward who claim their minds were somehow switched by a third party. Do you believe that’s what happened to Troll?”

  “I know it,” Jerry said. “And I think I know who’s behind it, too.”

  “Who?” Tachyon snapped out of his exhausted state.

  “David Butler. He works at my brother’s law firm, Latham, Strauss.” Jerry leaned forward in his chair. “I’ve been tailing him off and on, and he was at the riot tonight with some of his friends.”

  Tachyon sighed and nodded. “A year ago I might have been tempted to intervene myself, but I’ve seen the folly of that. I think our best course is to turn Mr. Butler in to the authorities. You’re not making any of this up?”

  “Of course not,” Jerry said. “I don’t go around accusing people of being criminals unless I’m sure of it. My brother’s a lawyer.”

  Tachyon pushed the intercom button on his phone. “Could you get me Lieutenant Maseryk?”

  Jerry wasn’t sure this was such a good idea, but Tachyon seemed sold on it. What kind of prison could hold David anyway?

  Jerry was sitting on the couch outside his brother’s office. Presumably, he was there to have lunch with Kenneth. But he was really there to see the look on David’s face when the police came for him. He’d made Tachyon find out for him where and when the arrest would be made. It was a small price to pay for the information he’d provided. Seeing the young Adonis arrested would provide him with some much-needed satisfaction.

  He was thumbing through a copy of Aces. There was a paragraph on him in the “Where Are They Now?” section. They’d also printed a picture of Jerry as the giant ape with the word “retired” underneath. Little did they know.

  The doors opened and two detectives walked in. At least Jerry assumed that was who they were.

  “Could you ask David Butler to come out and see us?” the older of the two asked while flashing a badge. “It’s an official matter.”

  The secretary made a quick call and David appeared moments later. He stopped short and frowned when he saw the policemen, then recovered.

  “David Butler?”

  “Yes, how can I help you?”

  “We’d like to ask you some questions.” The policemen walked up to him. “If that’s all right with you?”

  “Certainly,” David said stiffly. He turned to the secretary. “Tell Mr. Latham I may be out all afternoon.”

  “Of course,” she said.

  “Shall we go?” David asked.

  The detectives stood on either side of David and walked him from the room.

  Jerry sighed.
He’d hoped that David would react a little more, not that he’d expected him to break down and confess. But a little whimpering would have been nice. Hopefully, that would come later. Jerry was only sorry he wouldn’t be there to see it.

  He was asleep when the phone rang. Jerry picked it up and yawned into the receiver. “Sorry, hello.”

  “Jeremiah.” It was Tachyon. His voice was somber. “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

  Jerry sat up. “Not too bad, I hope. I’m not sure I’d be up for that.”

  “David has escaped.”

  “What?” Jerry yelled without meaning to. “How did it happen?”

  “The police were interrogating him and getting nowhere, so they decided to call in a skimmer, someone who can pick up surface thoughts.” Tachyon paused. “David panicked and switched bodies with one of the officers. He made the man knock out his partner, then returned to his own body. The officer blacked out from the shock. Then, apparently, David just walked out. No one has seen him since.”

  “Great, Doc.” Jerry didn’t want to sound angry, but he was. “Thanks for calling.”

  “I’m sorry, Jeremiah. I did what I thought was best.”

  “I know. Good-bye.” Jerry hung up and flipped through his Rolodex for Jay Ackroyd’s number. Maybe Jay could get a lead. If not, it was out of Jerry’s hands.

  Jerry sat on the couch in his projection room, massaging his crotch. He’d watched the first half of Jokertown, but had stopped when Nicholson got his nose slit. It was just too damn depressing. He’d popped in a porn video, but it wasn’t doing much for his morale, either. He had another porn movie, Jokers and Blondes, but that might be a little weird for his taste.

  He turned off the TV and sighed. He’d had a couple of shots of whiskey and his brain felt as soft as his penis was hard. He thought of Kenneth and Beth upstairs, probably fucking like weasels. “Enjoy yourselves. Don’t think of poor, old Jerry. Have an orgasm for me.”

  He’d considered sneaking up to their bedroom door and listening on several occasions, but had never actually done it. Maybe tonight would be the night. He got his feet under him, wandered into the living room and up the stairs. He stopped at the top and steadied himself on the banister. Beth was probably a great fuck. It would be consistent with her character. She was great at everything else. He took a step toward their bedroom door.