Dead Dwarves, Dirty Deeds
Page 16
Chapter 5
Noose woke to find himself in a large bed, the covers tucked up under his chin. Dim morning light filtered in through the window. He moaned quietly, and felt his side, finding fresh bandages bound tightly about his midriff. The wound was sore, but he also recognized the all too familiar tingling of medical nanobots coursing through his flesh, mending the damage. He lifted the covers to find himself naked and washed clean of the blood and grime of the previous night.
Dropping the covers he looked around the bedroom, and saw Cori standing in the doorway, sipping from a cup and wearing denims and a t-shirt.
“Been having your way with me, huh?” Noose asked. “I’d prefer to be awake when you do that, you know.”
Cori smirked, the concern quickly fleeing from her expression. “I guess near-death won’t change your ways.”
“It’d take a hell of a lot more than death to change me.”
“Like a woman, maybe?”
“Is that a proposition?”
“Get your mind out of your pants for once.”
“You took off my pants.”
“Noose!”
He held up his hands. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. No more cracks.”
“Yeah, right.” She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been skewered,” he replied. “But, wait! I was skewered. So I guess I’m feeling normal under the circumstances.”
Cori nodded. “Yup, same old, insufferable Noose. You probably don’t even realize that if you’d lost much more blood you wouldn’t even make a good appetizer for a six-year-old vamp.”
“Luckily, I found you first.”
“Damn straight. Now, are you going to tell me what you were doing at Stiltzkin’s? You’ve always said you don’t dance and I definitely can’t picture you jumping around to the latest from Shocktock.”
“How’d you-”
Cori put a hand to his lips, smiling at his surprise. “Hey, contrary to what you might think, I’ve got a lot more going for me than just this body.”
“You do?” Noose asked in extreme mock surprise.
She hit him on the shoulder, lightly. “Anyway, I heard about the attack on the club and you’ve got shell casings and a missile tube in your coat. Two plus two.”
“Well, I could’ve been out hunting big, mean bears.”
“Yeah, and the bear just decided to ram some plumbing into your gut. Well, were you a victim or the perpetrator?”
Noose’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what I said. Did you pull the biz, or did someone try and pull the biz on you?”
“You actually think I could do something like that?”
“Why not?” Cori said unemotionally. “You always said you’d take any job if it paid enough.”
“I don’t believe you! That’s cold-blooded murder of dozens of gennies!”
Cori rose and walked a few steps away, slightly surprised at Noose’s reaction. “Hey, you’re the uncaring mercenary, not me. Killing off all the Pit Fiends didn’t seem to upset you.”
“They were a bunch of damn gangers! They tried to kill me!”
“Ah,” Cori nodded. “So you differentiate between self-defense and mass murder?”
“You’re damn right!”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Cori grinned, “but it doesn’t do much for your tough guy rep.”
Noose paused and looked at the smirk on Cori’s face that she could no longer conceal. “Damn sedatives must be freaking with my brain. You’re jerking me around.”
Cori smiled.
The dwarf waved at the cup in her hands. “You going to get me a cup of that or stand there giving me grief all morning?”
“Well, as much fun as it is giving you grief, I guess I’ll have to get you something. Have to keep your strength up.” She walked out of the room, but re-entered in mere moments with a large cup of steaming hot chocolate.
Noose winced as he took a sip. “What? No whiskey?”
“Chocolate, hot water, and protein,” Cori informed him. “You don’t need any alcohol.”
“I’ll argue that later,” Noose replied, gulping down the chocolate.
“So, what were you doing at Stiltzkin’s? Biz?” Cori inquired.
Noose’s face darkened. “Nobody does biz at Stiltzkin’s.”
“Pleasure, then,” Cori guessed. “What’s her name?”
Noose frowned and looked away.
“What’s the matter, Noose?” Cori asked, concerned by Noose’s behavior.
“I was supposed to meet Pamela there,” he stated flatly, turning to look directly at her.
Cori jerked back involuntarily, mouth open. “My sister...?”
Noose nodded, thin lips pressed tightly together. “But I was half an hour early, and you know how she’s always late...”
Cori’s gaze drifted off onto the wall above his head. “My sister?”
Noose reached out and squeezed her arm. “Listen, Cori. I don’t think she was there. It was way too early for her to show up, and you know how she likes to make us guys wait. I checked most of the bod-” He stopped abruptly, closing his mouth.
“Bodies? Is that what you were going to say, Noose?” Her face grew drawn and pale, and her empty cup dropped to the floor.
“She’s fine!” Noose kept his voice gentle, despite his emphatic tone. “She wasn’t there! She’s probably home in bed right now.”
Cori glanced at the phone on the nightstand. She punched a button and stared intently at the screen as it dialed and chirped. A moment later, the blue standby screen blinked and the face of an attractive redhead appeared.
“Pamela!” Cori grinned excitedly, and Noose smiled beside her. “Thank God you’re al-”
“Hi! In case you’re blind, it’s me, Pamela!” The recorded message said happily, and with total disregard for the disappointed expression that quickly spread across Cori’s face. “I’m not near my phone right now, which means I’m probably with some hot fireman or dancing in a club. But you can just leave a nice-”
Cori’s fist came down hard on the disconnect button, sending the vidphone crashing off the nightstand. A grim expression on her face, she rose to her feet beside the bed.
Noose looked up at her and watched as her eyes glazed. “Cori, she probably thinks I was in the blast, and is down at Stiltzkin’s looking for me. We better get down there.”
“Damn you, Noose! If anything’s happened to Pamela I’m going to take that pipe and ram it down your throat!” She spun around and hurried out of the room.
Noose flipped the sheets aside and pulled himself up to a seated position, his head spinning. He steadied himself and tried to stand, only to fall immediately to the floor.
He barely managed to stay conscious, but dragged himself to the doorway and looked around the corner. Cori sat in front of the sofa. Her fingers playing across a keyboard in her hands and a cable dangled from the neuroport behind her right ear. Her eyes were open and staring straight at him. But he knew it wasn’t a naked dwarf lying on the floor that she saw. It was the infinite reaches of the internet, piped directly into her brain via the keyboard and cable. She wouldn’t leave until she found out what had happened to her sister.
. . .
Thanks for reading the advance sample of DEAD DWARVES DON'T DANCE. The full version is now available at fine ebook stores.
About the author:
Derek J. Canyon graduated from the University of Washington in 1990. He's been working as a professional technical writer in the software industry since 1997, and released his first fiction ebook in September of 2010. Derek and his wonderful wife live near Seattle with their long-haired Chihuahua.
Connect with me online
My website: www.derekjcanyon.com/
Blog: derekjcanyon.blogspot.com
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