George Martin - Busted flush

Cordite has a distinctive smell. I know it well. I've shot a lot of guns over the past seven years. Someone has fired a gun in my parents' home. I struggle into a shuffling run, cursing Siraj with every breath. "Dad! Niobe!"

I find them in the study. Dad is out of bed. His skin is gray and seems to be drooping off his bones. Dark circles are under his eyes, and there's a smear of blood on the back of his hand where he's pulled out his IV. I look down at the scabbed bubble of blood on my hand. He is standing next to the wing-backed chair, using it for support. Niobe is curled up in the chair. Dad's free hand is softly stroking her shoulder. On the threadbare oriental rug there is a wet smear. I've seen it before-on a threadbare spread in a hotel in Texas. I plunge out of the room and find the other three. One in the hall. One in Drake's bedroom. The other in the kitchen. My children. Dead.

I return to the study and Niobe looks up at me. I seem to be staring into an infinite darkness. Her face is rigid, and tear-stained. "They took Drake," she says. "A stone giant and a bunch of men with guns. The kids tried to stop them. Protect him." I hear or at least think I hear the accusation. You weren't here. You didn't keep us safe. Why weren't you here? "They killed them. I felt the bullets." She lays a hand on her chest. "It hurt so bad. I couldn't do anything." Her voice is shaking. It translates into her body. She's shuddering like a woman lost in a blizzard.

I kneel next to her, my arms outstretched, hanging in the air an inch or so from her body as if held back by an unseen barrier. She falls against me and Lilith's long black hair hides us. Rage engulfs me. Rage at all the masks. I will be myself and they will fucking fear me. Niobe gasps a little as she feels my body morph against hers. But then I'm back and she rests her head on my shoulder with the air of a bird settling into its nest. "They've taken everything from me," she says, so quietly that it's more like puffs of air against my cheek.

"I'll get him back for you. I swear I will if it's the last thing I do."

Her arms close convulsively around me, and she whispers something that I can't hear.

"What, honey, I didn't-"

Dad suddenly pitches forward. I jump up, feel the stitches in my side give way and the tickle of blood running down my side, but I manage to catch him before he hits the ground. Niobe is at my side, brushing the tears off her cheeks.

"We need to get him back in bed," she says.

A clawlike hand seizes my forearm. "They put him in the back of a big truck." My father's voice is like stone on a file. "It was bloody strange. It started driving. Very fast. Then it was gone."

Niobe reads something in my expression. "What? Does that mean something?"

"Yes, darling, it means I know how to find Drake."

The pub is empty at 3:00 A.M. The truck is parked out front, the streetlights glittering in the raindrops dappling the hood and roof. The silly little bell tinkles madly as I push through the door. Beneath the long leather coat I'm wearing tight leather pants and a laced vest that pushes up my breasts. Bruckner only knows Noel.

He knows I'm an ace. He knows I'm a killer. He doesn't know my power. That leaves Lilith free to do her job-get me close.

The fat bartender looks up from his washing. A glass hangs in his hand slowly dripping soap suds off the rim. The Highwayman is at his table by the window, but instead of watching his truck, Bruckner's watching me. His face is slack with lust. I saunter over to him. His eyes follow every undulation of my hips and sway of my hair. I'm reminded of a fakir in India I once saw dancing with his mesmerized snake. I lean down and whisper in Bruckner's ear, "I hear you're a man who can give me a ride."

"Which kind you want, love?" The last word turns into a whistle of pain as I reach into his crotch and close my fist around his balls.

"The kind that takes me to the boy."

The bartender yanks up a rifle from behind the bar. The silenced Glock coughs once and the bullet takes him between the eyes.

"You crazy bloody bitch!" Bruckner gasps.

"Try bastard," I say and let my body slide and twist back to myself.

"Jesus!"

"Not to sound like the hero in one of those dreadful American action movies, but you will be seeing him if you don't answer my question." I grind the muzzle of the gun into his temple, and tighten my grip on his nads.

"You know I can't do that, lad." Pain has him panting between the words, but now that he knows it's me he seems more relaxed. "Captain'd skin me alive."

"Actually he wouldn't. But I would. Where's the boy? Where did you take him?"

He shakes his head. I release his balls, and pull handcuffs out of my coat pocket. Once he's secure I get down to business.

For all his bravado and bluster it actually doesn't take that long. The wood floor is sticky beneath the soles of my high-heeled boots. Bruckner's blubbering. The wet sounds become words forced between split and swollen lips, "Nigeria. Took him to Nigeria. Dumped him out in front of the PP army. Captain's orders. Not my fault. Just doing my duty." He sees something in my face and screams out, "Don't hurt me anymore! Christ Jesus, no more!"

I put away my knife and draw my pistol. Then I look, really look, at the scene around me. The dead man. The nearly naked old man on the floor in front of me with pieces of skin missing. Blood staining the wood floor. I think about Niobe. How she would see this scene. How she would see me. How she would look at me.

I return the gun to its holster. "Congratulations. You get to retire. Tell Flint to expect my resignation later."

"He'll never let you live. Not after this."

"Yes, I think he will. I'll be much more talkative after death. It would look so very bad for the Silver Helix and the government. Ta." And I lock the door behind me as I leave.

I look like an S amp;M drag queen sashaying down the street. I need to change and make preparations. If Drake can't control his power I'm going to need protection. As for finding him… well, if he's blown, that won't be a problem.

"Dolores, Cherie! There you are."

Already elevated, Dolores's heartbeat seemed to stumble in her chest at the voice behind her. Having one's name called by Alicia Nshombo was always cause for concern. Even when she had just hung a medal around one's neck in front of the global media and the adoring populace of Kongoville.

She turned. The corridors of Mobutu's erstwhile palace were bright and airy, belying the compound's fortresslike construction. High windows let late-morning sunlight pour in to raise a glow from whitewashed walls. Native flowers burst from vases in niches like static explosions of color. Floral-patterned carpets ran along a floor of royal blue glazed tiles.

Dolores was lost. She had been on her way to an assignation with Tom Weathers after escaping the great public fete.

Alicia moved toward her at a purposeful waddle. Continuing the motif she wore the same dress printed with Congolese blooms that she had at the ceremony at which she had made Dolores and Tom Heroes of the People's Paradise, in the proudest moment of Dolores's young life.

The large woman was alone. Clearly she felt no need of bodyguards. Rumor said she was herself an ace, with the power to transform into a leopard. Whatever the truth, no one who feared death, or pain, would dare attempt to harm the president's sister here in the palace.

Alicia hugged Dolores around the waist with a big arm. Dolores felt sweat soak through the white jumpsuit she wore to her skin. The smell of violets almost overwhelmed her.

"Your state has need of you, my Angel of Mercy," Alicia said. Though not whispering she spoke at a low volume for her: she had a bellow like a bull hippo at need. "There is a man you must heal for us. You must tell no one. Do you understand?"