[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
."Let's get out of here before anything elsehappens.""Right." Joe turned and strode to the barn door.And there he stopped, crouched over, scanning quickly from side to side.Tannim watched inamazement; he had never seen anyone so young with such moves! These kinds of tactics hadapparently become second nature to Joe.Jeez, another good reason to have him around.He waited until Joe waved an "all clear" to him before joining him at the door, crouching besidehim with one hand on the rough wood."I can't spot anything out there, sir," Joe said in a softvoice."The birds aren't disturbed, either, so I don't think there's anybody hiding in the grass.""You can work point any time, Joe," Tannim told him quite seriously.Joe flashed him a shy grin before returning his gaze to the field beyond the barn."I'll gofirst.""Go," Tannim said, and pulled out his keychain, pushing the button for the radio-transmitter thatcontrolled the doors and the engine.On the other side of the wall, the Mustang rumbled into life.file:///F|/rah/Mercedes%20Lackey/Lackey,%20Me.Serrated%20Edge%204%20-%20Chrome%20Circle.txt (42 of 173) [6/4/03 10:33:36 PM]file:///F|/rah/Mercedes%20Lackey/Lackey,%20Mercedes%20-%20Serrated%20Edge%204%20-%20Chrome%20Circle.txt"There.The doors are unlocked."Joe nodded and was gone in a flash, scuttling through the weeds in a bent-over run, rather thancrawling.There wasn't a real reason to crawl, unless bullets or other projectiles started flying,and a formidable reason in the form of ticks and chiggers not to crawl.Tannim followed in thesame way as soon as he got around the corner of the barn and out of sight.He felt a little foolish as he crouched beside his car door, listening intently.But better tofeel foolish than not feel at all."Dead" was a hard condition to cure.He slipped into the Mustang and punched up the a/c, backed into position so that he could drivestraight out, and waited.Nothing rushed at them from the weeds, and there were no vehicles insight in either direction once they reached the road.It looked exactly as it should: a sleepysection-line road that seldom saw much in the way of traffic.Tannim did not drop even a fraction of his watchful caution, however, and it was easy to see byJoe's tense posture that he felt the same.Out here it would be easy enough for someone to perchin a tall tree and watch their progress.Not that he could really picture her, in that flame-redsilk jumpsuit, clambering up a tree.But if she can make herself and her Mustang vanish, she can certainly change her wardrobe aseasily, he reminded himself.Or, for all I know, she has flunkies out here keeping an eye on us.For that matter, she was a mage, and she could be using any of the birds around here as "eyes."There was nothing he could do about that—not without endangering himself and his passenger.Anything he did to make the Mach I less visible to birds would make it less visible to other humandrivers.The drivers around here were bad enough without complicating the situation by trickingtheir minds into thinking he wasn't there.He passed both gloves to Joe, who locked them in the glovebox without a word.There was one thinghe could do; birds had distinct territories, and in the summer they didn't tend to venture out ofthem.Right now, the best thing he could do, if she was using birds as her scouts, was to drivesome distance before stopping at a motel.With luck, she'd lose him and not find him again.Unless, of course, she's using something like a bald eagle.Well, there was only so much he coulddo without his precautions hedging his actions so much that he couldn't move.He drove around in circles for about an hour, stopping once at a convenience store for Gatoradefor the two of them, before finally seeking out a motel for Chinthliss.The south side of Tulsa was a lot more upscale than Bixby; it was where the Yuppies collected inexpansive, milling herds, and was thick with condo-complexes with gates and expensive, fenced-inhouses set on quarter-acre lots.The blight crept farther south with every year.Tannim figuredthat he'd be able to find something to suit Chinthliss out here.Nothing less than a palace wouldmake the dragon happy, but at least he wouldn't complain as much as he had the time he shared aroom at the Holiday Inn with Tannim and FX.High and mighty dragon couldn't unwrap the little soaps by himself.Poor baby.With a little bit of searching, he found exactly what he was looking for: one of those high-end"suite motels." If it became too dangerous to stay with his folks any longer, he and Joe couldjust move in with Chinthliss.He pulled up to the office, and left Joe in the car with the motorrunning and the a/c on while he took care of throwing money at the clerk.He returned with a grin on his face and slid into the seat."Amazing what a paid-up Gold Card willdo, even in this neighborhood.I got a two-bedroom with a parking slot guaranteed to be in theshade all day," he said, and tossed Joe a key."That's for us, if we need someplace else to go.Hang onto it for me.""Sure," Joe said obediently, pocketing the key."Now, let's go see what kind of digs poor Chinthliss will have to stoop to." He pulled the Mustangaround to the side of the complex and found the slot assigned to Chinthliss' suite.As promised,file:///F|/rah/Mercedes%20Lackey/Lackey,%20Me.Serrated%20Edge%204%20-%20Chrome%20Circle.txt (43 of 173) [6/4/03 10:33:36 PM]file:///F|/rah/Mercedes%20Lackey/Lackey,%20Mercedes%20-%20Serrated%20Edge%204%20-%20Chrome%20Circle.txtit was in the shade.They locked the car and ventured into the depths of the complex.The suitewas supposed to be like a townhouse: two-story, with two bedrooms upstairs and living area andkitchen down.The door wasn't more than a few feet from the parking slot, and when he opened it,cool air rushed to meet them, faintly perfumed with disinfectant.It was as advertised, and would probably suit His Draconic Majesty just fine [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]