“But no less clumsy,” I suggested, both to him and to whomever held his Trump, watching me through it, ready to snatch him away in an instant…
“That is you, Mask, isn’t it?” I said. “Take him back. You don’t have to send him again either and watch him screw up. I’ll promote you on my list of priorities and come calling soon, if you’ll just give me an assurance that it’s really you.”
Jurt opened his mouth and said something, but I couldn’t hear it because he faded fast and his words went away with him. Something flew toward me as this occurred; there was no need to parry it, but I couldn’t stop the reflex.
Along with two moldering corpses and Jurt’s little finger, a dozen or so roses lay scattered on the floor at my feet, there at the rainbow’s end.
Chapter 5
As we walked along the beach in the direction of the harbor, Coral finally spoke:
“Does that sort of thing happen around here very often?”
“You should come by on a bad day,” I said.
“If you don’t mind telling me, I’d like to hear what it was all about.”
“I guess I owe you an explanation,” I agreed, “because I wronged you back there, whether you know it or not.”
“You’re serious.”
“Yep,”
“Go on. I’m really curious.”
“It’s a long story…” I began again.
She looked ahead to the harbor, then up to Kolvir’s heights.
“…A long walk, too,” she said.
“…And you’re a daughter of the prime minister of a country with which we have somewhat touchy relations at the moment.”
“What do you mean?”
“Some of the things that are happening may represent kind of sensitive information.”
She put her hand on my shoulder and halted. She stared into my eyes.
“I can keep a secret,” she told me. “After all, you know mine.”