Shadows Linger Part 10

Then it was time to face Krage. He did not want to go. He was afraid Krage might have lumped him with Raven and Asa. But if he didn't go, Krage would come to him. And Krage was looking for people to hurt...Shaky, Shed trudged up the frozen street. Snow fell in lazy, fat flakes.

One of Krage's men ushered him into the presence. There was no sign of Count, but word was out that the big man was recovering. Too d.a.m.ned stupid to die, Shed thought.

"Ah, Shed," Krage said from the deeps of a huge chair. "How are you?"

"Cold. How're you keeping?" Krage worried him when he was affable.

"Be all right." Krage plucked at his bandages. "Close call. I was lucky. Come to make your payment?"

"How much do I owe, all told? You buying up my debts, I couldn't keep track."

"You can pay out?" Krage's eyes narrowed.

"I don't know. I have ten leva."

Krage sighed dramatically. "You got enough. Didn't think you had it in you, Shed. Well. You win some and you lose some. It's eight and some change."

Shed counted out nine coins. Krage made change. "You've had a run of luck this winter, Shed."

"Sure have."

"You seen Asa?" Krage's voice tautened.

"Not since three days ago. Why?"

"Nothing important. We're even, Shed. But it's time I collected that favor. Raven. I want him."

"Krage, I don't want to tell you your business, but that's one man you'd better leave alone. He's crazy. He's nasty and he's tough. He'd as soon kill you as say hi. I don't mean no disrespect, but he acts like you're a big joke."

"The joke will be on him, Shed." Krage dragged himself out of his chair, wincing. He grabbed his wound. "The joke will be on him."

"Maybe next time he won't let you get away, Krage."

Fear crossed Krage's features. "Shed, it's him or me. If I don't kill him, my business will fall apart."

"Where will it be if he kills you?"

Again that flicker of fear. "I don't have any choice. Be ready when I need you, Shed. Soon now."

Shed bobbed his head and retreated. He ought to get out of the Buskin, he thought. He could afford it. But where would he go? Krage could find him anywhere in Juniper. Running didn't appeal, anyway. The Lily was home. He had to weather this. One or the other would die, and either way he would be off the hook.

He was in the middle now. He hated Krage. Krage had humiliated him for years, keeping him in debt, stealing food from his mouth with ridiculous interest rates. On the other hand, Raven could connect him with the black castle and crimes in the Enclosure.

The Custodians were on the hunt, looking for somebody spending a lot of old money. Little had been said publicly, but Bullock being on the case told Shed just how seriously they were taking the case up the hill. He'd nearly had a stroke when Bullock walked into the Lily.

What had become of the pa.s.sage money? Shed hadn't seen any of it. He supposed Raven still had it. He and Raven were partners now...

"What did Krage say?" Raven asked when Shed reached the Lily.

"Wants me to help kill you."

"I thought so. Shed, it's late in the season. It's time to send Krage up the hill. Which way are you leaning, partner? Him or me?"

"I...Uh..."

"In the long run you're better off getting rid of Krage. He'd find a way to get the Lily eventually."

True, Shed reflected. "All right. What do we do?"

"Tomorrow, go tell him you think I've been selling bodies. That you think Asa was my partner. That you think I did Asa in. Asa was your friend and you're upset. It'll all be just near enough reality to confuse him...What's the matter?"

Always a trap. Raven was right. Krage would believe the story. But Shed had hoped for a less direct role. If Raven screwed up, Marron Shed would be found in a gutter with his throat cut.

"Nothing."

"All right. Night after tomorrow night, I'll go out. You run to tell Krage. I'll let his men track me. Krage will want to be in at the kill. I'll ambush him."

"You did that before, didn't you?"

"He'll come anyway. He's stupid."

Shed swallowed. "That isn't a plan that does much for my nerves."

"Your nerves aren't my problem, Shed. They're yours. You lost them. Only you can find them again."

Krage bought Shed's story. He was ecstatic because Raven was such a villain. "If I didn't want him myself, I'd yell for the Custodians. You did good, Shed. I should have suspected Asa. He never brought no news worth hearing."

Shed whined, "Who would buy bodies, Krage?"

Krage grinned. "Don't worry your ugly head. Let me know next time he goes on one of his jaunts. We'll rig up a little surprise."

Next night Shed reported according to plan. And suffered all the disappointment he expected of life. Krage insisted he join the hunt.

"What good would I be, Krage? I'm not even armed. And he's one tough nut. You won't take him without a fight."

"I don't expect to. You're coming along just in case."

"In case?"

"In case there's a trap in this and I want to lay hands on you fast."

Shed shuddered, whined, "I done right by you. Don't I always do right by you?"

"You always do what a coward would. Which is why I don't trust you. Anybody can scare you. And you had all that money. It occurs to me you might be in the racket with Raven."

Shed went cold. Krage donned his coat. "Let's go, Shed. Stay right beside me. You try to wander off, I'll kill you."

Shed started shaking. He was dead. All he had gone through to get Krage off his back...It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. Nothing ever worked for him. He stumbled into the street, wondering what he could do and knowing there was no escape.

Tears froze on his cheeks.

No exit. If he fled, Krage would be warned. If he did not, Krage would kill him when Raven sprang his ambush. What was his mother going to do?

He had to do something. Had to find some guts, make a decision, act. He couldn't surrender to fate and hope for luck. That meant the Catacombs or black castle before dawn.

He had lied to Krage. He had a butcher knife up his left sleeve. He had put it there out of sheer bravado. Krage hadn't searched him. Old Shed armed? Ha! Not likely. He might get himself hurt.

Old Shed did go armed sometimes, but he never advertised the fact. The knife did wonders for his confidence.

He could tell himself he would use it, and he'd believe the lie long enough to get by, but in any tight spot he would let fate run its course.

His fate was sealed...Unless he whipped it heads-up, no holds barred.

How?

Krage's men were amused by his terror. There were six of them...Then there were seven...and eight, as those tracking Raven reported in. Could he hope to beat those odds? Raven himself didn't stand a chance.

You are a dead man, a tiny voice whispered, over and over. Dead man. Dead man.

"He's working his way down Chandler's," a shadow reported. "Going into all the little alleyways."

Krage asked Shed, "Think he'll find anything this late in the winter? The weaklings have all died."

Shed shrugged. "I wouldn't know." He rubbed his left arm against his side. The knife's presence helped, but not much.

His terror peaked and began to recede. His mind cooled to an unemotional numbness. Fear in abeyance, he tried to find the unseen exit.

Again someone loomed out of the darkness, reported they were a hundred feet from Raven's wagon. Raven had gone into an alley ten minutes ago. He hadn't come out.

"He spot you?" Krage growled.

"I don't think so. But you never know."

Krage eyed Shed. "Shed, would he abandon his team and wagon?"

"How would I know?" Shed squeaked. "Maybe he found something."

"Let's take a look." They moved to the alley, one of countless dead-end breezeways opening off Chandler's Lane. Krage stared into the darkness, head canted slightly. "Quiet as the Catacombs. Check it out, Luke."

"Boss?"

"Take it easy, Luke. Old Shed is going to be right behind you. Won't you, Shed?"

"Krage..."

"Move out!"

Shed shambled forward. Luke advanced cautiously, wicked knife probing the darkness. Shed tried to talk to him. "Shut up!" he snarled. "Don't you have a weapon?"

"No," Shed lied. He glanced back. It was just the two of them. They reached the dead end. No Raven.

"I'll be d.a.m.ned," Luke said. "How did he get out?"

"I don't know. Let's find out." This might be his chance.

"Here we go," Luke said. "He climbed this downspout."

Shed's guts knotted. His throat tightened. "Give it a try. Maybe we can follow him."

"Yeah." Luke started up.

Shed didn't think about it. The butcher knife materialized in his hand. His hand slammed forward. Luke arched back, dropped. Shed jumped on him, jammed a palm against his mouth, held on for the minute it took him to die. He backed away, unable to believe he'd done it.

"What's going on back there?" Krage demanded.

"Can't find anything," Shed yelled. He dragged Luke against a wall, buried him under trash and snow, ran to the downspout.

Krage's approach made a marvelous incentive. He grunted, strained, popped a muscle, reached the roof. It consisted of a skirt two feet wide set at a shallow angle, then twelve feet rising at forty-five degrees, above which the roof was flat. Shed leaned against the steep slate, panting, still unable to believe that he had killed a man. He heard voices below, began moving sideways.

Someone snarled, "They're gone, Krage. No Raven. No Luke and no Shed, either."

"That b.a.s.t.a.r.d. I knew he was setting me up."

"Why did Luke go with him, then?"

"h.e.l.l, I don't know. Don't stand there. Look around They got out of here somehow."

"Hey. Over here. Somebody went up this spout. Maybe they're after Raven."

"Climb the d.a.m.ned thing. Find out. Luke! Shed!"

"Over here," a voice called. Shed froze. What the h.e.l.l? Raven? Had to be Raven.

He inched along, trying to fake himself into believing there wasn't thirty-five feet of nothing behind his heels. He reached a ridged corner where he could clamber up to the flat top.

"Over here. I think we got him cornered."

"Get up there, you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" Krage raged.

Lying motionless on the cold, icy tar, Shed watched two shadows appear on the skirt and begin easing toward the voice. A squeal of metal and vicious cursing proclaimed the fate of a third climber. "Twisted my ankle, Krage," the man complained.

"Come on," Krage growled. "We'll find another way up."

Run while you got the chance, Shed thought. Go home and hole up till it's over. But he could not. He slid down to the skirt and crept after Krage's men.

Someone cried out, scrabbled for a hold, plunged into the darkness between buildings. Krage shouted. n.o.body answered.

Shed crossed to the roof next door. It was flat and forested with chimneys. "Raven?" he called softly. "It's me. Shed." He touched the knife in his sleeve, still unable to believe that he'd used it.