She blew a smoke ring.
"I have been doing nothing—as you said—for almost a year. It gets easier every day. And the results are the same. I have used up my energies. I am by nature quite indolent. It is pleasant to stop, to resign a fruitless enterprise. Why don't you join me? You have nothing to show for all your efforts. We could at least console one another."
"It is not my nature," he said, just as servants arrived with new bed, bedding and bottle.
They smoked in silence and watched the men work. When they had gone, she said, "Having a lot of money
and sleeping much of the time are the best things in life."
"I am also interested in the things in between," he said.
"And what has it gotten you?" she asked, standing. "Marked for death, that's all."
She moved to the window and looked out.
"What do you mean?" he finally asked.
"Nothing."
"It sounded like something to me. Come on, what did you see?"
"I didn't say I saw anything." She turned toward him. "We've got a new bed. Let's try it."
"Don't try to distract me. I know you've got more of the Sight than I have. Let's have it."
She leaned back against the sill and took a long drink.
"And get away from that window. You might fall out"
"Always the big brother," she said, but she moved away and went to sit on the bed.
She placed the bottle on the floor and began drawing on her cigar, producing great clouds of smoke into which her gaze wandered.
"Seeing .. ." she said, then lapsed into silence.
"Seeing," Red repeated.
"You move in a fog. It thickens as you head toward death. And you desire it! I saw ten dark birds pursue you," she said, her voice dropping to a lower register, "and now there are nine..."
"Black decade!" he. whispered. Then, "Who called it?"
"Big," she said. "A big, heavy man... And a poet... Yes, he is a poet. Why, of course!"
"Chadwick."
"Fat Chadwick," she agreed.
She blew the smoke away and reached for the bottle.
"Why, when and how?" Red asked.
"What do you want for one lousy vision? That's it." "Chadwick," he repeated, then drained his goblet. "It does make a sort of sense. Many men have had the motive, but few others have the means." Then, "Tony must have known something," he decided. "So he's gotten to them, too... That means I can't count on anything from the cops. But....ho can? It's official,
then."
He rose, retrieved the bottle and poured some more wine into the goblet.
""What are you going to do?" she asked.
He took a sip.
"Keep going," he said.
She nodded.
"All right. I'll go with you. You'll need my help."
"Nope. Not now. Thanks."
She picked up the bottle and threw it out the window. Her green eyes flashed.
"Don't be noble. I'm still one of the toughest things you ever met. You know I can help you."
"Any other time, and you know how happy I'd be. Not when a black decade's been declared, though. Hell, one of us has to live, if only to avenge the other."
She sprawled suddenly on the bed.
"You'd love that, wouldn't you? And you'd love it to be me ... Everything has just caught up with me," she said. "I must sleep. I can't force you, but neither do I accept your answer. Do as you would, Reyd, for I will certainly do the same. Good night."
"I want you to be reasonable about this!"
She began to snore.
He finished his drink, put out the lights and left the goblet on the dresser. He closed the door behind him and returned to his own room, where he began to dress.
"Are we burning?"
"No, Flowers. We're leaving."
"What'th wrong?"
"Got to get out of here quick."
"Have you given your report to the polithe, about latht night?"
"Hell, the next report may be about me if we don') move now. That guy I shot last night was no crazy. I'm under black decade."
"What'th that?"
He drew on his boots and began lacing them.
"Vendetta is what I call it. My enemy gets ten shots at me without interference. If they all miss, he's supposed to quit. It's kind of a game. Last night's was the first."
"Can't you hit back?"
"Sure. If I knew where to look. In the meantime, I'd better run. The Road is long. The game can take a lifetime. Always does, in fact, one way or the other." "The cops won't do anything?"
"Nope. Not when it's official. The Games Board has jurisdiction then. And even if they wanted to, there aren't that many police—and most of them are from around C Twenty-three to Twenty-five, anyway. Too civilized, and not much good this far back."
"Tho go up the Road to where they're thtronger, and look for thome criminal violation in the game."
"No, my enemy lives up that way, and he probably has them in his pocket. I think that's what Tony was trying to tell me. Besides, their function is mainly traffic control. No, we're running back."
"You know who'th behind it?"
"Yeah, an old buddy of mine. We used to be partners. C'mon."
"But aren't you—"
"Sh! We're sneaking out."
"Without paying?"
"Just like the old days."
"I wathn't with you then."
"It's all right. I haven't changed much."
He closed the door quietly behind him and headed for the back stairs.
"Red?" "Shh!"
"Thh, hell! How did they know you were going to thtop here? It wath a thpur-of-the-moment dethithion." "I've been wondering about that myself," he whis pered. "—Unleth thomeone knowth where you latht fueled
and hath calculated a great number of pothible thtops where you'd be likely to take on more."
"And covered all of them? Come on!"
"Tutht the probable oneth. Could thith Thadwick guy afford it?"
"Well, yes ..."
"He'd have to thpend ath much or more hunting you down if you got wind of it and ethcaped the firtht guy, wouldn't he?"
"Yes, you're right. But now I think of it, he knows me awfully well. If he'd arranged for that confiscation of my load just where it occurred, he might have guessed I'd pulled in at the next stop to think things over."
"Maybe. You willing to take the thanthe?"
"What chance? That there's someone at the next stop, and the next, and the next?"
"Could be, couldn't it?"
"Yeah, you're right. I was too busy just now thinking of something more immediate. Like, that fellow who was supposed to take me out not being wherever he was to be picked up after the job was done. It must have been earlier this evening. When they learned I'd killed him and was still here, what do you figure they did?"
"Hard to thay."
"Could they be out there right now, waiting?"
"It doeth theem pothible, doethn't it7 Could they be covering thith back door?"
"Perhaps. That's why we're going to look first, then make a dash for the trees. I think it's more likely, though, that they'd be watching the pickup, either from
the trees or from another vehicle. Therefore, we'll work our way around through the woods."
He reached the door, cursed when he discovered it to be heavy and windowless, eased it open a crack, looked out. Farther, then ...
"Nothing," he said. "No talking now till this is all over—unless it's a warning. I wish I'd remembered the earplug lead."
"You'll ficth my thpeaker thoon?"
"There's a place up the Road that can probably do it while I'm getting a new windshield. Don't worry."
He swung the door open and dashed toward the shelter of the trees, about fifteen meters distant. When he reached them, he swung around the nearest and crouched in the shadows at its base. He remained motionless for several moments, breathing through his opened mouth.