“Funnyman. You look awfully funny down there, funnyman.”
Cairo pats me down. Feels the Qomrama Om Ya in my coat pocket. He’s so pleased with himself that when he reaches for it, he doesn’t see me shake the glove off my hand. I don’t have a lot of strength but I have enough to pull him down on top of me and hold him while I stab my oh-so-pointy Kissi arm up between his ribs and into his heart. I feel him twitch and die and enjoy every second of it.
A light flares in the hall. Aelita manifests her Gladius and comes at me.
I get my legs under Cairo and kick his body up at her. She slashes down with the Gladius, cutting him in two. Blood and bile spray in all directions, ruining Blackburn’s pretty rugs and wallpaper.
The move bought me just enough time to pull the Qomrama and throw it at her. Which turns out to be exactly what Aelita wanted. She kills the Gladius and lets the Qomrama sail past. When it starts back, she catches it in an iron box studded with Angra runes.
She throws the catch and says, “Thank you for bringing it to me. You’re the most helpful Abomination of them all.”
She manifests her Gladius again and heads for me. Five shots hit her in the chest. She drops the box and falls to her knees.
I look back and see Brigitte holding the gun of the guy I killed when I came in.
She kneels down next to me and helps me up.
“Thanks,” I say. “Get the box.”
When she reaches for it, Aelita twists and kicks her in the face. Grabs the box and runs out of the room. I pull myself to my feet and help Brigitte up.
“What the hell are you really doing here?” I ask.
Brigitte goes back to Blackburn and I drop into the chair she’d been sitting in. My chest is on fire but I can breathe. At least a couple of the bullets are still inside me but the armor is holding me together.
“I’ve been seeing Saragossa,” says Brigitte. “Tuatha has been, as he said, unwell for some time. He was so depressed. And my career was not going as well as I might have led you to believe. He introduced me to people.”
“What was that about his wife’s soul?”
“Nasrudin Hodja, the soul merchant, took it,” says Blackburn. “But I know it was on Aelita’s orders. I made her head of security. It kept her close by.”
“Where is it?”
He shrugs.
“Where do you hide a soul?”
“So you assholes have been killing off dreamers to control reality and you use the Imp to do it. Was that Aelita too?”
Blackburn nods.
“And who controls the Imp?”
“Osterberg.”
“And who controls him?”
“Aelita.”
“Are you sure?”
“Fairly,” says Blackburn.
Brigitte says, “Teddy’s family had power and lost it. He isn’t Sub Rosa but he thinks like one. The world is all status with him. He had a vicious little ghost in his collection and he let her loose for Aelita so he could remain in the synod.”
“That’s not true. The ghost isn’t his. I’m sure of it.”
“I know he controls the girl. That’s all that matters,” says Blackburn.