Read Nightside 11 - A Hard Days Knight for Free Online

yet!”
    I shrugged. “Details, details ...”
    Julien sighed. “And you wonder why nobody trusts you ...”
    “No, I don’t. I don’t give a damn. However,” I said, changing the subject again by brute force, “if I’m going to work for the Authorities, shouldn’t I have an official job title? Something big and dramatic, to strike terror into the hearts of evildoers?”
    “You do have a title,” said Julien. “Walker.”
    “What?”
    “You didn’t really think that was his name, did you? I don’t think anyone ever knew what his real name was, the one he used in the outside world, when he went home to his family. Henry was real enough, I think. He always looked like a Henry to me. He used it often enough, and he seemed comfortable with it. Especially with his closest friends, like the Collector, and your father. But I couldn’t even say for sure whether they ever knew his real surname. To know the true name of a thing is to have power over it, and Henry would never have allowed that. No; he was Walker, like all his predecessors in the job.”
    “Then Hadleigh Oblivion was a Walker, too?” I said, trying to get my head round the idea.
    “Before he went so thoroughly off message, and disappeared into the Deep School, in search of mysteries, and ended up the Detective Inspectre. Whatever the hell that is, and I have a horrible suspicion I’m not going to like it when I find out ... There have been any number of Walkers, down the years, representing the Authorities as their Voice in the Nightside.”
    I scowled at Julien. “Why didn’t I know this?”
    “You could have asked. It wasn’t exactly a state secret.”
    I decided to change the subject again. “Where’s Hadleigh now?”
    “I’d feel a lot more secure if I knew the answer to that one. No doubt he’s out and about in the Nightside, walking up and down in it and disapproving of things in horrible ways. I keep waiting for the other incendiary to drop. Whatever mysteries people learn in the Deep School, it doesn’t do much for their sense of tolerance.”
    “So,” I said, “Walker is a title ... like the Walking Man?”
    “Might be a coincidence; might not. That’s the Nightside for you. Either way; you’re Walker now. Whether you like it or not. But let me be blunt, John ... The case I’m about to send you on is your first official mission for the Authorities. If you should prove to be ... not up to the job, the others will ignore my recommendations and appoint someone else.”
    “Never wanted the job anyway,” I said.
    “That’s why I wanted you,” Julien said dryly. “But think on this: you got away with a lot because Walker let you. For his various reasons. You might not do as well with some of the names I’ve heard proposed.”
    I smiled briefly. “I handled Walker. And if I could handle him, I can handle anyone.”
    “That is exactly the attitude that’s going to get you killed one of these days. There are ... things out there that even the mighty John Taylor can’t handle. You’d do well to arrange a support team, of people you can trust, to be your backup. Walker had all kinds of useful people on his payroll, to be his eyes and ears in the Nightside, or help him deal with the more specialised problems, and naturally you’ll inherit them ... but there are going to be times when only brute force and massed fire-power will do. Walker had the support of the Army and the Church, when necessary, and he also had the Reasonable Men. You do remember the Reasonable Men, don’t you, John? You should; you killed them.”
    “They annoyed me,” I said. “Bunch of stuck-up pricks and bully-boys. I can do better than them. How about Suzie Shooter, Dead Boy, Razor Eddie ...”
    “I meant people my fellow Authorities could approve of! Though admittedly, those appalling friends of yours would scare the crap out of all the right people ...”
    “I think we should talk about the mission,” I said determinedly. “What’s up with