Read Soldier of Fortune: A Gideon Quinn Adventure (Fortune Chronicles Book 1) for Free Online Page A

to the truth — and if that didn't work...
    "Oy, need a lift?"
    Gideon and Elvis both started at the rickshaw driver's call. "No, thanks," he said, in part because he was mindful of the need to preserve his small amount of cash and in part because he was not quite over the thrill of actual water falling from the sky. The driver shook his umbrella-hatted head at the wet nutter and rode on, the wheels on his bike spraying Gideon's shins.
    Gideon turned back to the kiosk map, where another moment's study showed him what he was looking for and, with his pack on one shoulder and an unhappy Elvis on the other, he headed out into the downpour.
     
    * * *
     
    "That one," Fagin Ellison pointed with his chin to the man who'd just stepped from the airfield tram and was looking somewhat lost.
    Mia peered around the fagin's bulk to see who he meant. Though Ellison's chosen mark was on the other side of Lipton Street, she had to squint through the rain to see him. "Don't look rich," she said. But he did, to her experienced eye, look dangerous, even with that weird hump on his shoulder.
    That comment earned her a clap on the side of the head that left her ears ringing. "Don't question, girl," Ellison snapped. "You're in enough of a stew, ain't ya?"
    She hunched in on herself, which she'd long ago learned was the only safe response to her fagin when he was in a mood and, since he'd discovered her Marlowe Street book cache a few hours past, he was in a truly smogged mood.
    “I told you time and again, readin' ain't nothing but a distraction,” he said now, indicating he was still thinking about those books. “and dodgers lookin' for a distraction ain't challenged enough t'keep their head inna game so that, " he jerked his chin towards the tall man's apparent deformity, "is gonna be your challenge."
    Looking closer, Mia was astonished to see the deformity move, stretching out first a head and then a pair of long, articulated wings.
    "Oy!" she said, then before he could thump her again dropped her voice to whisper, " He's got a draco !"
    "Not for long," Ellison said, glaring down, paying no mind to the rain sluicing from his bald head. "Once you nick it, it's gonna be my draco." He laid a hand on the girl's shoulder and gave it a squeeze she felt down to the bone. "You bring that winged bugger back to me and it'll be double rations and a quarter the take once it's sold. If you don't bag it," he continued, leaning down so the rainwater dribbled from his head onto hers, "you'll be onna streets and these ," he patted the inner pocket where lay the much-thumbed books he'd confiscated earlier, "are goin' inna river. You savvy?"
    "Yeah— yes, sir," she amended, wincing as the heavy hand began to squeeze deeper. The tears that pricked, however, weren't for the pain, that she was accustomed to. The tears for her books, which were the only things that made life in Ellison's hive bearable.
    "Good. Now he’s movin’, so get on with ya’, and remember," he added, "you don't bring me that draco, you'll be out your books and your place."
    He didn't add, because he'd long ago beaten it (often literally) into every one of his dodgers, how easy it was for a child to disappear in Nike.
    What he did add was a slap on the back to start Mia on her way, nearly sending the girl face first into a muck-filled puddle. "And mind your feet," he hissed, as though it were her clumsiness and not his abuse that had caused the misstep.
    Once Mia was on her way, Ellison remained in place, watching the mark until he rounded the corner and was lost to sight. There was no point watching Mia. Mia had already blended into the rain-drenched dark as if she were no more than a shadow herself, and not just a practitioner of the shadow trade.
    Which made it all the more pity he'd have to be rid of the girl, whether she succeeded at tonight’s task or not. Sure, she was one of the best dodgers he'd ever brought up, but that didn't make up for the fact the girl had Ideas, all