Read The Plague Forge [ARC] for Free Online Page B

wait until he was across before stepping out herself.
    She’d seen thousands of such bridges in the city, but never traversed one. They allowed buildings to join forces, or simply for commerce to occur, eliminating the need to risk the streets below. They also frequently collapsed, a tragedy made worse by the fact that children were usually the runners who made use of them. This one, mercifully, seemed sturdy, if Prumble’s successful crossing proved anything.
    More stairs followed. A lot more. The big man was barely breathing hard as he kept pace with the boy.
    “Didn’t you used to walk with a cane?” Skadz asked him, sucking wind.
    Prumble shrugged. “Used to need one.”
    “What, healed did you? Some kind of fucking miracle?”
    The big man laughed. “Cured of the need to cultivate that particular myth, is all. Give credit to Blackfield for that.”
    Sam’s thighs were on fire by the time the kid finally turned and went to a door. He stepped aside and used one foot to prop it open, holding out his hand eagerly. Prumble fished a candy bar out of his pocket and slapped it into the boy’s tiny palm.
    The woman in the room beyond looked like a brothel’s couch.
    She was enormous, larger even than Prumble, and draped in a gaudy mix of red velvets and patterned silks. Her puffy face hid under a veneer of white-powder makeup and purple eyeliner.
    Two effeminate boys in garish makeup stood to either side of the madam, fanning her with broad, colorful antique fans like she was some kind of queen or goddess. The whole display was so absurd that Samantha glanced in instinct to the corners of the room on either side of the entry, anticipating a trap. She saw an armed man in each, hard-faced and well muscled. They showed no sign of taking any action, though.
    “Oh, pooh pooh,” the gigantic woman said. “I thought we had customers.” She spoke slowly, in a gravelly voice that implied a lifetime of smoking.
    “Greetings, Dee,” Prumble said. “Delightful to see you, too.”
    Dee made a show of looking to either side of him. She took in Samantha and Skadz in turn, then smiled. “Perhaps they wish to partake, even if you don’t?”
    “Another time, maybe,” Skadz offered. “Cheers, though.”
    Prumble quickly added, “We’re on a schedule, I’m afraid.”
    The corner of the woman’s mouth twitched. “You have the payment?”
    “Of course,” Prumble said. He pulled a thin case from the inner breast pocket of his duster and held it out to her.
    Dee plucked it like one might pull a grape from the vine. She smiled slightly as she opened the box, and her eyes gleamed as she took in the contents. Sam hadn’t thought to ask Prumble what this little venture had cost, but she guessed jewelry of some sort. Diamonds, or pearls, judging from the madam’s fashion sense. “This is glorious,” she breathed. “You’ve always known the key to my heart, Prumble.”
    “It’s the keys to your comm I’m interested in.”
    “All business tonight, is it? You used to at least make an effort at a little foreplay.” Dee shifted on cushions upon which she lay. Each movement made one roll of fat hide and another emerge from her silks. Sam fought to keep the revulsion from her face.
    Prumble spread his hands in apology. “Sorry about that, Dee, but we have a link to make. Not my schedule. And with all these Jakes around …”
    “Let’s not talk about them,” the woman said. “You know, Prumble, the only reason I’m entertaining this little bit of intrigue is because you said the bloody Jakes couldn’t know about it. If you can’t tell me who you’ll be talking to on the comm, can you at least tell me if the end result will be to get rid of these prudish bastards, hmm?”
    Prumble only shrugged.
    Perhaps he just didn’t want her to know something she might later relay, or perhaps he sensed a trap. Either option made Samantha’s trigger finger twitch. She shifted her weight slightly to her left foot, in case she