Read Vurt for Free Online Page B

going even more. I wasn't having it.
    "No way, Beetle. No fucking way!"
    "Just bits off him. The Stash Rider wallet is empty. I can't wait till the next dripfeed. Come on, Scribble! Just an arm, or a leg. A chunk off that fat stomach."
    "We need him! All of him!" I had hold of Beetle's arm. My voice was straining; "You know why, Bee! Desdemona. . . she. . ."
    "Big Thing'll grow them back, anyway. What's the loss?"
    "I'm getting desperate, Bee. . . I. . . I think Des is reaching out. She. . ." "What is it, Scribble?" asked Mandy, around a last mouthful of flakes.
    I looked from her, and then back to Beetle. How much could I tell them? Should I tell them about the telephone? Christ! Beetle thought I was crazy anyway; he was certain that Desdemona was dead by now. The phone call would just finish off the tale of Scribble's madness. Shit! Maybe I was mad! Maybe Desdemona was just living on, inside of me? No, no. Don't even think that!
    "She's alive, Beetle." I did my best to keep the voice calm. "I know it."
    A warm light came to the Beetle's eyes. "Sure thing, Scribb. She's alive. We'll find her. Right, Mandy?"
    "You bet."
    They were just being good to me. I could live with that.
    "Shall we go see Tristan? Would that suit you, Scribble?" asked the Beetle. ,j
    "Tristan?"
    "An old friend of mine. He's a spot-on guy. Sold me this gun. Knows all the stuff I've forgotten. And then some."
    "He'll have English Voodoo?"
    "He doesn't do Vurt any more. He might know where to find some."
    "He might know about Icarus Wing?" I was getting some kind of hope back. At least we were moving. I just wanted to keep moving, keep the faith going. "You reckon, Bee?"
    "We could try," the Beetle smiled. That old Beetle smile. "And we can check out this Seb friend of Mandy's first. Does that plan grab you, Scribb?"
    I was falling for him again; the Beetle was in command and the world was looking rosier.
    Something always has to spoil the day.
    That bad something was somebody knocking on the door. Not the bell, ringing from far away, from the ground floor. No. . . this was a close-up attack. And the noise was powder to the Beetle's trigger. There was something human out there. No one did that any more. The flat was rigged up to the in-house system, and only bona fide inhabitants could find a way past the doorcam. Bypassing that system was a beauty, and only a cop could have managed it. A way-up cop.
    Beetle activated into jam mode, moving like a land speed record. First thing he did was slip the gun into his pocket, then turning to us, he whispered; "Get that fucker out of here!"
    That fucker was the Thing-from-Outer-Space, who was still deep in feather- dreams next to the fire. Mandy and I took each end of him, like veterans, and bundled him into the store cupboard. I got back to hear the Beetle talking to some presence through a one-inch gap in the door. "Certainly, Officer," he was saying. "No problem. Please come in. Feel free."
    The Beetle sounded super-confident, and no doubt had cleaned the floor of all incriminating evidence, but how did they find us? Maybe the Vurt-U-Want cop had
    flashed a better than usual message. Maybe the Platt Fields' cop had seen the alien in our arms.
    A real life cop walked into the living room. Not the shadow kind. This cop was flesh and blood; collector's item. She had a curly perm. Yeah, that collectable.
    "What's happening?'she asked.
    There was a moment of silence. Over by the door stood the shecop's partner, some mealy mouthed fleshcop from hell.
    "Nothing much," replied the Beetle.
    The two cops were wearing dangerous smiles. "Nice pad," said the boss. "I'd like to look around." "Any time. You got a warrant?"
    "Do I need one? Mr. . .?"
    "Beetle. And I have this thing about privacy."
    "We have reason to believe that you are harbouring an alien presence." "A what?"
    "A Vurt being. A live drug." "Really?"
    "You know that's totally illicit?" "Is it?" Beetle was playing it cool.
    "Just checking," said the cop woman,