Everwild (Skinjacker 2)

"There's one more thing," the Sniffer said. "I smelled something ... nasty ... that was also moving toward Memphis. I'm not sure what it was, but if I didn't know better, I'd think it was the McGill."

It caught Mary off guard. She felt her afterglow sputter liked a burner low on gas. She hoped no one saw it. "The McGill no longer exists," she proclaimed. "In fact, he never did. Speedo! Make a note that I should point out the nonexistence of the McGill in my next book."

"Yes, Miss Mary."

And then she turned to Milos. He still stood there dripping with the Sniffer's unpleasantness. Even so, she found she wanted to embrace him, but restrained herself. "Milos, I asked you to be patient, and now your patience will be rewarded." Then she went to her bookshelf. "We will defeat the Ogre in Memphis, and from there we will begin our crusade to unite the East and the West." Mary ran her finger over the book spines, then pulled out the heavy volume on Civil Engineering.

Milos was amused. "Don't tell me--you wish me to build a bridge in your honor!"

"Not exactly." She held it out to him. "I want you to study this--because in this book are the blueprints for every bridge that crosses the Mississippi River."

was way too calm. "We are having a meeting. I am so glad you could come."

As Milos was a Ruskie, Pugsy hated him on principal. It was Mary who had convinced him that Milos could be trusted. Well, Mary would get an earful for this!

He tried to stand but his legs were tied too tightly. "All three of you have just bought yourself a place on the mantel." Which was one of Pugsy's pet expressions for a trip to the center of the earth--along with "earning core time" and "sleeping with the magma."

"Look around you, and think again," said Milos. Pugsy glanced around, and instantly knew exactly where he was. This was what he affectionately called "the submarine terminal." It was an Everlost dock on Lake Michigan where he would dispatch unwanted Afterlights into the "dirty deep," yet another pet name for the center of the earth. In fact, right now, there were three others bound and gagged, with cinder blocks tied to their ankles. He would have thought the work was done by his bodyguards. Except that they were his bodyguards. Now Pugsy began to worry.

"Tell me," said Milos, "how many are the Afterlights you have thrown from this dock?"

"I don't know," said Pugsy nervously. "I don't keep count."

"Guess."

"Throw him off! Throw him off!" shrieked Squirrel, but Milos threw him a gaze that shut him up.

"I said guess."

"Uh, maybe, a hundred? Two hundred?"

"Just as I thought." Milos nodded to the other two, and they lifted up one of Pugsy's boys, then tossed him off the dock.

"No!" screamed Pugsy.

Then Milos knelt down to him. "I have grown tired of you," he said. "So I am now inviting you to leave Chicago. I am inviting you to leave alone, and to leave now."

"What are you, nuts?"

Milos nodded to the others again, and they sent the second of Pugsy's bodyguards off to the dirty deep.

"You have thirty seconds to accept my invitation."

"Mary!" said Pugsy. "Go get Mary! She'll negotiate for me. She'll give you whatever you want!"

The other two laughed, and Milos whispered to him, "Mary is the reason we are all here on this fine evening." He signaled the other two, and they hurled Pugsy's last bodyguard off for serious core time. Then they dragged a cinder block to Pugsy, and tied it around his ankles.

"Okay, okay, okay, I see you mean business! So I'll tell you what. You can untie me, and I'll leave, just like you asked. I'll leave right now and I'll never come back. Okay? Just like you asked, okay?"

Milos gave Pugsy a satisfied smile. Then he said, "I'm sorry, but I cannot hear you."

"What?"

"You have ten seconds."