The Getaway God (Sandman Slim 6)

“He’s a roach. He got out.”

Kasabian gets up and starts for his room.

“Bye.”

“Who’s Mason Faim?” says Fairuza.

“I’ll tell you about him from my fallout shelter.”

“Calm down,” I say.

Kasabian points his beer at me.

“I’ve got some good news for you too. Someone just took a potshot at one of the God brothers.”

“Muninn?”

“No. One of the others. I can’t remember which is which.”

“Is he alive?”

“The rain’s messed up all kinds of stuff down there. I can’t see everything.”

“I might have to go Downtown. Maybe Muninn will have some ideas on dealing with Mason.”

Kasabian disappears into his room.

“Good luck with that. If you don’t see me for a while, I’ll be in here having a stroke.”

“You could come to my place,” says Fairuza.

I shake my head.

“No, he can’t. And don’t let anyone know you’re hanging around with Prince Valiant over there. If Mason finds out, he might send someone after you.”

“Who the hell is Mason Faim?” says Fairuza.

“You know all that stuff I told you about Stark?” says Kasabian. “Mason is worse. One time when he was still in school he used magic to blow the top off a mountain in Thailand, all to get back at a magic man that did him wrong. He killed a whole village. All the men, women, and kiddies and didn’t blink an eye. That’s who Mason is. And on a personal note, Mason is the guy who killed me.”

“I thought Stark cut your head off.”

“Yeah, but that was just my head. He didn’t, like, kill me. That was Mason.”

Fairuza picks up her bag and gets her raincoat off the peg by the door.

“I’m sorry. I’m leaving.”

“No. Wait,” says Kasabian.

She holds up a silencing finger.

“Listen. I could maybe deal with the robot thing, but more crazy killers from Hell? Forget it. Sorry, Kas. I’ll see you around.”

She goes out into the rain. The wind slams the door behind her.

“You happy?” says Kasabian. “Fairuza was as close to a love life as I was ever going to have.”

“Relax. She’s just freaked out. Give her some time to calm down.”