The Getaway God (Sandman Slim 6)

The Shonin is looking a little better than when I first found him. He’s sitting upright in a desk chair holding a cup of tea. He sets it down when he sees me.

“Your friend. The young Jade. She’s gone, isn’t she?”

“Must have escaped in all the excitement.”

“Marshal Wells won’t be pleased.”

“He’s got his own problems.”

“Like me,” he says, waving around his crushed arm.

“A little while ago, you told me I was the 8 Ball’s uncle. Is there some way we can use that?”

He picks up the teacup and studies it.

“You have something that the Angra need. And I don’t mean the Qomrama.”

“I have a gun, a knife, and a video store. What the hell do they want with me?”

He sips the tea.

“Tell me about your old Hellion master, Azazel.”

“He bought and paid for me when I was still in the arena. I still had to fight sometimes, but from then on I also had to play slave boy to one of the most powerful Hellions Downtown.”

“You were his assassin.”

“Yeah. Mainly other upper-­crust Hellions. Anyone with pull. Anyone who pissed him off or got in his way.”

“His political enemies.”

“Right.”

“He told you this?”

“No. But it was obvious. I was only killing off other generals and blue bloods. Hellions that had Lucifer’s ear. Hellions are like Sub Rosas. Heavy into social status. Azazel wanted to be number one. Right behind the boss himself.”

“And all the years you were killing for him you had the key to the Room of Thirteen Doors inside you. You could have escaped Hell at any time.”

“He told me that my old girlfriend Alice was safe as long as I stayed. Then she was dead and I knew he’d been lying. So I killed him, came home, and went after Mason. What’s this got to do with anything?”

He tries to pick up the tea, but his hand is shaky. He bumps it and the cup lands on the floor.

“Shit,” he says.

“Don’t cling to things,” I say. “That’s Buddhism 101.”

“Fuck you, fatty. Talk to me about clinging when the last of your tea is gone.”

“Why do you care about Azazel?”

“The universe is a very big place,” he says. “Even Gods need roads to cross it. Do you understand?”

“What? The Angras need a good deal on a rental car? Let them join AAA.”

The Shonin tries to pick up his broken teacup. I get it for him.

He says, “Think about it. Thirteen Angra. Thirteen roads. Thirteen entrances and exits. Now does it make sense?”