Donne & Donne Archives

April 25, 2007

Dave: If Somewhat Hot-Tempered

"Excuse me," Roger said, politely.  He'd promised Chrys he'd behave tonight. "But I'm pretty sure we hailed this cab."

"Buzz off," the man sneered.  "You can fucking take the next one."

"Hey --" Chys started.

"And tell your Jap girlfriend to shut her --"

Roger winced, but watched the inevitable.  He was rewarded by a flash of very attractive leg, collision of stylish black pump and now-broken nose, and the man slamming back into the side of the taxi before sliding  to the ground.

Roger helped Chrys into the taxi.  He told the man, who groaned from the gutter, "And she's Chinese.  And my wife."

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April 30, 2007

Dave: Pieces of Hate

"I should like you to examine this," she said, setting a coin, a thick, golden disk, on the wooden desktop.  Roger hardly glanced at it.  The woman handing it over was a potential customer, but definite knock-out, dressed to the nines and shaped like the tens. Roger forced himself to remember he was a very happily married man, and wanted to stay that way.

Still, her emerald eyes held his locked as he reached over and picked up the coin.  Only when he felt a hot tingling in his fingers did he realize what a very stupid mistake he'd made.

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May 2, 2007

Dave: Family Reunion

"So -- why are we meeting, um, who here?"

"It is an open space," Chrys told him, "and away from prying eyes.  While none can see my uncle without his consent, it is simpler for him to deny his august presence to as few people as possible."

"Huh."  Roger refrained from comment on augustness.  He'd met some of her relatives before, but -- "So where is he?"  He looked back toward the road.  No other cars were in sight. 

"Ah!" Chrys said, smiling broadly.  "He comes!"

"Where --?"  He followed her gaze -- upward.

A shadow fell across them.

"Oh," he said.  Then added, "My."

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May 4, 2007

Dave: The Dead Past

"Goddammit, I hate these things!" Roger said, swinging the fire axe.  It cut through the zombie shoulder to ribs before getting stuck. 

"Remember Prague, '45?" Arbuthnot asked.  His saber cut cleanly through the neck of the next creature, and the two zombie bodies tangled together for a few precious moments, giving the men a chance to catch a breath.

"Yeah," Roger replied.  "But those were mad scientist Frankenstein-style zombies.  These are more voodoo rising-from-the-grave zombies."

"No, you're thinking of that abbey in Montenegro."

Roger blinked.  "Damn, you're right."  He yanked the axe free, and they went back at it.

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May 8, 2007

Dave: A Drink on the Deal

Roger took the proferred drink, drained it. 

"Mister," the man in the black suit said, "you got moxie."

Roger frowned a bit.  "I think it was actually a Coca-Cola."  He made a face.  "Not my cuppa, as a friend used to say."

"No, I mean you got spunk.  Spirit.  I can use someone like you."

A shrug.  "Twenty-five a day, plus expenses.  Forty-five if I have to call in my partner."

"Is he any good?"

"It's a she, and she's better than me."  He pushed the glass back at Simmons.  "But for God's sake, don't offer her any of that crap."

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May 9, 2007

Dave: Crazy after All These Years

"Get out!  Get the hell out!" Roger shouted.  He pounded on his desk where he'd broken the glass.  Shards slammed into his flesh.  Pain helped. 

"You've hurt yourself," she purred.  "Let me --"

"Out!'  He slammed his bloody hand down again, shook his violently head like a horse dislodging a fly, then pulled out his automatic, pointing it at her unsteadily.  "You heard me!"

"Foolish mortal.  You don't want to do that."  Her voice was musk and honey and iron.

"No, but if you don't back out of this office right now, Ishtar, I'll do this."  He put the barrel of the gun to his temple.

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May 14, 2007

Dave: Where There's Smoke

Roger didn't like fire.  An bad night in Dresden in '45 had left him with nasty scars and underlying tension whenever open flame appeared.  He avoided fireplaces and bonfires.  He did control the fear enough to keep from running screaming into the night when Chrys set a candlelight dinner. He'd politely light people's cigarettes with matches, and he'd even sometimes use a small flame cantrip that big sergeant from Kentucky had taught him -- all stuff he could control.

Upside, of course, he'd quit smoking -- one thing to light a ciggie for a pretty girl, quite another to have smoldering flame inches away from his baby blues.

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May 15, 2007

Dave: A Body Could Cut Himself

The armored figure swung the sword in a wide, whistling arc.  "I bear in my hand the blade Exsanguinous, forged by Roman mystics seven centuries ago, honed by fell spirits to so keen an edge that you will lay in pieces ere you realize you've been cut.  Surrender."

Roger shrugged and pulled a shorter weapon from his pocket.  "All I got's an M1911A1 Colt .45, liberated from Uncle Sam in '46.  It won't cut anything, but it'll blow a hole through the back of your head the size of a baseball."  He smiled, aimed.  "You want to drop it, or should we play this out?"

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June 4, 2007

Dave: On the Road Again

"The last time I traveled, Uncle Sam picked up the tab," Roger said.

"This is a pleasure trip," Chrys replied, closing the last valise.  "To Hollywood, to see movie stars.  You still owe me a honeymoon."

"Last time we tried, the Three Fox Tong nearly killed me, you, and a dozen folks at Cahill Depot.  Stole our luggage, too."

"You keep blaming me for that."

"You killed 'em all -- we never did get our suitcases back."

"You shot two of them."

Roger decided this was an argument he wouldn't win.  The taxi honked, so he just smiled and picked up the suitcases.

 

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June 15, 2007

Dave: Fish Story

"And where do you think you're going?" Chrys asked in that take-no-prisoners tone she had.  "The Chens are coming over to dinner at 5, and there's a dozen --"

"Going fishing," Roger said. 

"Fishing!"  Her brows furrowed.  "Don't you need a rod and reel or something like that to go fishing?"

He gave her a look, then opened his coat, patted his .45.  "Depends on the size of the fish and how far up out of the surf it's liable to claw after you.  Hopkins case -- read the file.  But on the bright side we might have leftovers for the next few months."

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