Atomic Underworld: Part One Read Online Free

the central obelisk rising
higher than the others, though how high it was impossible to tell, for the
statue had been broken off, and black stone shards littered the floor around
it.
    Tavlin
eyed the broken top. “Why would they take the top?”
    “There
was this gem, a bloody red gem big as your fist,” Vassas said.
    “I
hated that thing,” Frankie said from the doorway. His eyes were on the bodies,
and he looked nervous. “Always gave me the creeps.” To Tavlin, he added, “It
looked like it burned . There was some
fire, deep inside.”
    “It
was beautiful,” Vassas said. “Got it from a merchant from Taluush. Said he
found it in some ancient ruins.”
    “How
ancient?” asked Tavlin.
    “Pre-human,
he said. Some inhuman thing built that statue. I always liked to think the gem
gave me power. Maybe that’s why someone took it. I want it back. But that’s
secondary.” His eyes misted as they returned to Nancy. “I want revenge .”
    The
Boss’s voice shook, and Tavlin felt something twist in his heart. Nancy had
been a hell of a gal, even a friend. By the expression on Vassas’s face, she
had been something more to him than that, more even than a lover.
    “I’m
no assassin,” Tavlin said. “I’m a card-player. And, lately, not a very good
one.”
    “I
don’t want you to get revenge for
me,” Vassas said. “If I know who did this, I can get that myself. But I need to
know who. Here’s why I had Frankie get you, Tavlin: I need someone, someone I
know, someone I can trust. You ran my gambling hall for ten years. You’re a
good man, and we been through a lot of shit together. You helped make me the
most powerful boss in Muscud. I don’t know why you left, but I let you go and
never thought about doin’ anything else. Now I need you back. Somethin’
dangerous is out there, and I don’t know what it’s up to, but it ain’t good. It
killed five people by unnatural means to obtain something unnatural.” His voice hardened. “What do you think it’s gonna do with
that gem?”
    “I
can’t imagine.”
    “Me,
either. But these sewers are home to all sorts of things that have fallen
through the cracks o’ regular society. Secrets lost long ago up top are still
shakin’ things up down here, and some are still waitin’ to be found. And some
shouldn’t ever be found.”
    “You
think this is one of those.”
    Vassas
nodded. “If I send one of my men to poke into this thing, word will get out.
People will find out what happened here. Whatever did this will find out I’m on
its trail.” Vassas ran a hand across his face. “I don’t want that.”
    “I
wouldn’t either.”
    “But
you … they won’t suspect you. You’ve been gone long enough to be seen as
independent. So that’s it, Tavlin. I need you to figure this mess out and end
it before it gets any worse. I’ll pay you for the trouble, but I know you. You
liked Nancy almost as much as I did. You’d probably do it just for her. But pay
you I will. What do you say?”

Chapter 2
    A
motorcycle nearly ran Tavlin over, but he was so wrapped up in his thoughts he
forgot to give its driver the finger as he crossed the street, coughing on the
diesel fumes.
    He
pressed his way through the thickly-packed gathering on the cracked sidewalk,
making his way down streets that had once been familiar but were now subtly
alien, though he couldn’t define exactly why. Strange buildings of crumbling
brick, stone and mud huddled over him, and weird light bathed their windows. He
passed a concert hall and heard the singing of a fish woman. It was unsettling
but oddly beautiful. A man with a tentacle where his right arm should be played
a guitar as he lounged against a peeling wall. Stroking the strings with his
suckered limb, he accepted donations out of a patched hat at his feet. A pretty
little girl with yellow curls and the stunning colorations of a rainbow fish
passed out fliers; Tavlin accepted one and saw that it was for the Church of Magoth.
He