Hurt World One and the Zombie Rats Read Online Free

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Zoo. With the obscene amounts of money involved, it was little
wonder the body count was so high.’
    Caixa frowned. ‘To think someone would want
to eat the last living specimen of a species.’
    ‘Unfortunately, his appetite lived to see
another meal, but a lot of people working for him were not so
lucky. There was a trail of blood and wreckage from China all the
way to the zoo.’
    ‘That is not the kind of publicity Savage
Alliance is looking for.’
    ‘She has never been recorded on the System.
Not a shred of DNA or even a picture. She lives in the same jungles
she hunts her prey. She is truly wild.’
    ‘Then are you sure you have employed the real
Mas? If the System can’t identity her, what chance do you
have?’
    Jalanti considered this question carefully.
‘She’ll need to be her. Operation Advance has started in earnest
and she is in it up to her neck. Me too, I suppose.’
    ‘The difference is you’re the Minister for
Risk and Acquisition. Your job is to take risks and make
acquisitions. And for that you are well rewarded.’
    Jalanti nodded. ‘Although I am taking risks,
I want to assure you that Savage Alliance is not. I have only met
Mas once and she is under the impression I am the front for a
consortium of bankers. The cover will stand up to a rudimentary
check, which I suspect is all that a poacher is capable of.’
    ‘Be careful not to underestimate this woman,’
said Caixa. ‘If you think you have lured her with the thickness of
your money roll, just remember she had the opportunity to cash in
handsomely on the snow monkey bounty and yet she chose a trip to
the zoo.’ He shook his head. ‘So, do not get too close to her. More
importantly, do not let her get too close to Savage Alliance. Try
to pat a wild creature like that, you’re going to lose a hand.’ He
inexplicably broke into a broad grin. ‘Having said that, she sounds
perfect for the job.’

 
    4 The Stamford Transaction
Facilitato rs
     
    The man didn’t care if the police stopped
him, for he had a gold badge to flash them: Harry Murtle of the
CIA. If that didn’t work, he also carried gold coins with which to
bribe them. He had his hands in his pockets, surreptitiously
holding onto both. He was plump and anemic looking. He walked with
a slight limp which he tried to make a swagger. He had well-groomed
black hair streaked with grey and he wore a stylish dark blue suit.
He certainly liked to think he stood out in this grim Guatemalan
coastal village, where illegal fishing crews and smugglers
predominated. The town’s name was San Paul. The few people out and
about on its unswept streets were keeping their distance from him
and their eyes to themselves, apparently assuming he was either a
police officer dressing up or a gangster dressing down. The
building the man was heading to was constructed of thick grey
concrete and all its windows were barred. Ostensibly it was to keep
out the tropical storms but in a town like this customers were
attracted for other reasons by the impenetrability of its windows
and walls. The man stopped at its entrance and scanned over the
list of proprietors trading from its ten floors. His eyes stopped
on the Desear on the ninth floor. The inscription underneath read
Tapas and Spanish wine. The man withdrew slowly across the street
to a corner opposite doused in later afternoon shadow, and there he
stood and watched and waited.
     
    *
     
    ‘I do not think we should be docking at this
port,’ said Titov, the new captain of the Zopez. ‘It is very
dangerous. And I am not talking about currents or reefs.’
    Mas was glad to hear the concern in her
voice. It sounded just about right. She had made a down payment on
the crew’s services that she had hoped was enough to keep them
interested in their work while still retaining enough money in the
pot to keep them interested in success - and it took a lot to keep
her interested in a lousy job like this. She had learnt early on in
her life within