Shadow Knight's Mate Read Online Free

Jack’s arm, looking sternly into his eyes. “If one is going to take a man’s work, one must take it all, especially its principles. Anything else is an abomination.”
    Jack laughed again. “You have a very refined sense of ethics.”
    Jack was much less concerned with the years-ago theft of his intellectual property than with the fact that he could no longer see Chun’s bodyguards. Amid the huge crowds in the convention center there were ebbs and flows of people, like waves. One of those tides had apparently swept over the bodyguards and pulled them out to sea. They could have just gotten momentarily separated from their principle, but Jack didn’t think so.
    He stood in the midst of all those people and felt isolated. No one else saw. No one would do anything. Where was security?Earlier in the morning Jack had seen uniformed guards scattered regularly through the hall, but now saw none.
    He and Chun walked on. The bodyguards did not reappear. Chun in his absorption with questioning Jack didn’t seem to notice. Jack no longer saw the man and woman he thought had been following him, either, but didn’t feel reassured.
    â€œI thought perhaps picking up the stick in the alley was permissible under your rules because it was a found object, not meant as a weapon, and you didn’t carry it with you.”
    Jack shook his head. “No weapons, that was the rule. A stick is a weapon.”
    â€œAh.” Chun puzzled at the obstacle. “What if you defended yourself with a hatrack, then, that happened to be available? What about… a credit card?”
    â€œChun, you’re going way deeper into this than the game will really support. The point of it was not to
get
attacked. Once you’re attacked you’ve failed.”
    â€œAh,” Chun said again. He had amazing concentration, standing completely absorbed in thought in the middle of the chaotic scene. Jack, on the other hand, was looking all around them. He felt a trap tightening, though he still didn’t see the people he’d thought were pursuing him.
    Then he did—the woman, her blondeness distinctive in the crowd, flitting behind a booth.
    â€œChun?”
    â€œEh?”
    â€œWhere are your men?”
    Chun turned very slowly, a complete three hundred and sixty degrees. The quality of his concentration changed abruptly. His features moved alertly. His hands clenched and unclenched. Chun was trim and well-muscled, but barely over five feet tall. Jack could see over his head.
    â€œSometimes you can’t see them,” Chun said slowly of his bodyguards.
    â€œThat would be true if they were gone, too.”
    â€œCome.”
    Chun took Jack’s elbow and guided him swiftly. Jack hoped his friend was looking for allies, but Chun just kept moving, turning from aisle to aisle, finally slipping through a relatively open space. On the other side, among a crowd of exhibits again, he said, “Two of them, yes? A man and a woman?”
    Jack nodded. “Do you recognize them?”
    Chun shook his head. “Only their purposefulness. Will you do me a favor, my friend?”
    â€œOf course.”
    â€œWe are going to walk down that narrow aisle over there, back into the staging area where it’s less crowded. I will walk in front. Your body and your coat should cover me. Just keep walking back that direction until you are in an area empty of people. All right?”
    â€œIsn’t there anybody you could call?” Jack asked. “Back-up? Bring on the next shift of bodyguards early?”
    Chun smiled at his nervousness. “You are the next shift, Jack. Heaven sent you, I think. Come.”
    He turned and walked, still as if strolling. Jack, following orders, walked almost directly behind him. Jack wore a long, lightweight overcoat, a variation on a style of dress still favored by some gamers, how many years after “The Matrix”? Chun seemed to compact himself even