The Ice Wolves Read Online Free Page A

him.”
    â€œDad thinks men need to be making things. Houses, factories, bridges. Not observing them. He’s an engineer. Made a pretty big fortune with his business, then sold it off and retired early.”
    Lisa came in with the coffee. “I wouldn’t mind meeting your dad, either.”
    â€œYou’d be disappointed.”
    Still weighing how much to say, Hellboy took his coffee over to the sofa. “A year ago, after William Lynch . . . your father . . . sold his business, he bought an old Greek Revival house in Boston. The Grant Mansion on Beacon Hill.”
    â€œYeah? That’s a bit out of Dad’s comfort zone. I never thought he’d leave the old neighborhood.”
    â€œWow. A mansion,” Lisa said wryly. “You’ve been hiding your good breeding pretty well.”
    â€œI never knew,” Brad said sharply. “I told you—we haven’t talked for three years.”
    â€œI need to get inside that house,” Hellboy continued. “Somewhere in it there’s an important artifact. Very important. And it could save a lot of lives.”
    â€œTried knocking on the door?” Lisa said tartly. “Always works for me.”
    â€œTurns out Brad’s dad has become something of a recluse over the last year. Never answers the door. No phone. Food gets delivered and deposited through a hatch next to the servants’ entrance. I tried everything. He’s got that place sealed up like a fortress.”
    â€œAnd you thought I could help?” Brad laughed.
    â€œGot a few friends to track down William’s relatives. Turns out you’re the only living one. I need you, Brad.”
    â€œEven if I wanted to help, he’s not going to pay any attention to me. I’ll be stuck out on the sidewalk, same as you. Begging and pleading won’t work with Dad. If he wants to be alone, that’s what he gets. Dad always gets what he wants.”
    â€œYou say this thing in the house could save people’s lives?” Lisa watched Hellboy intently, judging his trustworthiness.
    â€œLots of lives.”
    Making her decision, she nodded and turned to Brad. “You can’t stay in this place for the rest of your life. Let’s go to Boston.”
    â€œYou don’t know him, Lisa. It’s a waste of time.”
    â€œWhat kind of attitude is that?” she said sharply. “In Baghdad, we tried everything.”
    â€œThis isn’t Baghdad. It’s colder.” Brad sighed. He could never turn her down, however much he dreaded seeing his father and all the terrible things it was going to dredge up. The past wouldn’t leave him alone; he’d accepted that now. Maybe it was time to stop running. “You’re not going to give up, are you?”
    â€œYou know me very well, Brad. I’ve made my mind up. Now unless you want me to slap you around a bit for good measure, we’re on our way to Boston.”

  CHAPTER 3
    â€”
    â€œWhat is it with this weather?” Pulling up his collar, Brad eyed the dark clouds backing up over Boston. An unseasonably cold wind whipped off the Charles River as the temperature dropped rapidly. “It should be . . . what . . . seventy at this time of year?”
    Lisa shouldered her camera bag. “Weather’s been screwy for a few years now. All that global warming . . . going to get worse before it gets better. If it gets better.”
    Hellboy followed Brad’s gaze to the churning clouds, so heavy that dusk had started to fall an hour early. Lights were already sparking on the John Hancock Tower and Prudential Center, running in golden chains along the skyline. “I don’t know. Something about those clouds looks weird,” he said.
    Hellboy wasn’t the only one to think that. As the cab pulled away into the heavy flow of traffic, passersby stopped to eye the clouds uneasily, their faces filled with an inexplicable apprehension that was not