The Tabit Genesis Read Online Free Page A

more despicable things I’ve done in my life. But
not
what had happened last night.
    The Minotaur was now holding a gun.
    ‘Do you want to know?’ he asked.
    His question provoked a powerful revulsion in me, like some primeval, autoimmune response to danger.
    ‘No,’ I answered.
    He pressed the weapon against my temple. Deep down I could feel this whimpering urge to do something about it. But my limbs were limp, unresponsive dead weights. I had a reflex to deal with this. The muscle memory was there because I’d practised it a thousand times. It just wasn’t listening to me.
    I guess I didn’t care.
    ‘You swore an oath,’ the Minotaur said, snorting through flaring nostrils. ‘Remember?’
    I didn’t, but began surrendering to the possibility.
    ‘Lie to yourself all you want,’ the Minotaur said. ‘The truth is coming.’
    ‘Is that why you’re here?’ I spat.
    Steam poured from his nostrils.
    ‘Something like that.’
    Maybe the high was wearing off, and the adrenaline was wresting back control of my sanity. But a voice rang out that I hardly recognised, and it used my mouth to speak.
    ‘I do what I do for the job,’ I muttered.
    The Minotaur roared a slow, throaty laugh.
    ‘How’s that working out for you?’ he quipped, tapping the gun against my head. ‘Is it worth this?’
    Strangely, the cold sensation of steel against skin reminded me of someone who once gave me strength.
    But I had to try harder to forget.
    ‘The job,’ I said, driving the memory out, ‘is absolutely worth it.’
    The Minotaur spat onto the floor. His phlegm burst into flames on contact, making the place stink of sulphur.
    ‘This is the last time I’ll ask,’ he warned. ‘Where is Jake Reddeck?’
    My patience ran out.
    ‘Look, friend,’ I said, ‘I really don’t know who he is.’
    He struck me once, then again when the first blow didn’t open a deep enough gash.
    ‘Guess you’re telling the truth,’ he growled, leaning in close to admire his handiwork. ‘Danna wouldn’t recognise you, anyway.’
    The name made my skin boil. Lesions bubbled out, oozing necrotic slime that dripped over every inch of me. The world spun with the ferocity of a Zeus cyclone.
    ‘Tell me,’ the Minotaur sneered, ‘was Danna worth the “job” as well?’
    I snapped.
    ‘
Fuck you!
’
    ‘What do you care?’ the Minotaur roared, centimetres from my face. ‘She was Jake’s problem, not yours.’
    Violent shivers wracked my spine.
    ‘I have to see this all the way through,’ I heaved. ‘Especially now that …’
    I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
    He stepped back, shaking his long, pointed horns back and forth.
    ‘You think she deserved what happened to her,’ he said.
    ‘I didn’t say that!’ I whined.
    ‘I think she died for nothing,’ the Minotaur said.
    ‘That’s not true!’ I shouted back.
    He pressed up against my face.
    ‘Show me why it isn’t.’
    Furious rage ran with the toxins in my veins. But I was the Minotaur’s captive. And, goddamn him, he was right. I could never justify all the wrong I’ve done.
    ‘Once you’re in, you go all the way,’ I muttered. ‘That’s how it is.’
    His eyes were crimson.
    ‘You broke your oath last night,’ the Minotaur growled, pushing his gun past my teeth. ‘You know what that means.’
    I shut my eyes, ready for the end, when an ear-piercing ring silenced the snarl of the Minotaur’s breath.
    A second ring, twice as loud, made him step back.
    The room’s spin was starting to slow.
    ‘Too bad,’ the Minotaur snarled. ‘See you around, Jack.’
    Familiar settings began taking shape. Of all places, I was in my own apartment.
    ‘Jack! I know you’re in there,’ I heard. ‘I’m breaking in.’
    It was my friend Dusty, and I couldn’t answer him because I was holding a gun in my mouth. It fell between my legs as the door slid open.
    His frail, ungainly silhouette appeared in the doorway.
    ‘Holy shit,’ he breathed. ‘What’s with the