Mercury Shrugs Read Online Free Page B

know,” said Pazusu. “But I just wanted to say, for the record, that when it’s my turn, I intend to attack the owlbear.”
    “So you’re not going to backstab me?” said Gurien.
    “Nope,” said Pazusu. “Pongo has had a change of heart. Much as it pains his chaotic evil heart, he has decided that in this case it is in his interest to cooperate with Valbard to kill the owlbear. Pongo advances to stand alongside Valbard. I mean, he will, when it’s his turn.”
    “For real?” said Gurien. “You’re not just saying that?”
    “Don’t be so paranoid, Gurien,” said Pazusu. “I was just fucking with you. I’m not going to backstab you while you’re facing down a ravenous owlbear. That would be stupid. If you die, the owlbear is going to attack me next.”
    “Yeah...” said Gurien doubtfully.
    “Oh for fuck’s sake, Gurien. I’m not going to backstab you. It was a joke. We’re fighting a goddamned owlbear.”
    Gurien turned to Drekavac. “You heard him. He’s not going to backstab me. He’s going to attack the owlbear.”
    “I heard him,” said Drekavac.
    “Okay, then it’s settled,” said Gurien. “No more infighting and backstabbing. We’re all going to cooperate, at least until the owlbear is dead. Right, Pazusu?”
    “Yes, Gurien. Just do your turn.”
    Gurien nodded and took a deep breath. “I attack the owlbear with my pike.”
    “Good,” said Drekavac. “Roll to see if you hit.”
    Gurien rolled a die. “Seven,” he said.
    “Miss,” said Drekavac. “Pazusu, your turn.”
    “Sweet,” said Pazusu. “I backstab Gurien .”

Chapter Three
    Berkeley, California; October 12, 2016
     
    The little red rented Chevy Cruze pulled into a vacant parking space in front of an old Victorian house in residential neighborhood not far from downtown Berkeley. The car’s two occupants sat for a moment regarding the house. It wasn’t what they expected.
    “You’re sure this is the address?” asked the slight, nervous-looking man in the passenger’s seat. If their intelligence was correct, this was the home of a very old, very rich man.
    “It’s right there on the house, boss,” said the purple-haired woman behind the steering wheel.
    The slight man nodded. “So what do we do now?”
    “This was your idea, Eddie,” said the woman. “I just wrote the algorithm.”
    “Yeah,” said Eddie unenthusiastically. It was true; this whole thing had been his idea. Somehow when he had devised his plan, he had pictured someone else executing it. But it was still just him and Suzy. Suzy was nearly as socially inept as he was, and she was even less personally vested in the project. Eddie suspected Suzy was helping him primarily because she had had trouble finding a job after the Brimstone Incident. [6] Half of the companies she’d interviewed for thought she was a hero and the other half thought she was a traitor, and evidently HR departments frowned on both qualities in their software developers.
    “It’s fine, Eddie,” Suzy said, and Eddie smiled. Coming from Suzy, that sentence counted as enthusiastic encouragement, and for a moment he felt better. But then she added, “I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”
    Eddie shuddered as he thought about the worst that could happen.
    “Sorry,” said Suzy. “It’s just something people say.”
    Eddie nodded. “They say it when the worst that could happen is something less extreme than being burned alive. Or eviscerated. Or turned inside out. Or—”
    “I get it, Eddie,” said Suzy. “I know what demons are capable of. I’ve met my fair share. But to be perfectly honest, you’re just not terribly threatening. Nobody is going to go to the trouble of turning you inside out. And even if they do, you’re immortal, right?”
    “Being immortal is not actually a selling point when you’re inside out,” said Eddie.
    “I’m just saying, eventually you’d be okay. It might take a few days for your internal organs to slowly work their