There are two answers to evil, she said. The first is to justify it. The evil that you do is for a good cause, you’ll be validated in the end, it needed to be done, etcetera, etcetera. Of course, once...
Westie grinned. First men to ever escape the Iceberg. Hell, I bet they’ll make a movie about us. George Clooney might play me. You don’t look anything like George Clooney, Jake said. Said might, not w...
What about him? one of Brisco’s entourage asked, glaring at Jablonski. They all were, actually. He wasn’t a popular man. I pretended to think about it. Well, here’s the thing. I promised I wouldn’t ki...
Why are they trying to kill me? he squealed, cupping his hands over his head. They’re not, I told him. They’re trying to kill me. So stay close. They’re trying to kill you, so I should stay close? He...
Why are you whispering? I’m on the roof of an evil flower shop, and I don’t want to get shot. That sort of answer, he said, really shouldn’t surprise me anymore.
Yeah. Gary nodded. She said that too, that it was your gun. Said this whole thing was your idea. My eyes narrowed to slits. Rookie technique. Make me think Jennifer was in the other room, rolling on m...
You could forge your pain into a sword, Nyx said, and persecute your enemies. Triumph. Survive. But fear imprisons you. Fear of breaking rules. Fear of what people will think of you. Petty little fear...
You got a name? Kim, he spat. What’s your first name? Mister.
Your traveling companion is a highly successful narcotics dealer. I held up a finger. Point of order. She was arrested for marijuana possession twice, growing it once, and all three times the charges...
Adrenaline after a gunfight’s like a coked-up rock star in an expensive hotel room. It doesn’t leave until it trashes the place.
Agent Black wanted to put Lauren Carmichael in a ten-by-ten prison cell. I had a better idea: a hole out in the desert, three feet wide and six feet deep.
Any suggestions? Boom-boom. Clump of C-4 the size of a butter stick, Jennifer said. Loud, Bentley said, but they’ll almost certainly be alerted to your presence as soon as the assault begins, no matte...
Bye, Stanwyck, I thought. I promised Coop I’d send you straight to hell. Looks like you’re taking the long, scenic route instead. I’d be lying if I said I gave a damn.
Does it still look like Jules Verne built a brothel? I nodded. I think they call that steampunk now, but yeah. It’s also got free-roaming man-eating shadows for a security system. And does anyone know...
He shook his head. It’s ridiculous. And embarrassing. People have no respect for professionalism, I said. Exactly. He waggled the tip of the knife at me, wincing as his fractured arm shifted an inch....
Help me? I shouldn’t have looked, but I did. The silhouette of a bloated man cowered in the dark, extending a fat, trembling hand with half its fingers gnawed to stumps. Please, he wheezed. I can’t st...
Hey, I said, panting, next time you find out that a major crime syndicate wants to take over Vegas, maybe let me know before I go to the city where they live? Send me a letter, maybe? Send up some smo...
I can’t hear you, people! Make some noise if you want a good show. How about death? Do you wanna see lots and lots of death tonight? I took in the applause, the hollering, the hammering feet, basking...
I ended up back at the airport before dawn, drinking black coffee from a recycled paper cup and listening to the come-play-me chimes from a bank of slot machines in the concourse. Vegas’s farewell to...
I love working with fanatics. You just wind them up, and off they go.
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