but Murphy’s opinion was a popular one; not the gook part, but that Keno was the bad guy because he had finally snapped, killed a shitload of people, and escaped. I wasn’t going to be the one who pointed out such small details like the kid had never shown any backbone before this and that it was fucking hard to escape through two feet of ceramic-metal alloy blast doors. Gossips never liked those tiny details.
Romejinoff was looking at McGann. I noticed the bitch still looked damned good even if she had spent the last hour crying on Wolf’s shoulder; or maybe she had been faking it to get closer to him.
Romejinoff was many things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. Wolf
“comforting” her for her grief would get her closer to him and maybe back into his bed. She was also one of the reasons I had been hoping Wolf would finally realize that Keno had the hots for him and maybe do something about it. Fussing over the kid would have kept her off his radar.
“What happened?” Romejinoff asked, her voice quivering.
“James―”
FELICITAS IVEY
46
“While none of the survivors are too coherent, they have almost the same memories,” McGann said. “Keno is innocent in all of them. In fact,” she paused, “it seems that he was a victim also.”
“What happened?” Wolf demanded.
McGann at least had the brains and the balls to look guilty. That’s one of the things I liked about her: she could admit that she screwed up.
“It seems that Heiseg took advantage of him.” Wolf looked blank, trying to figure out the euphemism while Romejinoff looked pissed. Her English was better than his. Better than mine, in fact. “James would never!”
“It’s not about sex, sister,” I snarled. “It’s about power, and McGann and Murphy let it be known that they didn’t give a shit about Keno from the beginning.”
“Fuck off!” Murphy protested.
“Shut the fuck up,” I growled. “Kid spent most of the time hiding when he realized that. Techs always were pushing him around, and I know a couple of the TCs wanted to hear him squeal like a pig because he was so pretty, but they hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Not like Keno was going anyplace.”
“You don’t have to be so crude,” McGann murmured.
“Crude would be mentioning the fact that James, ” I said, mimicking Romejinoff’s tone, “did more than Keno that night. He nailed all the techs who still had something for him to stick his cock into. All the women, at least, because the men were dinner for Hákarl, and after he fucked the girls, he let the Hákarl eat them.”
“Kairns!” McGann protested.
“Heiseg had traces of a lot of people on him that night,” I continued. “And enough crap in his system to do them all, plus assorted other drugs. The man was bugfuck insane with all the shit that was floating through his system.”
47
DREAMLANDS
Romejinoff looked like she wanted to go through the floor. Wolf started rubbing her back as she started crying again. Murphy was pissed. “What about the monsters?” Murphy asked. “The Hákarl?” There had been about three dozen of the damned things, torn apart either by each other, arguing about dinner, or by something else. By another kind of monster, from the tracks we found during clean up.
They were probably the ones that had marched in from nowhere, the ones I was certain had Keno. Although he was probably safer with them than he had been here, even if they were monsters.
“They seemed to have been summoned by Heiseg,” McGann said.
“Anya, I am so sorry to say this to you, but I don’t think that James was a well man. There are some anomalies on his psych reports that I was not told about. I think that the stress of his studies had gotten to him.”
“He was working longer hours,” Romejinoff said slowly. She looked embarrassed. “I thought that he was having an affair, but I didn’t want to confront him about it. But he would come home occasionally smelling of another woman’s
Romejinoff was looking at McGann. I noticed the bitch still looked damned good even if she had spent the last hour crying on Wolf’s shoulder; or maybe she had been faking it to get closer to him.
Romejinoff was many things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. Wolf
“comforting” her for her grief would get her closer to him and maybe back into his bed. She was also one of the reasons I had been hoping Wolf would finally realize that Keno had the hots for him and maybe do something about it. Fussing over the kid would have kept her off his radar.
“What happened?” Romejinoff asked, her voice quivering.
“James―”
FELICITAS IVEY
46
“While none of the survivors are too coherent, they have almost the same memories,” McGann said. “Keno is innocent in all of them. In fact,” she paused, “it seems that he was a victim also.”
“What happened?” Wolf demanded.
McGann at least had the brains and the balls to look guilty. That’s one of the things I liked about her: she could admit that she screwed up.
“It seems that Heiseg took advantage of him.” Wolf looked blank, trying to figure out the euphemism while Romejinoff looked pissed. Her English was better than his. Better than mine, in fact. “James would never!”
“It’s not about sex, sister,” I snarled. “It’s about power, and McGann and Murphy let it be known that they didn’t give a shit about Keno from the beginning.”
“Fuck off!” Murphy protested.
“Shut the fuck up,” I growled. “Kid spent most of the time hiding when he realized that. Techs always were pushing him around, and I know a couple of the TCs wanted to hear him squeal like a pig because he was so pretty, but they hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Not like Keno was going anyplace.”
“You don’t have to be so crude,” McGann murmured.
“Crude would be mentioning the fact that James, ” I said, mimicking Romejinoff’s tone, “did more than Keno that night. He nailed all the techs who still had something for him to stick his cock into. All the women, at least, because the men were dinner for Hákarl, and after he fucked the girls, he let the Hákarl eat them.”
“Kairns!” McGann protested.
“Heiseg had traces of a lot of people on him that night,” I continued. “And enough crap in his system to do them all, plus assorted other drugs. The man was bugfuck insane with all the shit that was floating through his system.”
47
DREAMLANDS
Romejinoff looked like she wanted to go through the floor. Wolf started rubbing her back as she started crying again. Murphy was pissed. “What about the monsters?” Murphy asked. “The Hákarl?” There had been about three dozen of the damned things, torn apart either by each other, arguing about dinner, or by something else. By another kind of monster, from the tracks we found during clean up.
They were probably the ones that had marched in from nowhere, the ones I was certain had Keno. Although he was probably safer with them than he had been here, even if they were monsters.
“They seemed to have been summoned by Heiseg,” McGann said.
“Anya, I am so sorry to say this to you, but I don’t think that James was a well man. There are some anomalies on his psych reports that I was not told about. I think that the stress of his studies had gotten to him.”
“He was working longer hours,” Romejinoff said slowly. She looked embarrassed. “I thought that he was having an affair, but I didn’t want to confront him about it. But he would come home occasionally smelling of another woman’s
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