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Baron Sharpe hummed to himself, swinging the bar-rel of the Copperhead in
short arcs.
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James Axler - Parallax Red
Crawler reached out and tugged him to a halt by a wide pant leg.
"Your friends don't want to play with them," he said petulantly, gesturing
behind him to the Magis-trates. "Tell them to wait here for you."
Baron Sharpe obligingly turned around, waving the Mags back. "Stay there.
Don't follow me. You'll spoil the game."
"But, Lord Baron " began Miles.
Crawler twisted half around, screeching, "Obey your baron!"
The Magistrates stared, dumbfounded, at the crip-pled creature. Despite his
status as a favorite of the baron, he was still a mutie, and muties did not
speak disrespectfully to norms, especially if the norms were Magistrates.
"You piece of shit," snarled Deylen, "who do you think you're talking to?"
Crawler made a derisive, spitting sound. "Show him, Lord Baron."
"Okeydoke," replied Baron Sharpe amiably, and squeezed off a 6-round burst
from his subgun at the Magistrates.
The baron's aim was pathetic. Out of the six rounds he fired, only two found
living targets, and then on the inoffensive Cameron and Miles. The bullets
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didn't pen-etrate the armor, but the kinetic shock hurt them, numbed them,
sent all three men, crying out in pained surprise, retreating hastily up the
stairs.
Kane watched the events with wide, confused eyes. He didn't feel relieved or
grateful to
Crawler for taking three opponents out of the play. Rather, his mind raced
with suspicions and extrapolations. The doomie had an ace on the line, but
Kane had not the slightest shred of an idea what it might be.
Crawler tugged peremptorily on the baron's belled pant cuff. "Let's go."
If Baron Sharpe noticed the distinct lack of defer-ence in the mutie's tone,
he didn't show it. He obeyed as Crawler slipped off the steps onto the floor
and took the lead.
Within moments, they were abreast of Kane's hiding place. He tracked the
baron's overlarge head with his blaster, intending to allow him to pass by,
then step out behind him once he was certain he had the drop.
Instead, Crawler came to a halt. Thrusting his head forward, he peered into
the darkness. Kane sensed a wispy touch, reminiscent of the time the blind
psi-mutie
Morrigan had telepathically probed him.
The sensation vanished almost immediately. Crawler, with a harsh laugh in the
back of his throat, pointed directly to Kane. "There is your playmate, my
Lord."
Baron Sharpe turned swiftly on his toes. Eagerly he exclaimed, "Good! This
game was
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James Axler - Parallax Red starting to tire me. Come out!
Olly-olly-oxen-free!"
Treading stealthily, Kane stepped out of the door-way, leading with his Sin
Eater.
Quietly he said, "Both of you make like statues. Lose the blaster, Baron."
Baron Sharpe gazed at him for a moment, then his high-planed face registered
deep disappointment. "He's only another Magistrate. You've truly let me down,
Crawler."
The mutie ignored the accusation. Addressing Kane, he rasped, "What are you
waiting for? Chill him."
Both Kane and the baron's eyes fixed on Crawler. Kane instinctively knew the
astonishment glimmering in Baron Sharpe's eyes was a mirror image of that in
his own.
His face worked through a number of emo-tions, fi