Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer [56]
“You’re good,” said Mulch, wagging a finger at the unconscious bodyguard. “But nobody takes a body blow from Mulch Diggums and stays on their feet.”
The Mud Man stirred, the whites of his eyes showing beneath fluttering lids.
Root’s voice crackled in the dwarf’s ears. “Get a move on, Mulch Diggums, before that Mud Man gets up and rearranges your innards. He took out an entire Retrieval team, you know.”
Mulch swallowed, his bravado suddenly deserting him.
“An entire Retrieval team? Maybe I should get back underground . . . for the good of the mission.”
Skipping hurriedly around the groaning bodyguard, Mulch took the steps two at a time. No point in worrying about creaking stairs when you’ve just sent the intestinal equivalent of Hurricane Hal scurrying around the corridors.
He’d almost reached the cellar door when a figure shimmered into focus before him. Mulch recognized it as his arresting officer from the Renaissance Masters smuggling case.
“Captain Short.”
“Mulch. I wasn’t expecting to see you.”
The dwarf shrugged. “Julius had a dirty job. Someone had to do it.”
“I get it.” Holly nodded. “You’ve already lost your magic. Smart. What did you find out?”
Mulch showed Holly his find. “This was in his safe.”
“A copy of the Book!” gasped Holly. “No wonder we’re in this fix. We were playing into his hands all along.”
Mulch opened the cellar door. “Shall we?”
“I can’t. I’m under eyeball orders not to leave the house.”
“You magical types and your rituals. You have no idea how liberating it is to be rid of all that mumbo jumbo.”
A series of sharp noises drifted down from the upper landing. It sounded like a troll thrashing around in a crystal emporium.
“We can debate ethics at a later date. Right now I suggest we make ourselves scarce.”
Mulch nodded. “Agreed. This guy took out an entire Retrieval squad apparently.”
Holly paused, half shielded.
“An entire squad? Hmm. Fully equipped. I wonder . . .”
She continued her fade-out, and the last thing to go was her widening grin.
Mulch was tempted to hang around. There weren’t many things more fun to watch than a heavily armed Recon officer going to town on a bunch of unsuspecting humans. By the time Captain Short got through with this Fowl character, he’d be begging her to get out of his manor.
The Fowl character in question was watching it all from the surveillance room. There was no denying it. Things were not good. Not good at all. But certainly not irredeemable. There was still hope.
Artemis catalogued the events of the last few minutes. The manor’s security had been compromised. The safe room was in a shambles, blown apart by some sort of fairy flatulence. Butler lay unconscious, possibly paralyzed by the same gaseous anomaly. His hostage was loose in the house, her fairy powers restored to her. There was an unsightly creature in leather pants burrowing holes beneath the foundations with no apparent regard for the fairy commandments. And the People had retrieved a copy of the Book, one of several copies as it happened, including one on disk in a Swiss vault.
Artemis’s finger combed an errant strand of dark hair. He would have to dig very deep to uncover the good in this particular scenario. He took several deep breaths, finding his chi as Butler had taught him.
After several moments’ contemplation, he realized that these factors meant little to the overall strategies of both sides. Captain Short was still trapped in the manor. And the time-stoppage period was running out. Soon the LEP would have no option but to launch their bio-bomb, and that was when Artemis Fowl would unveil his coup de grâce. Of course, the whole thing depended on Commander Root. If Root was as intellectually challenged as he looked, it was quite possible the entire scheme would collapse