Elric to Rescue Tanelorn - Michael Moorcock [95]
Mr. Crookshank got in the path of one of the bursts, making a ludicrous attempt to duck the bullets even as they danced into his chest. Two soldiers collapsed on top of him.
Frank chuckled away as he fired.
“I think he’s gone barmy,” said Mr. Smiles. “This poses a problem, Mr. Cornelius.”
Jerry nodded. “Stop this nonsense, Frank!” he shouted, trying to make his tone firm. “What about a truce?”
“Jerry!
“Jerry!
“Jerry!” sang Frank from the room, firing more sporadically. “What do you want, Jerry? A Time Fix?
“Tempodex is my remedy for everyone. It’ll turn you on lovely, sport—can’t you feel those millions of years just waiting in your spine—waiting to move up into your back-brain—”
The gun stopped altogether and they began to move cautiously forward. Then Frank stooped to pick up an identical, fully loaded weapon. He began emptying it.
“—your mid-brain, your fore-brain—all your many brains, Jerry—when the tempodex starts opening them up?”
“He is in a jolly mood,” said Miss Brunner from somewhere well behind the front line.
Jerry just didn’t feel like doing anything except duck bullets at that moment. He felt very tired. Another couple of mercenaries piled themselves up neatly. They were running out of help, Jerry thought.
“Can’t we throw something at him? Isn’t there any more gas?” Miss Brunner sounded vexed.
“Well, look here, he’s got to run out of bullets sooner or later.” Mr. Smiles believed that if you waited long enough, the right situation always presented itself. A thought struck him, and he turned angrily to the mercenaries. “Why aren’t you retaliating?”
They began retaliating.
Mr. Smiles quickly realized his mistake and shouted: “Stop! We want him alive!”
They stopped.
Frank sang and kept his finger on the trigger.
“He’ll get an overheated barrel if he’s not careful,” said Mr. Smiles, remembering his mythology. “I hope he doesn’t blow himself up.”
Miss Brunner was picking her nose. She discarded the filters. “I don’t care if there is any more gas,” she said. “I’m not having the filthy things up there any longer.”
“Well, look,” said Jerry, “I’ve got one neurade left, but it could kill him, the state he’s in.”
“It wouldn’t do me much good now. You might have warned me.” Miss Brunner scanned the floor.
Another mercenary groaned and went down.
The sub-machine-gun stopped. The last bullet ricocheted off the wall. There came the sound of sobbing.
Jerry peered round the corner. Among his guns, Frank sat weeping with his head in his hands.
“He’s all yours.” Jerry walked towards the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Miss Brunner took a step after him.
“I’ve done my bit of group effort, Miss Brunner. Now there’s something else I’ve got to do. Goodbye.”
Jerry went up to the ground floor and found the front door. He still felt nervous and realized that not all Frank’s guards had been accounted for. He opened the door and peered out of the house. There didn’t seem to be anyone about.
Gun still in his hand, he walked down the sloping drive towards the lodge where John ought to be with Catherine.
The lights were out in the lodge, but he didn’t think it strange in the circumstances. He looked down the hill towards the village. All the lights were out there, too. Mr. Smiles had paid someone to fuse the power supply. Jerry found the lodge door open and walked in.
In a corner, a bag of bones gave him a welcoming groan.
“John! Where’s Catherine?”
“I got her here, sir. I—”
“But where is she now? Upstairs?”
“You said after ten, sir. I was here by eleven. Everything went smoothly. She was a weight. I’m dying, sir, I think.”
“What happened?”
“He must have followed me.” John spoke with increasing faintness. “I got her here…Then he came in with a couple of the men. He shot me, sir.”
“And took her back to the house?”
“I’m sorry, sir…”
“So you should be. Did you hear where he was taking her?”
“He—said—putting her—back to—bed, sir…”
Jerry left the lodge and began to run up the drive. It was odd how normal the house looked from the outside. He re-entered it.
On the