Unsympathetic Magic - Laura Resnick [85]
“Biko! Stand down,” Lopez ordered. “Right now!”
Biko lowered his sword and backed away from Henry, but he turned a hard stare on the man.
Lopez glanced at the wooden sculpture. “Drop it.”
Henry dropped it. Catherine gave a little moan as it cracked and splintered upon hitting the hard floor.
Looking at the shaking, sweating older man, Lopez said in a clipped voice, “Go sit down.”
Henry nodded and staggered over to the wall, where he slumped down into one of the lobby chairs, at a safe distance from both Nelli and Napoleon.
Still holding the struggling dog, Lopez said urgently to me, “Is this your blood?”
“Huh? What? Oh!” I shook my head, still disoriented. “No, it’s Nelli’s.”
He turned his attention next to Mambo Celeste. An extraordinary expression crossed his face as he watched her struggle with her writhing snake. He lowered Nelli to the ground and, keeping one hand on her collar, he used the other to reach for his holstered gun.
“No!” Catherine, Max, and I all cried at once.
“It’s her pet,” Catherine said. “It’s just frightened.”
“Good God.” Lopez left his gun in its holster and instead used his free hand to reach down, grab Max by his shirt, and haul him to his feet. “Can you control your damn dog?”
“Well, now that she is somewhat calmer, I believe—”
“She needs a vet.” Lopez handed Nelli’s leash to Max.
“Nelli!” Max cried in alarm, realizing that her blood covered the floor.
“My vet’s just a few blocks away,” Biko said. “I’ll take them.”
Lopez said to Biko, “Hand me that sword.”
Biko looked shocked. “I can’t give you my sword!”
Moving swiftly, Lopez seized the weapon from the appalled young man and headed for the struggling mambo.
Biko said in horror, “Hey, don’t touch that thing with my—Oh, man . . .”
Unable to bear the sight, the lad looked away as Lopez poked the writhing snake sharply with the rapier.
Napoleon responded sensibly to this new attack by slithering away from the mambo and fleeing. Seeing the snake on the move again, Nelli barked.
“NO!”
Nelli flinched at Lopez’s tone and lowered her head. Moving with disturbing speed, Napoleon had already reached the far wall and was frantically trying to climb it, intent on escape. He kept falling down and trying again. I was torn between pity and revulsion.
Lopez returned the rapier to Biko and then grabbed a pretty batik cloth that was draped over the small table that stood next to Henry’s chair. He knelt by Nelli’s side.
Realizing his intention, Catherine protested, “You can’t use that! It’s—”
“Shut up.” He wrapped Nelli’s bleeding paw with the material as he said to Catherine, “You and that woman have five minutes to get that snake into its cage. If I don’t see it safely contained by then, I’m calling animal control to come get it.”
Nelli’s dewclaw lay near me. I moved away from it and climbed laboriously to my feet.
Lopez finished wrapping Nelli’s paw. He ignored the dog’s attempt to lick his hand as he rose to face Catherine, who was still standing there frowning at him. He said to her, “Now you have four and a half minutes.”
She gave him a coldly affronted look, opened her mouth, and drew breath to speak. I thought she was going to threaten to complain to his superiors, and I recalled that she was a billionaire’s widow and probably well-connected. But, meeting Lopez’s hard gaze, she evidently changed her mind. After a pregnant pause, Catherine closed her mouth, looking sullen as her shoulders sagged slightly.
She turned on her heel and walked swiftly to the reception desk, where she took the gasping, cursing Mambo Celeste by the shoulders and tried to get her to calm down. Then, moving like people who were a lot more familiar with snakes than I ever wanted to be, the two women picked up the squirming, disoriented boa constrictor and carried him out of the lobby.
Lopez said to Biko, “Lock that sword away someplace safe, then take