The Wreckage of Paradise.pdf - Dice

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mFive days after Avitu burned, Gabe McKenzie keptwatching a video tape. He’d actually brought it home,though it showed him nothing, and his five-year-oldSamsung VHS player wasn’t going to reveal anything thatcould hide from the FBI’s Image Enhancement Lab. Hewould learn nothing, and he knew he would learn nothing.But he still watched.So did Mrs. McKenzie.It was a black-and-white surveillance tape from the jailwhere Tim Grady was held, while various agencies andoffices tried to decide which of his trials to schedule first.Grady’s cell was tiny. The camera had a distorted image(though he’d seen it “unstretched” by a video processingprogram) because its bubble lens permitted every inch ofthe room to be seen, with the exception of perhaps the fivesquare inches occupied by the camera and the wall directlybehind it.It wasn’t an exciting tape. Grady sat. Seconds ticked byon a gray digital clockat the bottom of the image. 17: 25:02.17:25:03. 17:25:04.“Here it is,” Gabe said as I7:25:05 came up. Gradyhadn’t even twitched.
The screen went blank for a moment, a little rollinghiccup in the tape, and then the Hollywood Ice Pick wasgone.I7:25:12.“Did someone cut power to the building?” Mrs.McKenzie asked. The baby started to snuffle and make littlemewling noises.“Nope. And no one entered the cell-the hall cameraswork fine and show that, and so do the guard stationcameras and the guard logs. Besides, all the cameras havebattery backups.”“Could someone have.. .” she trailed off, because thebaby was starting to cry in earnest. With a casual glancedown, she hiked her shirt up to nurse it.“The wall behind it’s solid. The camera is tamperevident.There’s no space large enough for a man to getthrough, other than this corridor, nothing that’s adjacentto Grady’s room except for other rooms, and they’re allblocked by six inches of concrete. The walls are unharmed.He didn’t go down the hall. The alarm got sounded twominutes after ... after this. He couldn’t have gotten far.They’ve turned the facility upside-down.”“Into thin air,” she murmured.For a moment they were silent. Gabe rewound the tapeand watched it again.“MaybeMaywill turnup, evenwith himgone,” she said.He said nothing.“You think she’s dead, don’t you?” Mrs. McKenzie saidsoftly. “You’re hoping for remains.”Gabe shrugged. “Seeing this.. . anything’s possible.”The phone rang. Gabewas tired, but he got up. Hiswifeheard his side of the conversation.“McKenzie. Yeah. Yeah?”She could hear him perk up, hear the interest in hisvoice. Then? What, both of them? Are they still there?”Apause. “Damn it!”He was quiet, listening, for a long time. He gave hiswifeand child a look, and she felt a sinking sensation. Hisexpression wasn’t happy.
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Greg StolzeBook Three of the Trilog
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“Refusing her grand hests, she di
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more, and this time there was no re
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$he saw the madness in Birdie’s e
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~ “Us,”Isdant inches in front o
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~~ “The~Iut+~4$I “Hurry up!”
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~ “All~ “Huh?”~ Cautiously,lc
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“If I can help you fight ... demo
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wt+lHaQ8.Im6wBLb“Thewhat?” Mitc
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“Mm-hm. You remember the oldsong?
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Usiel, Reaper of Souls, made tea. T
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grams and an altar with a screaming
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Mukikel’s eyebrows rose. “You t
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“You had the chance to be her thr
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*More silence. The three were uncha
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GREG S’POtZE**“Maybe Iwon’tse
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“I sacrifice, in your name,” Du
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known in the Holy Host, noble pleas
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had a vague memory of seeing someth
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Gabriel McKenzie suddenly had a lot
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East St. Louis, runningthrough avac
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More key taps and mouse clicks, and
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w3“You say you saw her on the fif
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“A cloth coat. Dark, like navy bl
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___- _.-__I__QRBG STt3LZB9the choir
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*Godly or Godless. We’ve got chur
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Noah said nothing, but his eyes wer
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*‘Yeah, I ran the engine and spra
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“Do you want to know why he exorc
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outlawed in the US was not because
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ous, offsetting the warty bubbles t
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She just shook her head in disbelie
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Out at the compound, Black Hawk O
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4RBG ‘STOLZBThat’s how he felt,
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*** mRosemary Nevins’ ghost watch
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a restaurant was a mob front. These
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The rest ofthemwere thewafflers, th
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He put his hankie away and stood up
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*** mRuby Fowler sat in the lobby a
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“Come with me.” He stood and he
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afternoon when fewer people were ar
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she was very patient, she was not f
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But he didn’t finish his sentence
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wrecked-the front end looked like a
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wanted to get in, get out, get home
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“Get out,” Rosemary told Grady.
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ZP*XmiKm nSweet Pete’s gold teeth
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“Mm,” Roscoe said, nudging Hasm
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GRPG fFObZE*euptightness that Sal d
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.“You come near her again, you sp
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“My family cannotknow,”Barneysa
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Thinking back on what he’d seen C
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man in the rear seat had nothing. T
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‘Well, yeah, but look on the brig
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“Is there a more... serious strai
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“I’m sure,” Sal said.& & &Has
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63“My baby!” the woman gasped,
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Three dead women were defending the
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They were firing at the specters in
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GREG ISTOtZ33‘Why are we going to
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“R-really?”I FORGIVE YOU.“Tha
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He frowned, pushedthe doorbellbutto
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demon’s attention-through an invo
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vada. If some other demon is behind
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GrR89 B’POLZB“You speak his nam
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“Straight up, word to your mother
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GREG S’fOtZP*‘Yeah, well, see t
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“So he’s your man.”“I dunno
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“false” in any number ofways. T
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“So,” Gabe McKenzie asked Matth
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For a while, he just sat. He made a
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her into a living room whose magnif
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frenzy. He was, at one time, a clev
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H3I don’t know! Call other demons
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Not a god ... damn ... thing. Sorry
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in the other car hadn’tplayedthe
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“No,” Barney said, and the word
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Previously, he’d been unable to v
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population due to the danger they p
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Is he even listening?Gabewondered.
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Forawhile, theysat. Thenhesaid, “
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*.a“He already has, Gaviel! And w
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Yeah. Pisser, ain’t it?X“Imcoul
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trial gray as she climbed the dingy
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“It wasn’t necessarily my plan.
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The peoplewere on gurneys. Theywere
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IYstarted to go wrong. She came to
Page 184 and 185: ShadrannatswitchedtoPlanB. Usingthe
Page 186 and 187: - sevenLangdon Hagen didn’t expec
Page 188 and 189: Five. Oh shit. Langdon stuck a fing
Page 190 and 191: Invoke him and find out.“Eh... I
Page 192 and 193: “Do you know who Tim Grady is?”
Page 194 and 195: Her power was waxing-wLh each sacri
Page 196 and 197: So spare the world my evil. Or dish
Page 198 and 199: “Though, to be sure, it is a grea
Page 200 and 201: He looked away. “You don’t get
Page 202 and 203: murderers scream at him that they
Page 204 and 205: felt that compulsion. The blank sle
Page 206 and 207: “I know that doesn’t excuse not
Page 208 and 209: 1* * t Q *Sal lit a cigarette, took
Page 210 and 211: Sal took a deep breath and hoped he
Page 212 and 213: “(And that’s why Mukikel bound
Page 214 and 215: “Defiance,” Buniel said, his vo
Page 216 and 217: “And you’re so sure there D mor
Page 218 and 219: What else had they talked about? Th
Page 220 and 221: QBuniel had never seen Mukikel real
Page 222 and 223: w-rong, even after she’s pulled i
Page 224 and 225: presently he was rewardedwith a sho
Page 226 and 227: Officer Eislingnormallywouldn’tha
Page 228 and 229: her would cause trouble. The best d
Page 230 and 231: onlythe matter, butthe energythat m
Page 232 and 233: een God? I how God. Or knew Him, at
Page 236 and 237: “Let metalkitoverwith ... yeah..
Page 238 and 239: fugitive business far simpler. Sabr
Page 240 and 241: felt that Dagley should pay for it.
Page 242: H3“Pamela, hey! How’s it going?
Page 245 and 246: crowds gathered near him. And once
Page 247 and 248: wCCIQEkrn*wIf:b***“He thought the
Page 249 and 250: *€€EWRECKBGE OF PBRaDffE“His
Page 251 and 252: +HEwmc+taw OF PaRm-fwUJtu .‘ I se
Page 253 and 254: +flEEWPRBCKZbGB OF -PZbRaB,fSEHe wa
Page 255 and 256: +*BwPRBC%caw3 O F P8R89ffE$ thanks
Page 257 and 258: 6@Y0“I’ll have to get that wash
Page 259 and 260: $GlHe told the story, and at first
Page 261 and 262: whuHa0grrn6w6have me. So sorry.”A
Page 263 and 264: pickup. The LA bureau branch wouldn
Page 265 and 266: Maywandered out when the door was l
Page 267 and 268: Blackie felt a pistol barrel touch
Page 269 and 270: wn;lFrom a pocket, she produced a c
Page 271 and 272: $ air. His officers had found Lance
Page 273 and 274: Usiel was the last to act. He could
Page 275 and 276: how she could be saved, and even if
Page 277 and 278: Mukikel hung her head. She knew the
Page 279 and 280: ‘Why not? He was jonesin’ for a
Page 281 and 282: into the Dagley case, was removed f
Page 283 and 284: urc;\HaQeccobwYQThey didn’t even
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a tu“What for?:’4 “Just wait
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