Aces and Eights LAST PAGE
Harvey Smith
He grinned, "Getting rid of that guy was something I thought I'd done a long time ago." He ran a hand through his sweaty red hair. "You know what they say about doing the job right the first time around."
I laughed.
"What happened to your friend?"
"I'm not sure where she went, but she won't cause any problems; she had no personal stake in all this."
Luke looked at me in an appraising way, then nodded sharply. "I'll take your word on that. What's she like?"
Chuckling, I said, "Complicated, of course. And interesting. She returned your pendant, too." I handed it to him. "What were you doing with the Pattern?"
He looked around, taking in our misty surroundings. "I greatly slowed the time flow in this place. The process will continue for a while and before long, local time in this Shadow will barely creep along. That'll give me a chance to decide whether anything needs to be done about this ugly thing." He gestured toward the Shar'Chal. "For now, though, let's get out of here. I'd like to take a hot bath and get bandaged up. Then after a few hours sleep I want to take you out to this Tex-Mex place I discovered while you were away. You ought to like it; it's back on Shadow Earth, down in Austin. Over dinner, you can give me a more detailed account of everything that happened after you left Kashfa."
"There's a lot to tell for just one sitting."
"That's okay, I'm really hungry. I'll even pay for the food."
Reaching for my Trumps, I said, "You've got a deal."