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The Minister felt as if he'd bumped into a hornets' nest and for his pains (or
by them) was being driven off course, which he really couldn't afford to let
happen. He held up his hands, took on a harder, more authoritative tone of
voice. 'For God's sake, put your feuding and personal feelings aside!' he
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cried. 'At least for the moment, or for as long as it takes.
Whatever else any one of you is or isn't, there's one thing we can at least be
sure of: you're all human!'
Which hit them like a truck.
Seeing that he now had their attention, and while he retained the upper hand,
the Minister turned pleadingly to Ben Trask. 'Mr Trask - but level-headed, if
you please - will you repeat what you told me downstairs?'
Trask looked at him grudgingly but nodded. 'Only first let me finish telling
them what you started. They already know most of it and have probably guessed
the rest, so I'll get straight to it. And it just might come easier if they
hear it from me.'
'Very well,' the Minister replied, sighing his relief.
And Trask began:
'Zek Föener gave us a helping hand in the Greek islands,' he said. 'You'll
know who she is from the Keogh files, what happened at Perchorsk and on
Starside, etc. She's a powerful telepath, one of the world's best. But like
the Necroscope himself she's opted out of cloak and daggery.
'Anyway, it was dodgy out there in the Med. We were killing vampires, and
there were plenty of times when they nearly killed us. But Harry took the
brunt of it and went up against the Big One, Janos Ferenczy himself -and I
know I don't have to tell you about the
Ferenczys. When Harry was in Romania that last time, just before the end, Zek
tried to get in touch with him to see how things were going. But telepathy
over great distances isn't easy and she didn't get too much. At least that's
what she told us, but we could see that
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Brian Lumley - Necroscope 5 - Deadspeak what she did get shocked her rigid.
'I know Darcy Clarke has been worried stiff about it, for the fact is Darcy
thinks the
Necroscope's the best thing since sliced bread. I know several of you also
think so, and, hell, so do I! Or I used to ...
'So ... we did the job and came back, and as far as we know Harry was
successful, too. It seems he made a great job of it. Except he's been a bit
cagey about what actually happened up in the Carpathians. Now me, I haven't
read too much into that. Nor has Darcy Clarke.
For after all, Harry did lose Sandra Markham out there. So Darcy was going to
let him get it off his chest in his own good time.
'For which - or so it would seem - Darcy's been sort of "reduced to the
ranks", de-
commissioned, bust, etc. But for what, that's what I'd like to know? For
inefficiency, in that he maybe didn't want to prejudge an old friend? For
holding back awhile and not going off half-cocked? For having - shit - just a
little faith!?'
Both the Minister and Paxton opened their mouths as if to butt in, but Trask
cut them out with: The thing you have to remember about Darcy Clarke is this:
that his talent doesn't go sneaking into other people's minds, eavesdropping
or spying from a distance. All it does is look after Darcy. But he's kept in
touch with the Necroscope and so far there's nothing to report. Darcy's talent
didn't warn him of any immediate danger. If it had . . . you can bet your life
he'd have been the first to yell! The last thing he'd want is for another
Yulian
Bodescu to be out and about!' 'But - ' Paxton started.
'Shut your face!'
Trask told him. 'These people are still listening to someone telling the
truth!
Only the truth . . .' And he eventually continued: 'Anyway, that was all
yesterday and today is today. And now things seem to have changed . . .' He
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paused and looked at the
Minister. 'Did you want to take it from there, sir?'
The Minister gave him a grim look and raised an eyebrow. 'But you haven't told
it all, Mr
Trask.'
Trask gritted his teeth but nodded. And after a moment: 'I'm just back from a
job,' he said.
'It's this serial killer thing we've been working on, these brutal, horrific
murders of young women. The thing is, Darcy had approached Harry for his help
on this one, because . . .
you know . . . that's what the Necroscope is: the one man in the world who can
talk to a victim after she's dead. And Darcy told me how Harry had been
especially upset by the death of the latest one, a girl called Penny
Sanderson.
'Well, two days ago Penny turned up - like a bad Penny, eh?' But he wasn't
grinning. 'Now this girl was dead and gone for ever, and yet suddenly here she
is, right as rain, back home with her old folks. And the point is she couldn't
even convince them that she hadn't been murdered! They had seen her body;
they'd known it was their daughter; they regarded her return as nothing short
of a miracle.
The police weren't happy with any of this. Oh, she had a story to tell, but it
rang like a cracked bell. And if she really was Penny Sanderson, then who had
been cremated? So the
Minister sent me up there to sit on a "standard police procedure interview".
Of course, I
was their lie-detector.
'Well, she was - is - Penny Sanderson; she wasn't lying about that. But she
was lying about her loss of memory and what all. So knowing the Keogh
connection, I just sort of thought
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Brian Lumley - Necroscope 5 - Deadspeak to ask her if she knew him: had she
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