Lowball: A Wild Cards Novel by George R. R. Martin, Melinda M. Snodgrass Page A

later it slammed open again, revealing the big nat. Lupo, hearing the noise behind him, turned.
    And then the whole scene was flooded with red and blue lights and a voice on a bullhorn. “You! At the door! This is the police! Stop and put your hands up!”
    The man stopped in the doorway. But he didn’t put his hands up. Instead he turned and ran, vanishing into the night. “Halt!” cried the bullhorn. But the pounding footsteps kept going. The flashing lights followed.
    All was quiet and still for a moment. Then Lupo turned back to Gary, who still stood stunned on the landing. The wolf-man’s lips curled back and his fists clenched.
    Eddie pressed the intercom button. “Forget about him, Lupo!” he shouted. “It’s me you need to be talking with.”
    Lupo looked around, then noticed the intercom grille behind him. The door was still easing shut. “Eddie?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You know this little fucker?” It hurt Eddie’s already-throbbing head to hear Lupo’s grating voice simultaneously through Gary’s ears and, with an echoing delay, through the intercom.
    “In a manner of speaking.” Eddie swallowed. “Please, just listen to me.”
    Lupo gave Gary a vicious glare, but he stepped to the closing door and stopped it with one foot. “I’m listening.”
    “Look, the situation’s kind of complicated and I’m not proud of it, but right now the important thing is this: the snatchers are real, and they’re after you. But I … but my friend here”—he made Gary wave—“he led you away from them, while some of my other, uh, friends, distracted the thugs and called for help.”
    “How do I know you aren’t in cahoots with the snatchers?”
    “If I were, would I have given Franny those sketches that looked just like them?”
    “Urr…” Lupo growled, looking uncertain.
    As Gary looked down the stairs at Lupo, Eddie wondered what the hell he was doing. How could he let this alcoholic, wolfish joker into his own home? He might work with the police sometimes, but he wasn’t a cop—he wasn’t sworn to serve or protect anyone.
    But still … saving Lupo from the snatchers had felt so good. He’d never dreamed that an ugly, twisted little joker like himself could have such a big impact on the world.
    And Lupo was, if not a friend, at least someone who had treated Eddie like a human being. Eddie pushed the intercom button again. “I swear I am not a snatcher, Lupo. But the snatchers are still out there.” He released the button, paused, swallowed, pushed it again. “If you come upstairs, I’ll … I’ll keep you safe for a while, until we can get this mess sorted out.”
    Lupo blinked, his big brown eyes shining in the vestibule’s harsh fluorescent light. “You’d do that for me?”
    “Yeah.”
    Lupo considered the idea for a bit, then stepped inside and let the door close behind him. “Okay.”
    Gary led Lupo up to Eddie’s apartment. Lupo regarded the little cartoon with clear suspicion, but followed quietly, trudging heavily up the stairs. It was only now that Eddie realized just how exhausted Lupo must be after that long chase.
    What a pair they were.
    Finally the cartoon and the joker stood outside Eddie’s door.
    Eddie hesitated, the brass doorknob cold in his hand. He hadn’t let another human being into his apartment in over five years.
    He turned the knob.

 
    Galahad in Blue
     
     
    Part Two
    APSARA SASHAYED INTO THE bullpen. Every male and even a few females paused to watch her progress. Everything was in motion, hips swaying, hair swinging, boobs bouncing. Last night that rack had been pressed against Franny’s bare chest, the hair wrapped around him mirroring her arms’ embrace. Franny was glad the desk hid his involuntary physical reaction. It was like being sixteen again. Next , he thought, I’ll break out, and my voice will start cracking.
    As she drew closer Franny could see the beautiful oval face was set in lines of worry and alarm, and the dark eyes were wide.