shadowrun 40 The Burning Time by Stephen Kenson Page B

up."
    "They don’t build ‘em all like you, chummer," Talon thought with a grin.
    "That’s for sure," Aracos shot back. "I have to admit that you really know how to summon a spirit."
    Talon felt a momentary surge of pride. It was true that he’d done a great job in summoning up Aracos. Then he thought about the spirit he’d called up to avenge Jase’s death, and the feeling of satisfaction evaporated. He’d certainly learned a lot about summoning spirits since then. Or so he hoped.
    When they reached the roof, the beetle drone exited the vent and crawled under the Microskimmer, which dropped down to pick it up. There was a "plink" sound as the skimmer’s magnetic gripper grabbed the Kanmushi. Then its engine whined, and it lifted smoothly off the roof and back toward the garage. Talon and Aracos followed it. When they reached the parking lot, Talon glanced down to see whether Roy Kilaro’s car was still there. He saw no sign that the "shadow" had moved from his stakeout, which was good.
    Back inside the garage, Talon slipped through the side of the van and back into his body lying on the floor of its rear compartment. He took a moment to reorient himself as his physical senses came rushing back to him. He opened his eyes, blinked a couple times, and sat up while Hammer went around to open the back doors of the vehicle.
    The Microskimmer glided in and dropped down to the floor as its motor wound down. Talon willed the invisibility spell to end, and the skimmer emerged into visibility as he bent to remove the tape and recover his ring from its hull.
    "Okay, cack the spirit and meet us back here," Talon thought to Aracos. The air elemental’s master would sense the spirit’s destruction, though he wouldn’t know exactly how it had happened. The team couldn’t afford to leave the spirit behind to reveal something about its attackers.
    Moments later, a golden-feathered falcon appeared and alighted on the seat back as Val jacked out of her remote deck. She and Hammer had changed seats, so she jacked into the van’s controls and started the engine.
    Talon keyed his commlink and opened a channel to the rest of the team.
    "Team One to Two and Three," he said. "Mission accomplished. We’re heading back. Nice work, everyone. Now all we have to do is wait for the drek to hit the fan."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

    Roy Kilaro was still doggedly tailing Dan Otabi, but he was getting tired of it. For one thing, Otabi showed no further signs of unusual behavior, where before he had seemed furtive and nervous. Like tonight, Roy thought. Dan Otabi had left work late that evening, then went straight to his car and drove home, where he stayed for the rest of the night. Roy was convinced that the change in Otabi’s demeanor had something to do with his visit to the Avalon the night before. He guessed that he’d gone there to score chips, or drugs, or something else along those lines.
    Roy had been sitting outside Otabi’s apartment complex for hours, and had started to think it was time to call it a night. If Otabi was slotting chips, he was probably sprawled out on the couch or the bed running one right now. Roy could try to break in, but he didn’t particularly want to get arrested. He decided to call it a night.
    Thinking about all that had happened since he’d arrived in the Boston plex, he realized that his hopes of making a big splash with this investigation had just about fizzled out. The fantasy of winning a promotion by exposing a plot that posed a danger to the company was being extinguished by the tedium of following someone as dull as Dan Otabi.
    He made up his mind to tell Otabi’s supervisor about his suspicions in the morning. Let him sort it all out. That way, Roy could be on the next flight back to Montreal. He shuddered at the thought of the piles of work probably awaiting him back in the office. Still, it couldn’t be worse than the fiasco this had turned out to be. Back in his hotel room, he took off his clothes and