Mything Persons

Deveel will brave to turn a profit. Do you want to go ex-

ploring in a world that's too mean for them to face?"

"I see what you mean."

"Besides." Aahz finished triumphantly, "take an-

other look at that door. It's got more locks and bolts

than three ordinary bank vaults."

"Somebody opened it," Guido said pointedly.

That took some of the wind out of Aahz's sails.

Despite himself, he shot a nervous glance at the door.

"Well... a good thief with a lockpick working from

this side...."

"Some of these locks weren't picked, Aahz."

I had been taking advantage of their discussion to do

a little snooping, and now held up one of my discoveries

for their inspection. It was a padlock with the metal

shackle snapped off. There were several of them scat-

tered about, as if someone had gotten impatient with the

MYTH-ING PERSONS 15

lockpick and simply torn the rest of them apart with his

hands.

Guido pursed his lips in a silent whistle. "Man, that's

strong. What kind of person could do that?"

"That's what we've been trying to get you to tell us,"

Aahz said nastily. "Now, if you don't mind, what were

those customers like?"

"Three of them... two men and a woman... fairly

young-looking, but nothing special. Klahds by the look

of 'em. Come to think of it, they did seem a bit nervous,

but I thought it was just because they were coming to see

a magician."

"Well, now they're on the other side of the door."

Aahz scooped up one of the undamaged locks and

snapped it into place. "I don't think they can pick

locks, or break them if they can't reach 'em. They're

there, which is their problem, self-inflicted I might add,

and we're here. End of puzzle. End of problem."

"Do you really think so, Aahz?"

"Trust me."

Somehow that phrase struck a familiar chord in my

memory, and the echoes weren't pleasant. I was about

to raise this point with Aahz when Nunzio poked his

head in the door.

"Hey, Boss. You got visitors."

"See?" my partner exclaimed, beaming. "I told you

things could only get better! It's not even noon and

we've got more customers."

"Actually," Nunzio clarified, "it's a delegation of

Deveels. I think it's the landlord."

"The landlord?" Aahz echoed hollowly.

"See how much better things have gotten?" I said

with a disgusted smirk. "And it's not even noon."

"Shall I run 'em off, Boss?" Guido suggested.

16 Robert Asprin

"I think you'd better see *em," Nunzio advised.

"They seem kind'a upset. Something about us harbor-

ing fugitives."

Aahz and I locked gazes in silence, which was only

natural as there was nothing more to be said. With a

vague wave that bordered on a nervous tick, I motioned

for Nunzio to show the visitors in.

As expected, it was the same delegation of four from

the Devan Chamber of Commerce who had originally

hired us to work for the Bazaar, headed by our old ad-

versary, Hay-ner. Last time we dealt with him, we had

him over a barrel and used the advantage mercilessly.

While he had agreed to our terms, I always suspected it

had hurt his Devan pride to cut such a generous deal and

that he had been waiting ever since to pay us back. From

the smile on his face as he entered our reception room, it

appeared he felt his chance had finally come.

"Aahh, Master Skeeve," he said. "How good of you

to see us so promptly without an appointment. I know

how busy you are, so I'll come right to the point. I

believe there are certain individuals in residence here

that our organization is most anxious to speak with. If

you would be so kind as to summon them, we won't

trouble you further."

"Wait a minute, Hay-ner," Aahz put in before I

could respond. "What makes you think the people

you're looking for are here?"

"Because they were seen entering your tent less than

an hour ago and haven't come out yet," said the largest

of Hay-ner's back-up team.

I noticed that unlike Hay-ner, he wasn't smiling. In

fact, he looked down-right angry.

"He must mean the ones who came in earlier," Nun-

zio suggested helpfully. "You know. Boss, the two guys

with the broad."

MYTH-ING PERSONS

17

Aahz rolled his eyes in helpless frustration, and for

once I was inclined to agree with him.

"Umm, Nunzio," I said, staring at the ceiling, "why

don't you and Guido wait outside while we take care of

this?"

The two bodyguards trooped outside in silence,

though I noticed that Guido glared at his cousin with

such disdain that I suspected a stern dressing-down

would take place even before I could get to him myself.

The Mob is no more tolerant than magicians of staff

members who say more than they should in front of the

opposition.

"Now that we've established that we all know who

we're talking about and that they're here," Hay-ner

said, rubbing his hands together, "call them out and

we'll finish this once and for all."

"Not so fast," I interrupted. "First of all, neither of

us have laid eyes on those folks you're looking for,

because, second of all, they aren't here. They took it on

the lam out the back door before we could meet them."

"Somehow, I don't expect you to take our word for

it," Aahz added. "So feel free to search the place."