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.If they letFindo Cask dictate the conditions of any trade, she argued, he would put them in a box.He would createa situation where they had no hope of freeing either Harper or Little John.Besides, he would not makethe exchange in any case, not even if they revealed to him that he had the gypsy morph in his possessionalready.He would simply kill them.If they wanted to have any chance at all, they had to act now, whileGask thought them paralyzed and helpless.They had to go after the demons on their own ground.Ross was not averse to the idea of a preemptive strike; it rather appealed to him.He had taken on afatalistic attitude regarding his own future, and his sole concern was for the children.But he was adamantthat their best approach was to keep Nest out of the picture entirely.He would go by himself, confrontGask, and free the children if he could.If there were any sacrifices required, they would come from him. John, you can t do it alone, she pointed out reasonably. You don t even know how to get to whereGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlyou need to go.I ll have to drive us.Listen to me.When we get there, one of us will have to distract thedemons while the other frees the children.It will be hard enough with two of us working together.It willbe impossible if you try it alone.There were at least four demons, she added.Findo Gask, the girl Penny, the ur droch, and a giant albinocalled Twitch.That was too many for him to try to take on by himself. I have as much stake in this as you do, John, she said quietly. Harper is my responsibility.Bennettgave her into my safekeeping.And what about Little John? He asked for me, brought you to me, and lastnight called me Mama as if I had it in me to give him the one thing he most needs.I can t ignore that.Ican t pretend it didn t happen or that it doesn t mean anything, and it s wrong of you to ask me to doso. You re not equipped for this, Nest, he insisted angrily. You don t have the tools.The only realweapon you have is one you don t want to use.What s going to happen if you have to call Wraith out todefend you? What if you can t? The demons will kill you in a heartbeat.I have the magic to protectmyself, but I don t think I can protect us both. Besides, he said, shaking his head dismissively. You aren t the one who was asked to protect themorph.I was.This isn t your fight.She smiled at that. I think it s been my fight since the day Findo Gask appeared on my doorstep andtold me what would happen if I took you in.I don t think I ve got a choice.In the end, he agreed.They would go together, but only if she promised that once she had possession ofthe children she would get out of there and that she would not expose herself to any more danger thanwas absolutely necessary.As if, she wanted to say, but agreed.The children, she told him, were in an old house on Third Street, down by the west plant of MidConSteel.She had gone to that house with church carolers earlier on the same night he had appeared at herdoor.In the wake of everything else that had happened, Nest had all but forgotten the incident with Twitch andAllen Kruppert.She had suspected that something wasn t right with that house and the strange people init, but she hadn t given the matter any further thought after Ross appeared with the morph.It wasn t untilnow she remembered Bennett saying, when pressed, that Penny claimed to be Findo Cask s niece. If the connection is real, she explained to Ross,  they re all staying in that house on Third.That swhere they ll have the children.Gask wasn t there that night, or at least he didn t show himself.I think hewas testing me, John, trying to see how strong I was, how easily I would frighten.But he was beingcareful to stay hidden from me in the process.I don t think he has any idea we know about hisconnection to that house. Maybe, Ross acknowledged grudgingly. But even if you re right, we won t be able to just walk hithere.If you were smart enough to have Pick throw a protective net over your house, won t Gask havedone something like it to his?She had to agree that he would.How would they get past whatever safeguards he had installed? Forthat matter, how would they even know where to look for the children? If she couldn t get to them beforeGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlthe demons discovered what they were about, the children s lives were over.Even a distraction by Rossprobably wouldn t be enough to save them.At least one demon would get there first.It was still snowing heavily outside, and the snowplows were beginning to make their runs up and downthe nearby streets, metal blades scraping loudly in the snowfall s hushed silence [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]