Читать книгу The Grand Dark онлайн | страница 74

“I want to keep my job. And my life.”

“A wise choice. See that you don’t forget the knife again.”

“I won’t.”

“All right. Enough of this nonsense. You have deliveries to make,” said Branca. He went back behind his desk.

“Then I’m not fired?”

“We’ll see. I’m not happy about the police incident, but I applaud you for your honesty.” Branca looked at a few parcels stacked on a battered wooden worktable. He picked up one and weighed it in his hands. “This will do nicely. I suspect you’ll wish you had your knife with you this morning.”

Largo looked at the package and wondered what was inside. He tried reading the address, but it was too far away. Is the old bastard just giving me a hard time or sending me off to get killed? he wondered. “I’ll get the knife during my lunch break,” he said.

“Another wise choice,” said Branca. “Tell me, does this sick friend of yours have any other friends?”

“Yes. Many.”

“Then perhaps one of them can visit tonight so that you won’t be tardy tomorrow.”

Largo shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “It won’t be necessary. She’s much better now.”

“I’m nearly fainting in delight,” said Branca, handing the parcel and an old shoulder bag to Largo, who took them and started out.

“Largo,” said Herr Branca.

He stopped and turned around.

“I approve of your shirt. It’s good to see you dressing a bit more professionally. I should have the money for your clothing stipend tomorrow. That’s all.”

Largo nodded to Branca and went out to his bicycle. He was excited at the prospect of having some decent clothes to wear. However, when he read the address on the parcel the excitement evaporated.

I was right.

The prick wants me dead.

Machtviertel had never really been a neighborhood, merely a collection of coal power plants, warehouses, and rail hubs. The plants produced power for much of the western half of Lower Proszawa, but its location had been chosen primarily to provide an endless source of heat and electricity for the armaments factory. However, when it switched to plazma power many years earlier, that left a surplus of coal in the district and more workers than it needed. Yet no one lost their job. The government kept the trains coming and let the coal pile up. They calculated that it was better to pay the workers than let them sit idle. And so the coal continued to grow. The coal continued to burn. And thus Machtviertel became a walled city within the city, ringed by a moat of filth.