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.In another moment, Dave knew why.He'd been the guru at that ill-fated Halloween party, the guy who'd been sporting a cast on his arm.The one all those people had fawned over, calling him "Master."And Jason dropped what he was doing to greet them like a pair of old friends."Master Jeffries!" The lead jumped down from the stage and approached the strangers—but oddly, did not touch either of them."I was hoping you'd be here tonight!"Dave caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned enough to see that Doug was standing quietly—nodding a silent but respectful greeting to the two.Doug— respectful?The idea was unbelievable, but Jason drove that wisp of a thought out of his head with his next statement."Dave, Jack—this is the patron I told you about.Right, Master Jeffries?"The man smiled urbanely enough, though Dave thought he detected just a hint of irony behind the smile."Nothing so important as a patron, Jason.You know I can't do anything about getting you contracts.All I can do is get you contacts with the right people, and help you showcase yourselves.""Which is more than we were able to do for ourselves," Jason replies, his smile as broad and bright—and ironic—as their "patron's." "Let's face it, you can't get anywhere these days by just bein' good, you gotta look good too, and you gotta know the right people an' the right things.""A sad commentary on our times," Jeffries said, while the girl beside him remained as quiet and still as an icon of ebony and ivory.Except for her eyes, which never stopped moving.Flick, flick, flick—she covered the whole room within a minute, then began over—as if she were watching for something."I think we ought to celebrate the successful debut of the new image, don't you, Jason, Doug?"Dave was so fascinated by the girl's ever-moving eyes that he didn't realize he'd agreed to go with Doug and Jason to the man's apartment until the words were out of his mouth.Then he was suddenly, inexplicably, afraid.He racked his brain savagely for an excuse to beg off, but couldn't think of anything that didn't sound lame.He turned toward Jack and hoped for a refusal from the drummer—but he only shrugged."Sounds good to me," he said."I never turned down somebody else's booze or grass in my life, an' I don't plan on starting now."The man smiled sardonically, as if he found Jack naive and amusing."It's all settled, then," he said, turning away with the aplomb of a king who has just completed an audience."I'll see you there."Not in this lifetime—Dave thought.***How do I get myself into things like this? Ten minutes later, Dave found himself sandwiched on the front bench of the van between Jason and Doug, and very grateful the van didn't have a stickshift, or he might have lost a kneecap somewhere along the trip.Doug was driving, which was enough of a thrill for twenty lifetimes.Not even cabbies would challenge Doug's kamikaze attacks on the traffic patterns.And he had a foot like lead.They were always either accelerating, or being thrown against the dashboard as he slammed on the brakes.Good thing Jack was in the back, keeping the guitars from getting smashed.Dave didn't envy him back there.Jason was paying no attention to the suicidal maneuvers Doug was pulling.He kept up a calm but steady colloquy on the subject of "Master Jeffries," all praise.Doug chimed in from time to time with grunts of agreement."—lucky," Jason was saying, as Dave pulled his terrified gaze off the cab Doug was running up onto the sidewalk."Huh?" he said, when Jason paused, expecting a response."I said we're lucky.To have gotten his attention.""Uh, right.Lucky."Jason heaved an exaggerated sigh."Just wait.Wait till you see his place.Then you'll understand."I'd just as soon pass—Dave thought—then Doug wrenched the van around, brakes screaming in an abrupt right-angle turn.He flung the van down a ramp that opened up in front of them, leading into the bowels of a dark parking garage.The ramp bottomed out—and so did the van—and Doug hurled it at the back wall, where Dave could see written in huge red letters the words "Visitor Parking Only."Sweet Jesus Christ— he's not gonna make it—He squeezed his eyes shut as Doug applied the brakes and the brakes howled in protest—and the wall came at him at fifty per.The van shuddered to a stop—without Dave eating the windshield.He cracked his right eye open, slowly, and saw the beam of the headlights bouncing off concrete one inch away from the front bumper.He sagged with relief.Christ."Come on," Jason said, bailing out of the passenger's side of the van, and grabbing Dave's arm to haul him along."Master Jeffries doesn't like to be kept waiting.""I'm coming, I'm coming."If I can walk.His knees were not exactly what he'd call "steady." In point of fact, he wasn't sure they were going to hold him for a minute when he climbed down out of the front seat.Jack clambered out of the back, and Doug could see he wasn't in much better shape—which made Dave feel a little less like a wimp.On the other side of the van, Doug was holding an elevator open for them; white fluorescent light glared out into the half-empty garage, and the door kept trying to cut him in half.Jason hustled them inside, and Doug let the door do its thing.If this is supposed to give me an idea of how well heeled our patron is, I'm not impressed.The elevator was an industrial, bare-bones model; gray linoleum floor, gray enamel walls, two cheap, buzzing fluorescent tubes behind a plastic panel in the ceiling.This isn't exactly your Fifth Avenue address, either.I dunno exactly where we are, but we're someplace west of the Village.Jason punched 2, and the elevator cage rose, a bit jerkily.Jack shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and looked around with a slight frown."I thought you said this dude lived in pretty good digs." The frown deepened."I hate to tell you, guys, but I'm pretty underwhelmed."Dave definitely saw Doug and Jason exchange a strange look.Secretive? There was something of that in it.Also a hint of something more, both shadowed and knowing.It was very peculiar—and it vanished from their faces before Dave had a chance to be certain he'd really seen it, and not misinterpreted a frown of puzzlement or the crease of a headache.The door slid open; they escaped the metal box before it could snap its jaws shut again and trap them.The hallway was as utilitarian as the elevator had been, gray plaster and dark gray carpet, and Dave began to wonder if his idea and Jason's of opulent surroundings were that far apart.Jason paused outside a plain brown doorway and knocked; it swung open soundlessly to admit them before he'd knocked more than twice.As the door swung shut behind them, Dave immediately revised his earlier impression.If this wasn't opulence, it was a damned fine substitute.The place was heavy-duty weird, no doubt about it; it was done up like some kind of ashram.There was very little furniture in the living room; mostly low tables and piles of pillows everywhere; one long table against the far wall with an incense burner and a couple of dishes on it.Four low-wattage lamps, one on each wall, supplied a dim and amber-tinged light.But the lamps were heavy bronze and hand-leaded glass; custom-built, and no doubt of it.Dave had never quite believed in the "carpet so thick your feet sank into it"—until now, now that his feet were sinking into one that was so thick he literally couldn't feel the floor [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]