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DOC :ch7.txt

it was raining in beyoglu and the rented mercedes slid past
the grilled and unlit windows of cautious greek and armenian
jewelers the street was almost empty only a few darkcoated
figures on the sidewalks turning to stare after the car
 this was formerly the prosperous european section of ot
toman istanbul purred the mercedes
 so its gone downhill case said
 the hiltons in cumhuriyet caddesi molly said she
settled back against the cars gray ultrasuede
 how come armitage flies alone case asked he had a
headache
 cause you get up his nose youre sure getting up mine
 he wanted to tell her the corto story but decided against
it hed used a sleep derm on the plane
 the road in from the airport had been dead straight like a
neat incision laying the city open hed watched the crazy
walls of patchwork wooden tenements slide by condos ar
cologies grim housing projects more walls of plyboard and
corrugated iron
 the finn in a new shinjuku suit sarariman black was
waiting sourly in the hilton lobby marooned on a velour arm
chair in a sea of pale blue carpeting
 christ molly said rat in a business suit
 they crossed the lobby
 how much you get paid to come over here finn she
lowered her bag beside the armchair bet not as much as you
get for wearing that suit huh
 the finns upper lips drew back not enough sweetmeat 
he handed her a magnetic key with a round yellow tag youre
registered already honchos upstairs he looked around this
town sucks
 you get agoraphobic they take you out from under a dome 
just pretend its brooklyn or something she twirled the key
around a finger you here as valet or what
 i gotta check out some guys implants the finn said
 how about my deck case asked
 the finn winced observe the protocol ask the boss
 mollys fingers moved in the shadow of her jacket a flicker
of jive the finn watched then nodded
 yeah she said i know who that is she jerked her head
in the direction of the elevators come on cowboy case
followed her with both bags

their room might have been the one in chiba where hed
first seen armitage he went to the window in the morning
almost expecting to see tokyo bay there was another hotel
across the street it was still raining a few letterwriters had
taken refuge in doorways their old voiceprinters wrapped in
sheets of clear plastic evidence that the written word still
enjoyed a certain prestige here it was a sluggish country he
watched a dull black citroen sedan a primitive hydrogencell
conversion as it disgorged five sullenlooking turkish officers
in rumpled green uniforms they entered the hotel across the
street
 he glanced back at the bed at molly and her paleness
struck him shed left the micropore cast on the bedslab in
their loft beside the transdermal inducer her glasses reflected
part of the rooms light fixture
 he had the phone in his hand before it had a chance to ring
twice glad youre up armitage said
 im just ladys still under listen boss i think its maybe
time we have a little talk i think i work better if i know a
little more about what im doing
 silence on the line case bit his lip
 you know as much as you need to maybe more
 you think so
 get dressed case get her up youll have a caller in
about fifteen minutes his name is terzibashjian the phone
bleated softly armitage was gone
 wake up baby case said biz
 ive been awake an hour already the mirrors turned
 we got a jersey bastion coming up
 you got an ear for language case bet youre part ar
menian thats the eye armitage has had on riviera help me
up
 terzibashjian proved to be a young man in a gray suit and
goldframed mirrored glasses his white shirt was open at the
collar revealing a mat of dark hair so dense that case at first
mistook it for some kind of tshirt he arrived with a black
hilton tray arranged with three tiny fragrant cups of thick
black coffee and three sticky strawcolored oriental sweets
 we must as you say in ingiliz take this one very easy 
he seemed to stare pointedly at molly but at last he removed
the silver glasses his eyes were a dark brown that matched
the shade of his very short militarycut hair he smiled it is
better this way yes else we make the tunel infinity mirror
into mirror you particularly he said to her must take
care in turkey there is disapproval of women who sport such
modifications
 molly bit one of the pastries in half its my show jack
she said her mouth full she chewed swallowed and licked
her lips i know about you stool for the military right her
hand slid lazily into the front of her jacket and came out with
the fletcher case hadnt known she had it
 very easy please terzibashjian said his white china
thimble frozen centimeters from his lips
 she extended the gun maybe you get the explosives lots
of them or maybe you get a cancer one dart shitface you
wont feel it for months
 please you call this in ingiliz making me very tight
 i call it a bad morning now tell us about your man and
get your ass out of here she put the gun away
 he is living in fener at kchk glhane djaddesi 14 i
have his tunel route nightly to the bazaar he performs most
recently at the yenishehir palas oteli a modern place in the
style turistik but it has been arranged that the police have
shown a certain interest in these shows the yenishehir man
agement has grown nervous he smiled he smelled of some
metallic aftershave
 i want to know about the implants she said massaging
her thigh i want to know exactly what he can do
 terzibashjian nodded worst is how you say in ingiliz the
subliminals he made the word four careful syllables

on our left said the mercedes as it steered through a
maze of rainy streets is kapali carsi the grand bazaar
 beside case the finn made an appreciative noise but he
was looking in the wrong direction the right side of the street
was lined with miniature scrapyards case saw a gutted loco
motive atop ruststained broken lengths of fluted marble 
headless marble statues were stacked like firewood
 homesick case asked
 place sucks the finn said his black silk tie was starting
to resemble a worn carbon ribbon there were medallions of
kebab gravy and fried egg on the lapels of the new suit
 hey jersey case said to the armenian who sat behind
them whered this guy get his stuff installed
 in chiba city he has no left lung the other is boosted
is how you say it anyone might buy these implants but this
one is most talented the mercedes swerved avoiding a bal
loontired dray stacked with hides i have followed him in the
street and seen a dozen cycles fall near him in a day find
the cyclist in a hospital the story is always the same a scorpion
poised beside a brake lever
 what you see is what you get yeah the finn said i
seen the schematics on the guys silicon very flash what he
imagines you see i figure he could narrow it to a pulse and
fry a retina over easy
 you have told this to your woman friend terzibashjian
leaned forward between the ultrasuede buckets in turkey
women are still women this one
 the finn snorted shed have you wearing your balls for
a bow tie if you looked at her crosseyed
 i do not understand this idiom
 thats okay case said means shut up
 the armenian sat back leaving a metallic edge of after
shave he began to whisper to a sanyo transceiver in a strange
salad of greek french turkish isolated fragments of english 
the transceiver answered in french the mercedes swung
smoothly around a corner the spice bazaar sometimes called
the egyptian bazaar the car said was erected on the site of
an earlier bazaar erected by sultan hatice in 1660 this is the
citys central market for spices software perfumes drugs
 drugs case said watching the cars wipers cross and
recross the bulletproof lexan whats that you said before
jersey about this riviera being wired
 a mixture of cocaine and meperidine yes the armenian
went back to the conversation he was having with the sanyo
 demerol they used to call that said the finn hes a
speedball artist funny class of people youre mixing with
case
 never mind case said turning up the collar of his jacket
well get the poor fucker a new pancreas or something

once they entered the bazaar the finn brightened notice
ably as though he were comforted by the crowd density and
the sense of enclosure they walked with the armenian along
a broad concourse beneath sootstained sheets of plastic and
greenpainted ironwork out of the age of steam a thousand
suspended ads writhed and flickered
 hey christ the finn said taking cases arm looka
that he pointed its a horse man you ever see a horse
 case glanced at the embalmed animal and shook his head 
it was displayed on a sort of pedestal near the entrance to a
place that sold birds and monkeys the things legs had been
worn black and hairless by decades of passing hands saw
one in maryland once the finn said and that was a good
three years after the pandemic theres arabs still trying to
code em up from the dna but they always croak
 the animals brown glass eyes seemed to follow them as
they passed terzibashjian led them into a cafe near the core
of the market a lowceilinged room that looked as though it
had been in continuous operation for centuries skinny boys
in soiled white coats dodged between the crowded tables bal
ancing steel trays with bottles of turktuborg and tiny glasses
of tea
 case bought a pack of yeheyuans from a vendor by the
door the armenian was muttering to his sanyo come he
said he is moving each night he rides the tunel to the bazaar
to purchase his mixture from ali your woman is close come

the alley was an old place too old the walls cut from
blocks of dark stone the pavement was uneven and smelled
of a centurys dripping gasoline absorbed by ancient limestone 
cant see shit he whispered to the finn thats okay for
sweetmeat the finn said quiet said terzibashjian too
loudly
 wood grated on stone or concrete ten meters down the
alley a wedge of yellow light fell across wet cobbles widened 
a figure stepped out and the door grated shut again leaving
the narrow place in darkness case shivered
 now terzibashjian said and a brilliant beam of white
light directed from the rooftop of the building opposite the
market pinned the slender figure beside the ancient wooden
door in a perfect circle bright eyes darted left right and the
man crumpled case thought someone had shot him he lay
face down blond hair pale against the old stone his limp hands
white and pathetic
 the floodlight never wavered
 the back of the fallen mans jacket heaved and burst blood
splashing the wall and doorway a pair of impossibly long
ropetendoned arms flexed grayishpink in the glare the thing
seemed to pull itself up out of the pavement through the inert
bloody ruin that had been riviera it was two meters tall stood
on two legs and seemed to be headless then it swung slowly
to face them and case saw that it had a head but no neck it
was eyeless the skin gleaming a wet intestinal pink the mouth
if it was a mouth was circular conical shallow and lined
with a seething growth of hairs or bristles glittering like black
chrome it kicked the rags of clothing and flesh aside and took
a step the mouth seeming to scan for them as it moved
 terzibashjian said something in greek or turkish and rushed
the thing his arms spread like a man attempting to dive through
a window he went through it into the muzzleflash of a pistol
from the dark beyond the circle of light fragments of rock
whizzed past cases head the finn jerked him down into a
crouch
 the light from the rooftop vanished leaving him with mis
matched afterimages of muzzleflash monster and white beam 
his ears rang
 then the light returned bobbing now searching the shad
ows terzibashjian was leaning against a steel door his face
very white in the glare he held his left wrist and watched
blood drip from a wound in his left hand the blond man
whole again unbloodied lay at his feet
 molly stepped out of the shadows all in black with her
fletcher in her hand
 use the radio the armenian said through gritted teeth 
call in mahmut we must get him out of here this is not a
good place
 little prick nearly made it the finn said his knees crack
ing loudly as he stood up brushing ineffectually at the legs of
his trousers you were watching the horrorshow right not
the hamburger that got tossed out of sight real cute well
help em get his ass outa here i gotta scan all that gear before
he wakes up make sure armitage is getting his moneys worth
 molly bent and picked something up a pistol a nambu
she said nice gun
 terzibashjian made a whining sound case saw that most
of his middle finger was missing

with the city drenched in predawn blue she told the mercedes
to take them to topkapi the finn and an enormous turk named
mahmut had taken riviera still unconscious from the alley 
minutes later a dusty citroen had arrived for the armenian
who seemed on the verge of fainting
 youre an asshole molly told the man opening the ear
door for him you shoulda hung back i had him in my sights
as soon as he stepped out terzibashjian glared at her so
were through with you anyway she shoved him in and
slammed the door run into you again and ill kill you she
said to the white face behind the tinted window the citroen
ground away down the alley and swung clumsily into the street
 now the mercedes whispered through istanbul as the city
woke they passed the beyoglu tunel terminal and sped past
mazes of deserted back streets rundown apartment houses that
reminded case vaguely of paris
 what is this thing he asked molly as the mercedes
parked itself on the fringes of the gardens that surround the
seraglio he stared dully at the baroque conglomeration of
styles that was topkapi
 it was sort of a private whorehouse for the king she said
getting out stretching kept a lotta women there now its a
museum kinda like finns shop all this stuff just jumbled in
there big diamonds swords the left hand of john the
baptist
 like in a support vat
 nah dead got it inside this brass hand thing little hatch
on the side so the christians could kiss it for luck got it off
the christians about a million years ago and they never dust
the goddam thing cause its an infidel relic
 black iron deer rusted in the gardens of the seraglio case
walked beside her watching the toes of her boots crunch unkept
grass made stiff by an early frost they walked beside a path
of cold octagonal flagstones winter was waiting somewhere
in the balkans
 that terzi hes gradea scum she said hes the secret
police torturer real easy to buy out too with the kind of
money armitage was offering in the wet trees around them
birds began to sing
 i did that job for you case said the one in london i
got something but i dont know what it means he told her
the corto story
 well i knew there wasnt anybody name of armitage in
that screaming fist looked it up she stroked the rusted
flank of an iron doe you figure the little computer pulled
him out of it in that french hospital
 i figure wintermute case said
 she nodded
 thing is he said do you think he knows he was corto
before i mean he wasnt anybody in particular by the time
he hit the ward so maybe wintermute just
 yeah built him up from go yeah she turned and
they walked on it figures you know the guy doesnt have
any life going in private not as far as i can tell you see a
guy like that you figure theres something he does when hes
alone but not armitage sits and stares at the wall man then
something clicks and he goes into high gear and wheels for
wintermute
 so whys he got that stash in london nostalgia
 maybe he doesnt know about it she said maybe its
just in his name right
 i dont get it case said
 just thinking out loud how smarts an ai case
 depends some arent much smarter than dogs pets cost
a fortune anyway the real smart ones are as smart as the
turing heat is willing to let em get
 look youre a cowboy how come you arent just flat 
out fascinated with those things
 well he said for starts theyre rare most of them are
military the bright ones and we cant crack the ice thats
where ice all comes from you know and then theres the
turing cops and thats bad heat he looked at her i dunno
it just isnt part of the trip
 jockeys all the same she said no imagination
 they came to a broad rectangular pond where carp nuzzled
the stems of some white aquatic flower she kicked a loose
pebble in and watched the ripples spread
 thats wintermute she said this deals real big looks
to me were out where the little waves are too broad we cant
see the rock that hit the center we know somethings there
but not why i wanna know why i want you to go and talk to
wintermute
 i couldnt get near it he said youre dreaming
 try
 cant be done
 ask the flatline
 what do we want out of that riviera he asked hoping
to change the subject
 she spat into the pond god knows id as soon kill him
as look at him i saw his profile hes a kind of compulsive
judas cant get off sexually unless he knows hes betraying
the object of desire thats what the file says and they have
to love him first maybe he loves them too thats why it was
easy for terzi to set him up for us because hes been here
three years shopping politicals to the secret police probably
terzi let him watch when the cattle prods came out hes done
eighteen in three years all women age twenty to twentyfive 
it kept terzi in dissidents she thrust her hands into her jacket
pockets because if he found one he really wanted hed make
sure she turned political hes got a personality like a moderns
suit the profile said it was a very rare type estimated one in
a couple of million which anyway says something good about
human nature i guess she stared at the white flowers and
the sluggish fish her face sour i think im going to have to
buy myself some special insurance on that peter then she
turned and smiled and it was very cold
 whats that mean
 never mind lets go back to beyoglu and find something
like breakfast i gotta busy night again tonight gotta collect
his stuff from that apartment in fener gotta go back to the
bazaar and buy him some drugs
 buy him some drugs hows he rate
 she laughed hes not dying on the wire sweetheart and
it looks like he cant work without that special taste i like you
better now anyway you arent so goddam skinny she smiled 
so ill go to ali the dealer and stock up you betcha

armitage was waiting in their room at the hilton
 time to pack he said and case tried to find the man
called corto behind the pale blue eyes and the tanned mask 
he thought of wage back in chiba operators above a certain
level tended to submerge their personalities he knew but
wage had had vices lovers even it had been rumored chil
dren the blankness he found in armitage was something else
 where to now he asked walking past the man to stare
down into the street what kind of climate
 they dont have climate just weather armitage said 
here read the brochure he put something on the coffee
table and stood
 did riviera check out okay wheres the finn
 rivieras fine the finn is on his way home armitage
smiled a smile that meant as much as the twitch of some
insects antenna his gold bracelet clinked as he reached out
to prod case in the chest dont get too smart those little
sacs are starting to show wear but you dont know how much
 case kept his face very still and forced himself to nod
 when armitage was gone he picked up one of the bro
chures it was expensively printed in french english and
turkish
 freeside why wait

the four of them were booked on a thy flight out of yes
ilky airport transfer at paris to the jal shuttle case sat in
the lobby of the istanbul hilton and watched riviera browse
bogus byzantine fragments in the glasswalled gift shop ar
mitage his trenchcoat draped over his shoulders like a cape
stood in the shops entrance
 riviera was slender blond softvoiced his english ac
centless and fluid molly said he was thirty but it would have
been difficult to guess his age she also said he was legally
stateless and traveled under a forged dutch passport he was
a product of the rubble rings that fringe the radioactive core
of old bonn
 three smiling japanese tourists bustled into the shop nod
ding politely to armitage armitage crossed the floor of the
shop too quickly too obviously to stand beside riviera ri
viera turned and smiled he was very beautiful case assumed
the features were the work of a chiba surgeon a subtle job
nothing like armitages blandly handsome blend of pop faces 
the mans forehead was high and smooth gray eyes calm and
distant his nose which might have been too nicely sculpted
seemed to have been broken and clumsily reset the suggestion
of brutality offset the delicacy of his jaw and the quickness of
his smile his teeth were small even and very white case
watched the white hands play over the imitation fragments of
sculpture
 riviera didnt act like a man whod been attacked the night
before drugged with a toxinflechette abducted subjected to
the finns examination and pressured by armitage into joining
their team
 case checked his watch molly was due back from her drug
run he looked up at riviera again i bet youre stoned right
now asshole he said to the hilton lobby a graying italian
matron in a white leather tuxedo jacket lowered her porsche
glasses to stare at him he smiled broadly stood and shoul
dered his bag he needed cigarettes for the flight he wondered
if there was a smoking section on the jal shuttle see ya
lady he said to the woman who promptly slid the sunglasses
back up her nose and turned away
 there were cigarettes in the gift shop but he didnt relish
talking with armitage or riviera he left the lobby and located
a vending console in a narrow alcove at the end of a rank of
pay phones
 he fumbled through a pocketful of lirasi slotting the small
dull alloy coins one after another vaguely amused by the anach
ronism of the process the phone nearest him rang
 automatically he picked it up
 yeah
 faint harmonics tiny inaudible voices rattling across som...

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	(12%)	terzibashjian armenian bazaar mercedes black women fragments street terzi tunel ...
	(7%)	case molly thing back left im head asked didnt began ...
	(7%)	hand youre looked hands back time wall place small whats ...
	(7%)	eyes man hed black face dark past good open back ...
	(7%)	armitage hes em work hilton easy ar broad figures bridge ...

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