The man with no name sat on the roof of the inn where he was staying. He watched

the suspect hotel in the distance. He had decided that he should go in and look

around.

One of his fugitives was in the building. The pertinent card glowed slightly whenever

he went by it. And the target had not come out the three days that he had watched the

place. He had to go in and look for him.

And in three days he had been on watch, one of his other cards had dispersed. He

knew that was because one of his fugitives had been taken without any help from

him.

He couldn’t count on natural enemies dealing with the rest of the fugitives. It would

be nice, but why would he be given the job of chasing them down if they were that

easy to disposal by their rivals.

The dead man decided the easiest thing to do was ask for a room and use that to look

around the building.

That was the easy part of things as far as he could make out.

He doubted the staff would allow a guest to bother whomever owned the building, or

anyone who had a permanent room there. He was likely going to get killed and

dumped on the street as a common burglar.

He had gone over the building, and just asking for a room seemed his best bet. The

second idea he had thought of consisted of using another building to get in through

the roof door and just look around.

He liked breaking in more than sneaking around.

The man with no name decided he should put his plan in motion. He still had cards

to serve nearby. If he could take this one out of play, that would get him closer to

being able to chase down the rest on his list outside the city.

Once he was done with the hotel, he still needed to track down the Alvas on his list.

Maybe a circuit of the city would let him get lucky enough to get close to his enemy

so he could track the fugitive down without too much effort.

He doubted it would be that easy. His quarry didn’t have a listed place, and there were

too many places to hide. Add in possible magic, and it might take years to find the

target.

He decided that he would give himself some reasonable time, but if he couldn’t do

the job on the first pass, he would head out of the city and find the rest of the names

on the cards he carried. He didn’t have to devote his time to one name when he had

so many he needed to deal with before he was done with his job.

And if he was picking up others, maybe someone here in the city would take care of

the Alvas for him.

The dead man walked over to the hotel. He entered the establishment. He nodded at

the wooden walls shining under the electric lights in the ceiling. The carpet cushioned

his steps as he walked toward the wide reception desk. It looked the same as the

walls, except a brass rail had been installed to put your foot on while you stood and

waited for the clerk to acknowledge you.

“Welcome, sir,” said the clerk. “How can I help you?”

“I would like a room for the night,” said the dead man. “Then I have to get my horse

and ride on in the morning.”

“Certainly, sir,” said the clerk. “Please fill out the guest book, while I get your room

key.”

The dead man wrote down a fictitious identity and lodging in another city while

waiting for the clerk to return. He took the key with a nod and headed for the stairs

leading up to the floor where his room rested.

He supposed there were hidden doors in the walls. He would look for them when he

searched his room.

He checked the card he had set aside for the hotel. The blue stripe still ran down the

front. His target was close. He just had to find him.

The dead man stepped into his room. He ignored the luxurious appearance of the

room and went over every inch for anything out of place. If he could find a passage,

he could get inside the hidden part of the building and really start talking with people.

He found a shutter disguised as part of the wall. He assumed it was to let someone in

and out of the room without having to use the outside halls. Pulling and pushing on

it told him it was locked on the inside.

He pulled one of his pistols and fired into the shutter. The whipcrack of flame

punched a hole through the wood. He peered inside at the dark room.

He reached inside and felt around for the lock. He worked the knob. The hidden door

opened up. He stepped inside the passage.

He found a lantern hanging on the wall just inside the doorway. He paused to light

it up. He didn’t want to stumble around in the dark while he was exploring.

He followed the passage to a set of stairs. Side halls seemed to go to the rest of the

rooms on his floor. He wondered how many people went to a bad end while trying to

stay in the place before moving on.

He found a ladder at the end of the hall. He looked up, then down. He decided that

any work would be at the bottom of the ladder. Why carry a body up, when you

can just drop them down to where you need to go?

He looked around the ladder. He found a dumb waiter hidden in one of the walls. It

was big enough for a body to be carried to wherever they took bodies.

Should he take the ladder, or the dumb waiter?

He decided to take the ladder. If he ran into someone, he could shoot down the shaft

at them. The dumb waiter was a trap where he could be kept pinned until someone

found something to deal with him.

And he didn’t know if he could fight his way out of the waiter against whatever was

hidden at the bottom of the hotel.

He started down the ladder, pistol holstered, lamp in one hand. He kept an eye out,

but the only light seemed to be from his lamp and whatever was at the bottom of the

shaft. He heard movement, but it sounded like they weren’t expecting someone like

him to invade the hidden parts of their facility.

He didn’t blame them. Would he be doing this if he didn’t have a warrant card telling

him his enemy was on the premises? He doubted it.

The only thing they would have to worry about is the local authority stumbling

over their operation and putting an end to whatever it was. If they had a spotter

out, things could be moved before a raid happened.

He wondered what they could do to stop him.

He reached the bottom of the ladder and put the lantern down on the floor next to

it. He might have to get out in a hurry. Being able to find the ladder seemed more

important than lighting his way when there were electric lights everywhere.

The dead man took in the scene slowly. A lair had been built under the hotel. Wiring

and pipes went everywhere. There were consoles with levers taking most of the

central space. Tubes of green liquid reflected the light from the overheads. Things

moved in the tubes.

He looked around. No one else seemed to be in the room with him. He didn’t expect

that to last. Someone had to check on what they were growing in the tubes. He would

have to ask them where his quarry was.

He decided whatever he had to do, the tubes had to be destroyed. He couldn’t let what

was growing out on the city. That was just adding to the problem instead of solving

it.

He pulled out the faintly glowing blue card from his deck. His quarry was close. He

should look around and see how close. He could wrap this up in the next few minutes

and move on to the next names on his list.

The man with no name crossed the room, eye on the tubes as he went. He had an

idea one of the levers he noted could open the tubes and dump the growing monsters

in the room with him. He didn’t like that idea at all.

He couldn’t do anything about that until he tracked the target down. If someone

got to a lever, he would deal with it.

The dead man found living quarters off the laboratory. A desk held a pile of papers.

A rumpled bed rested against the far wall. A small area made up a kitchen. A door

led off at the end of the kitchen counter to what he assumed was a bathroom.

He didn’t feel like there was anybody in the rooms. He checked the other door to be

sure. It was an empty bathroom like he thought.

He decided to find another door. That was where people would come in when they

didn’t have to grab people from their rooms. That would take him to other parts of the

hotel.

He might have to deal with the staff. He doubted this was a one man show. He

supposed if he made a lot of noise the Guard would rush in and have a look around.

Who knew where that would lead, if anywhere?

The dead man found a door on the other side of the lab. He frowned at it. It was

heavier than a regular door of its size. He supposed the people behind this thought

their main door should be fortified long enough for them to escape through another

door, or up the ladder.

Did the ladder go all the way to the roof? Was there another exit up there from the

hotel?

The main door swung open. The dead man stepped back as silently as he could,

leaning against the wall. He pulled the pistols from his holsters and waited.

“We are close to a breakthrough,” said one of the men entering the room. “The

train experiment worked. No one knew they were boarding a monster designed

to look like a train. We couldn’t have foreseen someone being able to kill it from

the inside.”

“I know,” said the other man. “Still, we have almost enough to seed the city and

watch everything grow. It will be amazing.”

The dead man didn’t think it would be amazing unless you counted a massacre as

something amazing.

“Which one of you gentlemen is Emil Moreau?,” he asked from the darkness. “I have

a warrant for you.”

The men spun to face him. One of them reached for something at his belt. That was

a bad move on his part. A bullet of flame lifted him up and dropped him down on

the floor.

“Are you going to kill me too?,” asked the survivor. He glanced at the burning body

of the other man. A small trace of sweat ran down his face from his thin hair to his

pointed chin.

“No,” said the dead man. He put one of the pistols up. He pulled out the glowing

card from his deck and flicked it at the other man. “I’m just here to give you papers

for court.”

As soon as the card touched Moreau, it turned into a flash. The fugitive vanished

straight down through the floor.

The man with no name smiled. Another job well done without a lot of fuss. He

doubted the rest of his fugitives would go along so quietly.

He shut the vault door and walked back to the ladder. He fired his pistol into the tubes

as he went. The solution the things moved in must have been flammable because

each shot released a wave of heat and fire in the air.

The room might contain the fire, or it might burn the building down. He needed to

raise the alarm somehow. He decided to do that from the outside.

He reached the top of the ladder. He hoped the seeds they were talking about went

down with the hotel. Otherwise, they were out there waiting for someone to stumble

over them and release them in the city.

The dead man pushed out on the roof of the hotel. He took time to shoot into a locker

holding miniature tubes like the giant ones he had seen downstairs. He hoped this was

the seeds they wanted to let loose. He jumped to the next roof and made his way

down to the street. He still had to make sure the innocent people were cleared out of

the hotel and none of the other buildings burned down because of what he had done.

Then he could get Stupid and move on.