"Hai, Silver. Please give me a link to the guards."

She gestured. "Go . . . sir."

As Barbara Harvin spoke at length to her security people, and then her legal staff, the noise from outside diminished more and more. The flashes of light soon stopped and cheering came from the streets below.

"Seems we won," said Emile, leaning on his wand, looking out the window at the damaged city. Smoke and wreckage were everywhere, but so were dancing crowds.

"If you call this winning," said Silver, unjacking from her Fuchi deck. "Now we're trapped into working for these gleebs forever!"

"Nyah," snorted Thumbs, rubbing his arm. "Just until they geek us."

"Thank you, Captain Chuckles."

"No prob."

"All right," said Harvin, standing and going to her desk. Silver moved out of the way, and the older woman took the chair. "First thing to do," the older woman said, folding her hands on the desk top, "is kill my insane brother."

"No," said Delphia. "You will have to handle that yourself."

"We're bodyguards," agreed Thumbs resolutely.

"Not assassins," added Silver. "If we were . . ." she left the thought unfinished.

"I'll kill him," said Emile, with Grand purring in his arms. "Gladly and for free." To the astonished looks of the others, he added. "It is a matter of personal honor. He killed a dozen elf mages and must be made to pay."

Harvin gave him a slight smile of satisfaction. "Excellent. You'll leave first thing in the morning after we repair the Slib docking stations."

"Immediately after I receive the antidote for the food poisoning," hissed Emile and Grand together. They ignored the hand.

Her face did not show any expression of surprise or disappointment as she reclaimed her hand. "Of course. That's what I meant to say."

"Suits," snorted Thumbs softly to himself.

"Gaijin," corrected Delphia, sipping his brandy. "Welcome to the Gunderson Corporation," added Silver, unlocking the door.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Nicholas Pollotta has written and published more than a dozen novels, including Illegal Aliens which he cowrote with Phil Foglio for TSR, Inc. Shadowboxer is his first Shadowrun novel. He has also been a stand-up comic who performed regularly at New York's clubs in the mid-70's. Under the name "Nick Smith," he has published cartoons in publications like Starlog and Dragon magazine. In the 1980's, he was the creator, producer, director and star of "The Adventures of Phil A. Delphia," a series of humorous, science fiction radio plays that were broadcast over college radio stations. Hating boredom worse than almost anything, his many hobbies include gaming, martial arts, movies, books and guns.

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