Seven Demons by Aidan Truhen (best motivational books for students TXT) 📕

anyone else like Charlie maybe I would ask Doc to maybe tranquilize her but Doc is the person I would ask so—

Maybe we should just knock her on the back of the head before this goes any further.

Calvanese is still talking he has literally no idea the shit that is about to fall on him—

O my.

Fall on him.

Huh.

That is—wow. That would be a thing. Inappropriate of course in the circumstances but…wow.

I stare into the sky outside the window and see universes of crime.

O my.

—

While I’m distracted, Calvanese says:

“I regret to remind you Doctor that we are on my home ground. Resistance would be met with overwhelming force. You are remarkable people. You are not gods.”

“No.”

“I am glad we understand one another.”

“Do we.”

“We do.”

“I am considering my response Mr. Calvanese.”

“Excellent.”

“I do not wish there to be misunderstandings between us.”

“That is perfect Signora—Dottore—I am so glad.”

“…”

“…”

“Do you eat beef Mr. Calvanese?”

“…What has that—”

“I promise you will shortly see.”

“Then yes. I do.”

“And as a man of commerce and culture you are no doubt also aware of the formidable power of European beef agriculture on the formation of global affairs?”

“I am.”

“Then let me in turn be quite clear: if you ever attempt to instruct me again Mr. Calvanese or if the expression Dear Lady so much as occurs to you in my connection you will wake the following morning to the news that Italian, French, and Spanish cattle are falling victim to an appalling infection: a hacking cough which grows so powerful that the bones of the chest are snapped by the muscles and by the end of forty-eight hours the heart gives out. The animal dies and the meat is polluted with bile and stress. The global freight system will abruptly be subject to scrupulous checks. Individual travelers will be banned from entering or leaving certain countries without a quarantine period to prevent the spread. In fact it will be much too late. By the end of the week every continent and country will be affected as it emerges that the condition is airborne and almost impossible to detect during an early, notable infectious stage. Life will become vastly more expensive and annoying for everyone until a cure is found, and of course all and any contraband operations in any field will become almost impossible. The global economy will be plunged into a recession. International commodities crime will be drastically affected both by the increased difficulty of operations and by the decline in disposable income among most demographics. My kind of crime of course will be facilitated. That is to say that both radical medical research and bespoke political, economic and personal violence will be in great demand. In addition there will be a measurable decrease in carbon emissions as beef farming effectively ceases to be a viable undertaking, which I regard as a long-term benefit to the human species as a whole. Pro bono if you like. But like many large banks and some nations your organization will be unable to withstand the stress and will dissolve into warring factions and effectively cease to exist. Before it does so however your brothers will receive information from me to the effect that all this is your fault and I imagine they will kill you quite thoroughly but also knowing the stylings of your microsociety also any family you may have. So by all means Mr. Calvanese do take a few hours to consider your position. And please understand that the scenario I have described to you is only one of my options and you will notice it is remarkably devoid of human casualties. You are not my enemy Mr. Calvanese and therefore I use a light touch. Do you see?”

“…”

“I will take your quiet for the sensible contemplation of new and important information. Do please call again.”

CLICK.

Yeah.

That’ll do it.

I say: “Nice bluff there with the cows Doc.”

Doc says: “I never bluff.”

Everyone gazes at Doc for a long, long time.

And Doc gazes back.

—

Rex goes to talk to a guy. Doc offers to drug the guy but Rex says there is no need. The guy will just talk because that is what happens. The guy was the foreman on the Kircheisen build but that is totally a coincidence. They will meet in a snack bar and they will be two guys in construction talking about construction. Rex will tell the guy about the time his brother’s firm accidentally shished an imported corgi with a scaffolding tube. He will talk about the times when the plans just weren’t doable because plans are always not really doable in the actual universe and fixing that is part of the contractor’s job. Then the guy will tell Rex about Kircheisen. He won’t mention the name and Rex won’t have heard of the place but still.

Somewhere—Rex says—somewhere something went off spec because it always does. No build ever survives contact with the site. So somewhere they ran into stone they couldn’t break without fucking up the stability of the mountain or they found a watercourse and they worked around it. They found a huge fissure. They found a void. That shit is what happens and what it means is that somewhere there’s a place where the Kircheisen Festung isn’t as strong as it should be.

Saul goes with Rex because Rex does not speak German but in the end it turns out that Rex and the guy both totally speak construction and beer and sexy-time dancers.

Yeah there are sexy-time dancers in Bern if you know where to look.

—

Nighttime in the pig farm is dark like nothing in the city. This is werewolf country like deep night so deep that the moonlight throws a shadow on the valley wall and we will be inside it until 3:00 a.m. You have not seen dark unless you have seen dark in the shadow of a mountain. Away across the valley there is a twinkling collection of lights, which is a whole village, and it is dwarfed by the empty blackness of the forest and the rock walls.