Broken People Read Online Free Page B

though.
    “Monsieur le Maire?” Nicholas cleared his
throat to announce his presence to the older man, who was busy
reading the headlines rolling across a screen.
    Bushy eyebrows rose before small eyes,
buried in thick layers of fat, followed. “Mr. Renard, is it that
time of year again?” Ternchiev turned off the screen and lowered it
back into the desk.
    “I’m afraid it is.” Nicholas grinned and
pulled out a chair to sit. They were not quite equals, but he
didn’t want to let the mayor fool himself into thinking he held all
the cards. Nicholas had a few aces up his sleeve, too. “We’ve made
it here again. I don’t suppose the rules have changed since last
year?”
    “I’m afraid they haven’t.” Ternchiev raised
his shoulders in a half-apologetic gesture. “I lead this city, but
I can’t force the people to change their minds. If they don’t want
to see your people, there’s nothing I can do. After all, I’m
only a servant of the people.”
    Lies . So many lies. Banning the
circus from town had been the mayor’s initiative. He remembered the
slogans: No spare parts! No corruption ! It was how Ternchiev
had won his third mandate. The circus crew didn’t kidnap children
and homeless people to use them for spare parts, but who would
listen? After all, they were only circus people.
    “That’s too bad.” Nicholas rested his hands
on his knees. “The circus had a rough summer, and we were hoping to
cut our losses on the way back to civilization. It’s going to be a
long winter.”
    “That bad?” The mayor’s eyebrows rose even
higher. “How are things in the far east?”
    “I wouldn’t know.” Nicholas shook his head.
“We passed through Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, and went up to St.
Petersburg, but we had to stop there. It was too tough. We didn’t
dare go to Moscow, although we’ve always been welcome there.” The
mayor didn’t react to the barb, so Nicholas continued, “The land
was too ravaged. The entire Russian Federation is collapsing, and
the Japanese army hasn’t even crossed half the country yet.”
    “The Ural Mountains will hold them
back.”
    “I wouldn’t put much faith in that,”
Nicholas said. “They won’t cross the mountains this winter, but
next year …?” He shook his head with serious concern and left it at
that.
    Ternchiev swallowed hard, glancing out the
window as if he wanted to make sure the giant war machines hadn’t
reached his doorstep. “Well … we’ll have to wait and see.”
    No, they had to act before it was too late,
but they couldn’t. They couldn’t fight the enemy’s bots. The
situation was out of Nicholas’s hands, but he could still control
things locally. Okay, it was time to earn his money. “Even if the
world ended next year, I’d still like to rent the theater.”
    “Ah, the theater. Yes …” The mayor turned
his attention back to Nicholas. “Of course. The small hall for a
week, as usual?”
    “Actually, I want the whole building. The
employees can take the week off. A paid vacation,” Nicholas said
with a smirk.
    “What do you need the whole building
for?”
    “We’re going to put on a show.”
    Ternchiev’s mouth turned into a severe line.
“Mr. Renard, you know our laws—”
    “Not that kind of show,” Nicholas said.
“We’ll still do our usual numbers outside the city, but for one
night only, we’ll set this city on fire with new acts, just for
them.”
    “I don’t think—”
    “It’s a brand new concept,” Nicholas
continued, undisturbed. “We did some of the numbers in St.
Petersburg, and they were well-received by the audience, but this
will be a whole new show. A world premiere.” He moved his hands as
if he was pointing at the headlines. Since the mayor failed to look
impressed, he pressed further, “We’ve been working on this for some
time now, and your city will get to see it first. It will be our
final rehearsal before we take the show to Vienna, Berlin, and
Paris.”
    “I don’t know