The hound-thing on the ground whines in agony. It's getting on my nerves, cutting through the barricade of my determination—then I notice out of the corner of one eye that the shoulder I blew a fist-sized chunk out of is writhing and foaming, dark tubules questing inwards from the ripped and shredded edges. Shit. If this is what I think it is, then by summoning it the B-Team have bitten off more than they can chew—and so have I. "You've got five seconds," I add. "It won't die, but it's going to be real pissed off. And I reckon it's fifty-fifty whether it blames me or blames you."

"Do you truly believe you can shoot one of the Hounds with impunity, mortal?"

I've got a bearing on Windbag now. Your typical B-Team idiot is either a religious fanatic who's grown up listening to preacher-men ranting and foaming in seventeenth-century English, or they're a wannabe who's seen too many horror flicks. I'm betting on the second kind here. I take a step back—accidental contact with this particular species of doggie is about as safe as licking the third rail on the Underground—then quickly slip my left hand into my pocket and mutter the command word to ignite the Hand of Glory as I pull it out of my pocket.

Of course the HOG lights off promptly, but its little pinky is tangled in my pocket lining and comes free with a foul gust of scorched linen—something else to hold against the gloating ratfucker. I take a long step sideways, then another, holding the wrinkled hand at arm's length out to one side. The Glock is a numbing drag on my opposite arm: nothing like as bad as a Browning, but I can't keep this up forever.

A second voice chirps up from behind the thrashing Hound, about where I was standing five seconds ago: "Hey, where'd he go?"

(He sounds . . . dim. Let's call him Minion #1.)

"Fuck!" That's Windbag. He sounds pissed off. "We're going to lose him! All-Highest will be displeased!"

"I've got the path." A third voice, female and coldly controlled. Maybe she's an A-Team player assigned to ride herd on the clown car. (She can be Minion #2 until proven competent.) "You walk the—"