Home > Work > The Rook (The Checquy Files, #1)
61 " However, it does not really matter who is ruling—from the earliest days, the organization’s loyalty has been to Britain rather than to a particular ruler. "
― Daniel O'Malley , The Rook (The Checquy Files, #1)
62 " to put it very, very simply: If you have powers and you’re not in the Court, then you’re a Pawn. "
63 " The rain pelted down, drowning the soil and turning the terrain into a devastated expanse of mud. Lightning forked across the skies, augmented by explosions and flares. Thunder roared and machine guns screamed. I "
64 " The chanting droned loudly and was not constant, shifting from an almost Gregorian invocation to a twisted yodel, as if someone were driving a steamroller over a crowd of Swiss musicians. "
65 " Aside from the inadvertent trampling of the sorcerer’s familiar, a rare and expensive type of iguana, the operation was a success. "
66 " Was it her imagination or was her secretary regarding her with a hint of sympathy? “Yeah, all right, Ingrid. Show Rook Gestalt in.” She got up to scurry around her desk and compose her face into an appropriate mask of authority. "
67 " Did it ever occur to you that this might require a modicum of concentration?” snapped Myfanwy in irritation, breaking out of her trance. “Did the dramatic pose and the look of profound focus not tip you off?” “Sorry, "
68 " No,” disagreed his brother. “It’s something else.” Myfanwy tried to look enigmatic and probably failed. She watched them shift in the chairs. "
69 " We were always going to make a thorough study of you. You terrify the Grafters. A woman who can control living matter. Their great advantage - the weapons with which they can smite the Checquy - are all biological. They wouldn't be able to shoot their guns if you decided that you didn't want them to. Any enhancements their agents possess could tear themselves out at your command. You, my dear, are their worst nightmare. And also their greatest possibility. You're our uranium. If we can reverse-engineer you, there's nothing we can't achieve. "
70 " Threats arise every day, threats normal people cannot be made aware of. "
71 " Then she was sitting down to afternoon tea in a room full of ferns with a black-and-white-tile floor. The air was hot and wet, and an elderly lady dressed in Victorian clothes sat across from her. The lady sipped thoughtfully from her teacup and stared at her with cool chocolate eyes. "
72 " Hello, this is room five-five-three.” “Yes, good morning, Ms. Ryan,” said a polished and mercifully nonperky voice. “What can I do for you? "
73 " It’s not the decision I would have made, but then, I’m not habitually armed with a pair of revolvers and a quiet determination to prove my superiors wrong. I "
74 " When last we left our heroine (us), she was nine years old and about to stuff her gob with a chocolate digestive. "
75 " The walls gleamed nauseatingly under the humming fluorescent tubes, and it was kind of like walking down someone’s well-lit large intestine. "
76 " In addition, the prospect of staying alone in the contrived apartment another day was, well, kinda creepy. Nope, it was definitely time to go in to work and figure out what the hell was going on. "
77 " Still, she looked like she was in her forties. No small feat when you’ve lived longer than Methuselah. “My "
78 " figuring out why the hell a two-door wardrobe in the spare room of a country house is considered to be a matter of national concern! "
79 " But back to the newly spawned luminous fauna of Liverpool. "
80 " Yes, Rook Thomas?” She was surprised by the deference that this man, who was at least twenty years her senior, showed her. "