I'll be back to get her into the stirrups." The room looked like a normal examining room but the table looked far from a normal examining table. I was...used to seeing the stirrups on an examining table folded up and out of the way but these were not only up and ready for use they were much more elaborate than I had ever seen. They had long shiny steel troughs that the patient's calves would lie in and several heavy padded leather straps that obviously would hold someone's legs firmly in. ..” but I was already too close and then I came and I bit my lip so hard I could taste blood but I had to or I would have screamed but Cait said “Tell me” and I said “I'm cu-hummmm!”And Cait and I really were okay. The next day she apologized for the way she reacted and I apologized for what I had done and she said “Don't. You know I've wanted you to do it really. It's just that... well, maybe next time you can ask me first?” and so I promised I would and she even made me promise to ask for her. "Thule wondered if that was some of double entendre. With Svetlana, you could never tell. He decided to ignore the possibility, "Hello, Svetlana. What can I do for you?" Am thinking something bad happened to Jake," said Svetlana. "He left strange message on my voice mail." Strange how?" asked Thule."It sounds like his phone is far away from his mouth," said Svetlana. "And I hear words like 'keel' and 'sheep.'"It took Thule a moment to realize that Svetlana meant "kill" and "ship." After eight. He was hunched over the bar of a dank tavern, dim and smelling of ale and wood shavings. He had in front of him a large tankard of ale, the best of the house, he was told. It tasted like piss. But he drank it anyway, pretending to enjoy it. ‘So yer travelin’ to London?’ Nathan asked, breaking his words down to those of the common folk. ‘Fancy nabobs they got there. With their hats and canes and horses.’ The man next to him, already deep in his cups nodded. ‘Gettin’ me a job there, that’s why.