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wished he could stay to watch its evolution.
The worst of the survivors, the weird and deadly and crazy, lived in the
ruins still and favored the night.
Turtle explained that to the Lieutenant. You find the Immunes. Mention me.
Line up with them. Show the world how mean you are. Don t tell anybody you
were Guardship soldiers. Ever. Stick together. You and the other woman are
reasonably attractive. That will cause problems. Different rules obtain here.
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Why are you doing this?
Repaying a debt you would have to be Ku to understand. He offered her a
plastic box. The interest on that debt. Two handguns. Two rechargeable charge
packs. Treasures greater than serviceable women. Use them sparingly and guard
them well. Goodbye, Lieutenant.
Not goodbye, Ku. Till we meet again.
Don t, Lieutenant. I will kill you the next time. Turtle left them. He felt
sad. They were all on the skids to Hell.
It took him two months to reach Tregesser Prime because of the dislocations
caused by the War.
The most feared woman on V. Rothica 4 joined the two most feared men. It was
them.
Cable Shike snapped, About damned time. I m sick of this hole. He had not
wanted to come. Blessed had insisted.
Four and Five were sick of Merod Schene, too.
Shike said, Let s whack them while they re dizzy and get out.
The letter of Lupo Provik s word was good. Provik had given the Ku what he
asked. But there had been no promise not to tie up loose ends after the five
reached Merod Schene.
Five said, Guess I d better get Crash.
He won t play it straight, Shike said. He ll give you that frog grin and
say he ll go with the job, but he ll only go till he scrubs the three men. No
way is he going to spiff those women.
Crash Gutsyke was a second-rate gang boss. He had ambitions.
Five said, I know the type. Thinks he ll claim his pay, drill you and me,
then expand his harem by one more. Five laughed.
Even Four was amused.
Just by moving in a careful formation, they drew attention. The bold came to
look. The timid moved away. Jo tried to swallow her contempt and could not.
Never had she seen such scum. Like the dregs of Canon had been dumped here.
Their search for shelter took them ever nearer the ruins.
At first she was unsure they were being stalked. But the camp became less
crowded toward the city. It became obvious. There were ten of them, at least.
She passed the word. Everyone had noticed.
She had given her weapon to Hoke though the Ku had meant them for her and
AnyKaat. Hoke was an irresponsible dickhead, but he had been regimental
small-arms champ and under fire was liquid helium.
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Three very large men stepped out to block the lane ahead. Others began
closing in, hauling out knives and swords.
Kill, Jo said.
Jug had point. He kicked the middle blocker in the nose, driving the bone
back into whatever the man used for brains. Hoke shot another and turned,
began shooting to the left. AnyKaat was a beat late but started shooting to
the right.
Jug broke the neck of the last blocker and looked around for another victim.
He lurched. Fire and gore erupted from his back.
Hoke had killed another six men when it happened to him.
Jo dived for his weapon. She came up with it, looked around, saw the
survivors in flight, shot two, saw Shaigon s head explode.
AnyKaat, using both hands to steady her aim, squeezed off a shot at three
people on a rusty knee of the ruined city. One pitched backward. Shit. I hit
the wrong one.
Jo got behind Hoke s body. Get down!
AnyKaat zigzagged toward the ruins.
Jo tried to give covering fire. Twice Hoke s body jerked and belched fire and
blood.
Jo got three more shots before her charge pack went. Only the last did any
good. Like AnyKaat, she missed the gunner and hit someone else.
She jumped up and zigzagged after AnyKaat, making sudden pauses to snatch
weapons from the dead. The air blistered around her, too close to believe
anyone could shoot that straight and guess her next move that well. Then the
gunner decided to worry about AnyKaat.
Jo found AnyKaat in the shade of a slab of rusty iron. She was seated on
rubble. Her right calf was bloody.
Bad?
Shrapnel. Just a little chunk taken out. Direct hit would have taken it off.
I won t be dancing for a while. One of those people was Cable Shike. Blessed
Tregesser s bodyguard.
We know where we stand, then. She popped the charge pack out of her weapon,
placed it in sunlight. That might pick up enough power for one or two shots
before dark. Give me yours.
AnyKaat s weapon had power enough for three more shots. Just enough.
Somebody comes along, you don t act like that won t work. Point it at them
and make them get down on their belly. Then stick them with this. She gave
AnyKaat the longest blade she had collected. Don t hesitate. We got no
friends around here.
What about the guys, Jo?
They re dead.
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Where you going?
In there. I ll be back.
The shadows were taking control of the ruins when Crash Gutsyke lumped his
froggish shape into sight.
Shike and Five had dressed their wounds but moved slowly. Cable said, Here
comes Fuckup Charlie.
Five said, That was some class you showed us out there, Crash.
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