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"Gaia! Bad news. We go now or wait until the morning?"
Ryan was quickly getting undressed, his face turned away, surreptitiously
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wiping his tears on his sleeve.
"Have to talk to the others before first food tomorrow."
"Sure. You all right, lover?"
"Fine." He climbed into bed alongside her, putting out a hand and finding
Krysty's, holding it tight.
She felt the tension riding him. "Lover? Do you want to?"
"Yes," he whispered. "I'd like that very much."
WHEN RYAN WENT to all the other rooms, just as the first glow of dawn was
lightening the eastern sky, he wasn't all that surprised to find that Emma was
sharing her bed with Jak. It was the young albino who came to the door in
response to the gentle knock.
The teenager wore only a shirt, his pale legs sticking out under it like white
fence posts.
"Yeah?"
"Leaving."
"Why?"
"Sharpe definitely collects human muties. It's common knowledge that Emma's a
triple-good doomie."
"Baron know it?"
Ryan shook his head. "No. But he could find out at any moment. Sooner we get
away the better."
"I'll tell her."
"Sure."
By five-thirty, everyone was dressed, packed and armed, and assembled in Ryan
and Krysty's room.
THEY PASSED a few sleepy sec men, none of whom took any notice of them,
knowing that they were the legitimate guests of Baron Sean Sharpe.
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The ville was only just coming awake, with maids appearing at the corners of
corridors, carrying wood for fires and fresh linen for beds.
Ryan thought they were actually going to be able to get away free and
unchallenged. They were moving quietly and fast on condition red, without
taking the final precaution of drawing blasters, though they were all ready to
draw at a word from Ryan. To walk through a baron's ville with blasters in
hand would only trigger a full-out firefight.
They were passing the gloomy dining room, places already laid for breakfast,
when the grizzled figure of
Joaquin appeared by the main doors. His green jacket and blue pants looked as
though they were fresh from the laundry and the ironing board. His hair was
neatly parted, and he was holding a rebuilt percussion revolver in his right
hand.
"Early to leave, outlanders," he said quietly.
"Don't want to outstay our welcome here." Ryan was trying to measure the man,
seeing how far he might go to stop them from leaving the ville.
"Baron might be offended."
"Make our apologies," J.B. said.
Doc made a half bow. "Pray do us the favor of explaining to him that we
suddenly discovered that we had a subsequent engagement, elsewhere."
"Could be he'll be pissed about it."
"Could be it doesn't bother us all that much." Ryan allowed his hand to move,
quite openly, to rest on the butt of the powerful SIG-Sauer.
"Don't like being threatened," Joaquin said, showing no sign of concern at
being massively outgunned.
"Thought you were the one doing the threatening." Ryan took three steps closer
to the sec sergeant. "We don't seek trouble with you, Joaquin. But we're
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leaving, like it or not. Easy or hard. Clean or bloody.
We're leaving."
Joaquin looked at him, not shifting his eyes. "If we both push this, then it
won't be easy and there'll be some cleaning to do afterward."
"Agreed." Ryan moved two steps closer. The revolver came up, almost
imperceptibly, pointing at his groin. "You see a way around this one?"
Joaquin nodded. "Sure. Stay and eat. Tell the baron you've decided to move on.
Probably he won't give a small-jack shit about it. That way it's all open."
Ryan considered the offer, trying to think all around it and see whether there
was something lying coiled
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see it.
"Fine."
He turned to the others. "We eat first."
"Can't we go?" Emma's face was pinched with worry. "Please, let's go now."
Joaquin's eyes opened wider with interest. "What's the problem, little lady?"
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