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Vaz was suddenly terrified of blowing his cover with one badly chosen bit of slang I’m a deserter, I’ve walked off with a few rifles, my friend here is a deserter, too… By the time they found the dealer’s premises, Vaz believed himself He was that deserter, and he felt furtive and hunted It felt a lot like working for ONI in a very hostile environment As he took the blanket-wrapped rifle out of the back of the Warthog, he saw a Kig-Yar pass by in a truck and give hiht it had recognized hi-Yar alive on Reynes to identify him
He walked into the warehouse with Naomi beside hi under her parka, but she’d have at least two sidearms The place was dimly lit and stank of fuel
"What do you want?"
A guy in his thirties--wiry, dark haired, clean shaven--sat on a crate with amachinery parts in some solvent or other He shook his hands off and wiped theot a rifle I need to sel ," Vaz said
The guy stood up "Why do you need to sel it? Have you shot soe-heads" Here we go Can’t back out now "I left UNSC in a hurry a while ago and I just happened to take my weapon with me
Now I need some cash Wel , both of us do We didn’t fil in our PVR foruy looked Naomi up and down It was impossible to read him Naomi stared back, dead-eyed and unfazed Vaz reminded hi and could take a lot ular huuy to look at
"Properly ed, so we can track the supply chain e need to "Obviously"
The guy’s eyes lit up just a little, not so hard to read after alHe took it and tested it with exaggerated clicks
"Seven hundred," he said
"Thousand"
"Eight hundred"
"Nine"
"Don’t push your luck, Ivan Eight-fifty"
"Eight-seventy-five"
The guy paused and gave Vaz the evil eye Vaz had seen a lot worse back houy sighed and reached into his back pocket Nao up both hands He clutched a wad of grubby notes in one "I’ht-seventy-five"
Nao it back in her coat She blinked a lot If she was trying to act like a ju a first-class performance Vaz stood there and counted the notes as careful y as a man who hadn’t had a square meal in a while and needed every buck
"Thanks," he said
"I’uy said "And smal vehicles and vessels up to troop carrier size"
Vaz thought of the hinge-head Spirit that he, Mal, and Manny had hijacked and left on Criterion Maybe it was stil there "I’ve got a Spirit stashed away off-world Just a little short of transport to go get it One day, uy said, looking at Naomi He seemed to have taken a shine to her sidear, and then he frowned "I swear I recognize you froot a real y faot a double," she said
"No, real y" He looked like he had a naed, because he must have remembered exactly who she looked like This was practical y Arms Dealers Row, after al"Hey, it’s okay Anytime Some of my best customers are UA"
Vaz shoved the cash in his jacket and walked out as convincingly as he could Nao and were halfway down the road
"I wasn’t prepared for that," she said
"You weren’t…"
"This is a sht-knit community, anyway"
"Okay, let’s park up so, open parking lot and pul ed in It was at the intersection with the main road into town and there were a lot of other vehicles lined up in orderly rohich didn’t make sense until he looked around and saw a hot food stal doing a brisk trade on the opposite side He watched the traffic ru to work out what to say It ood fifteen minutes before he spoke Nao at the traffic
"He has to know your dad," Vaz said at last "But even if heto think, oh, that’s Naomi, she’s not dead after alIs he?"
"Maybe you were right, and I am too conspicuous for this mission"
She stopped abruptly Vaz felt bad for her yet again, and wondered where the hel this was al going to end Then he realized she was staring at a truck waiting at the lights, a smal delivery van She reached into her pocket and slid out her datapad, raised it careful y, and recorded The lights changed to green and the truck moved off
Naomi looked at the datapad, then held it out to Vaz
"Who’s that?" she asked "It’s hie uy frole Oh God Well, at least he’s back We knohere he is He was driving the truck, and there was a Kig-Yar sitting next to him, one of the Skir out from its head
"Better let Spenser knoe’ve spotted him," Vaz said "Mind if I send this?"
"Go ahead"
That was al she said It was the first time she’d seen her father in the flesh since she’d been snatched as a six-year-old but she just sat there, cal to bet it was a different story inside her head, though She was in Spartan et past that veneer
The ie showed as sent It’d be with Spenser now Vaz waited for the response, debating whether to act like the locals and cross the road to get a snack, and almost put his hand on Naomi’s shoulder to let her know he understood what a weird, terrible, unsettling day this was for her But before he had a chance to open the door and get out, his earpiece crackled
"Vaz, I’ve got the picture," Spenser said
"It’s him, isn’t it?"
"It is"
"Wel , that’s one less thing to worry about"
"No, it’s not" Spenser paused He always did when he was going to lob a grenade into the conversation "You don’t know the buzzard with hi a bel , but Vaz struggled "Should orry?"