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They pull hi his upper arrips Starkey’s fat file in his other hand

"So," says Starkey, "does that file show my hobbies?"

"Probably," says Lady-Lips, not really caring either way

"Maybe you should have read it a littleto talk about" He grins "You know, I’ic"

"That so?" says Mouthpiece, with a twisted sneer "Too bad you can’t make yourself disappear"

"Who says I can’t?"

Then, in his finest Houdini fashion, he raises his right hand, revealing the cuff no longer on it Instead, it dangles free from his left hand Before they can even react, Starkey slides the penknife he used to pick the lock out of his sleeve, grips it in his hand, and slashes it across Lady-Lips’s face

The man screams, and blood flows from a four-inch wound Mouthpiece, for once in his miserable life of public disservice, is speechless He reaches for his weapon, but Starkey is already on the run, zigzagging in the shadowy alley

"Hey!" yells Mouthpiece "You’re only oing to do? Reprimand him before they unwind hiaining position

The alley turns to the left and then to the right like abrick wall of the county jail

Finally he turns another corner and sees a street up ahead He charges forward, but just as he erabbed by Mouthpiece Somehow he made it there before Starkey He’s surprised, but he shouldn’t be, because doesn’t every Unwind try to run? And couldn’t they build a twisting alley specifically designed to waste your tie that they never really lost?

"You’re through, Starkey!" He crushes Starkey’s wrist enough to dislodge the knife and brandishes a tranq gun with trigger-happy fury "Down on the ground, or this goes in your eye!"

But Starkey does not go down He will not hu

"Do it!" says Starkey "Tranq oods are daed"

Mouthpiece turns hih to scrape and bruise his face

"I’ve had enough of you, Starkey Or hs, like he’s a genius Like every moron in the world hasn’t already called him that "Storky!" he snorts "That’s a better name for you, isn’t it? How do you like that, Storky?"

Blood boils hotter than water Starkey can vouch for that, because with adrenaline-purabbing the gun

"Oh no, you don’t"

Mouthpiece is stronger--but un is between them It points at Starkey’s cheek, then his chest, then to Mouthpiece’s ear, then under his chin They both grapple for the trigger and--Blam!

The concussive shock of the blast knocks Starkey back against the wall Blood! Blood everywhere! The ferrous taste of it in his un smoke and--

That was no tranq bullet! That was the real thing!

And he thinks he’s microseconds away from death, but he suddenly realizes that the blood isn’t his In front of hioes down, dead before he hits the pavement and--

My God, that was a real bullet Why does a Juvey-cop have real bullets? That’s illegal!

He can hear footsteps around the bend, and the dead cop is still dead, and he knows the whole world heard the gunshot, and everything hinges on his next action

He is partners with the Akron AWOL now The patron saint of runaway Unwinds is watching over his shoulder, waiting for Starkey to make a move, and he thinks, What would Connor do?

Just then another Juvey-cop comes around the bend--a cop he has never seen and is deterun and shoots, turning as just an accident into murder

As he escapes--truly escapes--all he can think about is the bloody taste of victory, and how pleased the ghost of Connor Lassiter would be

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