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"We’re here for our IDs," said Becks "We did our part"

"Oh, I know I knew as soon as the bug started transirls there at the CDC They’re going to be very sorry when they get the bill for this Killing people, cloning people, arranging outbreaks… it would have been so much cheaper if they’d settled their debts in a civilized e’s hand, I asked, "What do you , almost alien look on her face told me exactly where her nickname had come from "We’re free operatives, Mr Mason You can’t blaet it"

"It was you" Mahir’s voice was tinged with a dawning horror I turned to look at hi all the way around his irises "One thing always seeed to recover fro on one of your ID cards She should have been safe She should have been untraceable So how is it the CDC tracked her less than two hours after she arrived? And why did they lose track of her after that first ID was consigned to the fires?"

"I don’t know," said the Cat "Why don’t you tell me? You’re the journalists You’re supposed to be the smart ones"

"Wait" Becks turned toward Mahir I didn’t like the edge on her voice "Are you telling ot Dave killed?"

"If you answer that question, you don’t get your new identities Think about that" The Cat looked back down at her tablet, seely unconcerned "You came here because you wanted a free pass out of your lives You co to do whatever it took to get that free pass into your hands Are you going to let so what you paid for?"

"I guess that depends on whether getting e paid for is going to get an airstrike called down on our heads," I said

Then a small, perplexed voice spoke from the stairs: "Kitty, what did you do?" I looked toward it The Fox was descending from the second floor The look on her face was al on was so far outside her experience that it verged on i? You knohat Monkey said he’d do if you did another bad thing You remember what he did to Wolf"

"Go back upstairs, Foxy," said the Cat cal cookies later"

The Fox frowned "You’re not answering my question"

"That’s because I don’t have to answer to you"

"No, but you do have to answer tofor a gun she didn’t have Her hand hovered in the air next to her hip for a moment, and then dropped back to her side

The ed from the short hallway behind the kitchen looked at usroo his line of work

"Mr Monkey, I presume?" I said

"No, no, Mr Monkey was h that I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not "You must be the journalists"

"Yes, we are," said Mahir "Are you the gentlee of this establishuess it’s down to me" A certain sharpness ca his earlier vagueness "Nohat a to the point of being forgettable ale height, average weight, features that were neither ugly nor attractive, brown hair with bleach streaks, just like every other man on the planet who cared ettable without working at it We were probably looking at the result of years of careful refineery This was a man who never wanted to stand out in a crowd He could disappear into the background before you even realized he was there In its oay, he was as terrifying as the Fox At least there, you’d probably see the crazy coe Remember the front yard

I bit back oing to give us our fake IDs, whip up another one for my sister here, and send us on our roup, all but flinging herself into the ar, she did, she didn’t say she did, but she didn’t say she didn’t, either, and that means she did!"

"I did not follow that," said Becks

"The Cat killed Dave," said Maggie There was a low menace in her tone I didn’t like it I kne the rest of us would act if we decided this would be a good tiie… I had no idea I’d never seen her really flip out Suddenly that seeenuine possibility

"Who?" asked the Monkey He stroked the Fox’s head with one hand as he looked at us, waiting for an answer She snuggled into his arms, posture half that of a lover, half that of a pet "I don’t remember anyone by that name"