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He waves me to a seat "Don’t know many Golds, but that Sevro’s a nasty little shit When I delivered his father’s instructions to hiob to pucker" He lights a burner, winks at me "Never met anyone like him"

"He’s loyal as they come," I say "Like you"

"No! I mean he can swear better than any bloodydaet used to it Though he does like saying ‘bloody’ a hell of a lot now"

"It’s a fine word Rolls off the tongue Done some research" He puffs up his chest "Been with us since the first ancestors, you know The first Golds, the ones with norold uniforms, took most of the early recruits from the poor bastards from the Irish isles after the radiation from London turned the isles into a wasteland The Golds took the highly skilled ratory workforce and recruited the just stuck around, ju, isn’t she?"

"Harht I’hts another burner, flicking the other onto the floor I pick it up and put it in the wastebasket "She went her oay about a year after you left We discovered several Senators were going to be vacationing on the Gorgon Sea So we showed up to bug their villa to see if we couldn’t get any secrets We didn’t Just lots of … depraved shit And that was that, we thought But not for Harht, she walked in and killed the Senators and their guests Then she left us"

"So there was never a lurcher squad that raided your headquarters?"

He shakes his head "They came because of her Killed Matteo and about forty others But she’d already left for Luna Ares saved us Came in hard with a mixed pack of Obsidians and Grays Laid waste to those lurchers, then slipped away before reinforcements came It’s lucky he killed them all No way they wouldn’t knoas a Gold after that Had our first face-to-face that day Man’s bloodydamn scary"

"Not the word I’d choose" Thoughhoell he fooled me "It doesn’t bother you that he’s a Gold?"

"It doesn’t bother him that we’re Reds Ares would die for the cause, Darrow Shit He started it You knohy he did?"

I shake my head

"It’s his story" Dancer traces the pitviper bites on his neck "A ht to tell his own story But his isn’t a happy one Sad as yours Sad as mine Strip a er But he was the first to know there could be so more He found me He found you Who the bloodydamn are we to question him?"

The door opens suddenly We both turn and Mickey limps in He looks half dead, thin as a reed, paler than before Without a word, he hobbles over to me and kisses me full on the mouth, his affection desperate and true Then he starts weeping like a child Dancer and I don’t knohat to do, so I just wrap my arms around him and let him cry He whispers "Thank you" to me a dozen tis the Grays are trained to get infor Still, I have to discover what the Jackal learned fro Mickey’s lab