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“No deal” The words were like a reflex They came from her spine, the decision too obvious to require her brain

Travin pulled back the envelope, the plastic hissing against the table The soft tutting sound of tongue against teeth was as sympathetic as it was false

“You have moved heaven and earth,” he said “You have bribed You have bought You have arranged And when you say that you have held nothing in reserve, I believe you So now you come to my table and tell me no deal? No deal is no deal”

“I paid you”

“I don’t care We are partners Full partners Whatever you are getting fro too Or else there are other people, I think, ould be very interested to hear about what the infa”

The two azes were on her She turned to look over her shoulder The door to the gamblers’ den was metal, and it was locked The as wide The security wire in it was the sort that retracted if you wanted the glass to open and let the filthy breeze of the city in to soil the air The insect-eyed one stood up

Her iainst the roof of her mouth Two circles, counterclockwise It was a private movement, invisible Internal Oddly sensual It was allands tucked in her throat and head and abdo complex cheasm without the pleasure She could feel conscience and inhibition sliding away like bad dreams She was fully awake and alive

All the sounds in the rooa decks, Travin’s nasty voice—went quieter, as if the cocktail flowing into her had stuffed foaht The taste of copper filled her mouth Time slowed

What to do? What to do?

The thugs by the couch were the first threat She otten She kicked the bodybuilder in the kneecap as he rose, the little beer coaster of bone ripping free of its tendons and sliding up his thigh His face was a cartoon of surprise and alar it up into his descending larynx She’d been aiht as the cartilage collapsed against her knee

The insect-eyed one lunged for her He moved quickly, his own bodyto streaap when the neurotransive hi His hand fastened on her shoulder, wide, hard fingers grabbing at her She turned in toward hi to pull him down Palm strike to the inside of the elbow to break his power, then both her hands around his wrist, bending it None of her attacks were conscious or intentional Theout of a hindbrain that had been freed of restraint and given the time to plan itsdoater buffalo was; just speed, strength, and a couple billion years of survival instinct unleashed Her tai chi instructor would have looked away in embarrassment

The bodybuilder sloped down to the floor, blood pouring from his mouth The insect-eyedto do She hugged his locked joints close to her body and swung froravity well all his life He buffed up with steroids and his own cheap augh Just stronger than the little bones in his wrist and elbow He broke, dropping to his knee

Melba—not Clarissa—swung around hi it with the left, protecting her own head fro that was about to coer than the soft arteries that carried blood to his brain

Travin’s gun fired, gouging a hole in the couch The little puff of foa the power of the scream into her arms, her shoulders She felt the insect-eyed ain If he hit her, she’d die She felt no fear, though It had been locked ahere she couldn’t experience it That would come soon Very soon It had to be done quickly

He should have tried for a third bullet It was the s The wise one He was neither set away He was a monkey, and millions of years of evolution told him to flee from the predator He didn’t have ti in her throat

Tiers rapped around Travin’s neck She’d been driving his skull into the corner of his desk There was blood and scalp adhering to it She pushed again, but he was heavy There was no force behind her blow She dropped hi

Alive, she thought The fear was back now, and the first presentiment of nausea He was still alive He couldn’t still be alive when the crash caun She had to find what had happened to it With fingers quickly growing numb, she pulled the little pistol from under him

“Partners,” she said, and fired two rounds into his head Even over the ga decks, they had to have heard it She forced herself to the metal door and checked the lock It was bolted Unless soht She could rest They wouldn’t call the police She hoped they wouldn’t call the police

She slid to the floor Sweat poured down her face and she began shaking It seelorious and redeh the physiological crash that followed, but she couldn’t afford to sleep Not here She hugged her knees to her chest, sobbing not because she felt sorrow or fear, but because it hat her flesh did when she was co at the door, but the sound was uncertain Tentative Just a few h Just a few landular modification had never taken root in the military culture A squad of soldiers without hesitation or doubt, so full of adrenaline they could tear their own hters curled up and ain It was a failed technology, but not an unavailable one Enough h men of science who had been cured of conscience It was easy The easiest part of her plan, really