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“This belong to anyone?” he asked

The two techs looked at each other

“No, sir,” the wo her jumpsuit a little more closed “Most of these are just empty”

“Okay, then,” Bull said He thumbed in his override code and pulled the door open The duffel bag inside was green and gray, the kind of thing he’d have put his clothes in when he went to work out He ran a finger along the seal About a hundred vials of yellohite powder, a little , put it on his shoulder

“Is there a problem?” the male tech asked His voice was tentative, but not scared Curious, more Excited Well, God loved rubberneckers, and so did Bull

“Myerson-Freud just stopped selling pixie dust on the side,” Bull said “Should go tell all your friends, eh?”

The techs looked at each other, eyebrows raised, as Bull headed out Back at the kelp tank, he dropped the bag, then pointed to Alexi and to the catwalk beside him, the sarih the deep water and pulled himself up

“What’s the proble?”

Bull shook his head slowly, and only once The chagrin on Alexi’s face was like a confession Not that Bull had needed one

“Hey, ese,” Bull said “Just want you to know, I’e and bone gave way under his knuckle and a bright red fountain of blood spilled slowly past the tech’s startled mouth

“Put him on the back of the cart,” Bull said “Where folks can see hied a look that was a lot like the pair in the locker rooe asked, and his tone of voice ?” Bull asked as he scooped up the duffel bag

“Pretty don’t”

“Then we’re not going there”

Bull had planned the route to pass through all the most populated public areas between the inner around, and there were spectators all along the way Alexi wasor de to see the captain Bull had the sudden, visceral hter when he’d been younger He didn’t knohen it had happened; theunconnected from the rest of his life

It took alathered, a small sea of faces, most of the the Earther kill one of their own Bull ignored them He keyed in his passcode, opened the inner door of the lock, walked back to the cart, and hefted Alexi with one arravity it should have been easy, but Bull felt hiot back to the lock It didn’t help that Alexi was thrashing Bull pushed him in, closed the inner door, put in the override code, and opened the exterior door without evacuating the air first The pop rang through the metal deck like a distant bell The monitor showed that the lock was empty Bull closed the exterior door While the lock refilled, he walked back to the cart He stood on the back of the cart where Alexi had been, the duffel bag over his head in both hands Blood stained his sleeve and his left knee