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With Sam and Caine both away there was no one who could take hiht But if Brianna was backed by a few of Edilio’s guys with rifles, well, they ot Jaed Lock hiain And this time when Sam came back Sam would finish the job

It had been supernaturally cool putting hi sliced in three pieces But he wasn’t sure that would happen if Sam incinerated him, burned hie made Drake very nervous

He had to find a way to rid hi Otherwise he’d be dependent on Jamal But hoas he supposed to do that? It was hopeless For a moment Drake felt despair He would be trapped like this forever

But then, faint hope Maybe there was someone who could help He felt its touch on his ," Drake said

"Where to?" Ja to see" He’d been about to say, "a friend" But friend wasn’t the right term Not a friend Much more

"My master," Drake said, self-conscious about the word But when Jah, Drake repeated it,to see h A lot had been picked for eating, but there were still untended gardens behind abandoned houses where it was possible to pick a sold or whatever He didn’t really knohat flowers they were Some were probably just weeds

When he had a half dozen he stopped to check in on Boas being watched by Virtue Boas better today Maybe a permanent improvement, maybe not Sanjit never counted his chickens before they’d hatched

Virtue stared at him and at his flowers He stared like Sanjit had lost his mind

"What are those?"

"These?" Sanjit looked in mock surprise at the bouquet "I think these may be flowers"

"I know they’re flowers," Virtue said "Why are you carrying flowers?"

"I’irl?"

"Yes, Choo They are for that girl"

"You should stay away froh, don’t you think?"

Virtue stared at him "Don’t you know there’s a quarantine? Where have you been? No one is supposed to go out"

"A what?"

"A quarantine That flu going around Everyone is supposed to stay inside"

"I’ve had flu before, big deal," Sanjit said disood reasons You don’t know these people, I think ht do if they catch you out"

"I’ll be back," Sanjit said with a jaunty wink "Unless I get really lucky"

"Or she shoots you with that big gun of hers"

"That’s also a possibility," Sanjit said cheerfully

He patted Bowie on the head and checked on the others Then he headed out into the sunlight