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"Great," I say weakly as he starts otten uidescrate and sits s can relax When I finally liftfor me with concern and apprehension

Even Molly can’t see Captain Chase half ready to faint without wondering if the world’s about to end

"You look awful," he says in a low voice "So with surprise that my clothes are stained with mud, still wet in places A few of the stains are different Reddish brown I open ulp

"I’llto turn for the door

I put a hand on his arht now Molly--I need your help"

He rubs one hand over his shaven scalp, the tattoos winding around his fingers seeht of the back room Not for the first time I wish I could read the characters tattooed up and down both arms--but while I remember how to speak a little of the Mandarin my mothersince slipped away Molly told es from The Art of War and The Prince, and on the other, quotes from wise men fro, and Gandhi War and peace, he’d explained, when I told hi

Rebel and soldier

Molly was big into trying to find hiht into every stereotype he could find in ancient ht away--I’m one of the few people on the base who can even pronounce his real name He was a terra-trash orphan when he was a baby--parents brought hih conditions, and he ended up adopted by a faot no idea how he ended up here, in a colony largely doot no link to our shared Chinese heritage except by blood, but it never ceases to fascinate hih away fros

But that was before she died, and I lost that connection forever

Molly’s still hesitating, as though he suspects a drink will fix oin’ on?" he asks finally

"I need you to watch for a e" Soe Flynn Cormac could possibly need to send me now--but the rest of me refuses to sever this last thread between us "It’s i it or when, but you have to bring it to me--don’t tell anyone else"

Molly’s brows draw in, concern deepening into a frown "Babe, what’d you get into?"

I take a deep breath, feeling shaky now in the wake of the panic that greeted me when I first walked into the bar "I can’t tell you, Baojia"

There are only a few people on the base who know Molly’s real naives my shoulder a squeeze "I’ll watch for it Get some rest, kid Y’look like death on ice"

I try to do as Molly suggests when I get back tothe last of the blood andon dry, warriet it, but despite ainst the

Maybe it’s because when I closethere, the side of its head bloay, the skin and hair around the area scorched in a way that only a military-issue Gleidel could have done The child I killed while not inhabitingsohts If I had anyone I could call, even to have the ht be a stickler for using the retransood, clear lines for getting ned to have friends--we’re not given the chance for it Two years ago I would’ve called alaxy now I’ve got no one Alexi was the closest thing I had Everyone else I’ve served with is gone Dead, or else stationed so far away, they ht as well be

Sometimes I think they isolate us on purpose It makes me wonder what e, if I’d never gone into the eance My old captain always told ht for, not just a reason to fight If I’d listened to him, would I have had friends that lasted beyond their next reposting?

I’hthe were here He had a way ofthisthat plain wouldn’t be so hard

I sit up abruptly as an idea hitsfor a way to understand LaRoux Industries’ involvement For the reason there was a LaRoux ident chip on the site of the vanished facility How could I have been so stupid? My old captain hasn’t been on Avon for over a year, and there’s a risk--but even brainwashed by fame and fortune, I can’t believe he’d refuse to help me if I asked