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Sa

"Hurry," Pascal said, "they’re co"

"Fuck it," Sam said She yanked the seat recline lever and lowered herself instantly to a prone position Then she pushed herself into the backseat and went out that door

A cloud of dust frorabbed Skadz by the elbow and urged hian to drift in from the street on the other side of the supposedly crashed vehicle The locals would be angry until the nearest Jacobite patrol arrived, which wouldn’t be long

Pru froed him around the corner and then forced herself to walk Per the plan, Skadz ran ahead to the far end of the L-shaped lane He glanced out into the street, looking left and right, then turned and flashed an a-okay

"Clear," Sam said

"All this to visit the tailor," Prumble replied He moved to a door on the back of an unren at eye level read PRIVATE And below that, CUSTOMER ENTRANCE AT THE FRONT

Pruave a sharp rap on the door Sam drew her pistol and waited

A muffled voice from inside answered Prumble’s knock Sam couldn’t understand the words, but the tone was clear: Go away

"It’s Prumble Open up, Jaya"

"Piss off" Sah

"You oweopen so fast Pru Indiana dirty white tank top that accentuated a round belly Thick glasses were pushed high up on his bulbous nose, tape holding together the wire frames "I owe you?! I owe you?! What the fuck--oh, hello, Saetic sh dimly lit, she saw reams of heavy fabric, enormous canisters of one chemical or another, and part of a machine She saw no one else inside

"Uh," the tailor said, suddenly confused He scratched absently at the greasy, curly gray hair that ringed the bald dome of his head

"We need your help," Sam tried "Can we come in and talk, at least?"

He hesitated Sounds of commotion came in from the mouth of the alley around the corner "Heard a crash," Jayateerth said "That you?"

"We needed a distraction," Prumble replied

The tailor nodded solemnly, as if he’d just accepted the way the city worked now In years past all the scavengers came to Jaya’s shop for patchwork on their environment suits, and they paid handsomely for it They still did, but under Grillo’s watchful eye There was only one reason someone needed an environment suit, and Grillo wanted total control over who cao that anyone wishing to procure the services of one Jayateerth Laxman had to have their order approved by the Jacobite leadership As far as Samantha knew, there was no one else alive who could be trusted to patch the suits Certainly there was no one who could provide what they’d come for

"Fine," the o back inside she saw a silver pistol tucked into the back of his pants He drew it and stuffed it inside a cubbyhole on a shelf near the door

Sale nod, and she returned it They’d agreed he’d stay out of sight if possible Jaya was known to be trustworthy, but if there were any Jacobite ood if they didn’t provide a description back to Grillo Skadz had already tempted fate with his initial presence at the airport, but so far they’d been lucky None of the Jacobite guards seeers into silence Walkabout or not, Skadz was one of them

Sam followed Pru it unlocked The roolue and fabric, electronics and lubricant LEDs hanging froht, and implied the space was powered This came as no surprise Jayateerth’s trade required electricity, and even in a city controlled by Grillo no one would dare shut the man down

Environ one wall of the long roo the opposite contained all anized in a way Saured only Jaya could understand Mismatched tables ran down the center of the space, each covered with suits in various states of assembly or repair Scraps of fabric littered the floor

At the far end of the room was a closed door Next to it, a scrawny child slept on a cot

"Blink!" Jaya called out

The kid, a girl of no more than ten, Samantha decided, rose immediately and stood on bare feet, eyes still bleary froirl, and ave a nod, her eyes continuing to blink erratically A nervous tic that had earned her her nicknah the door

In the front rooh the door there were cardboard boxes, soht," Jayateerth said "I’ What do you need?"

"An environment suit," Prumble said

"This I know"

"For oodbye Thank you for the visit Nice to see you" He swept his are "You have to help us, Jaya It’s important For old tiainst his shelves and folded his arms "My recollection of old tis I paid for in advance"

"Blackfield blew up !"

"Two years and you can’t send ait first and deciding the wooden thing was sturdy enough "C’ed None of that matters anymore"

Thefor a long moment Then he turned to Sam, the look in his eyes profoundly sad "I’arden and watch the sun rise and set I didn’t want any trouble with Platz, or Blackfield after him Especially not with these new fuckers" His voice dropped to so just above audible on the last word

No one said anything for a long time Then Sam tried a different tack "Jaya, what’s with the boxes out front Going somewhere?"