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Cabrillo smiled and walked over to Murphy He was dressed in a costume that would make Elton John blush Murphy raised one of the sequined pockets on the vest and slid two hypodermic needles in covers inside In the other pocket, he slid an arced carbon-fiber blade that had holes for fingers

“Your blade is dipped in paralytic agent, too,” he said, spinning Cabrillo around and strapping a small automatic weapon to his lower back “The bullets are wad cutters There’s not as much horsepower in the rounds as I like, so be close before you pull the trigger”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Cabrillo said

Lincoln had already been outfitted, and he stood to one side, playing with his bass guitar

Cabrillo smiled, then spoke

“Okay, everybody, we’ll be going in soon,” he said “Remember the order of operations and ive the signal to pull out, make your way to the extraction point Keep in er picture—if this goes haywire, we still have ways of salvaging the operation There are no bold heroes—only old heroes The weapons are to be used only if everything goes to hell and one of our people is in danger of losing life or limb What ant, as always, is an orderly operation where we do our job and return here safe and sound Any questions?”

The Magic Shop was silent

“Okay, people,” Cabrillo said, “then give your letters to Julia”

Medical Officer Julia Huxley hated this part of her job The letters gave instructions for the lengths of medical care each ave detailed instructions as to the dispersal of the operatives’ funds and other bequests Whatever was in the letters, Huxley was bound to see it through She walked around the roo the sealed envelopes When she was done, the room was quiet

“That always puts a pall over the proceedings,” Murphy said, laughing “We’re not going in to disable a nuclear warhead We’re just stealing soold”

The sour

“We have some time before we need to leave,” Hanley said, “so if you need to eat or whatever, the time is now”

Everyone filtered out of the roo only Cabrillo and Hanley

“Meadows and Jones ready?” Cabrillo asked

“Right on schedule,” Hanley said