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Burton was a small, thin, dark-skinned man He wore immaculately tailored suits, and kept the thick black curls of his hair and the sroomed That he worked in criminal enterprises said more about the world than about his character With ious education, and a few influential dorm mates at upper university, he could have joined the ranks of transplanetary corporate executives with offices at Luna and Mars, Ceres Station and Ganyes of Baltianization of a dozen lieutenants, a couple hundred street-level thugs and knee-breakers, a scattering of drug cooks, identity hackers, dirty cops, and arms dealers followed his dictates And a class of perhaps a thousand professional victiistered children, and others in possession of disposable lives—looked up to hilowing across an impassable void A fact of nature

Burton’s misfortune was to be born where and when he was, in a city of scars and vice, in an age when the division in the popular overn an actual profession and istered birth such as his to having any power and status at all was an achievement as profound as it was invisible To the men and wo the lowest of the loas not an invitation but a stateull that flew to the ht about it, but that he had ed what he did meant only that it was possible Anyone who had not had his determination, ruthlessness, and luck deserved pretty much whatever shit he handed to them It didn’t make him sympathetic when someone stepped out of line

“He…what?” Burton said

“Shot hi at the table Around them, the sounds of the diner made a white noise that was like privacy

“Shot Him”

“Yeah Austin was talking about hoas good for the money, and how he just needed a few more days Before he could finish, Tiun of his and—” Oestra ers and a thuesture of violence and apology Burton leaned back in his chair and looked over at Erich as if to say, I think your puppy peed on

Erich had recommended Tis rong It felt like they were going very wrong Erich leaned forward, resting on his good elbow, hiding his fear with forced casualness His bad arer than a six-year-old’s and scarred badly at the joints His disfigure he’d suffered as a child It wasn’t a fact that he’d shared with Burton, nor would he ure into the calculations that were his life As did Timmy

“He had a reason,” Erich said

“He did?” Burton said, raising his eyebroith feigned patience “And as it?”

Erich’s stomach knotted His bad hand closed in a tiny fist He saw the hardness in Burton’s eyes, and it ree, even with his skills, there were others who could fake identity records Others who could fake DNA profiles Others who could do for Burton what he did He was expendable It was the e Burton meant him to take

“I don’t know,” he said “But I’ve known Ti unless there’s a reason”

“Well,” Burton replied, pulling the word out to two syllables “If it’s since forever, I guess that ht”

“Just, you know, if he did that, he did it for so”

Oestra scratched his ar to hide the relief he felt at Burton’s focus turning to Erich “I got hie room”

Burton stood up, pushing back his chair with the backs of his knees The waitress made a point not to look at the three as they h the doors marked EMPLOYEES ONLY, Burton and then Oestra and Erich li the table until she was sure they were gone