Limitless Evolution As a Snake

The man watching the tunnel had once tried to beat Orin beside a stack of stolen goods, so I doubted he had come to return a borrowed saucepan. Lyra enlarged the photograph on her phone while I kept my temper out of the room long enough to hear what she thought.

She recognised the place but not the face, which mattered. Her old UED work did not come with a magical list of every bastard currently employed beneath the city, and pretending otherwise would only make us feel prepared while remaining stupid.

I sent the photograph to Rook with the name of Renn’s depot and the reason I recognised him. Renn himself remained in custody, which meant his former staff were either looking for new work or demonstrating very poor commitment to retirement.

Cherry called the front desk and asked for the courier’s exact words. The guard had approached a taxi dispatcher about a red snake travelling without his usual friends, offering cash for a departure time and pretending he was arranging a delivery.

[System: Could be a welcome hamper, mate, although most fruit baskets don’t need a lookout and a bloke with assault experience. I’d keep the optimism on a fairly short lead.]

Unless that basket contains his resignation and a very apologetic ham, I’m not interested. I moved towards the lift, then stopped when Lyra asked whether I was planning to drag him straight back to our home by responding exactly as he expected.

That was annoying because it was sensible. The girls had staff, working security and decisions of their own to make, and I didn’t need to prove I cared by turning the casino entrance into the next place somebody fired a gun.

We gave the desk his picture and changed my pickup to a public stop watched by cameras. Lyra kept the message thread open with Rook while Cherry checked the staff route, making sure nobody unfamiliar could walk upstairs with a parcel and a convincing smile.

I told them I could delay the harbour trip. Cherry squeezed my tail and said staying because I wanted to was different from staying because a stranger had frightened us, then made me promise the solo plan did not mean refusing help out of pride.

”I can call for help and still claim every clever part was my idea, sweetheart, so that won’t damage my reputation,” I told her. She laughed, then kissed me carefully beside the dressing and asked me to come back with fewer holes this time.

Lyra followed me to the lift after Cherry went to check the floor. ”Send me the route before you start improving it,” she said. I gave her the first check-in time too, then rested my head against her shoulder until she stopped watching the lift.

”I love you, and I know being loved by me shouldn’t feel like waiting for a hospital to ring,” I said. Her hand tightened against my scales, and she told me to remember that sentence when the next foolish idea started sounding exciting.

Lukas was eating breakfast on the guest floor when I stopped to say goodbye. Bea had confiscated the sugary cereal, Miri was checking his recovery instructions and he appeared to have acquired more supervision than any doctor could reasonably provide.

”Enjoy being supervised, mate, although I’d be careful about asking either of them to kiss anything better in front of the breakfast staff,” I told him. He offered to come anyway, because apparently pain had failed to remove the worst part of his personality, but Bea asked him to demonstrate standing without wincing and settled the debate.

Outside, the taxi driver introduced herself as an adult fox woman named Cora and asked whether I shed smoke on upholstery. I told her only under severe criticism, and she said that made me responsible for any cleaning required after her opinion of my luggage.

The trip towards the coastal service road gave me time to call Bridget. She sounded tired of her family and pleased to hear from me, a combination I found dangerously attractive, so I asked whether she had eaten before discussing anything involving the harbour.

She had, and she wanted to know whether I intended to enjoy being alone or merely collect new people to worry about. ”I’m trying to do business without becoming a public incident, love.” She laughed, then said, ”I’ll keep the afternoon free for your call from whichever inspection office ends up holding you.”

Rook replied near the outer junction. The depot guard had never been arrested with Renn, and a witness had recently seen him collecting cash from a freight intermediary, which was evidence of employment rather than proof of who had hired him to follow me.

I asked Cora to stay on the public route and watched the vehicles behind us. My thermal vision gave me heat where bodies were visible, not a convenient label above each driver explaining whether they were planning to ruin my afternoon.

A dark utility car appeared at the next turn and followed us past two opportunities to leave. Cora noticed it without needing my heroic advice, changed lanes beside a traffic island and told me she charged extra for passengers whose personal problems travelled in packs.

”Put it on the invoice, love, but keep us near people until we know what he wants,” I said. The utility car accelerated instead, forcing her to brake before it cut across the coastal service entrance and blocked the narrow road ahead.

Cora pressed the silent assistance switch beneath her dashboard while keeping both hands visible. I liked her more for doing something useful without announcing it, and I wished the man outside had chosen a profession where that kind of competence would never have to matter.

My first concern was getting her clear, because whatever he had been paid, Cora had only agreed to drive a taxi.

The guard stepped out with a pistol held low beside his leg. He recognised me through the window, smiled without warmth and told Cora to unlock the passenger door, because his employer only wanted the snake and she could still drive away with her head attached.