You could tell she knew what he meant. She put the box down, and waved the files on the Tributary at him.

“Where did you get these?”

“That’s confidential,” he said.

He wondered which gun butt would hurt more, and settled on the metal folding stock of Beret Girl’s AK-47. But so far these two were more restrained than the government paramilitaries he had gotten used to in the years before.

“Let’s go,” she said, signaling him to get back up.

“I don’t have time for this,” said Donny, not budging. He thought about what was really at stake, and corrected himself. “We don’t have time.”

“We have all the time in the world,” said Old Boy, smiling. Then he nudged Donny with the barrel of his shotgun. “Come on, dude.”

“Am I being arrested?”

“We are taking you to the courthouse,” said Beret Girl.

“Okay,” said Donny, standing. “Thank you.”

Old Boy chuckled.

“Not like you think,” said the woman. She grabbed his briefcase, with all its precious contents, and tossed his wallet and phone in there with them. “Come on.”

They marched him off while the other passengers watched, some in fear and some in judgment, maybe some with both. One German-looking dude in fresh Birkenstocks took his picture. As he stepped through the door and felt the sun on his face, Donny realized he had already sweat through his suit coat.

They watched as the streetcar started back up and trundled on. The transit passengers still lined up nearby watched Donny try to maintain his lawyerly composure. You could tell it wasn’t working, and they just wanted to look away and avoid catching whatever he had.

“This way,” said Beret Girl. They hadn’t cuffed him, but Old Boy kept the shotgun in his back as Beret Girl led the way. They followed the tracks through the checkpoint, past the emplacement of guards who waved them on from the machine-gun nest while the snipers watched from the rooftops.

Inside the Circle, the streets were mostly gone. Concrete dug up, replaced with dirt and gravel, grass coming up in patches. Donny gawked, until Old Boy shoved him on.