“Can we get on with this? I got a long day ahead of me.” Jake hovered nearby with an armload of paper and plastic. “And keep it out of the travel lanes, will ya?”

“Back that way a foot, then.” Rubio gestured the table closer to the wall, then set down his mug, smoothing the tabletop. “And we’ll need some chairs.”

The lads stretched their backs, making much of how hard they’d been working.

“Don’t push your luck,” muttered one.

Jake sighed. “Just find the man a chair, will ya?”

“What’s all this?” I asked.

“Ta-ta!” Rubio’s grin mixed irony and guilty delight with a mouthful of egg and tortilla. “Den Search Central! All I need is a sign!”

“Yeah. Now the guy’s legit, you can’t even speak to him.” Jake spread his armload across the table. Water-stained street maps, torn bus and subway charts, old real-estate brochures, magazines, even a few yellowed floor plans of buildings. From where? Some private architectural library Rubio had stashed in his bunk? Amazing, the crap that survived, when the stuff you really needed was nowhere to be found.

Finally, one rickety folding chair arrived from the Mess.

“Fine for now.” Rubio lowered himself into it and started sorting big piles into smaller piles. The lads slouched off, aggrieved that their habitual target had taken on a project they couldn’t rag him about.

“We need to bring the Smiths in on this,” Jake said.

“You don’t trust me to do it?”

“Sure I do, but they need a new den, too. Let’s share the effort.”

“Can we spare another chair?”

“In a hurry to see them go, Jake?” I teased. “Thought you’d like having a bunch of new women around.”

“I like them fine, but things are getting tight. As it is, Rousseau’s sending me to the Souk with a boat and two crew, to talk people into selling more than they’re usually willing and haul back as much as we can carry.” Jake swept new-washed hair back from his forehead. “You want me to talk to Max about who should work with you?”

I swished my hips. “Oh, Max, is it? No longer Maxine?”

“Hey.” The great ladies’ man looked flustered, which made me grin. Now I’d be watching how he was with the Ladysmith’s boss, who he’d had so little good to say about before.

“Way ahead of ya.” Rubio was smug. “Been talking to this guy Irv. He got a little scorched in the raid, but he’ll be joining me soon.”

Jake didn’t mind being bested for a just cause. “Get on it, then.”

Great to see Rube so eager and engaged. I cuffed his shoulder and left him to it.