“These days, not even uptown is surprised if you get beat up on the street. I didn’t go into detail.” Jake ducked around a dolly piled with duffle bags heading his way. “You’re sure going now’s the right call? Will we beat the storm? We couldn’t ride it out here?”

Rousseau drew him out of the heavy traffic. I slid behind a stack of crates. “If surge predictions are correct, we’d have to haul everything to the third floor and likely still get washed out. Max and I thought . . . no matter. We’re committed now. Is that Empire operative still with you?”

Jake shook his head. “I sent her on to Will and Arjay. Let them decide how much to tell Doyle. If they’re still speaking.”

“For sure she’ll let them know we’re leaving. Just as well. What’d you hear uptown?”

“Fear. Desperation. A lot of brave chat about the ship finally sinking. Those with a high and defensible perch are hoarding up and barricading the doors. The black market is booming if you can handle three hundred percent inflation and rising. To us, they’ve had it easy, but these folks see themselves as the last Manhattanites. Leaving is a defeat. With the police and military mostly gone to the riots along the coast, uptown’s basically lawless.”

“Like downtown, if it weren’t for the dens.”

“Yeah, except up there, well-armed private security forces are snarling at each other all across Inwood and Washington Heights, even parts of Harlem. Several of them number in the hundreds, small armies. That guy Bright’s group is one.”

Rousseau tugged fitfully at his vest. “What’s the armament level?”

“So far, no one’s waving anything really big around. But we should keep an ear out for rockets or mortar fire. Whatever the military had stashed uptown has been deployed back on the Mainland. That’s the word. But if you had it, would you admit to it?”

“Any aircraft?”

Aircraft? Couldn’t recall the last time I’d seen anything bigger than a cargo drone.

“One or two light copters. Nothing you could really mount an attack with. Fuel’s too scarce, even uptown. But turf battles will escalate, then someone’s try at total takeover, and next you know, uptown is not high ground but ground zero. Total breakdown of any supply route we might have hoped to maintain.”

“Then we’re right to cut ourselves loose.”

“If we make it in time. But we will be truly on our own.”

“With a better chance to hold on to what we do have.”

The stocky harbormaster Tito shoved through the crowd toward our corner. “Boss!”

Rousseau turned, ready for one more crisis to spin out of his control. “Here.”

“Will Dubowski just pulled up in his fastest boat. Wants a word with you.”

Jake and Rousseau traded looks.

“I’ll bet he does,” Rousseau said. “Send him to my office.”