“Don’t underestimate her, Allison. Over the span of her career, she’s cut a lot more throats than Dan ever did. You follow me?”

Allison nodded, her golden hair shining. “Just FYI, Dek took her to the cleaners at his game before all of this happened. Humiliated her. Not sure how that little bit of family drama might affect the rest of us, but I thought you might want to know.”

“Got it. Inga’s open?”

“Never shut down. Rather than send all the soft meat running out into the night to get eaten or ripped into bloody bits, someone made the smart decision to just lock the door.”

As the forklift growled to life, Marsdome and two others dragged the heavy hide to the side. A sterile tarp was laid out, and the quetzal was slowly lowered. The knives flashed, chunks of meat being stripped off as it came into reach.

“What’s that?” Kalico gestured at a yellow-and-blood-smeared tarp that lay pushed up against the stone warehouse on the other side of the avenue.

“What’s left of the blond boy toy. The legs were easy. They landed where those blood stains are out in the avenue. The rest had to be pulled out of the thing’s gullet with a come-along. The woman servant, Clarice, had to take the Taglioni away before she fainted again. I’d call it six, two, and even that they’re on the next shuttle up to Turalon. Their happy Donovanian vacation isn’t going so well.”

Kalico grunted her assent. Falise would be devastated. Didn’t matter that—no matter what the fictions—she might have owned Ednund. He’d been an integral part of her life since she was a child.

Along the way, Kalico nodded to people she knew, sharing that hard-eyed acknowledgment. Like them, she walked with her rifle at the ready, fully aware that search as they might, declaring the town quetzal free was never a sure thing.

At Inga’s, Kalico raised a “way to go” thumb at the Wild One sitting on the bench, smiling into the morning sun, a mostly empty bottle of what looked like wine at his feet. A battered-looking bolt-action rifle, one of Freund’s, lay across his lap.

Then she opened the door, crossed the foyer, and squinted in the tavern’s dim interior. Took most of the way down the stairs before her eyes began to adjust from the morning brilliance. To her surprise, Tal, Dek, and Kylee were seated at the end of the bar, plates of food before them.

Kalico made her way over, rested her rifle against the bar, and climbed onto her stool. “How did you do last night?” she asked.