Nathan scratched at his black-gray beard. “Well, it’s not here.”

“Obviously,” she snapped.

Hadley’s voice crackled from a radio in the corner. “Why do you think they didn’t want us to say fuck to the American children? Do the kids over there not know that word? Or are we not supposed to know about fuck? So many questions.” Maisie might have laughed, if not for the empty loading dock in front of her.

“Did you call Declan?” she asked.

Joe blanched at the mention of the name. That was how people looked when they were terrified of you.

“Not yet,” he said. “We thought maybe it was just late.”

Maisie sighed. It wasn’t late. The shipment hadn’t come for weeks. Someone up north kept stopping them. Declan said he was working on tracking them down, so she’d hoped that this one would make it, but no such luck.

“I’ll tell him.” She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Declan.

“Thanks, Maisie.” Nathan grinned at her. Several of his teeth were still missing.

“I thought you were getting new teeth,” she said, sliding her phone back into her pocket.

“I’m saving up for a new kidney first.”

“He’s ugly as sin with or without teeth.” Joe laughed heartily at his own joke.

“Why do you need a new kidney?” she asked. “Lopez fixes them for free.”

“I still have my original kidney.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “No shit! How’d you manage that?”

He looked proud. “Got tough kidneys, I guess.”

“I guess so.” She pulled a small tablet from her pocket and held it out to Joe. “What do you have for me?”

“Ah, come on, Maisie.” Joe gestured dramatically with his arms. “No shipment! No shipment means no booze, which means no money.”

“You still have local stuff. I saw people in the bar last night.” She tapped her fingers impatiently against the tablet.

He took it, grumbling. He pressed his finger to the screen and then swiped a few times as he transferred credits. “I’ve only got five hundred right now.”

“You owe us a thousand.”

“I’ll get you the last five hundred next week. Assuming Lopez can actually get the shipment through this time.”

She cocked an eyebrow. Joe shrugged.

Most days, she would press harder. Declan would threaten to replace her again if she didn’t collect. Tell her to go work at the garbage plant if she couldn’t get the business owners to respect (he meant fear) her.

But not today. Joe had a point about the shipment. Lopez needed to fix it, fast.

She tucked the tablet back into her pocket. “You better hope they get us the medical shipment first, not liquor, or Nathan’s shit out of luck for that new kidney.”

Both men looked startled. She turned and walked away from the loading dock.

“It’s that bad?” Nathan asked.

“Yes!” she called over her shoulder.

—

The streets of the Q were crowded, as usual. Maisie slipped into the crowd, keeping a hand on the tablet in her pocket. Most people would never be dumb enough to rob her, but if there was one thing you could count on in life, it was that there was always a stupid asshole around every corner.