Accession. He was meeting with someone. Young, female, with a coat worn over a bodysuit, a mask on her face that blurred the shadows around eye socket and brow into a singular black blob. The cash sat on a table, the face of the bills barely visible, obscured by the pale band that encircled each bundle.

“They’re mercenaries,” Tristan said. “Cash is the norm.”

“Yeah, but if you’re a heroic mercenary, you don’t get paid in bricks of cash,” I said. “You crowdfund or you get paid by legitimate channels.”

I knew the silhouette pretty well.

“Besides. Look at that person there. We know her.”

People turned their heads, striving to get a better view of a two-tone picture.

“We wanted to traffic in information. Were we baiting her?” Rain asked.

“No, not really,” I said. “Where is she having this meeting?”

“In the city,” Kenzie said. “Coffee shop.”

“No sound?”

She shook her head.

“Tattletale’s in play,” I announced, for those who hadn’t seen or recognized the blurry face yet. “Always has to make the hard things harder, doesn’t she?”

Kenzie hit other keys, moving around the snapshot to see different angles and mark light and shadow. Breakthrough was gathered, shoulder to shoulder, leaning toward the screen.

“Nothing else that’s useful,” Kenzie said. “That blur might be Chicken Little.”

“You can’t enhance-enhance-enhance?” Rain asked.

Kenzie shook her head. “My tech isn’t all that right now.”

We broke away. I saw one or two people rubbing their hands together and blowing on them. It was an issue with the rushed constructions, that so many lacked good insulation. The snow was coming down outside, and the snow would insulate some, if I remembered right, but I was pretty sure it would have to be a lot of snow.

We’ll have to buy heaters, I thought. I wonder if Tattletale is comfortable where she is, or if there’s a reason she’s this far from home.

“I can take more pictures, but it’s going to burn out the tracker by the third or fourth,” Kenzie said. “Also, it might cause radios or walkie-talkies to sneeze.”

“Sneezing is a funny way of putting it,” Rain said. “If we’re laying low and keeping an eye on things from here until we’re needed, I need a project. You’re okay, Ash?”

“I’m fine,” Ashley said. “No sparks, no twitches, the fingers move like they should.”

“Sveta?”

“Oh. The tentacles?”

“Yeah,” Rain said. “Do you want something similar? I can adapt. Obviously, I’m limited.”

I was silent, watching the monitors. One with the map, the single blinking icon, moving slowly across the map. Another with the two-tone snapshot of Tattletale meeting Accession.

“Not tentacles,” Sveta told Rain. “What about… something more human?”