Capricorn pulled the sliding door open. The battered vehicle that Sidepiece and Disjoint had been driving before being intercepted was parked out in the snow, ice and snow covering the various windows. Cold air blasted into a space that had only been tolerably warm because we’d had so many people inside it. Now with the door open, it was cold again.

“What the fuck?” Shortcut asked Spright. I imagined he thought he was being quiet about it, but he was naturally abrasive and loud enough that everyone could hear.

“Why?” Lookout asked. “Why are we letting them go? Because if I was actually supposed to put trackers on them, I didn’t.”

“They don’t have room for minor villains,” Capricorn said.

“They aren’t minor,” Shortcut said.

I actually agreed with him. Places, times, and groups where the more violent enforcers had been active in the last two years had seen more than a few people die. Some had been blatant—but only a few of the people responsible for those blatant deaths were still around. Nailbiter was a major one. A lot more of the deaths had been ambiguous.

Beast of Burden had been active in some out of the way spots, and in the wake of his demise, little things were turning up. Deaths that had been missed in the midst of a lethally harsh winter.

Well, a winter like any ordinary one, but it had been a winter we hadn’t been equipped to deal with. And in places that Beast of Burden and his gang had been throwing their weight around, taking protection money, an awful lot of people had gone out in the cold and died there.

Was it Disjoint and Sidepiece? There was no telling. Nailbiter was a killer, and her way of killing people left enough of a trail that if we got her we’d be able to send her straight through to a jail… where nobody would be able to hold her.

Which meant that if we got her, we’d check with the authorities, sketchy as the woman at the top might be, and with some luck Nailbiter would cease to be a concern.

I didn’t love it, but I was really hard-pressed to think of a better solution.

“We’re going,” Spright said. He produced his grapple-tendrils, floated up into the air a bit, and the air began to ripple around him.

Off to the side, I saw Sveta scowl. I rarely saw her outright scowl.

“Thanks for this,” I told Spright. “Sorry it wasn’t for much.”

“Not very forthcoming. Some hints on how they’re operating. Motivation. Gives us ideas on how to take them down next time.”

“We’ll compile our notes and share,” I said.

“Sounds good.”

I shook hands with Spright, and then we watched as the two of them took off. They skated away, leaving ripples behind them, Spright using tendrils to haul himself forward.