I don’t know how much Virginia Vidaura told her surfer colleagues, but the presence of the priest in Kem Point alone made it very clear that we could not return from a raid on Rila Crags and stay on the Strip. If the New Revelation could track me this far, so could others far more competent.

As a sanctuary, Vchira Beach was blown.

Mario Ado voiced what was probably a general feeling.

“You’ve fucked this up, dragging your personal crabshit into the harbour with you. You find us a solution.”

So I did.

Envoy competence, one out of the manual—work with the tools to hand. I cast about in the immediate environment, summoned what I had that could be influenced and saw it immediately. Personal shit had done the damage, personal shit would haul us out of the swamp, not to mention solve some more of my own more personal problems by way of a side effect. The irony of it grinned back at me.

Not everyone was so amused. Ado for one.

“Trust the fucking haiduci!” There was a well-bred Millsport sneer behind the words. “No thank you.”

Sierra Tres raised an eyebrow.

“We’ve used them before, Mari.”

“No, you’ve used them before. I steer well clear of scum like that. And anyway, this one you don’t even know.”

“I know of him. I’ve dealt with people who’ve dealt with him before, and from what I hear he’s a man of his word. But I can check him out. You say he owes you, Kovacs?”

“Very much so.”

She shrugged. “Then that should be enough.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Sierra. You can’t—”

“Segesvar is solid,” I interrupted. “He takes his debts seriously in both directions. All it needs is the money. If you’ve got it.”

Koi glanced at Brasil, who nodded.

“Yes,” he said. “We can get it easily enough.”

“Oh, happy fucking birthday, Kovacs!”

Virginia Vidaura nailed Ado with a stare. “Why don’t you just shut the fuck up, Mari. It isn’t your money. That’s safely on deposit in a Millsport merchant bank, isn’t it?”

“What’s that supposed to—”