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"Totally. Go read."
I did.
The air in the tram was rich with the overwhelming scent of humanity. I hung out near the back door, desperately trying to get some of the fresh air coming in from the cracks of the bifold doors. I hated trams at the best of times. They were far worse than trains - smaller, more crowded - and always managed to give me that "penned-in" feeling.
I hitched the backpack onto a more comfortable position on my shoulder, managing to hit the man standing beside me yet again. He swore, and I snarled right back. Poppy had attitude. Right now, in this stinking, humanity-soaked metal box on electric wheels, I was ready to give it.
I glanced at the windows, studying the night flooded street, and noted with some relief that we were nearing my stop. Butterflies stirred in my stomach, but I beat them down ruthlessly I couldn't afford butterflies, or fear, or anything else. For good or for bad, I was now on the path of no return. What might lie at the very end of that path, no one, not even me, was willing to guess. I could only hope it was a return to normal life.
I flicked the small, skin toned disk that had been slotted under the skin behind my left ear, and said softly, "Carlisle Street," as I reached up to pull the cord. The buzzer sounded, letting the driver know someone wanted out at the next stop.
"She's near Luna Park." Jack's soft tone whispered out from the receiver that had been carefully placed into my right ear.
The tram lurched to a stop and the door swished open. I all but fell out, then sucked in several gulps of air. God, even fume-filled, this air felt like heaven in comparison to the tram.
"Your stray vamp on time?" I asked, as I headed up Carlisle Street toward the amusement park. Though the Government had made Luna Park a prostitute free zone, many of them still plied their trade along the side street that ran the length of the park's rear.
"He'll be there in ten."
"You sure?"
"He wants to live, so yes."
I snorted softly. A vamp desperate to survive was more likely to run than risk the Directorate going back on its word. And knowing what I knew of the Directorate, that was an odds-on chance.
"And he's primed to attack, not kill?"
"He was warned."
"So what did he do to gain the Directorate's attention?"
"Killed a couple of humans." I could almost hear Jack's shrug. "Nothing too extraordinary."
Unless you were one of those humans. "So why wouldn't Dia be able to defend herself?"
"She abhors violence."
"And she works with Starr? That's highly unlikely, isn't it?"
"Given we know so little about her reasons for working with Starr, that's hard to say."
I fell silent as several packs of humans pushed past, then said, "Assure me again that these things in my ears won't be discovered once I'm in Starr's estate."
The last man of the last group gave me an odd look. I flipped him the finger.
"These are from Quinn's labs, and there is nothing out on the market like them. And certainly nothing that can trace them. You will have to be careful when and where you contact us, though, because the signal can be traced when in use."
"Kade didn't say anything about the electronic scanning situation."
"No. But then, he's basically restricted to the grounds and scanning would probably be done from inside."
"How did you get these things from Quinn, without him demanding to be in on the mission?"
"We didn't ask. We took."
I raised my eyebrows. "When?"
"Two nights ago."
