Touch finishes drawing his saber from its scabbard, holding the dimly opalescent blade at his side. He looks the old man up and down, then fingers through the box at the bathroom sink. He looks to the old man with a cocked eyebrow, who shrugs.

“It’s exactly what it looks like.”

“Well. Talk.”

“Okay, why are you after Shrike? Who sent you?”

“The woman? She part of these Pinchers? I’m guessing you both are.”

The man keeps his face frozen.

“So you don’t know Shrike, not after her?”

“Not unless she’s rolling with these thugs, robbing people at gunpoint.”

The man releases a long pent up breath.

“No, we aren’t. If you’re looking for the bad apples in our crew, maybe we can work something out. Maybe we can help each other.”

The man with the scarred throat peers over Touchstone’s shoulder and his eyes go wide as Rachel stalks into the room, stylus in hand, thumb on the button. Then she relaxes and stands up straight.

“We good?” She asks.

“We're good. Friend here-”

“Call me Thompson.”

“Thompson, was just about to tell us how we can all help each other out.”

Rachel peaks outside and motions everyone in. Anea walks in with Touch’s pack and Dill hobbling closely behind. Everyone gathers in the main room and takes their seats while Touch searches Thompson.

“Found their camp, and your girl.” Rachel whispers to Touch, who nods.

“Alright,” Touch says, looking to Thompson, ”your proposal?”

“Simple. You help us get rid of these guys, and we split the reward. Easy day.”

“No.” Touch says, “You help us find the bandits, and we don’t turn all of you in. We have the location of your camp. Pack up and move, and our guy on the inside will just tip us off again.”

“You do that,” Thompson says slowly, “and you cause a whole mess of trouble for everyone here.”

“It’s getting late. Let’s just give the mayor what we got.” Rachel says.

“Sounds good. Let’s take a walk.”

“My, you do work fast.” The mayor says. He motions for the security guard to escort Thompson out into the hall.

“So you got our cover?” Rachel asks.

“Yeah, about that. Someone came asking around about your crew this morning. Told them you were corporate mercenaries hired from down south. My personal security team. So you’ll need to move in to my place. I admit I panicked, didn’t really think I would hear from you again, had to think of something on the fly.”

“It’s perfect. Make sure the paperwork matches up. Can you tell us anything about who was asking?”

“My assistant said it was some guy with a real raspy voice.”

“Oh. That’d be him.” Rachel nods in the direction of the hallway.

“So, we got our cover,” Touch interjects. “What do we get for the location of the Pincher camp?”

“There it is again.” Anea says, “That other thing that’s bothering you. Tell us, maybe we can help.”

The mayor looks everyone in the eye, then sighs back into his seat.

“I don’t care about the Pinchers. They’re a nuisance, yes, they dance a fine line, but they’re harmless. The reward’s just meant to keep them on their toes so they don’t get too comfortable. Can’t afford to take them all in, anyway. Don’t have the men, the training, for mass arrests. I just need the violent ones off the roads, and the ballsy ones locked up.”

“So you need us to bring them in.” Rachel says.

“Yeah, if I bring them in, or if I can’t keep the people in line, I’ll have to call over to corporate and have them bring enforcers with them. And once they’re here-”

“They take over.” Touch says. “They won’t leave. I get it now.”

“So, you can see, I’m in a tight spot. I need to keep the people safe, happy, spending money, and the higher ups a healthy arms-length away.”

“Let’s bring Thompson back in, see what he has to say.” Anea suggests. “We’re all on the same side, it seems.”

“The guy who broke in and tried to bug your hotel room? And the girl who laid out your heavy hitter here?” The mayor raises his eyebrows.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Water under the bridge.” Touch says. “Just a small misunderstanding.”

The mayor sighs and buzzes his secretary.

“Send Thompson back in, please.”

“We know we got some thugs rolling with us.” Thompson rasps, “We just don’t know who. We don’t want them here any more than you do. So we all help each other out, split the reward, and go on our way.”

“Make it twenty thousand each, and we’re in.”

“Deal. But I’m at my limit. Twenty each and no more. Ten thousand when you start bringing them in, and another ten thousand if you can keep everyone safe when they leave. And you keep your people in line until you leave. Clear?”

“Clear.”

“Can’t spin that to my guys without tipping off our bandits. Don’t know if they’d listen even if I did, but crystal on the rest.”

“So, who’s your boss?” Touch asks as they step out of city hall.

“That would be Joel and his crew. I’ll take you to them.”

“What about Shrike, what’s her place in this?”

“You two are real curious about each other. Why don’t you ask her?”

Rachel flickers her gaze between Anea and the stone man as he seems suddenly at a loss for words, struggling to find something to say that wouldn’t be used against him.

He strides on ahead of the group for a short time, before letting the others, who knew where they were going, slowly take the lead again.

“So,” Thompson speaks up after they leave the tent district. “What are y’all really in town for? If you were hired by the mayor personally, then you would’ve gone straight to his house, or at least a better hotel.

“That’s our business.” Rachel says.

“I know, I know. But if we’re going to be working together, might as well get to know each other a little. I’ll go first. The ‘Pinchers’ ain’t bad people. We’re just a bunch of little groups who happen to be traveling together. Friends, family, ex-soldiers, fugitives. We don’t really pick and choose who we roll with. Joel and his crew take in everyone, so long as you listen to them and don’t make a fuss, you’re fine.”

“So it’s a real loose-knit mixed bag.” Touch says.

“Exactly. We get our bad rep because of a few bad apples.”

“Then why do you stay?” Anea asks.

“Friends, mostly. Been with the same people so long, can’t imagine starting over with someone different. And, most of us anyway, take care of each other. Worth sticking around for. Your turn.”

Rachel looks back to Touch, eyes narrow, lips frowned, but he shrugs. She glances over to Anea, who nods.

“Simple, we made some enemies, crossed the Wastes to get away from them, but they keep following us. We don’t have a choice but to keep moving, which means money.”

“There are safer ways to get money and lay low. Why choose the most dangerous job? Why make the most noise as soon as you step into town?”

“Playing by the rules and keeping our heads down didn’t get us anywhere last time. It’s not worth it.”

“What’s not? Keeping quiet and safe?”

“Making compromise after compromise until you can’t recognize yourself in the mirror…”

“Welcome to paradise.” Thompson says as they walk past a pile of goat shit.

Touchstone takes in all the details of the camp. The place is obviously made to be partially self-sufficient. They have their own animals to produce milk and eggs, none that were just for meat. Did their own repairs, used their own tools, processed their own water. He even spots a team of guys lining up a satellite dish on the ground with an antenna some guy was wrapping through the top of a tree. Most of their income seems to come from trading and labor, judging by the current lack of people.

There was nothing uniform about this place, every section of the camp looked different from the others, the larger tents looked like they were part of a set, but the rest ranged from colorful hiking tents, patio awnings, tarps and paracord, hand towed wagons and mini campers. Every fire place and campsite had their own unique setup and equipment.

So how did Shrike fit into this? She’s definitely trained, experienced. His gut said she wasn’t military, didn’t suffer mass produced, cookie cutter training and institutionalization. So where’d she learn to fight?

He couldn’t see this woman wasting her body and her talents on menial labor. He could see her as a trader. That would explain why she was spying on them. She might have been looking for tips and helpful information. But then why didn’t his asking around turn anything up? It’s hard to believe no one knew about her, if she was a vendor. So maybe a fugitive, working for a merchant, like him and Ortega.

“You!” a livid female voice sounds from the side.

“Hello!” Touchstone responds. He means to saw something else, but his heart skips a beat upon meeting those hazel eyes again.

“Jud, make this make sense right now.” Shrike stands and starts striding toward Touch and his group with alarming speed and purpose.

Touch sees two side swords; shorter, straighter blades than the sabers he wore, with complex hand-guards, strapped to the long subtle curves of her thighs.

“Calm down, Shrike. Did what you asked, found out who these people were-”

“You were so late checking in! I was already on my way to come get you!” Shrike sails straight past the open-mouthed Touchstone, looking right at Thompson.

“There were some complications. Point is, we’re all on the same side. They’re after our trouble makers too.”

Shrike looks to Rachel and her group as if seeing them for the first time, costumes and all. Rachel waves, Anea smiles. Shrike looks past them, stalks straight to Touch and his masked man getup.

“You. Start talking. Why were you at the bar? Why’d you try to follow me?” The woman was at least a few centimeters taller than Touch. She might have even more muscle than Sal, stretched out to cover a longer, taller frame.

Rachel can see Touch’s mind racing, eyes wide like a trapped animal through his cheap plastic face cover, forehead arching in the small space between his mask and hairline. She swears she can see his white mask blushing a little.

“We noticed you were spying on us, then saw you made us, and were out the door. I was hoping you would lead us to these bandits everyone’s having so much trouble with.”

“How did you see me? None of you were facing me. I know I was being careful.”

“Trade secret.”

Shrikes looks at Touch a little too long, eyeing him up and down.

“Nice swords. Know how to use them?”

Rachel breaks away from their engagement to see Anea’s captivated grin.

“Touch, stick with Shrike, work on how to catch these guys. We’ll go talk to Joel.”

Touch again suffers a painful bout of latency issues before responding with a simple, “Okay.”