And so the hunting dogs kept on waiting, ever so quietly.
The parking lot
“If you don’t mind my asking, Sickle, where are Adele and Leeza?” asked the woman with the tattooed face.
Sickle gave her a dour look. “Why are you being so deferential? Knock it off. That crazy poet is another story, but there’s nothing about me that’s superior to you people.”
She wasn’t being modest; she was just saying what she thought. However, while Sickle had a hot temper, she was also a born leader and capable of taking the initiative. Many of the members of Lamia looked up to her.
Regarding the missing members, she said, “Adele is with Larva, guarding Tim, as usual. Leeza says she’s looking for somebody.”
“She is? Who?”
“Some guy who sold out the Lemures, way back when.”
On the coast
“…Lotta birds flying around today,” Spike muttered.
He was in the backseat of a moving car, and he could hear the birds’ cries through the window.
Since he was blind, Sonia looked up at the sky for him from the next seat over. “Ohhh, you’re right, Teacher. I’ve never seen that kind before, and there are lots and lots of them.”
A multitude of nonnative birds were wheeling overhead. They hadn’t formed a flock, though; individual birds were flying off on their own here and there through the city. It was almost as if they were searching for something.
“I see, I see. Imagine shootin’ ’em all down, then. Visualization counts as experience, too.”
Spike gave her an ominous-sounding assignment, but Sonia didn’t seem to think anything of it. “Okaaay.”
In the driver’s seat, Pamela frowned. “…You’d better not be encouraging her to imagine shooting living creatures so she’ll be comfortable shooting humans,” she said warily.
Spike grinned. “Well, who knows? She might have to shoot a person one of these days. After all, the target’s gonna depend on the circumstances. If you don’t want to be a murderer, take it to Mr. Beriam, not me.”
“……” Pamela fell silent.
From the passenger seat, Lana spoke up. “Listen, I just thought of something.”
“Whatever it is, you don’t have to tell me. I’m pretty sure it’ll be worthless.”
“You know how they say birds are attracted to shiny things?”
“Okay, I think I get where you’re going with this, so that’s enough.” Still driving, Pamela tried to shut the conversation down, but Lana went on anyway.
“So if we trained birds to collect jewels and things that got dropped on the street, I bet we could make a killing!”
“Yes, in a country populated entirely by millionaires careless enough to drop jewels and apathetic people who didn’t pick them up, that might work.”
“We could send them into the casino, and they might pick up chips for us.”
“They’d really get shot dead then, and that would be that.” Dealing with Lana was exhausting, but it was better than having a conversation with Spike. That’s why she’d been going along with her companions’ overly simplistic, off-the-cuff remarks, but then Spike broke in.
“Still, now you want to attend the casino party? What brought this on?”
“…Nothing in particular. I hit the jackpot at a casino once, a long time ago. I just wanted to test my luck. It’s been a while.”
She hadn’t told Spike she used to cheat at casinos.
She couldn’t say that she wanted money to fund their escape from Beriam, so she’d dodged the question with a plausible excuse, but—
“Excuse me?! What’s this about a jackpot?! Pamela, have you been making money behind our backs?!”
“……” Hit with this accusation from an unexpected quarter, Pamela started trying to think up ways to cover Lana’s mouth without pulling over.
“Well, I dunno what’s going through your head, but don’t have too much fun in there. There are gonna be loads of other syndicates around besides the Runoratas…and a ton of folks who aren’t fans of Mr. Beriam. If that crowd finds out you’re the cleaning ladies at his place, what do you think will happen to you?” Spike smirked, but Sonia turned to him.
“It’s okay, Teacher.”
“Huh?”
“If anything happens, Nader’s sure to save us.”
For a moment, Spike stared blankly back at her innocent declaration. Then he remembered the way the Nader he knew had died, and he burst out laughing.
“Haw-ha-ha-ha! That’s rich! So your boyfriend Nader’s a hero, and he’s gonna mow down a building full of mafiosi!”
“Sure he is.” Sonia nodded, still smiling.
Spike laughed even harder. “Hee-hee, hee-hee-ha-ha-ha! That’s really somethin’! He’s nothing like the guy I know.”
After he’d laughed for a while, he got to thinking. Eh, that Nader would never have put himself at this much risk to begin with.
…Actually, no, he might have shown up. He had a knack for finding tough guys and sucking up to them.