Wicked Bronze Ambition

47

The anxiety all proved needless. Vicious Min was in there, yes. But she was unconscious, exhausted. Ted couldn’t get a flinch out of her.

Penny hit me with the obvious. “We should ship her over to Himself while we can manage her.”

And while she was still available. I feared that she might have stressed herself to a point where she could die on us.

“Oh. Oh! Yes! We’ll need to transport her somehow.”

“Big as she is, we’ll need a wagon,” Barate said.

Ted added, “Preferably with springs.”

“So. People. Spread out. See what you can find.” This was not a neighborhood I knew. “Ted, stay with Min. Keep her breathing. Keep her asleep. Damn, she’s ugly. Penny, you stay, too.”

Naturally, she argued.

“Dig through her stuff. You’re the only one who knows how to investigate. You’ll know good stuff if you see it. I’ll help find a wagon.”

She accepted my contention but didn’t believe me. What I said was true, but I really just wanted to keep her out of harm’s way.

Then I began to wonder if I should leave her at Ted’s mercy.

Hell. I had to trust her. She was a big girl. She could make choices. And other whistling-past-the-graveyard thoughts.

I had to get out there. How likely were Dollar Dan or Mashego to come up with a wagon? They lacked a trustworthy look. And Barate was from too far up the Hill to have a clue how to connect with real people.

Only. . How likely indeed?

Both Dan and Mashego scored before I got my first lead-which led me straight to the wagon Dan already had on offer from a rat person with soft connections to John Stretch.

Mashego found a carter from the old country who was willing to do night work.

It is truly all about who you know. I knew no one around there, in the shadow of the Bustee slum.

We chose the rat man’s wagon because it had the longer bed. Only a yard of Min would hang out the back.

The dogs were anxious to go. They could not stop prowling nervously and eyeing me like they wondered why I insisted on wasting time hanging out where members of the tribe might get eaten.

Once we had Min in the wagon-an all-hands adventure shifting her, it was-I asked Ted, “Is she likely to wake up during the ride?” It was two miles to Macunado Street. Farther if we stuck to smooth pavement.

Ted was helping Penny load stuff to be looked at later. Min had a lot, mostly junk, some of which suggested that she liked to play at being a girly girl when nobody was looking.

“Couldn’t say for sure. Why?”

“I was hoping I could get you to stick with me and Barate for our visit to Moonblight while Penny and Dan take Min where she needs to go.”

Dollar Dan announced, “Dollar Dan will not go anywhere that Garrett does not go. Dollar Dan Justice’s task is to keep stubborn, uncooperative, and ungrateful Garrett alive, not to transport prisoners.”

Ouch.

Penny snickered. “You notice he didn’t mention anything about making sure that you stay healthy?”

Ted hadn’t brought a full doctor’s rig, but he did have a small emergency kit. He tried to tell Penny how to use some chemicals and a wad of wool to put Min to sleep if she started to come around. She suddenly got dumb as a stump. He finally decided to go with her instead of me. “I’ll head for Shadowslinger’s place once I’m done with this.”

Grumble, grumble. “You do that.”

Meanwhile, Dollar Dan had a heart-to-heart with the wagon’s owner, who did not trust rat men enough to let his only means of making a living out of his sight, despite his own connection to John Stretch’s organization.

“All set here,” Dan announced.

I sighed, wondering why everything always has to get complicated.

I know why some guys become loners. It simplifies things.