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second chance. Officially, sure, the Service is still looking for you, but unofficially?” He shook his head. “They think you’re dead. You can reinvent yourself any way you want, and I’m offering you the opportunity to do just that.”
    â€œIf I work for you?”
    â€œIf you find out what happened to Lyssa. Call it working for me if you want. Call it anything.”
    â€œYou could be the bait in a Service trap. Why should I trust you?”
    â€œWell, if what you told me about your popularity in NorthPort is true, you’d better trust me at least as far as Amsun.” He raised his cup to her in a toast. “What choice do you have?”
    What choice, indeed ? Jani stared into her cup. Then she drained it and handed it back to him. “You know, some old Service officer once said that if you fall back far enough, you’ll just wind up at the front again.” She pulled the second Naxin bomb from her duffel and punched a fingernail through the sealant coating. Popping up her door, she darted into the rain, pulled open the door of the single-seater, tossed the bomb inside, slammed the door, and closed herself back in the sedan before the first wisps of Naxin appeared in her old skimmer’s windows.
    Evan stared at her. “That was quick.”
    â€œThe Service taught me things like that, remember?”
    â€œRemind me never to pull up next to you.” He glanced down at the floor near her feet. His smile flickered back to life. “Still carrying your bag of tricks, I see.” He punched the sedan’s charge-through. The vehicle activated with a low hum. “I’ll send some people over to mop up. It’ll be like you were never even here.”
    â€œThey’re going to need HazMat gear.”
    â€œPeople always need HazMat gear when they clean up after you. It’s one of the constants of life.” His eyes glistened with suppressed merriment. He reversed the skimmer out of its slot, then eased it forward. “Is there anyone you want to message before we leave? Anyone you need to notify?”
    â€œNo,” Jani said. That was the advantage with avoiding names—it always made bugging out easier. She reached beneath Evan’s seat for the thermoflask. “I didn’t watch the entire welcome program. Were you the only minister Cao took exception to?”
    Evan steered the skimmer into a wide, banking turn. “No, there were more. Gisela Detmers-Neumann, the Communications Minister. Fitzhugh and Ebben, the deputies from Commerce. Unser from Education.”
    Coffee sloshed into Jani’s lap, running down her weatherall and spilling to the skimmer floor. “Why them?” she asked.
    Evan looked at her, then at the beading puddle on the carpet. “Now, Jani, you of all people should know the answer to that.” He reached into the glove box, pulled out a dispo, and handed it to her. “Don’t get too nervous. This visit doesn’t have to be all business. Who knows, you might run into Tsecha. You were his pet at the Academy. I’m sure he’d enjoy seeing you again.”
    â€œAt this point,” Jani said as she dabbed at the spilled coffee, “I think any running I’d do with regard to him would be in the opposite direction.”
    The faint glow of the shuttle pad glimmered in the distance. Evan pressed the accelerator. “By the way,” he asked, “who was that old Service officer? You always used to mention him in Rauta Shèràa, too.”
    â€œWasn’t a ‘him.’ Was a ‘her.’” Jani sighed. “It was me.”

CHAPTER 3
    Amsun Primary’s VIP wing exuded the chilly luxury of a Family mausoleum. Jani hitched her duffel, eyed the sculptures lining the station’s carpeted gangway, and kept pace a few meters behind Evan, who was busy dictating orders to a quartet of Amsun annex staffers. Each underling took their position at his shoulder,