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mugged the night before last, a couple of blocks from here."
    I cursed. "Hurt bad?"
    Kragar shook his head. "A fractured jaw and a couple of bruises. Nothing serious, but I thought you'd like to know."
    "Right. Thanks. I take it you haven't found the guy who did it?"
    "Not yet."
    "Well, find him."
    "It'll cost."
    "Screw the cost. It'll cost more if all our customers get scared away. Find the guy and make an example of him."
    Kragar raised an eyebrow.
    "No," I said, "not that much of an example.... And find a healer for that Teckla--on us. I take it he was a customer?"
    "Everyone around here is a customer, one way or another."
    "Yeah. So pay for a healer and reimburse him. How much did the guy get, by the way?"
    "Almost two Imperials. Which could have been the Dragon Treasury, to hear him tell it."
    "I suppose so. Tell you what: Why don't you have the victim come up and see me, and I'll pay him back personally and give him a talk about crime in the streets and how bad I feel, as a fellow citizen, of course, about what happened to him. Then he can go home and tell all his friends what a nice guy Uncle Vlad the Easterner is, and maybe we'll even pull in some new business out of the deal."
    "Sheer genius, boss," said Kragar.
    I snorted. "Anything else?"
    "Nothing important, I guess. I'll go arrange for your protection tomorrow."
    "Fine. And make it good people. As I say, this has me worried."
    "Paranoia, boss."
    "Yep. Paranoid and proud."
    He nodded and left. I wrapped Spellbreaker around my right wrist. The two-foot length of gold chain was the one weapon that I didn't change, since I had no intention of ever leaving it behind me. As its name implied, it broke spells. If I was going to be hit with a magical attack (unlikely, even if this was a setup), I'd want it ready. I flexed my arm and tested the weight. Good.
    I turned to Loiosh, who was still resting comfortably on my right shoulder. He'd been strangely silent during the conversation.
    " What's the matter! " I asked him psionically. " Bad feelings about the meeting tomorrow? "
    " No, bad feelings about having a Teckla in the office. Can I eat him, boss? Can I? Huh?
    Huh? "
    I laughed and went back to changing weapons with an all-new enthusiasm.

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    "There is no substitute for good manners--except fast reflexes." The Blue Flame is on a short street called Copper Lane just off Lower Kieron Road. I arrived fifteen minutes early and carefully selected a seat that put my back to the door. I'd decided that if Loiosh, working along with the people we had planted here, couldn't give me enough warning, the difference it would make if I were facing the door probably wouldn't matter. This way, in case the meeting was legitimate, which I strongly suspected it was, I was showing the Demon that I trusted him and negating any feelings of "disrespect" he might get from seeing that I had brought protection. Loiosh was perched on my left shoulder, watching the door.
    I ordered a white wine and waited. I spotted one of my enforcers busing dishes, but couldn't identify either of the free-lancers. Good. If I couldn't spot them, there was a good chance that the Demon couldn't. I sipped my wine slowly, still chuckling slightly over the meeting I'd had earlier with the Teckla (what was his name?) who'd been mugged. It had gone well enough, though I had had to work to avoid bursting out laughing from my trusty jhereg familiar's constant psionic appeals of "Aw, c'mon, boss. Please can't I eat him?" I have a nasty familiar.
    I kept a tight control on the amount of wine I was drinking--the last thing I needed right now was to be slowed down. I flexed my right ankle, feeling the hilt of one of my boot-knives press reassuringly against my calf. I nudged the table an inch or so away from me, since I was sitting in a booth and couldn't position my chair. I noted the locations of the spices on the table, as objects to throw, or things to get in the way.