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Portrait and a 10 x 8 x 8 hologram of Alkland popped onto the table. It showed a bony face, with grey thinning hair and a thinner nose. The eyes behind his glasses were intelligent but gentle, and the lines round the mouth told a history of wry smiles. He looked rather gentle for an Actioneer. That was all. There was nothing else to learn from the cube, and I had no more to go on.
    'Stark, you fuck, how the fuck are you, fucker?'
    Fuck you,' I said, turning with a smile. I know my language is far from ideal, but Ji makes me sound like a rather fey poet. I stood and stuck my hand out at him and he shook it violently and painfully, as is his wont. The two seven-foot men on either side of him regarded me dubiously.
    'Who's that fucker?' he asked, nodding at the holo.
    That's one of the things I want to talk with you about,' I said, sitting down again.
    The main bar in Ji's is actually the most private place to talk, as all the patrons are so wasted you could set fire to their noses without them noticing. Overhearing other people's conversations is not what they're there for.
    'Well, he's got to be in deep shit of some kind, for you to be looking for him,' said Ji as he settled violently into one of the other chairs round the table. Ji looks like he was hewn out of a very large rock by someone who was talented but on drugs all the time. There's a kind of rough rightness about him though, apart from round his eyes. He has some big scars there.
    His bodyguards lurked round the next table, watching my every move. Given that Ji could kill either of them without breaking sweat I've always thought them kind of superfluous, but I guess there's a protocol to being a psychotic ganglord.
    Ji waved in the direction of the bar and a pitcher of alcohol was on the table before his hand stopped moving. He nodded at the stage. 'What do you think of the show?'
    'Obscene,' I said, nodding in appreciation, 'genuinely obscene.'
    'Yeah' he grunted, pleased. 'Bred for it, you know.' He wasn't joking: they really are. Red tends not to be the Neighbourhood of choice for women. I noticed that as usual all the girls had thick black hair. Ji has a thing for that.
    We chewed the rag for a while. I recapped the last few months, mentioned a couple of mutual acquaintances I'd run into. Ji told me his land had expanded another half mile to the northg which explained his bar's continued existence, recounted a couple of especially horrific successes, and used the word 'fuck' just over four hundred times.
    'So' he said in the end, waving and receiving another pitcher, 'what the fuck do you want? I mean, obviously the joy of seeing my face, but what else? Nice trousers, by the way.'
    'Thanks. Two things' I said, leaning over the table and dropping my voice, just in case. I have to find this guy. His name's Alkland. People who are looking for him think he might be in the Red somewhere.'
    'Actioneer?'
    'Yeah, and not just any old can-do smartarse. This is a golden boy.'
    'What the fuck's he doing in here then?'
    That I don't know. I'm not even sure he is here. All I know is that he isn't in the Centre. ACIA think he's been stolen and stashed in Red somewhere: I guess it's the logical first choice.'
    I sat back and took a drink of alcohol. Ji knew what I was asking: I didn't have to spell it out for him. On the stage the sweating and toiling performers were joined by a new pair of girls, who immediately proceeded to go to the toilet over them. That's entertainment in Red for you.
    'No.'
    I nodded and lit another cigarette. I think I forgot to mention that I'd just had one. Well I had. I finished it, put it out, and then I lit another one. Use your imagination.
    'I guessed not.'
    'I'll listen for him. You still in Colour?'
    'Yeah.'
    'I'll pass word if I hear anything. Don't think I will, though.'
    'No, me neither. I don't think there's a gang in Red with enough power to kidnap an Actioneer right out of the Centre. It has to be someone else, maybe a team out of Turn or