“They know where to find us,” Colman said.
Kath’s pocket communicator buzzed, and she took it out to answer. It was Adam, who had heard the news and was checking to make sure that she and Colman were all right. Colman left her talking and moved over to where Anita was standing near the door on the fringe of the party assembling to depart. “Why’d you ever get mixed up with that bunch?” he murmured. “Wise up when it’s all over. Get out of it.”
There was no repentance or remorse in her eyes when she looked at him. “It’s none of your business anymore,” she hissed. “How I choose to have fun is my affair and my life.”
Colman snorted derisively. “You call that fun?”
“You know what I mean. They weren’t doing anything. They’d just had a bit too much to drink. Those two bitches didn’t have to do something like that.”
“Maybe you should try looking at it their way,” Colman said.
Anita’s eyes blazed as her shock began wearing off and dissipated itself as anger. “Why should I? Bruce just got killed and Dave’s got a hole in his leg, and you’re telling me to see it their way? What kind of a man are you anyhow?” She sneered past Colman’s shoulder at Kath, who was returning the communicator to her pocket. “I can see why. It didn’t take you long, did it? Is she good?’
Colman ignored the remark. “Just think about it,” he muttered. “For your own sake.”
“I told you once already, it’s none of your business anymore. Leave me alone. I don’t want to talk to you. Just-go away and leave me alone.”
Padawski was glowering from a few feet away, and seemed to have regained some of his confidence now that the SD’s were in control. “You stay away from her, Goldilocks,” he spat. “Stick with your nice, murdering friends. We won’t forget you either.” 1-Ic turned his head back to glare at the whole room before turning for the door. “And that goes for all of you,” he warned in a louder voice. “We won’t forget. You’ll see.”
“On your way.” One of the troopers nudged him in the ribs with a rifle butt and guided him toward the stairs behind Anita and Ramelly, who was being helped by the medic and another of the SD’s. Colman watched until they had all left, then returned to the others.
“Is she a friend of yours?” Kath inquired.
“From a white back. But not anymore, I guess, by the look of it.”
“She’s a good-looking girl. What does she do?’
“A communications specialist at Brigade.”
Kath’s eyebrows lifted approvingly. “Smart as well, eh?”
“She could do a lot better than waste herself with those bums. She’s the kind that prefers the easy road. . . for as long as it lasts, anyhow.”
“That’s a shame,” Kath said.
Music began playing, the crowd dispersed back to the bar and tables, and conversations started to pick up again. Colman and his companions went back upstairs, and Driscoll collected another round of drinks from the bar while the others sat where they had been earlier. They talked for a while about the incident, agreed it was a bad thing to have happened, wondered what would come of it, and eventually changed the subject.
“I guess you have to learn moderation in this place,” Stanislau remarked, studying his half-emptied glass of dark, frothy Chironian beer. He shook his head slowly. “You know, this sounds crazy but sometimes I wish they would make us pay for it.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Carson said. Driscoll nodded his mute assent also.
“I’m not so sure I agree,” Swyley said, which meant that he did.
Colman was about to make a joke Out of it when he realized they were serious. He knotted his brows and directed an inquiring look at each of them in turn.
“It’s this whole business of not paying for anything,” Stanislau said at last. “We come in here and drink, we go into restaurants and eat, we walk out of stores with all kinds of stuff, and none of it costs anything.” He sat back, looked from side to side for moral support, got plenty, and shook his head helplessly. “It seemed too good to be true at first, but that soon wears off. It’s not funny anymore, chief. It’s getting to all of u~’