After I left Sawada’s I went back to my new place quick as I could. I had an appointment to make. Once I got there I changed into baggy exercise shorts and sneakers, threw a flashlight on a lanyard around my neck and went right out the door. In an effort to clear my head I decided to jog to my destination. Willy’s place was in Fifth Ward, to the west where K, R, and D met. That made it two or three miles from my building. I’d been slacking on my exercise, lately, but surely that wouldn’t be too bad.

I was out of breath in less than five minutes. The panting was so bad that even at my size I was a juicy target for muggers- or I would be if I didn’t have the coilgun strapped to my chest. I kept the pace moderate through Central Ward, pushed it through the grimy, ill-lit streets of Vatburg and metered down again until I arrived at Willy’s place. It was near the northern end of Fifth Ward, only a few blocks up from Kwan et Moliere’s where Dezi’d taken me shopping for clothes.

His building was a good-size tower block, twenty or so stories of sharp brutalist concrete. Flexible strips of transparent plastic dangled from the roofline almost to the ground, meant to keep acid rain off the cement. Some were painted with Dakessar symbols, others threaded with Kestite prayer flags. I wondered how well they got along with both religions in the same building- they generally agreed on their theological history, just not who the good and bad guys were.

Pushing into the lobby, I immediately caught the eye of the surly-looking guard standing by the elevators. His hand drifted toward the pump shotgun slung across his chest, then froze as he clocked my gang marks. I gave him a nod- he was only doing his job, after all- then went to the intercom board and hit the button for the apartment number Walker gave me. It was one of only three on the top floor. A penthouse, huh? I thought. Maybe that’s what he did with all Walker’s deng.

The reply was almost immediate. “Yes?”

“It’s Sharkie. Walker called you about-“

“Sharkie!” Willy sounded excited. “Come on up! I’ll buzz you in.”

“Sure, uh, see you in a sec.”

The guard stepped out of the way and watched me nervously as I walked across the expanse of dirty faux-marble floor to the elevator and hit the call button. There was an awkward silence as I waited for the thing to show up. He kept staring at me while trying really hard to seem like he wasn’t. It made me embarrassed for both of us.

“I’m just here to see a friend, man. Not for anything, um, business-related.” He sagged visibly as the tension went out of him. The relief on his face made me realize how young he was, probably younger than me.