They arrived at the forest by nightfall. Patty leaned against the trunk of a tall tree and sighed. Starlight pierced the canopy of foliage and lit the area with a soft silvery blue. A few feet away stood a pond bubbling against the opening of a large, stony outcrop. It glowed ever so faintly in the night, its sediment tinged a soft pale green.
She pointed to it and smiled. "It's not a five-star hotel, but it has its merits."
"Is it safe?"
"Totally. I used to come here a lot when the town became too overwhelming."
"I'm guessing there's not a mini-bar attached or brunch service."
"No. But it has the comfiest rock pillows that you've ever seen."
He stared at it for a moment before turning back to look at her. She quickly averted her eyes and he wondered what it was that had suddenly made her so tense around him. "Everything okay," he asked, unslinging his coat from his shoulder.
"Huh? Yeah. It's just...I don't know how to thank you for everything that you've done for me."
"Don't thank me until it's over," he said simply, and her jaw twitched. "But that's not all, is it?"
She smiled at the ground beneath her boots. "You've gotten really good at reading my mind. You should be careful. You might find some dangerous things there. Oh, wait, I forgot, you don't think I'm a dangerous woman." His eyes shifted away and she glanced at him curiously. "Right?"
"After I saw the way that you handled that Officer back there, I'm not sure what to think."
She slid down and sat crossed-legged before a tree. The small golden bangles in her dreadlocks glistened. When she lifted her head to face the moon, he saw the small pitch-black tattoos curving from beneath her ear and plunging into her raised leopard print collar. He wanted to ask what the tattoo was, but decided against it and put the question in the back of his mind for later.
"Can I tell you something?" she said. He took a seat on the ground opposite her and shrugged.
"Sure. Why not?"
"Sometimes I have these memories, from when I was a little girl, of something really terrible happening. I don't know what exactly it was. I think my mind blocked it out but...it took place in a gas station. There was a man, Classification: Harmful, I think. And he was mad, really mad. And there were gunshots and policemen and...my mom was there."
"Have you ever asked her about it?"
"I can't. She died a while back. I was raised by my pops. And he won't talk about it."
"I see."
"Sometimes I just...I don't know if it was real or just a figment of my imagination. But it comes back to me often, the feeling of being scared and helpless. And I don't know why. And now there's this redacted file in my record and I just…"
"Patty," he said, leaning forward. His voice was surprisingly gentle. "What do you think we'll find in the redacted file? Assuming we get a chance to look into it."
"I don't know!"
"Yeah, you do."
She bit the inside of her cheek and looked away, the moonlight catching the water brimming in her eyes. "It has to be information about what happened that day."
"About that. I've been thinking. The System has you down as a serial murderer, which means it thinks that you've committed three or more murderers. But on Big Shot, it has you down for just one: the murder of that Penniman guy. I don't know how to put this gently, so I'll just say it: you may not like what you find in that redacted file."
"I know."
"I mean-"
"Christ, Spike, I know!"
He crossed his arms and looked away. They were quiet for a long time. "I was so young in the memory," she finally said, "No more than twelve, I should think," she looked up at him, brows furrowed, "I couldn't have killed anybody...right?"
"Stranger things have happened." He suddenly jumped up. "Wait, do you see that?"
She sprung up and followed the direction of his gaze. There, beyond the trees was a ring of firelight, growing closer. With nowhere else to go, they ran and ducked behind different trees. The sound of music and voices grew louder, along with the clamoring of bells and crashing of symbols. He looked over at her and she shrugged. What the hell, she mouthed.
His eye twitched and he mouthed back, it's your planet!
A group of men walked out of the shadows bearing torches, instruments, and heavy backpacks full to the brim. They were singing loudly and swaying in time to the tapping of a drummer. They came to a halt in the middle of the clearing and a tall, handsome man strolled from their midst.
"Next time, try using bigger trees," he said in a heavily accented voice, "we could see you for miles back."
Spike looked at Patty and she shrugged again. He wished she would stop doing that.
"C'mon, c'mon, we're nothing to be afraid of. Just weary travelers, that's all. Name's Bennet. What's yours?"
Spike watched in alarm as Patty stuck her head out from behind a tree branch. Slow and wary, she walked towards the men, her fists balled by her side. Bennet whistled.
"My, my, my. Well if it isn't Patricia LaVelle. Pleasure to meet you, darling."
"You're gypsies...or hippies? I've heard about you before. Spike, it's okay," she said over her shoulder. "They won't do us any harm."
Spike suddenly felt very silly hiding behind the tree with everybody staring at him. He sighed and walked out towards them, his shoulders raised.
"You got a pretty big bounty on your head, don't you, Ms. LaVelle? Or should I say, Ms. Lovely," Bennet was saying to Patty.
"LaVelle is fine. And what's it to you? Aren't you guys hiding out from the government?"
"Hidin'?" Bennet said in mock-offense. He tossed his head back and laughed. His company did the same. It was an honest laugh full of vibrancy and positivity. The sound of it was oddly comforting to Patty and Spike. "We're just livin' our honest day-to-day lives. And if the Big Gov.T wants to come after us, well, there's no use. No point in chasin' someone who's not runnin'."
"So why aren't you living in the city?" She asked.
"Because," another man spoke up, "in the city, I work sixty hours a week, six days a week to earn a somewhat decent Classification. And when I'm tired, and go home to have a beer and smoke, the System labels me Harmful, a no-good drunk delinquent."
"Yes, sir," the company chimed in.
"Let's just say, we'd rather make a living out here, on our own terms. With our music and good conscience."
"But won't the System track you down?" Spike asked. Bennet flashed a toothy grin and ran his fingers through his curly hair. When he smiled, the brown skin around his clear eyes crinkled.
"Like I said, Tall Stuff, no use in chasin' what ain't runnin.' They set all of our Devices to Harmful but they have no real cause for bringing us in."
"Wowzerama," Patty whispered under her breath.
"But then again, maybe we are just roving delinquent folk. And in that case, you're in our territory, and since we're so Harmful, we might have to do something about that." He pulled a gun from his belt and aimed at Patty. Before either of them could stop him, he pulled the trigger. Patty stumbled back with a cry and fell into Spike. His face was splattered with a warm mist and he froze in shock. His breath caught in his lungs and he pressed a hand to Patty's chest, which was warm and oozing wetness.
She gave a sharp gasp and her chest jolted beneath his hand. "I can't feel anything."
"Just be still, be quiet," he said, feeling around for a wound. She shook her head and sat up.
"No, I mean, I actually can't feel anything." She pushed his hand away and put a hand to the fabric of her dress. She rubbed her fingers curiously and then held her hand up to the moonlight.
They were clear. There was no blood whatsoever. It was…
She looked back at Bennet who was trying his best to hide a grin. He let the gun fall limp by his side and she saw that it was made of blue plastic. "A water gun?"
"Gotcha, sweetness!" He held the water gun up again and began to blast her. Squealing, she jumped out of Spike's arms and ran howling into the rees. Before he could get a grip on what the hell had just happened, they began blasting him, too, and he ran after Patty.
"These guys are insane," he said. But she was too busy laughing to hear him. She left the cover of the trees and ran into the clearing. As he watched in complete bewilderment, she twirled in a circle and allowed herself to be doused by the onslaught, giggling madly all the while. Still wary of the men's true intentions, he ran after her with the intent to grab her arm but they switched their aim to him and soon he was soaked through with water.
"Hey, space cowboy," she said. He looked over at her and she held a water gun to his face. "Bang!"
"Oh, you are so getting it." Someone handed him a water gun and he chased after her. "Take that! And that. And that's for ruining my expensive suit!"
"Expensive?!" She cried out before ducking out of the way of a stream of water. "Honey, I saw that suit sitting in the 'unusable' bin at Discount Danny's."
"Oh yeah?" He responded with a smile. "Well, your outfit isn't even half bad. It's just plain bad."
"I can't wait to tell Faye you said that!"
"Look at those two lovebirds runnin' around," Bennet said as he tossed his arm around the shoulder of the man standing next to him. "Starin' at each other with them dreamin' eyes. You know what that means, boys. A little D'Angelo to light up the night."
He turned to the men behind him and they stood up tall. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah, yeah, yeah," they said in a dreamy chorus that made Patty and Spike freeze. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah, yeah, yeah...yeah, yeah. Oooh, ooh-ooh-ooh!"
The drummer tapped out a slow rhythm and the guitar player began to play, his fingers flicking back and forth over the strings. The men began to clap and bob their heads to the music, the funky blues making them sway in place and grin wildly.
"When I first saw you, baby," Bennet called in a surprising falsetto.
"I wanted to die," the men called back.
"Me and those dreamin' eyes of miii-iine,"
"Started to cry then I'd dream...wishin' my fantasy...would...become a reality!"
"Oh-oh-oh."
Patty was entranced. She held her arms by her head and began to rock her hips side to side, her eyes closed and lips slanted in a small smile. She was possessed by the music, Spike could see that, and totally enraptured by the sound. He stood back awkwardly, his hands limp in his pockets. He wasn't a dancer, not by any means whatsoever. To his surprise, she began to sing with them. Her voice was high and clear as the first day that he had heard it in the bar, so very long ago. He stared at her, her silver lips parted in jubilation, her dreadlocks running like streams along her chest and shoulders. She opened her eyes and spotted him standing there. Before he could move, she ran up to him and clasped his wrists in her hands.
I don't dance, he wanted to say, but there was just so much music and noise.
"Is it just that you're the finest little thing that I ever saw? Or is my imagination runnin' too far?" They all sang in unison as she began to spin him around and around, their feet stumbling against the loose dirt. She let go briefly and he quickly intertwined his fingers in hers. "Or is it that my eyes are tellin' me something you could never see? Somethin' like me being with you and you being with me?"
Suddenly he let go. He hadn't meant to do it on purpose, but the force of them spinning and him suddenly letting go sent her flying backward. She landed in the pond with her boots held high in the air. The trumpeter suddenly blew a single, drawn-out note. The sound of it was just so unexpected, and the sight of her sitting up in the pond with an embarrassed look on her face was so surreal that Spike couldn't help but laugh. He turned away, but not before they all saw the smile growing on his face. He covered his mouth and hunched his shoulders, but he couldn't hide the quaking caused by his laughter. He ran his hands over his forehead and down his face as he laughed, trying his hardest to stop. But now the tears were coming and the comical sound of the trumpet was in his head, and he saw her sitting in the pond and he just couldn't stop.
Bennet stuck his hand out and Patty grasped it. He heaved her up and out of the water and she stood there, dripping wet and staring past his shoulder.
"I don't suppose a 'thank you' is in order," Bennet said, but Patty hadn't heard him. He turned and followed her gaze. "Oh…" His expression softened and he turned back to her. "What's the matter, sugar? Never seen your man laugh before?"
"No, never. He's always so cold and...distracted. Like the kinda guy who's always in need of another cigarette. Hey," she said suddenly, turning to face him, "you guys don't happen to smoke, do you?"
X
Later…
It was close to midnight when Spike finally settled down beneath the rocky outcrop beyond the trees. A small fire was going, illuminating his drawn face as he stared into the flames. He was thinking about nothing in particular when Patty finally swaggered up to the small cave.
"Howdy pardner," he said as she collapsed in front of the fire.
"Howdy!" she said, a bit drunkenly. "When were you gonna tell me you had such fancy footwork?"
"Yeah, about that. Sorry for swinging you into the pond earlier. It wasn't personal."
"Sorry for dragging you into my fantastically messed up life. Christ," she said, stretching her arms above her head and yawning. "I haven't had a meal like that in ages!"
"That's for sure. It's nice having broccoli and beef with actual beef."
"What?"
"Nothing, you wouldn't get it."
"Ah, well. With food that good, I should've become a Wanted Criminal ages ago," she stretched out upon the rocky floor and rested her head against her arms. She seemed happy, really and truly happy. For some reason that he couldn't place, seeing her like that made him pity her situation even more. He thought back to the day that he had watched her playing basketball on a grimy court with the neighborhood kids. It bothered him to think that someone so carefree should wind up on the wrong side of the law. She didn't belong on a criminal radar. She belonged to the courts and the bars of Earth 2.0. In some ways, she was still a kid in a woman's body; a woman that fate had aged way beyond her years.
"So you admit that you are a criminal."
"The only thing I'm guilty of is making the occasional bad decision, like forgetting to brush my teeth. Nothing worth getting hunted down for. That reminds me," she slipped her hand in the pocket of her leather jacket and waved a small box in the air, "you want some lung cancer?"
He was up and standing above her in less than a second. He swiped the cigarette box from her hands and looked at it as if he had never seen something like it before. "No way!" He exclaimed. "How did you-"
"Thank Bennet. It was his last pack but he said we looked like we needed it more than him. Turns out, running into a bounty hunter and a dangerous woman is a great way to kick the habit."
I'll be damned, he thought. He tore the box open and placed the tobacco-filled stick in his mouth. Then, carefully, he leaned in front of the fire and lit the tip. The first inhale was heaven on his lungs and he exhaled grandly, the nicotine causing a slight buzz in his head. He sat back and blew smoke at the stars before handing the cigarette over to her. She inhaled deeply and did the same, her tired eyes reflecting the glowing firelight. It reminded him of something: the slight glowing of the pond and he looked over at it pensively. She looked up at him and followed his gaze.
"Bioluminescent hatchlings," she said, before standing up and walking over to the still waters. She dipped her hand below the surface and then walked back towards him with something cupped in her palm. "Look," she said and uncurled her fingers. There, nestled against the ridges of her skin, was a tiny green creature, amphibian in nature. It looked up at him with tiny black eyes before leaping away and skipping back towards the pond. "They're not scared of humans, considering no one ever really comes out here. Lucky bastards."
"Huh," he said, and then looked back at her palm. There was a faint trace of glittery blue trailing across her fingers. "Patty, your hand-"
"Don't worry, it's not toxic. It's kinda cool, actually. Look closer."
She sat back on her knees and extended her palm towards him. Gently, he took her wrist and brought her fingers closer to his face. Smoke curled around her fingernails and she twirled them gracefully. They were so close, her upturned palm the only thing standing between them. She exhaled a stream of smoke and he inhaled deeply.
"It's kinda nice, isn't it?" She said, her eyes never leaving his face. She was smiling, so faintly that he almost missed it.
"Yeah," he said. His eyes shifted and he peered at her between her fingers. He lowered her hand and she let it rest on the ground beside him. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, and she couldn't take her eyes off of him.
"It's real nice," he breathed, and leaned into her.
And at some point during the night, her magnetic strip slipped out of her pocket and lay forgotten in the sand.
X
They rose early the next morning, bidding each other good morning tepid smiles and long yawns. The wandering troupe of musicians had disappeared, leaving behind nothing but memories, imprints in the dirt, and a bundle of clothing for the two. Patty was sad to see them go and vowed that, if she made it out alive, she would find them and join their group.
"What's wrong," Spike asked her, seeing her expression change at the sight of the footprints in the ground. "Miss your boyfriend already?"
"Who, Bennet? No...well, yes. It's just that I've started thinking in terms of what I'll do if I make it out of this alive, not when."
"You'll be fine," he said, but neither of them was sure if that was really true. He lit another cigarette and reholstered his gun beneath his coat. "So. What's the plan when we reach town?"
"We're going to visit an old friend of mine. She works as a secretary in the System Maintenance Building. With any luck, she'll be able to get us inside."
"And what makes you think she won't turn you in the second that she sees you?"
Patty made quick work of tying a scarf around her face and pulling her hair into a tight bun. "She won't," she said simply, handing Spike a large black coat. "She's the homie. She's the one who taught me how to disable my Device right before I ran away." At the thought of the magnetic strip, she was about to reach in her pocket to assure that it was there, but Spike had put on the coat and was looking down at himself in surprise.
"I look like a mob boss in this!" He cried out in dismay and she laughed.
"It fits you."
"Yeah, well it's cramping my style!"
"What style? Come on, pardner, we got a ways to go."
They arrived in town during the early hours of the morning. It was still dark out, and the citizens that wandered the streets yawned as they went about their lives. She laid out a route that was bound to keep them away from suspicious eyes. The town was loud and bustling in comparison to the quiet serenity of the forest, and this unnerved the two. Everywhere they went, they kept their eyes downcast, careful to avoid the gazes of the many people on the street. For the first time, Spike noticed the metal Devices present on everybody's arm, and the thought of being constantly surveilled by an artificial intelligence unnerved him. He was a bounty hunter, free of restraints and an anomaly in the eyes of a law that was willing to turn a blind eye when it came to catching criminals.
"Ever thought of just taking the damn thing off?" He whispered to her as they ducked into an alleyway.
"Can't. It's surgically implanted. Lose the Device, and you lose your whole arm."
"Sucks," he said.
"Tell me about it. Gimme a boost, will ya?"
He bent down on his knee and interlaced his fingers in front of him. With surprising dexterity, she braced her foot in his palms and then launched herself onto a rickety fire escape. She reached down and helped him up, then one after another they climbed through the small window of the apartment building. Quiet as two mice, they slunk through the musty halls. A door opened in front of them and a large woman holding a baby stepped out. She looked at the two cloaked figures frozen in place and bounced the baby higher on her hip.
"Huh? Who're you? Why did you just climb through the window?"
The two figures said nothing and she squinted her eyes in Patty's direction.
"Maintenance," Spike said quickly and Patty nodded. The woman's eyes widened and she began to fan herself.
"Oh, thank god! Do me a favor and check out my oven, will you? The fan's broken and the light in my hallway keeps flickering. I dunno if it's haunted or what but just maybe pop it open and look for nesting spiders or missing bolts or ghosts or whatnot…" The woman continued talking as she walked down the hall, leaving her door wide open behind her. The two looked at each other and shrugged before continuing down the hall.
They stopped before a door marked 42 and Patty fished the key out of her pocket. She inserted it carefully into the lock and pushed the door open. It was dark inside. She reached for the light switch but Spike quickly put his hand over hers.
"Angela?" she whispered as Spike closed the door behind them. He peered through the darkness at her and whispered, "got a flashlight?"
She disappeared and returned, placing a solid metal object in his hands. He clicked it on and pointed it quickly at the floor, careful to keep the dim yellow light away from the curtained window. It was best not to alert anyone to their presence, and even with the lights off, the beam of the flashlight could look suspicious to anyone with eyes on the apartment. It was possible that it was being watched, but improbable considering how long it had been since Patty's bounty was issued.
"Must still be at work," Patty said.
"We'll just wait," he whispered back. The silver outline of her silhouette moved towards a corner of the room and he could hear her settle down onto a cushion. She sighed, and for no particular reason, he began to shine his light over a pile of papers on the hallway table. He shifted them aside with a single finger and his eyebrows raised.
"Patty-"
"Shh!"
"Don't shush me!"
"I said shhhhhhhh!"
He glared into the darkness in her direction and then moved around the apartment until he found a couch on the other side of the room. He sat and crossed his hands over his chest. They waited in tense silence for hours. Slowly, the sun began to rise and filter in through the curtains on the window. He had managed to keep himself occupied throughout the morning with thoughts of his own past, and what he would do once he got out of the whole mess. He looked over at Patty and found that she was fast asleep in an armchair, her legs pulled up to her chin. He was about to reach over and launch a pencil at her when the doorknob twitched and the door was pushed open.
Patty was up seconds. For a brief moment, light from the hallway spilled into the room before Patty kicked the door shut and launched herself at the surprised woman. She quickly wrapped a strong arm around her chest and covered her mouth with her other hand.
"Surprise!" She said ecstatically. The blonde-haired woman glanced at Spike in surprise before swinging her leg back and kicking Patty in the shin.
"Ow! God...damn that hurt," she said, jumping up and down and holding her knee. She crumpled to the ground and looked up at Angela with dislike. "Glad to see you, too."
"Glad to see m- what the hell are you doing in my house? And who the hell is that?!"
"That's Spike. Don't worry, his only crime is dressing funny. Spike, Angela. Angela, Spike."
"Hi," Spike said, with a wave
"And what do you mean your house?!" Patty said, standing up. "This is my apartment, too!"
"No...no," Angela said, stepping backward and pointing her key at her, "not since you killed that man, Jarred Penniman!"
"About that…" Patty said, rubbing the back of her neck indecisively. Angela raised her eyebrows and looked between the two as if they were intruders from another planet. Which, considering Spike's background, wasn't too far from the truth. They waited for Patty to speak but she seemed unsure of how to start. Spike sighed.
"We think someone tampered with Patty's file and switched her information with a man named Donald Lee," Spike said, casting Angela a glance that neither woman could quite read, "We need you to help us break into the System Maintenance building so we can retrieve the System Records on the off chance that she can build a case around the fact that her file was tampered with during a routine Patchwork repair."
Angela jumped and took a step backward. She bumped into Patty who put her cold hands on her shoulders, which she shrugged off immediately.
"What?" Angela croaked in a voice much unlike her own. Spike grit his teeth and waved his fist at her.
"I said...we think someone tampered with Patty's file and switched her information with a man named Donald Lee and we need you to help us break into the System Maintenance building so we can retrieve the System Records on the off chance that she can build a case around the fact that her file was tampered with during a routine Patchwork repair!"
"I heard what you said," Angela spat back.
"Then why did you say 'what'?!" Came Spike's response. It was six in the morning and he was already getting tired of all of the bullshit. Pale as a ghost and quivering with fright, Angela backed into the wall and slid down until she was on the ground. She buried her head in her hands and shook her head back and forth, muttering 'no, no, no," all the while. Patty knelt in front of her and put her hand on her knee. Angela looked up at her with vacant eyes.
"It's not possible," Angela said in a broken voice.
"Well, we sort of heard it from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Angie, believe me, hun, I'm innocent. You know that, you've been my roommate for over six years."
Angela's expression hardened and she batted Patty's hand away. "No," she said firmly. "You can't break into the System. I can't help you."
"You can't or you won't," Spike said from over Patty's shoulder. Angela shook her head again.
"You're a murderer, Patrica. I'm not gonna help a filthy criminal. I'm gonna turn your ass in right now." Angela sprung up and made for the phone in the kitchen. Patty's face darkened and she stuck her leg out in front of her, sending the woman tumbling to the ground.
"What the-" Angela said, looking back. Patty reached down and grasped her by her collar, yanking her up in one quick move.
"Angela," she said, her eyes dark and downcast, "I'm not asking you."
"And I'm not telling you. Put me down, you bitch!"
Patty squeezed her hand around Angela's collar and the woman coughed. "I'm getting really tired of hearing that word. Remember when we played Uno last year and I marked all of the cards with an invisible gel that could only be seen from my side of the table? I was able to read your entire deck."
"Of course I remember! What-"
"Then you know I don't always play fair," Patty reached in her pocket and pulled out the gun that she had retrieved from the Officer the previous day. Both Spike and Angela jumped. Spike rushed forward, placing his hand on Patty's arm.
"Hey, hold on a minute," he said bravely but Patty shook her head. She rammed the barrel of the gun beneath Angela's chin and leaned in closer.
"I'm really sorry to do this, but I need to get in the System Maintenance building, and I know you know how. And if you don't, I need you to figure it out." Her breath was hot on Angela's face. The woman closed one eye and turned away, grimacing. "Please," Patty added.
"I...don't...know," Angela said slowly and vehemently.
"What if she's right and she really doesn't know anything?' Spike said, shaking Patty's arm. She swung around and pushed him back. He stared at her with eyes full of hate before saying in a low, angry voice. "Put your head back on straight for one goddamn minute. Put the gun down!"
"This woman taught me how to disable my Device. She knows a lot more than she's saying. Angie, hun, I need those Record books today."
Angela stared at her for a long time, her mouth slack with rage. Neither woman dared to look away. Angela's lip twisted and then suddenly her expression changed. She smiled, small at first, until her lips parted, revealing a set of pearly white teeth. She tossed her head and giggled, her shoulders jumping with the strain. She put her hand over the gun and gently pushed it down. "Put the gun down, patty cake, I was only messing with you. Of course, I'll help you. You're my roomie, right? And roommates always come first."
She held her pinky out to Patty, who ignored her and let her armed hand swing down to her side. She suddenly lifted it again and aimed it right at Angela's chest.
"Get a coat and a face covering. We're leaving now."
"Right! Be back in a jiff!"
Angela disappeared into her room, leaving Patty and Spike alone together. Patty could feel the heat of his gaze along her neck. She refused to look at him, knowing that whatever she saw on his face would burn itself into her memory.
"Don't look at me like that," she whispered to the floor, "please, not you."
She sensed him looking away. "Every minute that I spend with you, I'm less convinced that you're the innocent little dandy that I stuck my neck out for in the first place." He said, pushing past her and towards the door. He tossed his hood over his head and looked back at her. "You wanna know how that feels?"
"Spike-"
"It feels pretty damn bad."
He turned and looked both ways before walking out the door. Angela reappeared with a large yellow coat which she shrugged onto her shoulders. She smiled when she caught Patty's eye.
"Shall we?" She said. Patty said nothing and followed her out the door, the gun held unsteadily beneath her cloak.