"There. It's done," said Jeri as she finished the last stitch and threw Rhade's shirt at him. "Next time don't wait until you're ready to go on patrol before you tell me that your new shirt doesn't fit. You've had it for over a week."

"I'll try to remember," said Rhade contritely as he fielded the garment. Jeri had been getting ready to go to bed when he had informed her that his shirt needed some alterations. She had not been pleased by the timing of the announcement. "But why the sudden need to get me into new clothes? What's wrong with my old ones?" He held out the shirt to take a look at it, then glanced down at the pants he was wearing. "These new outfits look a lot like Lancer uniforms."

"They should," snapped Jeri in a tone of voice that sounded to Rhade like one of the akumas he had killed on his last hunting trip as she put the sewing needle and thread back into her sewing box. "Andromeda showed me some when I was aboard her. These were patterned after them.

"As to why you need new clothing, it's your own fault. When you had only a handful of deputies working for you, everyone knew who they were. Now you have so many that people can't remember who they are, so we made these uniforms for you. Trance and I must have enlisted half the neighborhood to get them made up for you and your deputies."

"You've been busy," said Rhade, still trying to soothe his angry spouse as he finished buttoning the shirt.

"You have no idea," said Jeri. "While you were busy overseeing the training of your new deputies, Mother's been working on getting some sort of city government and tax system set up so they can get paid."

"Taxes?" said Rhade, giving Jeri a blank look. "Next you'll be telling me she's planning to run for mayor."

"City commissioner actually," said Jeri, anticipating the look on Rhade's face at the announcement. She wasn't disappointed. Ignoring Rhade's open-mouthed look she went on with her explanation. "Doyle's been working on evacuation plans in case the company decides to mass evict umwa members from their homes. Harper and Orlund have been up in the hills near Cho Hee's farm helping set up the evacuation site. We've already moved some families into it. Cho Hee's father's been setting up defensive positions in the gap just in case the company decides to move against the families. Mother says that we can hope that the company will be reasonable, but that we had best prepare for the worst."

"Your mother's a wise woman," said Rhade, still a bit overwhelmed by just how much had been going on that he hadn't been unaware of.

"Of course she is," said Jeri. She decided a bit more as payback was in order for Rhade waiting until the last moment to tell her his shirt needed some work done on it. "So it's good you were smart enough to listen to her when she said you should take up with me."

From behind Rhade came the sound of choked-off laughter. Rhade turned around to glare at two of his deputies, Moretti and O'Keefe, who were standing against one of the room's walls, attempting unsuccessfully to keep straight faces.

"If there's any truth," said O'Keefe, still trying to conceal his grin, "to that saying 'bout how behind a great man is a great woman, you're gonna be running this place. You got two behind you, your wife and her mother."

Rhade allowed himself a brief smile at the compliment to the women of his household, then his expression became serious. "You just make sure that they stay there," he said as he buckled his equipment belt and checked that his pistol, force lance, and two-way were all in place. "Dennic and Collins will be relieving you later. I don't always put much faith in what Vox says, but he's been right often enough that if he says the Association has targeted me and my family, I'll take precautions."

"You don't have to go on this patrol, sir," said Moretti. "Someone else can take the graveyard shift with the newbies."

The look on Rhade's face went from serious to grim. "If I do that, the Association will have won. We can't let them think they can intimidate us with threats."

"He's right," said Jeri, though her tone of voice made it clear that she wasn't happy with the admission. She hadn't wanted Rhade to go on the patrol either. They had argued about it earlier that day, but Rhade had convinced her that not going would be an even worse option. "If the company or the Association thinks we're afraid of them they'll be all over us. He has to go." She gave Rhade a quick peck on the mouth. "Be safe, and I'll see you in the morning."

Rhade gave Jeri a kiss of his own, one that was considerably more than a brief peck, then adjusted his equipment belt fractionally, ensuring that his pistol was within easy reach. Satisfied that it was, he turned back to face O'Keefe and Moretti. "The two of you stay here and keep an eye on my family. I have some rounds to make."

The novice deputies were waiting for him at the market. There were two of them, Parker and Kinney, both wearing the new uniforms. They were both young, not much older than Jeri, and male, but other than that they were about as opposite in appearance as two humans could be. Kinney was tall, lean, and totally bald, with pale skin, beady blue eyes, and a nose that looked more like a beak. Parker was short, probably no taller than Harper, and stocky, with shoulders that were nearly as wide as Rhade's. His skin was as dark as Kinney's was pale. Both men snapped to attention when they saw Rhade approaching.

After a moment of small talk, Rhade began the patrol. In addition to his unit, there were two other patrols making their rounds, plus one more stationed at the Oasis to function as a reserve. Each patrol was assigned an area to cover and was equipped with a two-way. He didn't have enough men and women to cover the south-side as well as he would have liked, but then he suspected he never would have enough.

The marketplace was still open, but business was dying down. It would be closing for the night soon, to open again shortly after dawn when there was enough light to see by, but the air temperature was still cool. Rhade took his charges through the market, introducing them to some of the merchants who were busy closing up for the night and asking what they had heard or seen during the business day that they thought he might be interested in.

After making the rounds of the market, Rhade and his charges began the sweep of the rest of their area. It turned out that Kinney and Parker were not only opposites physically, but mentally as well. Kinney was a talker. He kept up a constant stream of chatter while Parker spoke mostly in single syllables. Rhade wasn't sure if this was Parker's natural way of communication, or if Kinney simply wasn't giving the other man a chance to talk.

By the time they made it back to the market it was well past midnight and the area was deserted. The majority of the area was in deep shadow, the only illumination being the stars and the occasional chem lantern. Kinney was still talking. He was asking the others what they thought of Virgil's latest broadcast when he had discussed the list of demands the umwa had presented to the company. When Rhade admitted that he hadn't listened to the broadcast, Kinney began to give what seemed to Rhade to be a verbatim description of the broadcast.

Kinney rattled on discussing the broadcast when he abruptly stopped mid-word. A surprised look came over his face. At the same instant, Rhade heard the crack of a gunshot. Kinney reached up to touch his chest. He stared for an instant at the blood on his fingers, then collapsed.