“Don't worry. The favor will also be . . . negotiable. Don't look so friggin’ surprised. I stand to lose as much as any one ‘uh you if what you say is true. How ‘bouts I wait for y'all to get some sleep and we'll start this evenin'?"

“That sounds . . . acceptable," Tarloh said. Will you be staying here or a “Here's fine," the Croc said. He grinned. He liked pushing peoples‘ and these folks were He could tell that no buttons, edgy already one could figure what to make of him. They knew that he killed people for a living, so his generosity was causing hell on their mental models. He wasn't an easy man to entertain, and this group looked like they could be fun.

Tarloh measured the man up. He seemed to be almost brutally open.

The Croc didn't appear to holding anything back. Whether or not that was a good thing or a bad thing, he couldn't quite decide. He turned to Robbie.

“Well, we've got one piece of the puzzle then. I need you to work on the other. Take the three M's," he said, motioning to the Lycanthrope siblings of Mindy, Michael and Matthew, "Chris, and Lothar, and go find the Raptors. Take Arthur too, just in case SOMEONE," he added pointedly, looking at Robbie, "gets himself hurt. Enlist their help, and bring us back the Heaven's Eye. Nathaniel, I want you to do scavenging duty. We're going to need the basics for setting up a new base, as well as food and the like. You're a sweet talker, so get what you can and steal the rest. Talia, I want you and Shield to find us a new place to live. The slaughterhouse is location number one, but keep your mind open to other possibilities. Johan and Anya, you two know the city as well as anyone. You help Croc. If the Dark One set up residence here, it probably came through near here. Spiral out from its former headquarters." He looked at Croc.

“Is that acceptable to you?"

Croc had been staring appreciatively at Anya's long legs.

“Ah think I can handle that."

“In your dreams, lizard boy," Anya replied with a smirk. Croc smiled back.

“Hey, big man," Nat said.

"Forget someone?"

“Didn't forget. I don't have the right to tell you what to do. Not that you ever listened when I did, but ...

“I'll go down Mexico way with the gang. I'll even be so generous as to get them there," she said, punching Tarloh in the arm for his earlier comment. It was true of course. She had never been big on following orders.

"Any word from Red?" Talia asked of Robbie.

“Nope. I'm gonna head back topside and wait for her to call." Robbie grabbed a blanket and the cell phone and wandered out into the tunnels.

"Everyone get some sleep," Tarloh ordered.

“We've got a long night tonight."

‘Why did I volunteer for this again?' Natasha asked of herself as she hurled down the interstate in a rented minivan. Michael and Matthew were in the back with Chris between them. Chris had earned that spot because the two brothers had actually started to quarrel, in all seriousness, about who had crossed into whose side of the seat. Mindy, Arthur and Lothar were in the middle seat. Mindy and Arthur kept having their conversation interrupted by Lothar trying to explain why advanced Dungeons and Dragons was a better role-playing system than G.U.R.P.S. Robbie was in the passenger seat and, like Natasha, was gritting his teeth. On more than one occasion, he had tried to get the menagerie of passengers to “shut the hell up," but any silence achieved had the shelf-life of a frat-boy's promise to call in the morning.

“How does Red put up with this?" he muttered so that only Nat could hear. He hadn't gotten a call from her before they left, and found himself missing his sister more and more.

"I never understood that. I used to think she was just temperamental.

Now, I think she needed to let off steam more often."

"I never want to be in a position of responsibility again." He looked back at his talkative passengers.

"Can we stop at the gas station?"

"I need to pee."