Josh was sure there were some flaws in her logic, but he’d been hit with so much already in just the last hour or so that he was having a hard time thinking straight. “I suppose that’s right,” he said at last.

“And also there are all those ‘sixth day’ laws and treaties still on the books.” The woman shook her head. “Funny thing: I’m technically illegal. But since Aegis is an arm of the UN, we have a special ‘DTA’ exemption.”

“DTA?” Josh asked.

Redshift, the woman’s automech partner, chuckled. “’Don’t Tell Anybody,’” he explained. “She uses that same joke on all the newbies. It gets so old after a while.”

The woman snorted. “You use it just as often.”

“Only after you inflicted it on me to begin with.”

The woman stuck out her tongue and gave the automech the hairy eyeball. It responded by giving her the finger. “Oh, yeah,” one of the motorcycle riders said. “Very mature, guys.”

Josh held up the knapsack. “Um, I hate to be a downer, but maybe we should continue this somewhere that isn’t a war zone?”