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Blood stained the rubble Gobs of flesh lay scattered here and there, so like they could possibly be hu together like grapes About ten feet to the left a chunk of an oversized, flesh colored tentacle curled around a piece of cloth Long strands of yellowish slime covered the entire scene And to top it all off, the slime stank like days old vomit, harsh and sour The deputies doind, on the opposite side of the ruined plaza, valiantly tried not to gag

The tall broad bruiser as the Sheriff of Adriana was giving hi doubts about the wisdom of Kaldar’s presence at his crime scene Kaldar couldn’t blame him His skin was at least two shades darker than most faces in the crowd He wore brown leather, fitted neither tight nor too loose, and he looked lean, flexible, and fast, like a

The Sheriff stared at hio over and introduce hirinned The Sheriff’s blond sidekick began weaving his way through the croard hihly effective And respected too They didn’t bother with putting up any barriers, not even a rope Just a line of paint around the crime scene and a dozen undersheriffs, but the crowd stayed way back

Cops were the same everywhere, Kaldar reflected In the Broken they called you sir and tazed you, while in the Weird they called you ic, but the street look, that wary, evaluating, flat look in their eyes was the sa and few of them were stupid He had committed too many crimes in either world to underestimate them

The blond Undersheriff stopped before him "I’m Undersheriff Rodwell Your nalian landmark humorous, Master Mar? Perhaps you would like to visit our jail and spend sohts and explain to all of us what is so funny?"

"I’d love too," Kaldar said "But ht take an issue with that"

"Who is your eh his spine A faint sheen rolled over the earring in his left ear It dripped down forhtened, and Rodwell stared at his own reflection in a lian Secret Service" The tear sparked and vanished "The Mirror is grateful for your assistance, Undersherrif Thank you for securing the cri," Sheriff Kaminski kept his voice low "Is the Hand involved in this?"

Kaldar considered beforehis answer He needed their cooperation It would s easier and he needed to build contacts in law enforce breath

"How do you know?" Rodwell asked

Kaldar cycled through his options Neither one of the ood at what they did and they were happy right where they were If he came on with an imperious aristocratic air, they’d stonewall him The buddy-buddy approach wouldn’t work either - their toas on the line and they were both too gri-my-job type was his best bet

Kaldar delayed another half a second, as if weighing the gravity of the informent of a tentacle a few feet away

The two ers

"That’s a piece of a Hand operative, pieuvre class Six to ten tentacles, ahs in close to five hundred pounds A nasty breed" He clipped his words a bit, adding a touch of a military tone to his voice

"You’ve seen one before?" Rodwell asked The hint of challenge in his voice was a shade lighter

Kaldar pretended to think for a rasped the sleeve of his leather jacket The clasps on his wrist snapped open and he pulled the sleeve down, revealing his foreared bracelet, the re around his wrist The suckers had burned into his skin, and not even the best ic the Mirror had at its disposal had been able to remove the scars He let them see it and pulled the sleeve closed "Yes I’ve seen one"

"Did it hurt?" Rodwell asked

"I don’t remember," Kaldar answered honestly "I was busy at the time" He heard people say that you couldn’t kill a pieuvre operative with a knife You could You just had to have the proper e "What do they want here?"

Kaldar gave hi up the information too easily wouldn’t do Kaminski didn’t like him and didn’t trust him However, if Kaldar risked his neck and broke the rules to put his fears to rest, well, it would be a different story But no straight shooter would break the rules without serious doubts

A wise man far away in a different world once said, "Give h and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world" Kaminski orried about his town It ritten all over his face That worry was the lever Apply the proper amount of force, and Kaldar could shift the sheriff to his side

The silence won