CHAPTER 9

Hera: The Hide

Almost dark. Good. Critters’ll be movin’ soon, help confuse any thermal. Time to try out the knee........just a twinge. It’ll do. Should pop another pain-killer afore I go.

Now... how to do this. They’d might’ve leaned on a few folk, found out who my friends are, staked them out. Cain’t do everyone though, that’d leave ‘em spread too thin. So... Jeb’s for certain, close enough to the yard for the ship to be close. Not Mort’s place, too far. Gordy’s....yeah, prolly, ain’t near as far as Mort’s, easy reach to the ship with their buggy. Damn. Abigail’s. We ain’t sweeties or nuthin’, but we’ve stepped out a time or two. They’re the type to use a woman as bait.

Wayull, enough musin’ on what might be, time to find out what is. Should make Gordy’s about midnight, check it out, swing ‘round to Abbie’s. That’d make it around two, two-thirty. Over to the house....three-thirty, four. Not long to dawn then. Naw, skip Jeb’s, get to the other hide, settle in afore daybreak. Rest up a few hours. Figger out what comes next.

Check my kit. Canteens full up, no slosh. Everything buckled up or taped down. Cammies on, boots laced up tight. No shine.

Time for a little make-up. Black across the forehead, down the nose, over the chin. Brown over the cheeks, mouth, down one side of my neck. Green over everything else. Don’t forget the ears and back of the neck. Check the paint job in my hand mirror. Missed a spot. That’ll do. Black watch cap to top everything off.

Ready as I’m gonna get. Let’s go walkies.

Persephone: Barty’s Office, 15 Months Ago

“.....have you ever been to Higgins’ Moon?”, Barty asks.

“Cain’t say as I have, nossir.”

“Beastly place, I assure you. The air is malodorous from the mud bogs which provide it’s sole export, mud. Certain rare trace elements in the mud create a superior strength ceramic when it is cooked properly. This mud is collected, by hand, from the bogs by indentured labor, slaves really, the mudders.”

“Running this pitiful little moon i