I just said I had the time and was in a position to take the time and do what I wanted for a change. Reggie piped in with an agreement but was a littl... remorseful about not being able to stay with me for the second half of the trip.This brought on another round of questions about separate vacations. We just let them speculate on that, but we did say that Reggie would join me when her work schedule permitted. Before I could stop her or even warn her, Reggie popped up with, "When I'm not there. Good job, Mick. You're right. Nobody messes with Shadow."While Rachel wasn't real happy about having twelve more Mechs dropped on her to take care of she was happy to see all the spare parts and tools that we'd brought with us. "A lot of this'll replace things that Tate took with him out to the island. Others we'll send out there anyway. You've got several more exoskeletons than we need. I'll sent them to him and some of these other tools. I might even send some of it to Karuska. The parts and. Go to the company apartment?" she asked Gunnar angrily when they'd left the restaurant and he drew her aside while the others looked for a cab."Just that. I want us locked solid with Hunt and Weber. I can't have one without the other, because they're buddies. The other two don't count." I'm no hooker!" she protested bitterly. "I've already done too much for your friends." Oh, you'll put out," he told her. "I can make you too much trouble for you to refuse." I'm trying to help. You're going too. They had driven back to the city in near silence, speaking only as necessary, and then only in monosyllabic utterances, her with an uncomfortable wetness between her legs that soaked her panties and threatened to stain through her dress. And Phillip with that bulging hardness under his trousers that she could see so clearly in the light from the automobile dash gauges.And now this! How could she reconcile all that with what had just this evening happened? She couldn't pretend she didn't know.