The writing on the few shops looked Thai to me. We went to a two-story house. Inside there were women everywhere, their bodies covered in traditiona... Malaysian dress, heads covered even indoors with scarves that also covered their mouths. Only their eyes and a little dark hair was visible as to each of them. It was up to my imagination to guess at their figures and their face. I knew them from the colors of their dress and from their voices, that was all. There were seven women there –. With that, Penny uncapped the two bottles, took a drink out of each one, and poured in more vodka. Loretta couldn’t help but notice that Penny poured in quite a bit more than she had the first time around. As the other girl brought the drinks over to the bed, Loretta smiled at her. “I saw how much of that you poured in.”“I know, I know,” Penny admitted. “It’ll be a little stronger, but—like you said, you only live once. Now, scoot over.”Loretta shuffled her body, making room for Penny on the. Changes were necessary. Leading the tech section of her company, interacting with senior members of the company staff and meeting prospective buyers of the company’s product required a more sophisticated Gail; retro, baggie and hippie wasn’t going to get the job done. The geek, as she put it, needed to be more of a woman. Gail began to pay more attention to her appearance. Her wardrobe became fashionable and hair more styled; her shoes more lady-like; and make up, manicures and nail polish. I nodded and grabbed Givens’ hand. “We all go in, we all come out.”“Hold the line!” he replied.“Hold the line!”I went over to Santiago. He reached out for my hand. “Hold the line, Sergeant.”“Hold the line!”I looked over at Nanda, who had walked with Santiago. “It’s a good saying. We liked it, too.”“Listen, whatever problems I had with Jim Bruno, it had nothing to do with the squad or your guys. It was just personal. You guys were always good. I never thought anything else. You have to believe.