He welcomed her in the shop out back, his design studio. She was there to bring him the specs for their latest client's demand."This guy is a pain in ...he ass. He wants us to be done in ninety days, but he keeps changing things. We did exactly as he asked and now it's not what he wants."She knew there had been a heated exchange between Charley and the client a few days ago. Charley had sent him notice they were not going to be able to meet his demands and they were not going to work with him any. 100 capsules. It wasn’t name brand, but it would do.He grabbed the small bottle and hurriedly moved to the front counter to pay for it. Darius wanted to get this errand over with as quickly as possible. The looks of disgust, gazes of intrigue and colorful comments he’d received on the way here had already put him on edge.Darius got in line and a woman walked up behind him. He retrieved his wallet from the front of his dress as they waited for the man at the front of the line to pay for his. " They're not." They burned my house. Poisoned the ground. I'm supposed to pay forremediation. They killed four of my friends." Who did they kill?" Everyone who signed a union card. Save one. They didn't kill the human." We're moving assets into the region. War rats. Gene-engineered humans.Mobile plants."Cheri interrupted. "I thought mobile plants were bad." Bad is good. We're prepping for a war. Biomechanical monsters.Artificial life. Things you can't imagine. Defense in depth." War in. But when May touched the ring with her fingernail, it was like discharging all that pent-up electricity at once.With her short, but well-manicured nails that were painted jet black, she lifted the ring and held it between her fingers. She didn't pull the ring, but Scarlett could feel the ring twisting around inside the skin of her nipple. Concentrating on the subtle sensation was the only way to intensify it.After closing her eyes, Scarlett felt May lift the other with the same delicate touch..