"Sun and Jun, with their own monitors in hand started circulating amongst the bidders. Jun stopped in front of the Japanese bidder, saying, "This one....I wasn't worried about the signal getting out. We had chosen to meet them in the basement precisely because it was rigged with a faraday cage and jamming devices that allowed only pre-wired communications to get out, but a person who would do this had something else in mind, and we wanted it and him stopped here. In our planning, it stood to. They started pounding on the door and I walked to stand beside it. I flipped the locking latch and let the door swing open. There were two men in the hall and they started into the room and then stopped as they realized where I was standing.One was a city guard and the other was a merchant by his clothes. The merchant cleared his throat, “We heard that you are ... very good with your weapons.”I waited and he shifted from foot to foot before clearing his throat, “We have a serious problem just. Dot second convention, in December I tink, it called for a militia of freemen. Dot vas d'vord, Mac, freemen, so dey vas not tinking bondsmen, ja?" Martz smiled and stroked his stubbled chin. "Dey said it vas so England vould not haf to tax us for defense. Ve could defend ourselves then, a good joke, eh." Ha," said MacCorm, "sounds like they're still expecting a battalion of Redcoats camped around the Stadt House." Ja, maybe ve get dem, too." Martz's usually happy face looked both sad and. .. Oww. That hurt." Scott grimaced as she pounded a gloved fist into the back of his left shoulder. "Take it easy, that's my bad shoulder." Oh shit, I'm sorry," She rubbed at his shoulder gently, "Scott, you've never lied to me before. Don't start now, OK." Hey, I'm serious. I mean, you've always been hot, but I would say you've put on ten pounds or so since I saw you last, and damn it looks good on you." He heard her kind of choke and chuckled."What, never had a guy tell you that you look.