Page 44 of Tusks And Conditions

I catalog the damage. Not the physical loss. I can replace equipment. Files can be rebuilt. The real damage is strategic. Without my case records, three open bounties go cold. Without my restraints, I cannot safely transport live captures. Without my office, I have no registered base of operations, which means the Bounty Licensing Board will suspend my permits within seventy-two hours.

Korvan knew all of this.

This was not spite. This was surgical.

I hear her before I see her. The sharp click of heels on broken sidewalk, moving at a pace that suggests running without technically breaking into a run. Professional speed-walking. An accountant's sprint.

Sabine stops ten feet from me. Her eyes track from the burning building to my face and back.

"Oh."

One syllable. Packed tight with everything she won't waste time saying.

She closes the distance. Stands beside me. Her shoulder presses into my arm just above the elbow because that is where her shoulder reaches, and the contact is so small and so deliberate that the amber glow in my runes dims slightly.

"Is anyone hurt?"

"Gretch from the pawnshop got out early. I saw him on the corner with a box of his best inventory."

"Just the building, then."

"Just the building."

The roof caves in completely. A column of embers and black smoke punches skyward. Someone on the street screams. The fire crew keeps working.

Sabine opens her bag. Pulls out a legal pad. Clicks a pen.

"Insurance?"

"Bounty hunters don't generally qualify for standard property coverage."

"Supernatural risk rider policy?"t

"Expired. Three months ago. I forgot to renew."

The pen stops. She looks up at me. The expression on her face is the one she uses when my tax receipts are organized by "vibes" instead of date.

"You forgot."

"I was busy being accidentally bonded to a woman who color-codes her spice rack."

"The spice rack system is intuitive and you admitted that last Thursday." She returns to the legal pad. "We'll file a criminal damages claim against Korvan directly. I still have his full financial records mirrored on my work server. The original data I traced is backed up in three locations."

"He's bankrupt."

"He has hidden assets. There are always hidden assets." She writes something in handwriting so neat it looks printed. "I found two shell companies during my initial trace that I flagged but didn't pursue because they weren't relevant to the original case. One is registered in the Fae Autonomous Zone. The other operates through a goblin credit union in the Undercity."

She is already ahead of me. She was ahead of me before she arrived.

"Sabine."

"I'm also going to call the DMI and report this as bond-related harassment, which triggers automatic protective investigation and freezes any remaining accounts associated with the perpetrator."

"Sabine."

"What?"

"You left work."