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"I've been there."
"As if it's that easy."
"I didn't say anything about it being easy."
She lifted her chin. "Let me talk to Pepsa."
Valentine followed her with his ears and listened from the surgery doorway as she went into a back room and spoke to Pepsa. The quiet conversation was one-sided; Valentine couldn't see what Pepsa communicated back on her kiddie magic tablet. This would be an all-or-nothing gamble. Every person added to a conspiracy doubled the risk.
Dr. Boothe, with Pepsa trailing behind in a robe, joined him in the surgery. Pepsa looked at him with new interest in her gentle eyes.
"You have people who can help us get all the way to Free Territory?"
Valentine thought it best to dodge the question. "There are plenty of animals to take care of there. Herds of horses."
Pepsa wrote something on her board.
"But you do have people outside Xanadu to help us get away?"
"Absolutely."
Boothe and Pepsa exchanged a look. Pepsa wrote again.
"What do you need us to do?" Boothe asked.
"We need some food that can be preserved. Pack some cold-weather clothing and camp-mats, and have it all ready by tomorrow afternoon. Make some excuse for not being available until November first or second. And one more thing. I need a quick look in your pharmacy."
* * * *
Valentine walked all the way back to the rec center to use the phone there. He could have used the phone in Boothe's office, but just in case she or Pepsa turned on him, he could warn Duvalier.
The phone rang fourteen times before a gravelly voice at the hostel answered it. "Yeah?"
Valentine asked to speak to Duvalier's Ordnance ID pseudonym.
"No calls after nine."
"It's urgent. Could I leave a message?"
"She'll get it in the morning, Corporal."
The attendant must have thought Valentine was Duvalier's would-be boyfriend, Corporal Thatcher.
"Tell her my migraine is back. I'll come by tomorrow night, then we can get to the party."
"Migraine?"
Valentine spelled it.
"She'll get the message at a decent hour. Reread your phone protocols, Corporal-dating doesn't give you special privileges to disturb me."
"Tell her some new friends will be along. We'll have transport."
"I'm not a stenographer, son. Call her tomorrow."
Valentine thanked him and replaced the receiver. Next he'd have to wake Ahn-Kha. He looked at the craft table with the Halloween costumes.
* * * *
