The last few wispy clouds had been blown away by the time they left the lodge, and the stars were blazing down with a brilliance Caine had never seen from Earth.  He hardly noticed them, though; there were more important things on his mind.

The van was crowded.  Along with Lathe and Caine were Mordecai, Dawis Hawking, and a wizened old blackcollar Lathe identified as Tardy Spadafora.  The latter, who was driving, followed Mordecai's earlier route into the city.  But as they approached the Hub, he made a slight detour, stopping near the gray wall.  When he started up again, he and Caine were alone.

Minutes later, they coasted to a halt twenty meters from the brightly lit east gate.  Setting his teeth, Caine took the heavy briefcase by Spadafora's seat and got out, striving for nonchalance as he walked toward the floodlights.  His coat and pants concealed all of his flexarmor outfit except his boots - which looked enough like current styles to go unnoticed - but it still took an eternity to reach the nearest of the two outside guards.  Handing over his ID, he waited another eternity for the Security man to look it over and give the signal.  Seconds later, Caine was inside the Hub.

Autocabs were routinely kept at the Hub's gates during low-demand hours, so Caine had no trouble with transportation.  Following his instructions, he arrived a few minutes later at a cul-de-sac ending by the wall.  The apartment buildings lining the street were dark, most of the tenants apparently having turned in for the night.  A missing light by one of the outside stairways was creating a large wedge of shadow, and Caine stepped into it to await developments.

"Any trouble?" a voice murmured from the darkness, and Caine nearly wrenched his neck spinning around.  Lathe crouched a bare meter away; behind him, Mordecai and Hawking were rising to their feet.

"No - none," Caine said.  "I left my outerwear under the seat, okay?"

"Fine.  I'll take that," Lathe said, pointing to the briefcase.  "Call an autocab, will you?"

Caine handed over the case and triggered his hailer, wondering only briefly why he hadn't simply been told to keep the cab he'd arrived in.  Clearly, Lathe didn't want to leave too clear a trail through tonight's events.  Looking back down the street, he could see approaching headlights.

"We're not taking the briefcase?" he whispered as Lathe joined him at the edge of the shadow.

The blackcollar shook his head.  "It's for Skyler's team - their shuriken, knives, and other metal equipment.  We couldn't bring them over the wall; there's an induction field along the top and outer face that would have triggered an alarm."

Caine glanced back at the imposing gray barrier with some surprise.  "You went over the wall?  I thought there were sensors built into the surface to prevent that."

"There are," Lathe agreed.  "But the wall was built by forced labor - and we were among the workers.  Certain patches of the surface were specially treated to age faster than the rest.  They've since flaked off, taking their sensors with them."

"Why didn't the Ryqril replace them?"

Lathe shrugged.  "Why should they?  It looks like random decay, and the remaining sensors would detect any ladder or lifter.  But if you follow proper path, you can climb the thing without setting o its defenses."

The autocab arrived and the four men piled in.  "Where to?" Caine asked, hand poised over the map.

"A hundred meters past the Reclords Building," Lathe said.  "I want to get a look at the place."

Caine touched the appropriate spot on the map.  Silently, the autocab headed down the empty street.