Revin & Grip were challenged at the door to Vallon's. A large man blocked them, saying "#Friend or #Foe?"
Grip put a hand on his sword but Revin advanced with a grin, "Mike! It's good to see you!"
Tiny appeared and put an arm around Mike.
"You remember my honey, right?"
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"It's time," Revin said. "I need to signal the Queen."
"You're #nuts," Grip said. "They know you've been using the sewers. They'll be waiting for you."
"We'll go above ground — In disguise."
He handed Grip a fishing pole.
Now deeply skeptical, Grip raised one eyebrow.
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Revin stared at Emma's face: her long lashes & parted lips. He could feel Dexy pressed up against his back with a leg thrown over his hip. He relaxed & snuggled into their embrace. But then he noticed the bruising on Emma's wrists & it suddenly seemed a lot less #fun.
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Revin spent hours compiling the intelligence gleaned & then enciphering it. He went to run it over when Emma and Dexy intercepted him.
"We're giving you an #ultimatum," Emma said. "Go to your bed or we drag you to ours."
Tiny snatched the letter & said, "Take him away!"
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"I'm #also going," Grip said.
"Open your mouth & you'll give yourself away as foreign," Revin warned.
"I won't. Besides, the girls have taught me some local words. Like 'gaff' and 'firk.'"
Revin wanted to cover his ears, hearing those words appear in Grip's pure mouth.
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"I have an idea…" Revin was telling Grip when Tiny interrupted.
"#Park it, gentlemen. We've got a problem," she said. "We've got plenty of fancy stuff like Vallon's normally serves but not the cheap swill these losers want."
"I'll visit suppliers tomorrow," Revin said.
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"Don't #make me hurt you, bint!" he snapped.
"No, Boss!" Emma said, her alto voice breaking with terror.
He grabbed her wrist and dragged her to one of the cabins of Vallon's Airship.
Revin wrung his hands in anguish, but had to trust that Emma knew what she was doing.
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Revin & Grip used the one-way mirror behind the bar to watch events unfold. It was a #farce: the men that would bully & arrest the girls on the street, flirted amiably with them here.
An older man with an armband walked up the gangplank & Revin shrank back in terror.
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Revin was so stunned he stopped dead and Grip bumped into him from behind. He was inside an airship surrounded by curved walls of lacquer-stiffened canvas. The entire club was cleverly designed like the interior of an airship with a #bridge and cabins and everything!
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Revin & Grip led the way carrying a lantern. The passage was long & low, dark & damp. At the end, Revin listened at the door. Hearing nothing, he opened it #and they emerged into a wine cellar behind a set of shelves that swung out. They mounted the stairs into the club.
#flexvss