The women rescued from the Grunter mansion had been placed in various safehouses across the city. Their locations were closely guarded secrets, and no police officer or member of the DA’s office knew the locations of more than three - to ensure the safety of the witnesses.

Naturally, Nanocloud knew them all.

Anne had placed a few nanobots on each of the women before they were taken away by the cops. As a result, we now had addresses for each of the survivors. The nanobots had kept operating for days on end and transmitting their data to Anne - who was getting excellent practice in managing nearly a hundred different sources of information at the same time.

“All of them are safe,” Anne told me, “but seems like Maria Sins is your best bet. She’s gutsy.”

“And least likely to panic if I show up unannounced?”

“Absolutely. The next best choice is Donna of the laser rifles.”

“Let’s start with Maria.”

Anne had given me the safehouse address, leading to my current night-time excursion.

It was two a.m. in the morning when I tapped on Maria Sins’ window.

Maria seemed unsurprised to see me. “Belessar. Come in.”

I sidled through the window and stood in the bedroom. It was small and decorated with children’s toys. “Interesting choice of furniture,” I commented.

“This apartment belonged to a couple with two kids,” replied Maria. “The DA’s office rented it in a hurry. Each of us gets our own bedroom. I got this one.”

“How did you find all that out?”

Maria shrugged. “I just asked a few questions. The cops were nice enough to answer.”

“Good. I need your help for something.”

The woman sat down on the bed. “Sure. I’ve been expecting this.”

“Expecting my visit?”

“All of us have. We’re committed to helping you with whatever you need.”

“That’s good. I need you to recollect every scrap of information you can think of about the Grunters.”

Whatever Maria had expected, it wasn’t that. “You… want us to find you information?”

“About the Grunters. Everything you can think of. Names of contacts, locations, warehouses, anything.”

The former Grunter slave winced. “I don’t know how much help we can be.”

“Any little bit helps. There’s still six suits out there, plus Gravitic and Grumman themselves. I think they might be hunting you.”

“We figured as much. So did the cops.” Maria crossed her arms. “Is this the only thing you need?”

“Yes. I know it’s dangerous…. I wouldn’t ask this if I could get the information myself.”

“It’s as much for us as for you. We did agree to help… I’ll talk to the girls.”

“Good. I’ll drop in after a couple of days, check on what the situation is. If you need to reach me sooner, I’ve got an e-mail ID.”

“You need to be careful. Grumman had tech guys who could track someone down from their e-mail address.”

I’d suspected as much, which was why the e-mail was only accessed through a smartphone plugged into a Small Power Pack in a locker fifty miles away - and only read via nanobots. “I’ve got it covered.”

“Okay.” Maria frowned. “There’s…. one name that might help. Cassander.”

“Who’s he?”

“Detective Cassander. He’s with the Tanisport P.D. The Grunters had him on the hook for his gambling. I overheard Black Dog Bowers - that’s one of the guys you got - he said that Cassander was reliable as long as they held his leash, but too straightlaced to enjoy some of the finer things.”

“Finer things?”

“The Grunters pay some of their informants in drugs and services.”

I filed that away for future use. “You think Cassander needs to be interrogated?”

“I think you might want to try recruiting him.” She paused. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be telling you what to do.”

“No, go ahead. Ideas are good.”

“Cassander could get you info. Bowers used him to find out where the police were planning to hit a Grunter op, then moved people out.”

I nodded. “I’ll pay this Detective Cassander a visit.”