Voinovich Revived

Sky Masterson says, "Miss Tane: On the day when I left home to make my way in the world, my daddy took me to one side.

'Son,' my daddy says to me, 'I am sorry I am not able to bankroll you to a large start, but not having the necessary lettuce to get you rolling, instead I'm going to stake you to two very valuable parcels of advice.

'One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to show you a brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken.

'Then this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the jack of spades jump out of this brand-new deck of cards and squirt cider in your ear.

'But, son, do not accept this bet, because as sure as you stand there, you're going to wind up with an ear full of cider.'

And then he says to me:

'And there is a second fellow you will meet in your travels. For whatever reason he will find the idea in his head that you are a chump for a beating, and he will proceed to poke you in the snoot, counting on the fact that you will go down and stay down.

'But staying down is not the Masterson family trait. You are to rise up and clock the slugger until he goes down, either because he can get up but wisely chooses not to, or because he cannot get up, due to trauma of terminal conditions.

'Don't start nothing with no jaspers, but if they start it, you surely and truly finish it.'

"That was what he said, Miss Tane. And I figure this Impy gang is moved in on the turf of our beloved US of A, and must be put down like mad dogs, on account of there ain't no good odds to turning your back on a mad dog, lest he will surely bite you in an embarrassing situation."

1. Christine says:
   
   "Darn it, but you're right, Sky. We didn't want a war but we've got one. The only question now is who's going to win and who's going to lose."
   
   She looks unhappy, and not especially resolute.
   
   "I thought getting a Power would be a big change. Guess I got that one right! But I didn't know it would come with its own enemies ... I just thought now I had a leg up on the problems I already had."
   
   She bites her lip.
   
   "So if I'm going to be in this -- there's something else you ought to know..."
   
   "Christine!" says Nick Voinovich from the rug, where Kaze is holding his head. "Don't -- God, my head! -- don't tell 'em nothing."
2. "Don't tell us what?" Janet asks.
3. Kaze does something to the back of Nick's neck with her hand.
4. "That ... feels better," he says. "Loads better. But say, who's in charge here -- the Chinese, or the Americans?"
5. "The Actives, Voinovich," Richter replies. "We're all on the same side in this one. And by the way, Kaze's not Chinese. She's Japanese. And so were the goons that slugged you. Except for Miss Tane and yourself, none of your other people made it out alive."
6. Voinovich glowers, but doesn't seem shocked. 
7. "A man is tracking down Actives and absorbing their Powers," Richter continues. "He came after you either because of the girl who could fly, or because of Miss Tane here. Their Powers are unlike any in the world, so far as we know."
8. "We're trying to find this guy, fix his location so our organization can gather enough force to destroy him. Well, stop him, but I've got a feeling that's what it'll come down to. Now he's your enemy just as much as ours. Do you know anything, any detail at all, that will help us find this guy and shut him down?"
9. Voinovich sees that Christine Tane doesn't appear scared of the Grimnoir. His bandaged brow relaxes.
10. "An Oriental? Stocky, little bit gray, with blotches on his face?" Voinovich says.
11. Richter nods eagerly.
12. "Scorchy noticed him at a hash house when we first hit town. Don't remember the name of it. But he cracked some joke about a guy being at sea a long time to get that many tattoos, and I laughed along. I remember looking at him, to see if he minded being kidded, but he didn't bat an eye."
13. "That was two days ago."
14. "Could you find that eatery again?" Richter demands.
15. "Sure. It's on the Texahoma Thruway before the signs for downtown Tulsa."
16. "What difference does a hash house make?" Christine Tane wants to know.
17. "If it's someplace he stood, even for a little while, the spirits might remember," says Richter. "And what they remember, I can make them tell."