"'And in exchange,'" Gia said quietly. Not accusing. Just — filling in the sentence.
"'In exchange,'" Nara said, "'we cooperate.'"
Silence.
The specific, communal silence of five women who are each running the calculation through their own individual systems and arriving at their own individual conclusions.
Meijin looked at her hands. Her expression was the expression of someone who has added numbers and doesn't like the sum but cannot argue with the math.
Aisha's face had gone through three different expressions in quick succession and had arrived at something that looked like it might be capitulation dressed as practicality.
Gia said nothing. This was unusual for Gia. Gia always had something precise to say. Her silence was its own form of statement.
Preet—
Preet was looking at the shelter entrance.
At the dark beyond it.
Her lips pressed together. Her chin set.
"'I'll wash his back.'"
