Kira Dallas's Arc

Chapter 6 of 6

Andy walked the site at first light and confirmed what the blueprints promised. By midday Kira had a specialist, a compromised channel, and a medical tent that could not keep up with what was coming. Zelda was one pair of hands. The clinic dig would need triage, intake, and someone to log what came out of the vault sealed. Kira crossed the yard to find Marcus. She found him at the equipment shop, sleeves pushed up, testing a circuit against a bench meter. She laid it out in three sentences. She wanted to hire two medical students, on contract, housed on site, cleared to work only in the tent. Marcus set the meter down. "Cost?" "Caps and product. I cover it out of the pharma cut." "Vetting?" "Mine. Kevin runs the background on both." Marcus thought for a beat. "Approved. They don't leave the tent without an escort. Draper walks them in and out." Kira sent invites the same afternoon. Two went to New Reno, two to Broken Hills, routed through Kevin's couriers so the names never touched a Ranger channel. She wrote the terms plain: six-month contract, room and board, sealed-lot access under supervision, payment split in caps and product. She asked for transcripts, a reference, and a sample suture kit inventory. She wanted to see how each applicant organized a cabinet before she saw how they organized a wound. Four came. Kira ran the interviews in the medical tent with Zelda beside her and a rusted first aid kit open on the table as a working prop. She asked each one to sort the contents by expiration, then by use. One from New Reno rearranged the kit twice, second-guessing herself on the analgesics. Another argued the sort order without touching the kit. The third, from Broken Hills, worked the kit clean in under two minutes and flagged two expired vials Kira had planted. The fourth, quieter, asked to see the diagnostic wrist unit on the shelf before answering; she wanted to know what she'd be working with. Zelda watched hands. Kira watched how each one handled a rejected question. After the last interview she and Marcus met behind the equipment shop. "The Broken Hills sort," Marcus said. "And the one who asked about the diagnostic," Kira said. "She checked the tool before she committed. That's the process I want." Marcus nodded once. "Two hires. Draper escorts. Breem builds them a bunk frame by tomorrow." Kira signed both contracts before sundown. Kevin's courier took the copies out on the evening run. The tent had two more sets of hands. The dig had a triage line. Donovan found her at the fence an hour later, radio in his palm. The Broken Hills hire's reference had come back clean on paper. The New Reno hire's had come back clean too — from a clinic that, according to Kevin's runner, had burned down eight months ago.