Caleb walked through the Quarter at twenty-two-fifteen.
The streets were emptier than they had been on Day Seventeen. Two-thirds of the noodle stalls were dark. Yui's was closed. The boot fixer's window had a hand-lettered sign saying the shop would reopen tomorrow. Kerosene smell from Vance's yard cut across the back alley two streets up.
Caleb did not stop. He took the long route to the safe house.
The freight rail spur he had walked the day before was running again. Cargo lifters moved under yellow lights. A train rolled south at the end of the spur with three flatbeds of containers he did not recognize.
Normal traffic had resumed at fifteen-hundred after the Hacker released the locks she had thrown during the seal operation.
Normal, in the Quarter, meant things moved even while everyone pretended not to watch them.
