"We'll take care of it," Jochy added with a pointed look to the admiral. "She's bleeding, the day I can't track somebody bleeding like that is a sad day indeed."

He scratched his neck. "You two just relax, this particular brand of nightmare is over for the moment, but I can run a check on Spider later to see that therey ain't any surprises left in there. But she feels clean." He´started after the admiral.

Spider looked as if she were about to vomit again. "Surprises? What do you mean any goddamn surprises?!" She started after them, but she was too weak to make any progress before they were both gone. She ended up sitting on the floor under a hall table, gasping for breath, with two bright red blotches mottling her cheeks. "Sorry about your rug, Mama," she said in a tiny croak.

Andre followed her, and crawled under the table with her, putting an arm around Spider gently. "I don't think your mother is going to care too much about the rug," he assured her.

Spider immediately and without reservation threw her arms around him and buried his face against his neck. "This, before I start bawlin' like a babe," she whispered in his ear.