Richard Morgan

Like Bancroft, MacIntyre had been a man of power, and like all men of power, when he talked of prices worth paying, you could be sure of one thing.

Someone else was paying.

I’m stacked, backed up and I’m fifth dan

And I’m not afraid of the Patchwork Man

Naturally these penalties were applicable only to private citizens, not military commanders or government executives. The powerful are jealous of their toys.

When I was younger I used to go out looking for squalid brawls in the streets of Newpest. This got a couple of people stabbed, neither of them me, and led in turn to my apprenticeship in one of the Harlan’s World gangs, Newpest chapter. Later on I upgraded this kind of retreat by joining the military: brawling with a purpose, and with more extensive weaponry, but as it turned out, just as squalid. I don’t suppose I should have been as surprised as I was—the only thing the Marine Corps recruiter had really wanted to know was how many fights I had won.

“You smoke?”

“Smoke? Do I look like a fucking idiot?”