The three of us fell into step behind Maribel as she moved through the park's outer paths toward wherever Shawn's home. The afternoon had settled into that particular Atlantic City. Wind through broken windows somewhere down the block. The distant, irregular sound of movement that you'd learned not to investigate unless it got closer. The low murmur of the community going about its business behind us, alive and functional in a world that had done its best to prevent exactly that.
"So you're a senior member here?" Cindy asked, falling into pace beside Maribel. "Like, officially?"
Maribel made a sound that was somewhere between a scoff and a laugh. "Not officially anything. Marlon just meant I'm one of the people who knows the full picture, the situation, the threats, the internal structure. Same as Molly and Rico and a few others. It's not a title. It's just information."
"He trusts you though," I said. "That's not nothing."
