No Sorrow Like Separation (The Commander Book 5) by Randall Farmer Page A

media.”
    “No Crow I know would do such a thing, but I don’t know many Crows,” Gilgamesh said.  “It does sound like more crazy senior Crow politics in action.”
    This was more information than I was ready to absorb.  I didn’t remember.  Instead, I thought.  Keaton turned off the television, went and got a snack, then sat down beside me on the floor.  “I won’t bite.  You’re on to something.  Tell me.”  Keaton did seem to value my opinions.  I wasn’t sure why.  Perhaps some things I had said as a reluctant student had proven out.  The word ‘groundbreaking’ came to my mind, but I didn’t understand my magical insight.
    “The Arm tag idea.  If you’d tagged me immediately you would have been able to teach me faster.  Perhaps we might be able to get more Arms.”
    Keaton gobbled cheesecake.  “Continue,” she mumbled with a mouth full of food.
    “You could teach them.”
    Keaton frowned.  “You’re volunteering me ?”
    “I apologize ma’am.  I didn’t say that right.”
    “I’ll say you didn’t say that right.  What the fuck do you mean?”  Okay, I had successfully gotten on her nerves.  Was this a good thing or a bad thing?
    “If and when I recover I would teach Arms too.”
    “Like hell you will,” Keaton said.  “Baby Arms are mine .”
    I let my entire self be confused.
    Gilgamesh edged away, and then vanished.  Behind the corner to the kitchen, I think.  Smart man.
    “Ma’am.  How can I help?”
    Keaton paused.  I sensed her go through what she had said and figure out what was correct and wrong with her statements.  “If this works out you’re going to be the one providing me the baby Arm,” Keaton said.  She stuffed some almond torte in her mouth.  “You’re going to need to be back up to your full capabilities for the extractions, and you’ll only do them when the risk is manageable.  The Feds will be running traps on baby Arms.”
    I nodded.  I thought she had decided to teach the baby Arms.  That pleased me.  I remembered the baby Arm Mary Fouke, and how much I had wanted to beat her.  It would have taken work for me to get over that response.
    Keaton smacked her lips.  “You’ll also provide me enough kills to tide me over until the baby Arm can start learning to hunt.  Which won’t be as hard as it sounds; something bad is happening with the Focuses and they’re not keeping up with the supply.”
    I nodded.  “I’d noticed that in my time in Chicago hunting just kept getting easier and easier.”  I tried to put ‘figure out why Focuses are fucking up’ in my memories, but I wasn’t sure it took.
    “You’re also going to need to supply me with data.  Getting the appropriate handle on a young Arm requires good background information, so I can understand her.  The difference between you and Mary was information – I had background information on you, and nothing on Mary.  I refuse to go through that sort of disaster again.”
    Reasonable.  Information was good.  Information helped the magic work.
    “Ma’am, I’ll need to practice that ahead of time.  Espionage hasn’t been my specialty.  If you have any pointers you’d be willing to share, I’d be most anxious to listen.”
    Keaton chuckled.  “Old Carol couldn’t do espionage because she was built for punching Beasts to death with her bare knuckles.  New Carol should be able to train herself to walk by normals in the daylight without them noticing.  The goddamn Japanese Ninja claim to be able to do things like that and they’re normals.  I’ve seen you do stealthy and quiet already.  Pay attention to Gilgamesh.  Learn.  You’ll figure out how.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”  She was right.  I needed to stop thinking of myself as the ham-fisted knife-thrusting gonzo I used to be.  I possessed new strengths now.  I could, I had learned, stealth along with Gilgamesh just fine.
    Oh.  Another new strength seemed to be an ability to talk my boss, Keaton,