He smoothed another bill on the damp polished wood and negotiated his way through the hazy room.
Outside, he turned a corner and the city dropped away from him. He seemed to be in a giant amusement park with acres of empty ground patterned off in squares by unwinking dots of light.
He grinned to himself, changed direction with great care, and started down the one-way street to the lake front.
He heard the footsteps behind him.
Danniels put his palm to the brick wall, scaling posters, and turned.
The clean-cut young man smiled disarmingly. "I saw you in at Paul's. You'll never make it home under your own power. Better let me take you in my cab."
Danniels knocked him out on his feet with a clean right cross.
He blinked down at the boy. Self-preservation had become instinctive with him during his months as a wandering Jonah.
Gnawing at his under lip, he studied the twisted way the supposed cabbie lay. If he really were.... Danniels patted the man down and brought something out of a hip pocket.
He inspected the leather blackjack, weighing it critically in his hand.