He saw another group of Hunters coming toward him. There were five in the group, and with them was Tem Rend, looking somber and proud in his new Assassin's uniform.
"You!" one of the Hunters shouted. "Have you seen a Quarry pass this way?"
"No, Citizen," Barrent said, bowing his head respectfully, his needlebeam ready under his rags.
"Don't believe him," a man said. "These damned mutants never tell us a thing."
"Come on, we'll find him," another man said. The group moved away, but Tem Rend stayed behind.
"You sure you haven't seen one of the Hunted go by here?" Rend asked.
"Positive, Citizen," Barrent said, wondering if Rend had recognized him. He didn't want to kill him; in fact, he wasn't sure he could, for Rend's reflexes were uncannily fast. Right now, Rend's needlebeam was hanging loosely from his hand, while Barrent's was already aimed. That split-second advantage might cancel out Rend's superior speed and accuracy. But if it came to conclusions, Barrent thought, it would probably be a tie; in which case, they would more than likely kill each other.
"Well," Rend said, "if you do see any of the Hunted, tell them not to disguise themselves as mutants."
"Why not?"
"That trick never works for long," Rend said evenly. "It gives a man about an hour's grace. Then the informers spot him. Now if I were being hunted, I might use mutant's disguise. But I wouldn't just sit on a curbstone with it. I'd make a break out of Tetrahyde."