XIII. A Safe Place
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Brian Mayhew and Mikhail Grikov escaped from the Arena without further incident, because the guards all ran in the opposite direction and no one paid them any heed, in spite of Mayhew’s garish outfit. Most likely, the assumed that Mayhew and Grikov were fighters or other Arena employees trying to get away from the chaos. At any rate, no one tried to stop them.
The late Bartolomeo Pangano may have had a most dubious taste in clothes (Purple synth-silk? Really?), but Mayhew borrowing his robe turned out to have an unexpected advantage. For as they crossed the huge lobby of the Arena, jostling past fleeing spectators, Mayhew had to gather up his borrowed robe, so he wouldn’t trip over the seam and fall, and became aware of something jangling in the pocket. So he
