"Lean up against the wall there, palms flat." He moved in closer. "Get your feet apart ..." The gun touched her neck. His other hand slid under Skinner’s jacket, feeling for a weapon. "Stay that way." He’d missed Skinner’s knife, the one with the fractal blade. She turned her head a little and saw him wrapping something red and rubbery around one of the Japanese guy’s wrists, doing it one-handed. She thought of those gummy-worm candies you bought out of a big plastic jar. He yanked the Japanese guy by the red thing, dragging him across the floor to the shelf-table where she’d eaten breakfast. He stuck one end of the red thing behind the angle-brace that held the table up, then twisted it around the guy’s other wrist. He took another one out of his pocket and shook it out, like a toy snake. Reached behind Skinner with it and did something with his hand. "You stay on that bed, old man," touching the gun to Skinner’s temple. Skinner just looking at him.