17. Jump City

Kumiko wakes to Sally’s hand over her mouth and a silent command to pack. Sally gathers Kumiko’s passport and toiletries, ignores the ringing phone, and hustles her into the lift. In the foyer, Petal confronts them with a gun but, torn between Swain’s orders and the moment, lowers it as Sally insists Kumiko is leaving with her.

Outside, Sally and Kumiko reach a waiting car where Tick is at the wheel. Tick speeds them through London despite Sally’s warning to ease off and let the car manage itself. En route, Kumiko recalls stashing the Maas–Neotek unit and leaving Colin’s ghost behind. Onboard a supersonic flight, Sally tells Kumiko to remember the alias on her passport and to wait for coffee before asking questions.

They land in the Sprawl, where Kumiko’s media-fed expectations collide with the reality of a cavernous Customs hall and an impersonal passport check. In the chaotic arrivals bay, a man casually lifts Kumiko’s bag; Sally instantly disables him with a kick and recovers it, smiling for the first time since London.

Sally quickly assesses ground transport, bribes a dispatcher, bullies aside competitors, and gets them into a battered hovercab. She flashes cash at the camera, orders Manhattan, Midtown, and the cab lifts off into darkness. Kumiko, disoriented but moving, realizes she has shifted from Swain’s orbit into Sally’s, heading deeper into the Sprawl.