He nodded a little, looking away. He'd seen a lot of violence, of course - first as a cop, and then in his second, less legal career as a gun runner with IRA connections.

"It's not so different from here," he told her. "Not at the core of it. This is a smaller place, more stringently governed, and so the violence we've got is carefully contained. The struggles for power can be governed because there's not many of us. There's no desperation. But out there..." He grimaced a bit. "Not everyone has the same choices. For some, there's little else but desperation, and little to do but turn to crime to live."