“He looked around the room at all the stuff. But it wasn't just stuff and it wasn't just any girl grenade that had gone off in there. It was Nikki McKinney grenade.”

“He wanted to tell himself that Miracle was just a girl, but he knew that wasn't the case. Miracle wasn't just a girl. She was.....something special.”

“Stuff that would be weird in the bright light of day just wasn't so much once you passed a certain hour.”

“Why can't a girl just want to know stuff and not do stuff?”

“...as if someone had thrown a hand grenade into the middle of a teddy bear orgy and the only survivors had had their fur blown off.”

“Looking back on it, Sloat wasn't sure how he had tolerated Phil Sawyer for as long as he had. His partner had never played to win, not seriously; he had been encumbered by sentimental notions of loyalty and honor, corrupted by the stuff you told kids to get them halfway civilized before you finally tore the blindfold off their eyes.”