"No," Lyra said slowly, as she cautiously approached the body, "they sure as bloody Hell don't." She shook her head. "I mean, back in their heyday maybe five, ten years ago, sure, they'd have had the kinda cash for that, even if they weren't the types to need big guns too often. But now?"

As she said this, she turned to Niklas.
"Sorry I didn't clear out, Nick, but Quacky here"--she motioned to the masked doctor--"has saved my ass more than once, and he's saved countless other poor sods as well. I can't very well turn my back on him if he's in danger. And I've got a sinking feeling that this whole situation," she said as she pointed at the corpse, "seems like it's gonna be dangerous."

[i]Besides,[/i] she thought, staring at the revolver, [i]I kinda wanna know how the Hell a Rat, in this day and age, can afford one of those. Sure, I got my rifle as a Rat, but that was back when they made a helluva lot more money. Something isn't right here.[/i]