Van got a really bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, Dallas was right, he should have 'noped-out' of the whole situation. Such thoughts were simply moot at this stage however.

to secure a creditor against loss; to secure a debt by a mortgage

Learning that the Portsiders were badass gangsters was all very well and good, but nowhere did Garth see anything that could explain their sudden rage boner for one measly Offworlder.

“Unless I heard the whole repeated I cannot continue it,” she said. / “Yet it was quickly learned—‘soon gained, soon gone,’” moralized the tutor.