'That's right,' snickered Foaly. 'You ain't Acting Commander any more. The call came through from below. You've got an appointment with the Council, and I don't think it's to offer you a seat.'

It was probably Foaly's grin that drove Gudgeon over the edge.

'Give me those disks!' he roared, pinning Foaly to the operation's shuttle.

Root was tempted to let them wrestle for a while, but now wasn't the time to indulge himself.

'Naughty naughty,' he said, pointing his index finger at Gudgeon.

'No one beats Foaly but me.'

Foaly paled.

'Careful with that finger. You're still wearing the — '

Root's thumb accidentally brushed his knuckle, opening a tiny gas valve. The released gas propelled a tranquillizer dart through the latex fingertip and straight into Gudgeon's neck. The Acting

Commander, soon to be Private, sank like a stone.

Foaly rubbed his neck. 'Nice shot, Commander.'

'I don't know what you're talking about. Total accident. I forgot all about the fake finger. There are several precedents, I believe.'

'Oh, absolutely. Unfortunately Gudgeon will be unconscious for several hours. By the time he awakens, all the excitement will be over.'

'Shame.' Root allowed himself a fleeting grin, then it was back to business. 'Is the gold here?'

'Yep, they just inserted it.'

'Good.' He called to Gudgeon's sheepish troops. 'Get it loaded on a hover trolley and send it in. Any trouble and I'll feed you your wings. Understood?'

No one actually replied, but it was understood. No doubt about it.

'Good. Now hop to it.'

Root disappeared into the operation's shuttle, Foaly clopping behind him. The commander shut the door firmly.

'Is it armed?'

The centaur flicked a few important-looking switches on the main console.

'It is now.'

'I want it launched as soon as possible.' He glanced through the laser-proof refractor glass. 'We're down to minutes here. I see sunlight poking through.'

Foaly bent to his keyboard in earnest.

'The magic is breaking up. In fifteen minutes we're going to be in the middle of overground daytime. The neutrino streams are losing their integrity.'

'I see,' said Root, which was basically a lie again. 'OK, I don't see. But I do get the fifteen minutes bit. That gives you ten minutes to get Captain Short out of there. After that we're going to be sitting ducks for the entire human race.'

Foaly activated yet another camera. This one was linked to the hovertrolley. He ran a finger experimentally across a trackpad. The trolley shot forward, almost decapitating Chix Verbil.

'Nice driving,' muttered Root. 'Will it get up the steps?'

Foaly didn't even look up from his computers.

'Automatic clearance compensator. One-point-five metre collar. No problems.'

Root speared him with a glare.

'You do that just to annoy me, don't you?'

Foaly shrugged his shoulders.

'I might do.'

'Yes, well, count yourself lucky my other fingers aren't loaded. Get my meaning?'

'Yessir.'

'Good. Now let's bring Captain Short home.'

Holly hovered beneath the portico. Orange shards of light striped the blue. The time-stop was breaking up. There were only minutes left before Root blue-rinsed the whole place. Foaly's voice buzzed in her earpiece.

'OK, Captain Short. The gold is on the way. Be ready to move.'

'We don't bargain with kidnappers,' said Holly, surprised.

'What's going on here?'

'Nothing,' replied Foaly casually. 'Straightforward exchange. The gold goes in, you come out. We send in the missile. Big blue bang, and it's all over.'

'Does Fowl know about the bio-bomb?'

'Yep. Knows all about it. Claims he can escape the time-field.'

'That's impossible.'

'Correct.'

'But they'll all be killed!'

'Big deal,' retorted Foaly, and Holly could almost see him shrug.

'That's what you get when you mess with the People.'

Holly was torn. There was no doubt that Fowl was a danger to the civilized underworld. Very few tears would be shed over his body.

But the girl, Juliet, she was an innocent. She deserved a chance.

Holly descended to an altitude of two metres. Head height for Butler. The humans had congregated in the wreckage that used to be a hallway. There was disunity between them. The LEP officer could sense it.

Holly glared accusingly at Artemis.

'Have you told them?'

Artemis returned her stare.

'Told them what?'

'Yes, Fairy, told us what?' echoed Juliet belligerently, still a bit miffed over the mesmerizing.

'Don't play dumb, Fowl. You know what I'm talking about.'

Artemis never could play dumb for very long.

'Yes, Captain Short. I do. The bio-bomb. Your concern would be touching, if it extended to myself. Nevertheless, do not upset yourself. Everything is proceeding according to plan.'

'According to plan!' gasped Holly, pointing to the devastation surrounding them. 'Was this part of the plan? And Butler almost getting killed — all part of the plan?'

'No,' Artemis admitted. 'The troll was a slight blip. But irrelevant to the overall scheme.'

Holly resisted the urge to punch the pale human again, turning instead to Butler.

'Listen to reason, for heaven's sake. You cannot escape the time-field. It has never been done.'

Butler's features could have been etched in stone.

'If Artemis says it can be done, then it can.'

'But your sister. Are you willing to risk her life out of loyalty to a felon?'

'Artemis is no felon, miss, he is a genius. Now please remove yourself from my sightline. I am monitoring the main entrance.'

Holly buzzed up to six metres.

'You're crazy. All of you! In five minutes you'll all be dust. Don't you realize?'

Artemis sighed.

'You've had your answer, Captain. Now, please. This is a delicate stage in the proceedings.'

'Proceedings? It's a kidnapping! At least have the guts to call it what it is.'

Artemis's patience was beginning to fray.

'Butler, do we have any tranquillizer hypodermics left?'

The giant manservant nodded, but didn't speak. At that precise moment, if the order came to sedate, he wasn't sure if he would, or could. Luckily Artemis's attention was diverted by activity in the avenue.

'Ah, it would seem the LEP have capitulated. Butler supervise the delivery. But stay alert. Our fairy friends are not above trickery.'

'You're a fine one to talk,' muttered Holly.

Butler hurried to the demolished doorway, checking the load and catch on his Sig Sauer nine-millimetre. He was almost grateful for some military activity to distract him from his dilemma. In situations like these, training took over. There was no room for sentiment.

A fine haze of dust still hung in the air. Butler squinted through it, into the avenue beyond. The fairy filters rigged over his eyes revealed that there were no warm bodies approaching. There was, however, a large trolley seemingly driving itself up to the front door. It was floating on a cushion of shimmering air. Doubtless Master Artemis would have understood the physics of this machine, all Butler cared about was whether or not he could disable it.

The trolley bumped into the first step.

'Automatic compensator, my foot,' snorted Root.

'Yeah, yeah, yeah,' replied Foaly. 'I'm working on it.'

'It's the ransom,' shouted Butler.

Artemis tried to quell the excitement rising in his chest. This was not the time to allow emotions to enter the equation.

'Check for booby traps.'

Butler stepped cautiously on to the porch. Shards of disintegrated gargoyle lay scattered beneath his feet.

'No hostiles. Seems to be self-propelled.'

The trolley lurched over the steps.

'I don't know who's driving this thing, but he could do with a few lessons.'