“We’re being rescued.”

Jay glanced around. The sirens had fallen silent. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“Truly?”

“Yes!”

“How’d you get the gun?”

“Knocked out a guard.”

“Oh, good.”

Kelly tapped his temple. “With this.”

Jay sighed. “I could say something. You know how to use a gun?”

“Vaguely.”

“Well, point it vaguely in the direction vaguely away from me. So what’s the plan?”

“We get out of here. Keep moving until they find us.

“Moving is going to make us harder to find.”

“Harder for Blaise too.”

The mention of the sociopathic young man galvanized Jay into action. “It’s a wonderful plan. I’m in love with this plan.” Jay moved to the door of the bedroom. “Hasti, we’re blowing this scene.”

She emerged with Illyana over her shoulder. “Does that mean we’re leaving?”

Jay cocked a thumb over his shoulder. “Rambo here seems to think so. Says the marines have landed.”

“Are they part of the Network?” Hastet asked.

“No, they’re… never mind.”

“It’s clear,” Kelly called softly from the door.

They slipped into the corridor.

The plan was simple. Taj and the bulk of the force were designated to take out the defense center and open the way for a quick rescue by ships of House Ilkazam. Zabb and Tisianne, with Traveler impersonating Durg, would go directly to the office of the Raiyis and seize Blaise. So far they were doing great. They were into the House proper, and no one had spared them so much as a glance. Bat’tam was leading the way to the Raiyis’s office.

And then Durg vanished.

Mark Meadows stood blinking owlishly in the center of the corridor. Now they were getting looks. The four passersby in the hall went down to the combined assault of twenty-eight minds.

“Oh, bummer, man,” Mark moaned. “I short-sleeved Traveler so he couldn’t, like, lock me in a closet or something. Guess I got a little short.” The tall ace had pulled out another vial of the blue-and-silver powder.

“No good,” Zabb said. “One of them got off the alarm. Our little ruse is over.”

Mark dropped the vial back into his pouch and fished out Moonchild. Downed the powder, and the Korean ace appeared.

“Lovely,” Zabb said. “But does she do anything other than look attractive?” Moonchild stepped into a shadow and vanished. “Useful.”

“Well, troops,” Taj sang out. “To the fight. Pity, I had discovered in myself a great desire to live long enough to become an Ajayiz’et.” He shook his head and sighed.

“House Tandeh’s on an island, isn’t it? I want to drown them like rats.” Blaise unclasped his hands from behind his back. Turned back to face the holoscreen. “There’s got to be a way to do that. Make a tidal wave.” He waved a hand vaguely. “Do something.”

Durg, five hundred miles out from House Vayawand, his heart and mind heavy with the knowledge of the alliance arrayed against them, forced his mind to work, his mouth to speak. “Perhaps, my lord, such wholesale destruction is not warranted.”

“They betrayed me, Durg. They’re going to pay for it.”

“Your scorched-earth policy backlashed against us in Alaa. Besides, House Tandeh is a wealthy one. Conquest of a mud flat is not in your best interests.’

“I’m rich. I don’t care.”

Durg took a grip on his fast-vanishing patience. “Others will, however.”

“And they don’t mean shit. I’m all that matters. I’m the man who conquered Takis.”

“A slight exaggeration.” He had gone too far. Durg could see it in the whitening of Blaise’s nostrils. He knew he would be returning home to pain.

Someone entered the room out of holo range. Blaise looked to his left. Durg heard a voice reporting, “My lord, intruders have penetrated the House. Troops are assaulting defense central.”

Blaise whirled back to face the holoscreen. His jaw was working. “Durg, get your ass back here now. Kick it.”

So the monster had not forgotten that Durg was essential to his security. He hadn’t lost sight of that – yet. Durg began to bow, only to find himself addressing an empty stage. Blaise had cut him off.

Durg issued a command to the Zal’hma at’ Irg captain, and the ship leapt ahead. How much longer could he control his creation? Prince Tisianne and Durg’s farmer master, Raiyis Zabb, had proved cleverer than expected, Blaise more erratic. From the jaws of victory we snatched defeat. An Earth expression he’d heard from a student dining in the Cosmic Pumpkin.

An edge of pain etched its way into his psyche. Memories of a man who had treated him with the most kindness Durg had ever met in his life. A woman who had defeated him, returned his life, and given him respect.

“Looks like the cavalry is riding toward Little Bighorn,” Jay remarked as the throbbing howl of an alarm sounded and armed troops double-timed through the corridors. “So what now, General?”

Kelly had been swinging his head back and forth like an agitated horse. Now he froze, his eyes going blank. “This way,” he said, snapping out of it.

One good thing. Nobody paid the slightest bit of attention to them as they rushed through the House. Then it struck Jay. They were going back to their suite.

“Oh, gosh, this was pleasant, wasn’t it, honey? Just a little late-night jog around the House.”

“Don’t be such a smartass.” The human word dropped like a turd. Jay had been teaching Hastet English – it was a real shame she was such a good student.

“They’re meeting us there,” Kelly said tersely.

Illyana woke up and began making a fanny little sound halfway between a cry and a laugh. The trio raced back through the door of the suite. Tisianne and Bat’tam were waiting.

Tis flew to Hastet. She laid the baby in Tisianne’s arms. Illyana’s tiny fist batted her mother firmly on the chin, and she gurgled. Kelly was in Bat’tam’s arms being affectionately patted. Since hugs seemed indicated all around, Jay hugged Hastet. When he lifted his head, Kelly and Tisianne were twined in an embrace with the baby between them.

“That kid is going to be so disturbed,” Jay said to Hastet. To the others. “Hate to interrupt this love fest, but did you have some idea about how you’re going to get us out of here?”

They had managed to take out the main power line feeding electricity from Vaya to the House. Then the backup generators had kicked in, filling the rooms and corridors with a sickly red emergency light. Taj, Zabb, Moonchild, and the Ilkazam troops were pinned down at the intersection of three corridors. A sharp ninety-degree turn, and ten meters down the left hall, was the last remaining entrance into the basement complex and the defense center. The Vayawand troops had blown the other two stairways and the six elevators, forcing the attackers to run down a bare corridor and then descend a staircase under withering fire from the defending Morakh soldiers.

Taj fed a grenade into his launcher and sent it down the hall. It armed in time to blow a large hole out of the right wall, and destroyed a priceless tapestry. Zabb cocked an eyebrow at the older man.

“Feel better?”

“A little. They burned my Rameer seascape when they invaded Ilkazam.”

Baz called from the rear of the platoon. “My ass is becoming decidedly chilly as I wait for the arrival of the enveloping troops.”

“Cover it, Baz,” Zabb said cheerfully.

“I haven’t anything or anyone to hand, sir.”

Taj looked at Zabb. “You shouldn’t be wasting time with us. Better that you locate Blaise and leave us to fight. Take Blaise, and they may see us as liberators. Decide to stop shooting at us.”

Baz sang out from the rear, “Just thought I’d mention… a blanket of withering firepower is about to descend upon us.”

“The Doctor is wandering without defense. Since I will not take life, it is best that I find and guard her,” Moonchild offered.