“Not for the two of you,” announced Jeremy. “And her presence here is essential anyway.” He gestured politely to the remaining chair at the table. “Sit, Captain Zilwicki. There is news—and a change in plans.”

That announcement drove all other thoughts out of Anton’s mind. He slid into the chair and leaned over the table, planting his hands on the edge. “What news?” His enormous shoulders, hunched with apprehension, made his square and blocky head look like a boulder perched atop a small mountain.

Finally, Jeremy’s grin went away, replaced by a much kindlier smile. “Good news, Captain. For now, at least. Your daughter has escaped her captors.”

Anton had been holding his breath. Now, he let it out in a rush.

“Where is she?” he demanded, half-rising. He had to restrain himself from reaching across the table and shaking the answer from Jeremy. Fortunately, years of habit as an intelligence officer did not completely desert him. His was the one trade which, along with philosophers, always understood the precedence of epistemology.

So, after a moment, Anton lowered himself slowly back into the chair. “How do you know?” he demanded.

Still smiling, Jeremy shook his head. “I’ll not give you an answer to that question, Captain. Not that I don’t trust you, of course.” The impish grin made its reappearance. “Heavens, no! But after this is all over, I’m afraid you might remember that you are an officer in Her Majesty’s Royal Manticoran Navy and feel compelled to strike a blow on your Queen’s behalf.”

Jeremy was not the first person who had underestimated the intelligence hidden beneath the Gryphon highlander’s thick-headed appearance. It did not take Anton more than five seconds to make the connections.

“I was right,” he stated flatly. He glanced at Cathy. “You told him our conversation?”

She nodded. Now it was Anton’s turn to bestow a grin on Jeremy. And if his grin could hardly be called impish, it had something of the same devilish humor in it.

“It was a rogue Peep operation. And you’ve been in touch with the Peeps. The ones who aren’t pleased with the rogue.”

Jeremy started. Something in the expression on his face led Anton immediately to a further conclusion.

“No,” he rumbled. “I’ve got it backwards. The operation was outside of normal channels, but it was no rogue who ordered it.” His grin was now utterly humorless. A murderous grin, in truth. “It was Durkheim, wasn’t it? That stinking pig. And the ones you have contact with are the real rogues.”

There was no expression at all on Jeremy’s face. His pale gray eyes, staring at Anton, were as flat as iron plates. Slowly, he swiveled his head and looked at Cathy.

“Tell me again,” he rasped.

“You’re too fucking smart for your own good,” she snickered. She beamed upon Anton. “He’s such a clever little man. But he always has to poke the wild animals, and sometimes he forgets to use a long enough stick.” Her smile was very approving. Very warm, in fact. “Congratulations, Anton. It’s nice to see him get bitten for a change.”

“The reminder was good enough,” rasped Jeremy. “I don’t need the whole song and dance.”

“Yes, you do,” retorted Cathy forcefully.

Jeremy ignored her. He was back to staring at Anton with those flat, flat eyes. Suddenly, Anton was reminded that Jeremy X, whatever impish exterior he chose to project, was also one of the galaxy’s deadliest men.

For a moment, he began to utter some sort of reassurance. But then, moved by his innate stubbornness and his own cold fury, he bit back the words and simply returned the stare with one of his own. Which, if it was not exactly ruthless, also indicated that he was not a man who intimidated easily, if at all.

Anton heard Cathy suck in a breath. In his peripheral vision, he saw Robert Tye’s sudden stillness. But his eyes never left Jeremy’s.

And then, after perhaps three seconds, the moment passed. Depth seemed to return to Jeremy’s gaze, and the little man leaned back in his chair.

“Ah, but you wouldn’t, Captain. Would you, now? It’s that highland sense of honor moves you. You’d keep the knowledge that there was an opposition amongst the Peeps to yourself, and not pass it on to your superiors.”

Anton snorted. “We’ve known for years that there was disaffection among the Havenites.”

Jeremy’s gaze didn’t waver. After a moment, Anton looked away. “But, yeah, this is the first time there’s ever been any concrete indication that it extends into SS. And the first time—given the relatively small size of the Peep contingent here—that we could probably pinpoint the individuals.”

He drew in a deep breath, swelling his chest and squaring his shoulders. Then: “From the highlands, as you say.”

“A life for a life, Captain,” said Jeremy softly.

Anton understood the obscure reference at once. For some reason, that made him feel oddly warm-hearted toward the man across the table from him. A concrete sort of fellow. Much like himself, whatever other differences separated them.

“Yes,” he murmured. “The daughter for the mother, and I’ll take the knowledge to the grave.”

Jeremy nodded solemnly. “Good enough.” And now he was back to being the imp. “And good it is, boyo! Because it’ll be those selfsame wretched rotten Peeps who’ll get your daughter. Not you or me.”

Anton goggled him.

Imp. “Oh, yes—for a certainty. We’ve other fish to fry.”

Goggled him.

Damned imp.“But it’s as plain as the nose on your face, man! They can get close to her, through the manhunt. Girlhunt, I should say. We can’t.”

Anton was clenching his fists. “Then what—”

Jeremy shook his head. “And to think he was so shrewd not a moment ago. Think it through, Captain. The rotten wretched Peeps—Peep, I should say—can get the girl. But that’s not to say he can get her out.”

Again, it didn’t take Anton more than a few seconds to make all the connections. He turned his head and gazed at Cathy.

“And that’s why you’re here. To distract them, while”—a stubby forefinger shot out from his fist, pointing at Jeremy—“he settles his accounts.”

“Long overdue accounts,” murmured Jeremy. The flat, flat eyes were back.

Anton leaned back in his chair, pressing himself against the table with the heels of his hands. Slowly, the fists opened.

“That’ll work,” he announced. “If the Peep’s good enough, at least.”

Jeremy shrugged. “Don’t imagine he’s really all that good. But he doesn’t have to be, now does he, Captain? Just determined enough.”

Helen

Not for the first time, Helen bitterly regretted the loss of her watch. She had no idea how long it took her and her two companions to finally make their way into Berry’s “special place.” Hours, for a certainty—manyhours. Just as Berry had feared, making the upward climb—and, even more so, the later descent—had been extremely difficult. Berry, for all that she had tried heroically, had simply been too injured and feeble to make it on her own. And her brother, for all his own valiant efforts, too small and weak to be of much assistance. So, for all practical purposes, Helen had been forced to make what would have been an arduous enough trip for herself burdened by the weight of another strapped to her back.

By the time they finally got to their destination, she was more exhausted than she had ever been in her life. If it hadn’t been for the years she had spent in Master Tye’s rigorous training, she knew she would never have made it at all.

Vaguely, with fatigue-induced lightheadedness, she tried to examine her surroundings. But it was almost impossible to see anything. The two small lanterns they had taken with them from the vagabonds’ lean-to were too feeble to provide much illumination.