Her hands automatically went to the latch on the door as she said, “Don’t look at you? How could I? Where the hell are you, Gilroy?”

“One stall back on your left.”

She turned to face the stall, but he was only another dark shadow in the dimness of the entire area. “No guards here in this stable. Only two in the courtyard outside that leads to the main house.” She was whispering like him until she realized what she was doing. “No audio or cameras,” she said in a normal tone. “The main stable has all those bells and whistles, but this is a special add-on facility used by Reardon when he brings his horses here for the races. Davidow took it over for Chaos when he realized how antisocial he could be.”

“And not only with other horses.” He was coming forward and paused at the door of the stall. “I was afraid I was going to have to step in if he ran you down getting to Masenak.”

“That would have been a mistake. Chaos is very quick. He could have taken down both of you. I’ve seen him—” She inhaled sharply as she got a good look at him. “You look terrible.”

“I do not,” he said with mock indignation. “I look authentic Berber. Everyone at the village gave me their seal of approval. I think I even look more Berber than Naleek, the man they sent along with me to run interference with any other Berbers from the same village.” He smiled, revealing teeth that were a little stained with a broken incisor in the front. His skin was a dark bronze; his hair was mussed and ended just above his shoulders. The blue eyes were now covered by dark-brown contacts, in a face that was weather-roughened and made him appear older. He was dressed in loose black cotton trousers, black leather boots, and a beige shirt like most of the other stable hands she’d seen since she’d arrived here.

“And beggars can’t be choosers, Sasha. The only other people standing in line for this job were Korgan and Alisa.”

“Alisa.” She was jarred out of her shock and reached out to grab his arm. “How is she? Masenak said she was in some hospital in Switzerland, but that’s all he’d tell me.”

“She’s alive and well,” he said gently. “She had a rough time for a couple of days but she’s on the mend and not far from here.”

“She has to stay away. He’s so angry with her, and that will only make the punishment worse if thinks he can use her against me…and Chaos.”

“Korgan isn’t going to let her get close to you if he can help it. That’s double trouble as far as he’s concerned. That’s why I’m here.”