“Neither was you getting shot.” He shrugged. “If I can find a way of rescuing the horses, I figure I’ll be on my way toward making recompense. The only thing I ask is that you let me set up the timing so that I don’t get those horses killed. I don’t believe either one of you would ever forgive me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re always superb with that damn timing. You’ve been torturing yourself about that stupid wound since it happened. It’s boring, I wish you’d forget about it.”

“Difficult to do.”

“You’ve done difficult things before. As far as I’m concerned, the slates are clean and your help with the horses deserves my gratitude. I don’t like admitting that any more than you do. So shut up about it.” She got to her feet. “I’m going to talk to Margaret and go over the maps again. If we have to move those horses at the last minute, we’ll have to take them somewhere very close to Jubaldar. I think I remember a canyon that we ran across this morning if we can find an access…”

*  *  *

Jubaldar Racetrack

“Davidow tells me Chaos hasn’t thrown you today,” Masenak said as he strolled across the track toward Sasha. “Very good.” His gaze ran over her. “And you look very professional. Are you turning over a new leaf?”

“I managed to stay on his back so far today. That doesn’t mean I’ll be lucky in the next hour or two. And I look clean and what you call professional because I haven’t been in the dirt yet.” She paused and then said urgently, “Cancel this race. Give me another two or three weeks to work on Chaos and I’ll have him ready to race…and win. I can’t guarantee what he’ll do right now.”

“You’ll guarantee what I want. And what I want is that you’ll get on Chaos and show Reardon the fastest horse he’s ever seen.” He indicated the computer he was carrying. “Five minutes and I’ll make the call. I’ve promised him a preview of what’s going to happen when he’s on this track for the race.”

“That’s not very smart. If I get Chaos around the track, Reardon might back out of his bet when he sees his speed. Just put off the race and I’ll—”