“Nothing’s going to happen to me. I couldn’t be safer than I am here.” She made a face. “If I get nervous, I’ll take a blanket and sleep in Chaos’s stall. He might not be liking me right now, but he’d really hate anyone who tried to bother him tonight. And I’ll be just as safe once I’m on the track tomorrow with all of Masenak’s guests gawking at us. Masenak won’t want my concentration disturbed any more than necessary.”

“You have it all thought out. You’ve been planning strategy.” He smiled. “I told Korgan, all guts and endurance.” He turned and added lightly as he headed out the door, “But do me a favor and take good care of yourself? I can’t be bothered to be worried about you when I have to find somewhere to stash this gun.”

*  *  *

Midnight
41 Hours to Race Time

“Wake up.” Alisa was vaguely aware Korgan was standing there, framed in the lighter darkness of the cave opening. “I know you’re tired, but I need to talk to you.” He glanced at Margaret curled up in her sleeping bag and held out his hand. “Outside.”

She scrambled to her knees and let him pull her to her feet. “I’m not that tired.” It wasn’t true. After she and Margaret had worked with Juno on negotiating that ledge, they’d taken photos of the guards’ barracks before tackling the canyon where Masenak’s helicopters and warehouses and vehicles were kept.

Then they’d taken Juno down the ledge run leading to the pine forest again one more time before inching down it themselves, checking for any possible weakness. She and Margaret had gotten back to the cave just before dark, emailed the photos to Novak, Vogel, and Korgan, cleaned up, and climbed immediately into their sleeping bags. “You’re the one who should be tired. You were still working on those drone calculations when I went to sleep hours ago. Is there a problem with them?”

“No.” He had stopped as they reached the boulders overlooking Jubaldar Castle. “But there may be a problem about when we can deploy them. I got a call from Gilroy and the situation has changed.”

She stiffened. “What’s wrong?”

“Masenak has made a deal with Reardon. Regardless of which horse wins, Reardon will be taking Chaos and Sasha home with him the day after the race.”

“What? Why? That could make any attack twice as difficult,” she said, panicked. “We might not be ready.”