Sasha suddenly jerked upright, fully awake. “He called and told you to come here? He shouldn’t have done that. This is my fault.” She was glancing wildly around the stable. “What if Masenak comes back? What if they catch you? You have to leave right away.”

“No, I don’t. I have time. Gilroy is keeping an eye out for Masenak or Reardon, but I doubt if either one of them is going to be checking up on you. From what you said, they treated you like a piece of trash.”

“You should still go. How did you get in here?”

“You forgot how good I am with locks. Jubaldar’s security system looks like it was created by Neanderthals compared with Korgan’s XV series. All I had to worry about was dodging the guards, and Gilroy helped with that.” She paused. “I could get you out of here tonight, Sasha. Let me do it.”

She shook her head. “And have Masenak and Reardon hunting you down along with me? Have them go through the stables with shotguns and shoot all the horses and Gilroy and any of the stable boys who got in their way? I won’t do that, Alisa. You’re the one who has to go.”

“I didn’t think I had a chance. I’ll go.” She reached for her backpack. “After I put some salve on those bruises, and I brought some painkiller sedatives to make sure you’ll have a decent night. Sit up.”

Sasha sat up while Alisa gave her the pill and then carefully removed the torn shirt and started working on her back. “Hurry.”

“As quickly as I can.” Alisa’s voice was suddenly thick. “These bruises…Shit, he was a monster.”

“Yes, he hurt Nightshade and she didn’t even know why. I told him he should be angry with me because I was the one who wanted to hurt him.” She was barely feeling the pain of what Alisa was doing because she was so intent on making her understand. “And I do, Alisa. The one thing I was so angry about was that I didn’t know how to kill him. Remember when I asked you to show me how to do karate and you said that wasn’t the time? It’s the time now, Alisa. I have to make all the pain stop because I can’t go on like this. I can’t watch it any longer.”

“But we’re so close, Sasha. Just a little longer. We’ll make this happen.”

Sasha wasn’t getting through to her. “I know you will. But I can’t wait for you or Korgan or Margaret to stop them. It might not be in time. They might do something else horrible like what they did to Nightshade. I’m here. I have to do it.” She paused. “I have to do it now.”