So level-voiced, but it was a false pragmatism. The soldier was no doubt worried that the wheels were falling off again—that just as he had two years ago, he was going to have to drag Matthias into his fighting boots once more.

“Do not kill him,” Matthias heard himself repeat. “That’s an order.”

“I know, so you can do it. He’s for you. You have to take him.”

For a moment, Matthias felt an inescapable, tantalizing draw . . . “No,” he blurted, shaking hmself. “No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you must—”

“Just follow the fucking order without commentary or I’ll find someone else who will.”

With a curse, he hung up, sent a signal back to Isaac and then tried to find some solid internal ground to stand on. Shit, all of sudden, he felt like he had two different voices in his head and not only were they pulling him in opposite directions, neither was his own.

Fortunately, the return transmission from Rothe cut into the struggle.

“Matthias,” came that old, familiar voice.

“Isaac. How are you.”

“Where? When?”

“Always so to the point.” Matthias pushed his knee into the bottom of the steering wheel to keep the sedan on the road while he massaged the pain in his left pec. “I’m sending someone for you. So you stay put.”

“Unacceptable. I can’t be picked up here.”

“Dictating terms? I don’t think so.”

“Grier Childe is not going to be involved in this. I’ll turn myself in at midnight tomorrow in a public place.”

“And now you want to tell me when? Fuck you, Rothe. If you want her to stay out of it, you’ll do what I tell you to. Or do you think I can’t get past that fancy security system of hers on any night of my choosing?” Silence. “Surprised that I know about the damn thing? Well, there are other tricks to that house, Isaac. I wonder how many of them you know about.”

See, this was good. The back and forth was clearing out some of that fuzzy, foggy, waffling shit—and it reminded him of the reason behind Daniel Childe’s death: good ol’ Albie’s flapping gums.

A shot of adrenaline woke him up even further as he wondered just what kind of plans Isaac and the retired captain might have been hatching while he was out cold at the side of the road.