"Lisa, I know this was all my fault!  I was going to make it right, I swear!"

Behind her mask, Miles thought Madame Sato was sputtering, almost beyond words.  He could see her point.  She snarled, "Make it right?  Make it worse!"

Raven put in, "You know, upsetting and stressing a new revive is not good for their immune system.  Or any other system."

Some milder exercise than towering rage was indicated, certainly.  Strokes were another real possibility in the more fragile revives, Miles dimly recalled.  Interested as he was in what more might be squeezed out of Leiber, it was time to intervene.

"Well, his plan is certainly thwarted now," Miles soothed her.  "We'll have to see if we can't come up with something rather better."  He jumped up and dragged Raven's chair around.  "Please, Madame Sato, do sit down.  I should be extremely glad of your input, at this point."

Out of breath, Madame Sato sank into the seat, her brown eyes still glaring at Leiber over the top of her filtering mask.  Leiber, too, sank down, or maybe his knees gave way.

Madame Sato rubbed her furrowed forehead, a gesture that made Raven frown medically.  Her voice drooped in exhaustion along with her body.  "If the corps have grown so corrupt and above the law that they can get away not just with theft, but with murder, what hope is there left for Kibou?"

"Escape?" Leiber offered.

Her eyes shot sparks of scorn, over her mask.  "Leaving my children to be chewed up in this maw?"  She drew breath.  "Everyone's children?"

Miles said mildly, "NewEgypt hasn't got away with murder yet.  In fact, their very secrecy suggests they're still vulnerable on that point.  A big enough stink bomb, suitably aimed, might still land on the target."

Madame Sato shook her head.  Miles wasn't sure if her spasm of despair was the result of post-revival exhaustion, perfectly understandable under the circumstances, or of an acquaintance with Kibou-daini's troubles much deeper than his own.  Raven's glower at him suggested the former, though.

"Roic," he said over his shoulder, "I want you to run a fast-penta interrogation on both those goons we have downstairs.  Focus on the murders, but get as much else as you can, especially about their bosses.  Shoot the recordings over to the consulate, secured link."

"Will such confessions be admissible to the local courts?"

"Mm, I need to think about that.  The fact that we're not the local authorities may put a wrinkle in it.  Vorlynkin can ask the consulate lawyer."  Miles wondered what that as-yet-unmet woman was making of the recent stream of bizarre legal questions from her client.  Well, it was doubtless time she earned her retainer.  "In any case, I want to secure the evidence for my own purposes.  Birds in the hand and all that."

"Do we still want to release them, after?  If they're murderers?"