When the man did not stand right off, Zeerid pulled him roughly to his feet. Vrath groaned with pain.

“Easy there, marine. Pain meds now, yeah?”

He sounded doubtful.

“Walk,” Zeerid said.

“To where?”

Zeerid stuck the GH-22 in his back. “Move.”

Reluctantly, Vrath let Zeerid push him through the corridors of the ship. The man moved slowly, as if he knew Zeerid’s intent, and Zeerid had to push him along. A few turns, a few corridors, and Zeerid saw an air lock door. He steered Vrath to it, stopped before it.

“Turn around.”

Vrath did. His face was blotchy, but whether from the beating or from fear Zeerid could not tell.

“This is about your daughter, yeah? Well, I already told my people, Korr. They already know.”

Zeerid heard the high pitch of a lie in Vrath’s tone. “A lie. You already told me you didn’t. You said, ‘Not yet.’ ”

He moved Vrath out of the way with the blaster and activated the internal doors on the air lock. They unsealed and slid open with a hiss. A red light set into the ceiling lit up and began to spin.

Zeerid showed him the blaster. “You want this?” He nodded at the air lock. “Or that?”

Vrath looked at the weapon, the air lock, swallowed hard.

“It doesn’t have to go this way, Korr. I won’t tell anyone about you or your family. You can even keep the ship.”

“I can’t take that chance.”

Vrath tried to smile, but it looked like a death grimace. “Come on, Korr. If I say I won’t talk, I won’t talk. I’m nothing if not a man of my word.”

Zeerid thought of the promise he’d made to Nat, that he’d take no unnecessary chances. “Yeah. Me, too.”

Desperation crept into Vrath’s voice. He shifted on his feet. “You’ll have to bear this, Korr. This will make you a murderer. Kill a man with his own weapon. You want that weight?”

Zeerid knew what he was doing. Or at least he thought so. “I can carry it. And I don’t need a lecture about murder from a skulker.”

Fear made Vrath’s eyes water. “That was war, Korr. Think about it. Think hard.”

“I have. Pick, or I pick for you. Just another number, right?”

Vrath stared into Zeerid’s face. Maybe he saw the blankness, the resolve. “To hell with you, Korr. To hell with you.”

Zeerid pushed him into the air lock.

“I could have killed her, Korr. Both of them. Back at the park on Vulta. You know I could have. But I didn’t.”

“No,” Zeerid said. “You didn’t.”

He activated the seal and the door started to close.

“I wish I had killed them now! I wish I had!”