Almost at once she felt a powerful shock spasming through her body, an electric jolt that set her nerve endings on fire. Something crackled faintly just in front of her, staining the air itself a barely perceptible shade of blue.

The pain receded and she found she was caught in a shaped-field bubble. She had unwittingly run straight over a set of field-generators fixed to the floor of the walkway.

Dakota tried to stand up, but the ensuing jolt of pain was so enormous, that it forced her back on to her knees.

She waited, with a heavy, cold feeling in her gut, as Moss knelt down beside her. The shaped fields then snapped off at almost the same moment she felt her filmsuit finally drain itself back inside her body. Moss reached out and touched her shoulder. She jerked away as she felt a stinging sensation there.

‘Get it over with,’ Dakota seethed. ‘If you’re going to kill me, then kill me. Just don’t stand around gloating.’

‘Kill you?’ Moss affected confusion. ‘Always that desire for death. Why would I kill you?’ He gave her a lopsided grin. ‘Tell me, was I right? Did Trader send you here specially to keep me from chasing him?’

‘What makes you think that?’

‘I can’t think of any other reason you would have bothered to come here. The last time we met, I gave you my word that I wouldn’t destroy Ocean’s Deep, and in return you gave me Trader. That should have been the last time we ever saw each other – and yet here you are.’

‘I already told you why, Hugh. I’m not going to repeat myself

Moss rocked back on his heels, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. Dakota now had a good view of the long knife he gripped casually in one hand, poised close enough to slash across her exposed throat.

‘Would you say I’m a man of my word, Miss Merrick?’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘Let me explain, then. I once gave you my word over Ocean’s Deep. Did I honour our deal?’

‘Yes,’ Dakota admitted, forcing the word out.

‘Then please allow me another question. Do you think Trader’s the type to honour his promises?’

Dakota ground her teeth. If she made any move, he could cut her throat in an instant. ‘No . . . no, I don’t.’

‘Then let me suggest a deal of my own, one we can both walk away from alive and feeling satisfied.’

She stared at him with an expression like a trapped animal and said nothing.

‘Whatever Trader has told you,’ he continued regardless, ‘he will betray you. That’s his nature. So when that time comes, you should really try and have some kind of advantage over him. Now, you gave me the resources I needed to track his ship anywhere within our galaxy.’

She licked her lips. ‘Go on.’