The view had shifted to the waters still spreading inland, hundreds of kilometres from the shores of the Ka, and sweeping away towns and villages. The waves looked as if they might easily rise to a hundred metres in height.

I dont believe you. Thats impossible. Someone would have known.

He laughed, and looked back over at her. I cant make up my mind if youre wilfully blind or just stupid, so let me explain it so you can understand: the Freehold has had agents working on this for years. Dont get me wrong: it took a hell of a lot of planning to circumvent the security networks and get the right people into the right positions, but its not impossible. Or are you really going to deny the evidence of your own eyes?

She felt a sharp stabbing pain in her palms, and realized she had been digging her fingernails into them. Why? she asked, her voice sounding harsh to her own ears.

The man she had known as Karl Petrova, but who in reality was some stranger named Tarrant, looked at her as if she had asked the dumbest question in the world. Because it was necessary, he said.

You didnt do this for me, she protested. She stared again at the projection, and saw bodies caught in an eddy. Nothing could be worse than thinking that . . . this could have had any connection with me.

His expression grew hard. Your hands are just as dirty as mine, Gabrielle. After all, you were happy to kill Thijs and the rest in cold blood.

Yes, but they . . . The words choked off in her throat.

Deserved it? he laughed. Of course they did.

But all those people in Dios, all those pilgrims . . .

. . . are the same people, said Tarrant, who helped eject the Freehold from Redstone. The Freehold settled this world long before the Demarchists or anyone else turned up. Now, it seems, the tables are turned once again.

So what do you need me for, if all you wanted to do was destroy the Demarchy?

Karl laughed again. Destroying the Demarchy was just a way of distracting the Accord long enough for me to get you away from there and make it look as if youre dead.

She suddenly felt a depth and intensity of loathing towards this man this stranger that she had previously reserved only for Thijs. You really think I could still love you after . . . after . . .

Dont be a child, he snapped, pulling himself out of his couch, his expression coldly devoid of emotion. Youre an asset, nothing more.

Gabrielle stared at him, mute, then wrapped her arms around herself as if suddenly cold. An asset, nothing more?

No. She shook her head. Take me back. I want to go home.

Tarrant snorted with derision. Port Gabriel doesnt exist any more.

She forced back the tears she could feel welling up. She was determined not to lose control in front of him.