“If she wanted me as a prisoner, I’d already be one,” Tennal said. “And she doesn’t have any other way to control me. She can’t blackmail me: my family is out of her reach, and you’ll be gone soon.”

“She couldn’t blackmail you with me,” Surit said absently.

There was a pause neither of them had intended.

“No,” Tennal said. “Of course not.”

Surit didn’t have the extra space in his thoughts to deal with his complicated feelings about Tennal. He looked down at the wristband.

“Given all our outlandish theories, I’m inclined to get the ex-governor out of here,” Tennal said abruptly. “And after that, you and the rest of Retrieval Two. I don’t think it’s going to be safe to be on this station for much longer.”

“And you,” Surit said.

“I’ve still got to find a way to get through the bloody link,” Tennal said. “But you and the rest of them can just hop back to Cavalry territory, can’t you? If you’re quick and careful and don’t care about a small chance of being arrested or shot.”

Surit had absolutely no intention of leaving Archer Link Station before Tennal escaped. He also recognized this was going to cause an argument. “I can start looking into transfers for our unit.”

“And Birimi?” Tennal said.

“I’ll find a transport we can slip them onto,” Surit said. “We’ll get found out, but they should be well on their way to Orshan Central by then.”

“Fantastic,” Tennal said. He fixed his collar, checked his Archer tabs in the mirror, and opened the door. “Do you want a written order? Might cover you when the shit hits the fan.”

Surit straightened. “I’ve never needed an order,” he said stiffly, “to do the right thing.”

When Tennal met his eyes, Surit saw a brief glint of that heat he’d seen before. “I know,” Tennal said, “it’s infuriating.” And he left.

It took Surit two further days to painstakingly line up all the pieces.

The first domino to fall was the ex-governor’s escape. Surit’s hunch had been right: it was easy enough to quietly commandeer a single transport seat under Captain Halkana’s authority, no questions asked. Tennal could have done it for himself, if he didn’t mind being caught by the other divisions the moment he disembarked.

But something made Surit nervous. Not just around Birimi’s escape, although that was part of it. The station felt tenser.

He told himself it was his guilty conscience. He still went to witness the shuttle transfer, as if he could make it go smoothly by watching.