Firiiki in front, Asana in the rear, Kalico walked out into the night. Two other armed marines stepped in from either side, boxing her.

“Relax, people,” Kalico told them. “I’m hardly a dangerous fugitive. Think it through: It’s PA. In the middle of the night. Where am I going to go?”

“Order’s, ma’am,” Firiiki told her in that formal tone that firmly set a prisoner in his or her place.

“So, Private Firiiki, and the rest of you, too. Did nothing that Abu Sassi taught you about Donovan sink in? This place is not about mindlessly following orders. It’s about thinking, using your heads. Now, why don’t you tell me where we’re going in the middle of the night?”

All she got in return was silence.

For the first time, Kalico felt that spear of unease. Whatever this was about, it sure as hell wasn’t according to the rules.

They reached the main avenue, turned south. A few more of the streetlights were working, repaired with replacement bulbs taken from the supplies Turalon had sent down.

“Assuming,” Kalico said evenly, “that this isn’t a last-minute offer by the IG to make an apology for a false arrest, you are both aware that you will be witnesses. If what you’re doing isn’t according to the regulations, you will be held as accomplices under Corporate law.”

In the half-light cast by the streetlamps, she could see still more wary glances pass between her captors.

“Ah, I thought so.” Kalico crossed her arms, the dead feeling in her gut growing. Looking up, she wished she could see the stars.

To her surprise, however, they turned onto the beaten avenue that led to the shuttle field. Now they were back in darkness, broken only here and there by a pool of light where the streetlamps still worked—and several of them were flickering on their last legs.

“Apparently you are working on a flawed assumption,” she told them. “The gates are closed. Locked. And as to what’s out there in the dark? Sure that’s really smart? Especially when Whitey and at least one of his lineage are prowling around?”

One thing was sure: They kept the lights working at the gate as well as the other side of the fence to ensure that nothing could sneak up on the guards. To Kalico’s surprise, Wejee stood to one side, looking very unhappy. In addition, she could see that he’d been disarmed of his rifle. Another marine, Huac Than, rifle at port arms, waited in full armor, helmet clipped to his belt. And there, of course, stood Colonel Creamer.

Kalico strode up to the man, cocked her head, looking him up and down where he stood in his formal dress blues. “You look fit for a parade. Not the appropriate dress for wandering around PA at night, Colonel.”