“Don’t,” she told him. “Kylee’s faster than you are. Stronger than you are. And if we kill you here, Flute will ensure that your body will never be found.” She asked, “Isn’t that right, Flute?”

A melodic tremolo of agreement vented from the camouflaged quetzal’s vents.

She saw the shifting, the slight change in posture that meant Cinque understood just how outmatched he was. Remarkable how convincing it could be to have a quetzal for a friend.

“You have everything you need,” Falise told him. “With your implants, you’ve sucked up every bit of information on Port Authority, Corporate Mine, and the promise of Southern Diggings. With what you have in your head, you can prepare a Suharto expedition capable of reoccupying one of the old research bases, or, for all anyone would care, pick your own spot based on the surveys.”

“Why don’t you let me think about it. I will give you my answer in the—”

“You will be on that last shuttle up. With me. If you are not, you have no more chance than I gave Chad or Bart.”

“I would like to know how you managed that.”

“Charlotte, of course. To her credit, she has ambitions.” She paused, adding, “All the way back to seducing you in that observation blister. And yes, she has told me how much you dread being stuck on Donovan for another four years.”

“Charlotte?” He actually sounded stunned.

Falise smiled in the darkness. “So that there are no misunderstandings, Charlotte will be moving into my quarters aboard Turalon. She’s proven her worth many times over. Enticed Chad into Clarice’s reach and helped subdue him that night behind the foundry. Charlotte was good enough to slip a bit of poison into Bart’s bottle of fifty-year-old Hennessy while he was out meeting with Clarice in an attempt to capitalize on my humiliation. Dek almost caught her sabotaging Soukup’s shuttle. The device was only supposed to keep the thing on the ground so that I could press my case with the man. Charlotte thinks she might have installed it incorrectly and some bump caused it to make contact at the wrong moment.”

Falise shrugged. “Damn near got me killed, but it worked out in the end. Like I say, the woman is worth everything that the Taglioni family will pay her.”

“You turned Charlotte?”

Falise shrugged. “Had to do something after I drained Kramer.” A beat. “You will accompany me on that shuttle tomorrow.”

He took a deep breath, chuckled. “Charlotte? I never would have guessed. And no. I was not looking forward to being trapped in this forsaken place for the foreseeable future. It would be what? A minimum of two years until the next ship? Then another two years of transition back to Solar System?”