“Yeah,” he said through an exhale. “Just because Falise is my sister, don’t expect any teary-eyed swelling of love and affection upon our reunion.” He glanced around the table. “You all know that I sent Dan Wirth back to Solar System with a Taglioni safe conduct. Sort of used him like a human time bomb.” He turned his attention back to Allison. “My honest estimation? I figured he had about a ten percent survival chance when he was thrown into the middle of Board politics. That, most likely, Dan wouldn’t be up to the game, that they’d eat him alive.”

Allison gave him a deadly smile. “I like those odds. But how does some Boardmember killing Dan lead us to your sister?”

Oh, yes. Always smart. That was Allison. “I expected Fabio and Miko—they wield the power in the family—to send a courier. One of the trusted family retainers. Or maybe an expendable cousin from somewhere down the line. Said courier would arrive with instructions, platitudes, and reassurances, and all the while, he or she would be assembling all the information he or she could on my activities.”

Dek chuckled in appreciation. “My compliments to Miko and my father. That they chose Falise? Worse, that they ordered her to Donovan? They just upped the game.”

“How?” Step Allenovich asked. The big botanist, hunter, and security second to Talina had leaned back, a chamois-clad leather knee keeping his chair balanced on the back two legs. Step might have been a drinker, gambler, and womanizer, but he was bush-wise and as hard-bitten as any Wild One.

“Given what Dek’s told me, she’s the Taglioni master of dirty tricks, duplicity, and double-dealing,” Talina said, then glanced at Dek. “But it’s been almost what? Fourteen years since you’ve seen her? That’s a long time. Maybe she’s not the woman you remember.”

Dek looked around the table, meeting their eyes, one by one. “Quetzals can change their colors, my sister cannot. She’s what they made her to be: a deadly instrument meant to infiltrate, evaluate, and either seduce, coerce, or destroy. She took to it with glee.”

“What about the others?” Yvette asked, tapping a paper on the table that had the list. “Like this Cinque Suharto. You know him?”

“Met him a time or two in passing. He was younger. What does he call himself on the manifest?”

Shig told him, “It says he’s a cargo logistics security specialist.”

Dek fingered his scar and nodded. “Okay, means he specializes in making supply chains work. Things like ensuring the flow of raw materials from the miners on the ground up through refinery, manufacturing, warehousing, and ensuring the distribution of end product. He’s the guy they send to ensure things operate smoothly. He’ll be an intimidator. But just as smart as he is dangerous.”

“And Chad Grunnel?” Yvette asked. “They call him a ‘Resources Procurement Specialist.’”