‘Come on,’ Krane said, gesturing with his axe. ‘Lord Savomir’s chambers are in this direction.’ He set off at a jog – quick enough to eat up the ground, but not a headlong charge. DeShelle followed, trying to watch everything around them as the deep shadows cast by The Wolf’s power field jerked around in time with Krane’s strides. She felt horrendously claustrophobic, which wasn’t an experience she’d ever had before, because the walls on either side of her could well be no protection from the enemy they thought they might be hunting. If they were dealing with a witch who could walk through walls, could the intruder also see through walls? Were they being stalked by a psyker who could monitor them and pick a moment to strike? Or would their quarry be coming through blind – if, indeed, their speculation about the murderer was at all accurate? Could it in fact be some species of xenos that was hunting Navigators, and not a human mutant at all?

Krane came to a T-junction and cut left, then came to an abrupt halt. ‘You! Stop!’

DeShelle reached the junction a moment later and swung to face right, sweeping her laspistol across the gloom there just in case it should disgorge a threat. The sound of running feet on thick carpet pulled her attention around, and a moment later she jerked involuntarily as Krane’s bolt pistol roared and the walls were lit up for a moment by the bolt’s propellant flame.

DeShelle had heard a bolt weapon discharged in an enclosed space before, but the sheer force of the noise still nearly buckled her knees. There was a crash from further down the corridor, and as she peered past Krane’s imposing frame she saw a slight figure disappearing around the next corner, at the furthest reaches of the illumination cast by The Wolf. Half a yard away from where the figure had just vanished was a large hole in the wall, beyond which further darkness lurked; closer to them, the carved and gilded door of what had to be Savomir Brobantis’ chambers stood ajar.

‘Come on!’ Krane barked, breaking into a flat-out run. DeShelle did her best to keep up, but the head of security was moving quicker than anyone she’d ever seen.

‘Is it the killer?’ she called at his receding back. By the Emperor, she didn’t want him to get too far ahead and leave her alone and in the dark, away from the light of The Wolf…