“Die a slow death, Loric scum,” Phiri spits back at me.

So, she isn’t going to make this easy.

Before I can decide what to do, Adam darts past me and strikes Phiri across the face with the back of his hand. She cries out and topples over onto her side. Phiri is stunned, I realize. She wasn’t expecting the blow. Maybe she was banking on the fact that Marina and I wouldn’t have the stomach for torture. Adam, on the other hand . . .

“You forget who you’re dealing with, Phiri Dun-Ra,” Adam says through clenched teeth. He slides onto his knees in the dirt next to her and grabs her by the front of her shirt, yanking her partially upright. “Do you think because I’ve spent time with the Garde that I’ve forgotten our ways? You know who my father was. Much to his disappointment, my marks were always highest in the non-combat-related subjects. But still . . . the General found ways to focus my training. Interrogation. Anatomy. Imagine how rigorously the General trained his heir. I remember well.”

Adam reaches one of his hands around Phiri’s head, digging his thumb into the space behind her ear. She screams out, her legs thrashing. Marina takes a step towards the two Mogs, giving me another look. I swallow hard and shake my head, stopping her.

I’m going to let this play out. Wherever it leads.

“I might not share your ideology, Phiri Dun-Ra,” Adam says, raising his voice to be heard over her screaming, “but I do share your biology. I know where your nerves are, where to hurt you best. I will spend the rest of the night picking you apart until you beg for disintegration.”

Adam releases his grip on Phiri, letting her fall back into the dirt. She’s panting, struggling to get in a deep breath.

“Or you can tell us where you hid the conduits,” Adam says calmly. “Now.”

“I’ll never—” Phiri is cut off, flinching as Adam stands up. He’s suddenly lost interest in her.

He saw the same thing I did. The way Phiri Dun-Ra’s eyes flicked towards a moss-covered log at the edge of the clearing. Adam walks over to the log while she squirms around in the dirt, trying to keep her eyes on him. On closer inspection, the log is rotten, hollowed out by termites. Adam plunges his hand inside and tugs out a small duffel bag. Phiri must have shoved the bag in there before attacking Marina.

“Aha,” he says, giving the bag a good shake. Inside, metal parts clang together. “Thanks for your help.”

Marina and I exchange a relieved look, even as Phiri screeches out her latest taunt.

“It doesn’t matter, traitor,” she says. “Nothing you do matters anymore!”

That gets my attention. I give Phiri a not-so-gentle kick in the back to make her roll over and look at me.