“No one’s asking you to,” said Tanith gently. “And it’s because we have you on the team that we can do this with as few deaths as possible. If we didn’t have you, we’d be going in guns blazing, killing whoever got in our way. Sabine, you’re what some people call a godsend. You’re a good influence on the rest of us. We can’t afford to lose you.”

“Then you promise me, right here, that there won’t be any more killing from now on.”

Tanith’s face took on a pained expression. “I can’t do that, Sabine.”

“Then I’m out.”

“Sabine,” Tanith said, “please.”

“Yeah,” said Jack. “Don’t go. We’re a good team, you and me.”

Sabine frowned. “Us two? We’re not a team.”

“Ain’t we?” asked Jack, actually sounding surprised. He looked at Tanith. “Ain’t we?”

She ignored him. “Sabine, I can make you a promise, but it’s not the one you want. I can promise you that we will only kill to defend ourselves. That’s fair, isn’t it? That’s reasonable?”

Sabine pushed her wet hair back off her face. She chewed her lip. “No more killing unconscious people,” she said.

Tanith nodded. “Agreed. Billy-Ray?”

Sanguine held up three fingers. “Scout’s honour.”

“And no killing innocent people,” said Sabine.

“I agree to that in principle,” said Tanith, “providing you understand that some people just have it coming.”

Jack nodded. “Innocent is a murky area where killin’ is concerned.”

Tanith stepped forward, took Sabine’s hands in hers and looked into her eyes. “Sabine, are you with us? We need you with us. I can’t do this without you.”

Sabine didn’t answer for a while, but it didn’t matter. Tanith knew she had her.

“I’m with you,” Sabine said eventually, and Tanith hugged her.

“Thank you,” Tanith whispered. She broke off, found a towel and handed it to Sabine. “OK, now we’ve got to concentrate on finding a place to dump the body. Until it’s recovered, Johann will hopefully think that I eloped with his bodyguard. It should give us plenty of time to get the other three weapons.”

“Which one are we going after next?” asked Sabine, sitting on the edge of the boat as it started up.

“The bow,” Tanith told her. “It’s in the possession of some rather unscrupulous people.”

“There might be some violence,” Sanguine said over his shoulder as he steered. “There might be some blood needs spilling.”

“Criminal blood,” Tanith said quickly. “Bad guy blood. Not innocent blood.”