“Billy-Ray isn’t going to be tunnelling anywhere,” said Tanith. “Not right away, at least. I’ve taken all this into account, don’t you worry. He’ll play his part, and the rest of you will play yours.”

“You gonna split us into teams?” asked Jack. “That’s a good idea, teams. I reckon I should stick with Sabine. We got good chemistry. Practically know what each other is thinkin’ by now, don’t we?”

Sabine looked alarmed. “I’m sorry?”

“Actually, Jack,” said Tanith, “you’re going to be teaming up with Billy-Ray. You’re injured, so you’re going to provide a distraction to get the sentries away from their posts, and that’ll allow the rest of us time to sneak in through a hidden entrance.”

Jack chewed a chapped lip with his yellow teeth. “I don’t know. I don’t think you should split up a partnership that works so well.”

“Are you still talking about us?” Sabine asked.

“And my injury ain’t that bad,” said Jack. “OK, so I’m missin’ a few toes. So what? The little gangrenous one was about to fall off anyway. I can still get the job done. Let me prove it.”

Tanith sighed. “OK, fine, I’ll give you a chance. When we get to London, I’ll be taking a trip over the rooftops. If you can keep up, we’ll talk.”

“All right, then,” Jack said, leaning back and winking at Sabine. It may have been Tanith’s imagination, but now Sabine was looking a little airsick.

They got back to London by late evening, and Tanith and Jack took off. He lagged behind as she dashed from rooftop to rooftop. There were a few instances where she thought he’d failed to make a jump, but he always managed to clamber up. By the time they reached their destination, Jack’s bandaged foot was bleeding quite badly.

“You’re on distraction duty,” Tanith told him as he limped up to her.

“Oh, come on!” he whined. “Because of this? It’s a graze! It’s a scratch!”

“You can barely stand up,” she said, taking the bag from her back and removing the blueprints. The wind up there snapped at the paper.

“I’m as good as I ever was,” Jack said. “Look.” He went to do a backflip and landed on his face.

“Yeah,” murmured Tanith, “you’re in tip-top shape. Keep an eye out.”

He got up, rubbed his nose while she examined the plans.

“So...” he said, and trailed off.

Tanith ignored him. He cleared his throat, but she kept ignoring him. Finally, he peered over her shoulder.

“So what’s that, then?” he asked.

“You’re supposed to be keeping an eye out for Cleavers,” Tanith said. “That’s pretty hard to do when both eyes are on me.”