“Not to mention,” Zilwicki rumbled, “the fact that a good third of the ‘evidence’ contained in those files was probably manufactured in the first place.”

“Not to mention that,” Montaigne agreed.

“So what do you want?” Georgia asked flatly.

“We want the files destroyed,” Zilwicki told her. “And we want it done in a way which proves they’ve been destroyed.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” she demanded.

“You’ve already demonstrated that you’re a very inventive and capable woman, Elaine,” Montaigne told her. “And it’s common knowledge that the files are stored in a high-security vault under the Youngs’ townhouse here in Landing. I’m sure that you could arrange for that vault—and the house, for that matter—to suffer some spectacular mischief. Without, I hasten to add, any loss of life.”

“You expect me to arrange all of that and get off the planet within three standard days?” She shook her head. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t pull something like that off that quickly. Not, at least, and leave myself enough time to run to make any difference in the end.”

“Your three days would begin the day after the files are destroyed,” Zilwicki told her. “Unless, of course, you tried to leave the planet before they were destroyed.”

“And if I refuse, you’d really hand me over to the Ballroom? Even knowing what they’d do to me?”

“Yes, I would,” Zilwicki said flatly.

“I don’t think I believe you,” she said softly, then looked at Montaigne. “And despite everything I’ve heard about you and your relationship with the Ballroom, I don’t think you’d let him. I don’t think you’d care to live with what they’d do.”

“Maybe I wouldn’t,” Montaigne replied. “No. I’ll go further than that. I wouldn’t like to live with it. But don’t you think for one fucking minute that I wouldn’t do it anyway. Unlike Anton, I’ve spent decades working with the Ballroom and with escaped slaves. Like him, I can’t really put myself in their places. The living Hell any slave experiences—even you—is something I can only attempt to imagine. But I’ve seen what slaves have done to gain their freedom. And I’ve heard them tell about the other slaves—the ones who helped someone else gain her freedom, and what it cost them. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I require any slave to be that heroic, that self-sacrificing. But I have by God known slaves who were that heroic, and I know the tales of the ones who were that self-sacrificing. And I know that you were directly responsible for sending almost five hundred escaped slaves back into that Hell to save yourself… and for a tidy little profit, as well. So, yes, ‘Elaine.’ If Jeremy catches up with you, I’ll live with whatever he does.”

Georgia felt something shrivel deep within her as she gazed into those implacable green eyes.

“And think about this,” Zilwicki told her. Her eyes snapped helplessly back to him, and the smile he gave her would have suited any shark. “Even if I didn’t have the stomach in the end to turn you in to the Ballroom, I don’t have to. I found the middleman you used to contact Denver Summervale. I have his deposition, too. I doubt very much that it would stand up in a court of law, but it wouldn’t have to. I’d simply send it to Duchess Harrington.”