Last must have spent so many waking hours thinking about his revenge. Rehearsed it time and time again to the point where certain deviations were not possible. Anything that might have lessened Niko’s pain was not worth considering; anything added to the equation had to increase it. How many hours—no, days, weeks, years—had he spent plotting?

“What will you do when she is gone?” she said to Last’s back.

He stopped, then turned around. “What did you say?”

“What will you think about, what will you work toward? Won’t killing Niko just create a huge hole in your life?”

His mouth quirked. “Are you advocating a lifetime of torture for the worthy captain, rather than death? Perhaps you don’t understand what I intend; she’ll relive her pain over your deaths for all eternity, or as close to it as I can arrange.”

“And what will you do then? If chasing money lost its savor, won’t that pale with time as well?”

He threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, little girl, you think that you will use logic and reason and all of that to win yourself free!” He grinned ferociously. “Let me tell you this, and I will say it as many times as it needs saying, and to each of you in turn perhaps. Your captain tried to rob me and no one—no one—will dare to even dream of following suit once I have finished making an example of her.”

As she walked back to the cell, feeling the drones’ presence a threatening whisper behind her, she fought not to give way to further tears. And she was proud, quite proud that she had let only that single tear escape, had not surrendered entirely.

At least until she got back into the cell and was exchanged for Dabry, and the door swung shut behind her. Then she sank to the flooring, letting the shaking take her over.

“Did you…?” Talon said, and then his voice trailed off as he met her eyes.

They were all looking at her. Skidoo slithered closer, said, “Is being you liking to is being held, Atlanta?”

“Yes,” she said, and folded herself into the comfort of that embrace, but only for a few seconds.

A hand grabbed at her shoulder, claw-nails piercing through the fabric of her tunic, Talon’s voice demanding, “What happened? Where is he?” His voice sharper still, the questions slashing at her as he repeated them.

“Stand down!” Niko’s voice as someone else pulled Talon’s hand from her. “You know better than that. Give her a little time to compose herself.”