The snuff lifted off her head, and it took Tila a long time to regain her senses. For a few panic-filled moments, she was afraid they wouldn't come back at all.

Eventually she heard the low voices of the three men, and her eyes slowly adjusted to the muted light of a single fixture on the side of a large building.

Somewhere close by, she heard a shuttle take off, and she turned in its direction.

“You're back.” Dun sounded relieved, his gaze fixed on her, and she hunched her shoulders.

“We’re away from the city, clearly.” She turned around, hoping the camera would pick something up, but the only building she could see was the big one next to her. The darkness was deep around them, but she could smell trees, and hear them, she realized as her hearing improved. She could hear the sigh of the wind in the trees. “Why not just let me go?”

Dun shook his head. “That's not up to me.”

“Where are we, then? Where are you taking me?” She hadn't been able to speak until now, but if she could get them to give her a location, that might help Nick--if he was close enough to be in range for the transmitter.

She didn't know how strong the signal was, but it had to have a limit, and if Nick wasn't close enough . . .

She shook off the thought, waiting for Dun's reply.

“Our boy's on duty,” Timbo said, suddenly looming behind Dun.

Dun twisted his head around, gave a nod. “Let's go.”

He put a hand on her upper arm, curling his fingers around it, the grip strong, and pulled her along with him.

She resisted, surprising him, and she thought he was going to yank her, but he didn't.

“I can put the snuff back on,” he said quietly. “It'll make things more difficult for me, but my job is to work around difficult things, so I'll deal. What I will definitely do if you don't cooperate, keep your mouth shut, and pretend to be a voluntary part of this group is that wherever I end up, or how it ends, I will make sure Freya's Puzzle gets another explosive, and I'll be sure to specify that it goes off in the middle of your office.”

There was silence between them for a long beat.

“Am I being clear?” he said at last.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Good.” He sighed, as if she'd somehow forced him to threaten her friends and colleagues against his will, and then started walking again.

She kept up, rounding the corner with him into a brighter light and the landscaped front of what seemed to be a massive warehouse.

Another shuttle took off close by, and this time Tila could see the purple flare from the engine and the flash of lights along the wings as it rose into the night sky.

They walked inside, and Tila realized the building contained hovers and shuttles behind a massive transparent wall, and a smaller section with offices and counters.

They headed for one of the counters and Dun's grip on her arm tightened.

The man standing behind it looked their way, and his focus sharpened on her.

“Hello, Fry,” Dun called as they approached.

“Picked up a guest?” Fry asked Dun, but his eyes stayed on her.

“Just a favor for a friend,” Dun said easily. “I hope it won't be a problem?”

“No.” Fry shook his head. “We can just adjust the log.”

“Actually,” Dun leaned against the counter on his elbow. “I’d like to let the log stay as is.”

Fry frowned. “Regulations state you can't fly in any shuttle, even if you aren't planning to go spaceward, without sampling in. In case of a crash. We need to know who's in every shuttle.”

“I know, but I want you to make an exception for me.” Dun smiled at him, and slid a hand into his pocket. “Like you did for us before.”

Fry was still frowning. “I can't make an exception.”

“You're obviously a principled man,” Dun said and pulled out a thin rectangular crystal. He pushed it across the counter with a finger.

Fry's gaze flew to Tila, eyes wide, as if she could somehow explain what was happening. She looked back at him with a blank expression, too afraid to do anything else.

She hadn't ever been in a shuttle, but she knew that you had to offer up a small blood sample before you boarded. Dun was right to worry. As soon as her bio-sig appeared in the system, Nick would know where to find her.

If he hadn't already worked out where she was from the camera feed.

“What is this?” Fry looked down at the crystal.

Dun looked momentarily disconcerted. “It's a crystal chip. Like the one I gave you before.”

“Oh.” Fry bent closer.

“There's a lot of money on those chips, Fry, incentive for you to keep the log as it is.”

“No one can get into that shuttle without a sample.” Fry lifted his hands up. “We could be closed down if we allow it.”

He looked over Dun's shoulder, surprise in his eyes and the frown back on his face, and then he collapsed.

Tila gasped and looked behind her, saw Timbo putting away his laz.

“That was going nowhere,” he said to Dun.

Dun sighed. “Agreed. I keep forgetting people on this planet aren't desperate enough to take a bribe. Tuck him up against the counter so it's hard to see him.” He started walking toward the shuttles, his grip on her arm even tighter. “I really wish you hadn't been at work today,” he said to her.

Tila stared at him coldly. “Believe me, the feeling is mutual.”

* * *

They had the airfield location.

Nick flicked the coordinates onto the hover's screen, and it banked right.

It was already set to its fastest speed.

“Why are they taking her?” he asked Drake, who was sitting beside him. “They're must believe they're free and clear now.”

The commander had spent a lot of time on his comm set, dealing with the aftermath of the Freya's Puzzle hostage situation, but now he was quiet, looking at the images from Tila's camera feed as she was dragged into a large warehouse and taken to a small shuttle.

“You're right.” Drake looked up. “And they've said a few things, expressed some regret that they even came into contact with her. It's like they're taking her almost in spite of their feelings on the matter.”

“That big one, Timbo, would just as soon put a laz to her throat and finish her. The other two would rather leave her behind.” Nick watched as Tila was shoved into a seat on the shuttle. “It's as if they resent her.”

Drake said nothing, his gaze fixed on the screen as the footage coming from Tila's camera jerked, and tilted upward. She was in the air now. Flying away at incredible speeds.

They wouldn't be able to catch them, so they would have to find out where they were going to.

Cris's voice broke through on the hover's comm. “The medics found the shuttle company employee who was shot. He's alive. One of his colleagues will meet you at the airfield.”

Ten minutes later, Nick saw the big building up ahead. It seemed better lit now than it had been when Tila was here.

They landed the hover in front of the entrance and Nick took a moment to check the security arrangements. They were almost non-existent. This was a shuttle port that dealt mainly with in-planet rather than spaceward flight.

It was a clever move by Dun.

The security was never that heavy for in-planet travel and they'd become even more complacent since the end of the Faldine War.

The war had been over for two years, and had never spilled over into Parn, but everyone had been on alert while it raged, knowing any planet in the Verdant String could be targeted.

Nick looked down at his screen, saw it was blank.

It was inevitable.

The transmitter on the camera was only so strong.

They'd lost her.

He looked over at Drake, saw he was scowling down at his own screen.

“Protection Unit?” A woman called from the entrance, hands fluttering nervously. “I'm Mev.”

Her words snapped Nick's attention back to the problem at hand. He strode toward her, and Drake fell into step with him.

Inside, two medics crouched beside a man lying on a stretcher. He was unconscious.

“What do you know about what happened here?” Drake asked Mev, his voice a whip crack.

“I . . . I don't know much.” She looked at her colleague on the ground, and then back at Nick, eyes brimming with tears. “Fry told me there were some men who were strange. They made some strange joke that didn't feel like a joke and gave him a weird crystal thing.”

Nick frowned. “What was the joke?”

“They asked him to alter their entry point. They came in from off-planet, and we have to submit the coordinates of their entry with Shuttle Management to make sure it's safe.” Mev lifted her shoulders in confusion. “You can't change it. It's already sent to SM before the shuttle even comes through, in case there's another shuttle too close which poses a danger of collision.”

“So these men didn't understand how the system worked?” Drake asked.

She nodded.

“Where is the crystal they gave him?” Nick asked her.

“Fry gave it to our boss. Or rather, left it in his office. The boss is away for a few days, so Fry is . . . was in charge.”

She showed them to the office, and Drake gently picked up the slim crystal chip.

“A credit chip?” Nick had never seen one. That was more Corruption and Fraud's area, but he'd heard of them. “They're mostly used on the Breakaways, aren't they? Or when we trade with non-Verdant String planets?”

Drake nodded. “Trade and Foreign Interaction use them, but they're strictly regulated.” His eyes were grim. “The crime lords on the Breakaways use them, and the smugglers.”

“They thought Fry would take a bribe, and that he could somehow change their entry coordinates.” Nick looked down at the crystal. “They aren't Verdant String.”

Drake nodded. “If they're from a Breakaway, they're incredibly ill-informed on how Verdant String works. The only people who could possibly be that out of the loop are people who moved as children to the Breakaways when they were established ten years ago. It's that, or they're smugglers.”

Nick stepped out of the office, caught Mev's eye. “Can you give us the coordinates they wanted Fry to alter?”

She nodded. Walked to a screen behind the counter, and Nick tipped his screen closer so she could flick the information over.

He looked down at the numbers with the first flare of hope.

They had somewhere to start looking. Somewhere the insurgents had been trying to hide.