Impossible. The Runner leader was in prison, on Earth ...

No ... No way ...

Ivan picked up the arm patch from his lap and studied it, letting it dangle between his fingers.

Then-amazingly-Gage ... Ivan ... didn't deny it.

"This isn't us. This isn't how we operate," he said in a low and controlled voice.

"Whoa-hang on!" the Chippie said, sitting up in her seat to get a better look at Ivan. "I knew it! I knew you were ... somebody."

Now Nahara stood up.

This is getting crazy here, Annie thought.

"Nahara, sit the hell down," she said.

"You traitorous son of a bitch!" Nahara shouted, fists clenched, his face flushed.

"W-why doesn't he look like he did in the news vids?" Rodriguez asked.

Great ... now everyone's involved, Annie thought.

"Micro-surgery, more than likely," Jordan said. "A bit of sculpting? Right?"

Ivan said nothing.

His pulse rifle still only inches away.

Jordan's attention didn't waver from Ivan.

From Annie's viewpoint, it looked as if the two men had locked eyes like big jungle cats about to engage in battle.

Fucking primal.

Annie and Jordan both knew how fast Ivan was-they'd seen him in action.

Hell, he'd saved their lives back there.

That had to count for something.

Would Ivan do something now that might get innocent passengers injured ... or killed?

Then again, if he really was Ivan Delgato-the convicted leader of the Runners-he had proven that he had no regard whatsoever for innocent lives or people's property.

And what the hell's he doing out of prison?

Last she'd heard, Ivan Delgato was off to the Cyrus Penal Colony in the Movasi Sector.

Enough, she thought.

Have to take control of the situation.

Annie stepped forward, being careful not to place herself between Jordan and Ivan.

"Did you send that message pod from Station Two?" she asked. "Maybe our coordinates and routed them to your damn Runners?"

Holding her gaze, Ivan shook his head slowly. "I never even got close to the pods."

Jordan: "So you haven't contacted anyone, told them about this SRV? I have a hard time believing for one second that-"

Then, from behind Annie, a sudden shrieking noise, a shrill beep sounding a warning.

Filling the cabin.

"We have company," she said, turning to Jordan.

His expression-a stone carving.

Jordan nodded.

"Get me a neuro-collar," he said.

Jordan? Giving orders now?

"It doesn't have to be this way." Ivan cast a glance back and forth between her and Jordan. "I can explain."

"I knew we never should've picked him up," Nahara said.

Annie went to the emergency supplies compartment and entered a code. The container door popped open.

"So much for your vaunted code of the Road, huh?" Rodriguez piped in.

The alarm-still blaring.

Annie moved fast, getting the neuro-collar for Jordan.

Her gunner meanwhile gave Ivan a sharp nudge with the barrel of the gun.

"Who's coming, Delgato?"

"How the hell would I know?"

Now another, harder hit with the gun. To the face. A trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth.

Ivan looked ready to leap up at Jordan. Tear his throat out.

"Easy, Jordan." Annie handed him the collar.

"You've been leading us into this trap all along starting with your Speeder breaking down."

"If I wanted you dead," Ivan said softly, "believe me, we wouldn't be having this conversation now."

"Collar him," Annie said. "There's incoming. We don't have time for this."

The warning sound increased in volume and frequency.

The passengers looked wide-eyed, panicked.

The situation ... out of control.

Whoever's coming here ... they're getting closer.

"Everyone, I'm going to keep Delgato collared until we get to Omega Nine. Then the authorities there can straighten it all out."

"What authorities?" Jordan asked.

"You want the truth?" Ivan's voice was firm. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. Studied the smear of blood for a moment.

Jordan wrapped the collar around Ivan's neck and snapped the connectors in place.

"Yeah, you can tell us all about it later."

The neuro-collar signal lights came on, blinking green.

Ivan became immobilized, his body going limp.

"Jordan, let's move it."

But Jordan stayed where he was, watching, as if he didn't trust the collar.

Then he reached down, took Ivan's pulse rifle.

Annie turned to the passengers, their eyes on her.

"Get in your seats. Buckle up. We're getting out of here. Now."

And she darted back into the cockpit, her gunner finally turning and following her.

26.

RUNNERS.

Jordan followed Annie up the stairs and into the cockpit.

But when he sat down in his seat and strapped in, glancing at the console, he didn't like what he saw.

Annie already had the vehicle's engines powering up. The SRV started rolling.

"We have someone-a few someones-coming in at two o'clock on the port side," Annie said. "They're on an upper level, but they're heading our way."

Jordan nodded.

"I'm picking up at least six vehicles," Jordan said, adjusting his scanners. "They're bunched close together, scrambling the signal."

"Shields?"

"Up to maximum, too."

"Can't be sure they're hostile," Annie added-a hopeful note as if to reassure herself. "We can't simply assume."

Jordan tapped the screen tracking the converging ships. "Tell me this doesn't look like a coordinated attack."

He unbuckled his harness. "I'd best get to the aft turret. Better safe..."

He got up and moved quickly through the passengers' cabin to the gun turret. He noticed that Ruth was looking at the immobilized Ivan.

Thinking, as he rushed past her: Pity? For him? Seriously?

He kept moving fast, and within seconds, he was strapped into the turret seat, gun powering up, headset on, and commlink working.

Ready to go.

"I still don't think they had to do this," Ruth said, leaning close and staring into Ivan's eyes. "Can you even hear me?"

She turned and looked at the other passengers-Nahara, Sinjira, Rodriguez. "Is he still conscious? He's like a zombie."

Nahara nodded as he cleared his throat. "He's fine."

Rodriguez looked away for a moment, then back at her.

"Yes," Rodriguez said. "With the collar, he can hear and understand everything perfectly. Just can't move or speak."

"He deserves to die, if you ask me." Nahara's face was flushed.

"What if he was telling the truth ... that he's not with the Runners?" Sinjira asked. "From what I've heard, no one's ever escaped from Cyrus."

"Always a first time," Nahara said, more calmly. "Maybe these attacks have been, like, a diversion while his band of killers broke him out."

"Yeah. He had to have had help," Rodriguez said, staring at Nahara. "From inside the prison or from the World Council or ... maybe even someone on this vehicle."