The agonizing bind he found himself in had not changed since those lights blazed in his eyes at the gates of Killer's Town. The sound of his daughter's faint voice, "I'm ... I'm all right, daddy," echoed in his head. In response to his question, "Caroline, have they hurt you?", her frightened answer, "No, daddy." And then that arrogant mocking male voice, "No, daddy—not yet." Those words—not yet—were torturing him. All he had to do, they said, was remove the Patrol observers and they'd free her. Or had they actually said that? He couldn't remember. It didn't matter. He knew that blackmailers were never satisfied, that one surrender would be followed by a further demand. Yes, he knew all of this so well, but his lifetime of knowledge and experience wasn't helping Caroline. Not yet. His child—with those killers in a cage! So he paced and talked to himself, trying to find an answer, but there was no good answer. Then his phone rang.It was a report from the Patrol observation post outside Killer's Town.
