All my stray hunches and guesses had paid off, and my vague plans had worked out very well—it had been tricky, pretending to suspect everybody but Priscilla Decker so that she wouldn’t guess I suspected her. It had taken some finagling, getting myself captured like this, and I should have been pleased at my success. However, there were a few drawbacks to the situation. For one thing, I now had to survive until I was brought to the place where I could do the job I’d been sent to do, and that might be tough, particularly with Harsek around. For another thing, I wasn’t alone in my predicament. I’d hoped Solana might keep Carol out of the action—that was one reason I’d let him take her away—but he’d used her as a decoy instead. I didn’t blame him, it was the logical thing for him to do, but it gave me an additional responsibility I didn’t need. I hoped his electronic tricks would make up for it, but I had no faith in them. “I never have trouble, girl,” Harsek was saying in a guttural voice.
