I jerked upright… What? Where? My eyes came to rest on a metal tray on which a single glass still spun amid a litter of broken shards. Burglar alarm. François peered around the door, lips pursed ruefully as he looked at the damage. “Easy to see how you three have come so far,” he remarked, almost under his breath, albeit politely in Esperanto. Daylight poured around the curtains. Just François peeping in at us. No soldiers piling past him. Gratias Domine. “You can put the pig-sticker away, Brad, I’ve just brought your next pill.” No need to look at Bane to know what he held. It’d gone back wherever he’d had it by the time the old hunter had crossed the room. Bane accepted both pill and glass of water, and downed both. “Thank you,” he said with exquisite politeness, perhaps conscious of both broken glass and rudely brandished knife.
