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"Fine," Reger said, a subtle menace in his tone. "But once you're back in Athena, you could let them go.
Right?"
Poirot suppressed a grimace. This was no time to get backed into a corner. "Provided I can come up with a good reason to do so, yes," he said. "But with me having been in your hands this long, Bailey may have some suspicions."
"What suspicions?" Reger scoffed. "What could we possibly have done to you?"
Poirot felt a flicker of contempt. Was he going to have to do all their thinking for them? "Well, you did mention Whiplash in his presence," he reminded them. "He'll certainly be trying to chase down that reference."
"Which just means we'll need a good excuse to let them go," Skyler said. "These are the pieces we have.
Let's start putting them together."
Fly
He looked over at Jensen. The blackcollar was asleep, his head pillowed on his pack, his breathing shallow but steady. Setting his ration bar on the ground, Fly
The sky had clouded over since they'd gone to ground that morning, with furrows of gray now forming a backdrop to the mountain peaks. Nunchaku in hand, he moved toward a stubby bush a few meters away, wincing at the soft crunching sounds he made in the leaves as he walked. So far the approaching animal hadn't appeared, but from the increasingly loud swishing sounds it could be anytime now. Fly
And to his amazement, the biggest brown Labrador retriever he'd ever seen ambled into view.
He exhaled silently, his first instinctive relief that it wasn't the bear quickly giving way to the more sobering reality that this might actually be worse. The dog, he could see now, was wearing a collar of some sort; and dog plus collar equaled owner. Here, a few klicks from a Ryqril base, dog plus owner might very well equal Security tracker.
The Lab was wandering toward the tree where Jensen lay hidden, his tail wagging back and forth as he snuffled at bushes and exposed tree roots. Behind him, Fly
Once again, the expectation proved worse than the reality. The two men who strode into view were tall and bearded, wearing haphazard and threadbare outfits that a proper Security man wouldn't be caught dead in. The younger of the two was probably no more than a year or two older than Fly
There was also a distinct family resemblance, he noticed, particularly around the mouth and eyes.
The resemblance between the long-barreled flechette rifles they carried propped over their shoulders was even more pronounced.
Fly
Finding a competent doctor out here in the wilderness might be well-nigh impossible.
And even if they did find one, there would be no way of knowing where his loyalties lay. Not until it was too late.
No, he decided suddenly. Best to just let the two rabbit hunters pass by and hope Jensen's injuries weren't as bad as they'd seemed this morning.
And then, to his dismay, the Lab stopped in his tracks, turned his massive head, and bounded straight toward the tree where Jensen was hidden.
There was no time for Fly
The younger man jerked in surprise at Fly
"That's good to know," Fly
The older man apparently misinterpreted Fly
Obediently, the Lab loped over and came to a halt at his side, panting cheerfully. "So who are you, anyway?" the older man went on. "Don't hardly think I seen you around here afore."
"No, I'm just passing through," Fly
"Goin' anyplace special?"
Fly
"Yeah?" the younger man said suspiciously. "You look pert' healthy t' me. Got some disease that don't show?"
"I've got a sick friend," Fly
"Right decent of you," the older man said dryly. "But this here's our home, not yours. You're the one who gets to move on if someone's gotta get goin'."
Abruptly, his eyes hardened. "Unless you want to come clean and tell us who you really are," he warned.
"And I mean right now." And on the last word, he let go his grip on the younger man's rifle.
And before Fly
Pointed directly at Fly
Fly
He was still standing motionless, apparently frozen in place by Fly