Riposte

Dan bowed his head. "You and the rest of the Kell Hounds, sir."

Morgan turned back toward Dan. "Very well. When you return to the Abbot's office, tell him to give you the packet of messages I passed to him when I arrived. Then have him drive you into Starboro so that ComStar can send them out as soon as possible. I'll join you in a day and we'll ship out from there."

What's going on here?Dan wondered. He doesn't seem at all sad about his brother's death.He shook his head. "Sir?"

Morgan stiffened. "What didn't you understand? You don't believe I would forget him, do you? Yorinaga Kurita has returned.

Our truce is at an end." Morgan looked at Dan. "Tell me . . . Where does Patrick have the Kell Hounds now?"

Shocked, stu

"NO!" Long hair whipped back and forth as Morgan shook his head violently. "No! That was not supposed to happen. It was not supposed to happen that way!" He dropped to his knees, and except for a few strands pasted to his cheeks by hot tears, his long black hair shrouded his face. "I never would have let it happen!"

Anger that Dan had kept buried for eleven years burst through the walls where he'd entombed it. "You'd never have let it happen, would you? You gave up all responsibility eleven years ago when you abandoned us." Dan stabbed a finger at Kell. "You more than abandoned us. You brokethe Kell Hounds, then scampered off to this hellhole. No explanation, no apology. You just bolted and left us to pick up the pieces."

Morgan looked up, agony threading his words. "I did what had to be done."

Dan laughed. "Did you? You drove off two-thirds of the Kell Hounds. At your request, two full battalions left the regiment, but you never told any of us what you had said to make them leave like that. You reduced us from a regiment to a single battalion. Why didn't you tell us what was going on?"

Morgan looked down. "You'd not have understood."

"No?" Dan spat in disgust. "Let me help you understand what happened after you left, Colonel."He spoke the title with contempt, but Dan was beyond caring. "You'd recruited me straight out of the New Avalon Military Academy and I was so proud to be the Lieutenant in charge of a Recon Lance. But when you sent the others away, the whole structure of the Kell Hounds collapsed. Responsibility for the 'Mech company fell to me."

Morgan straightened. "You flatter yourself. Patrick and Salome Ward were there, too."

Dan shook his head incredulously. "How blind you must have been then. Unless too much time here has dimmed your memory, Salome Ward was more than a staff officer to you, Morgan. Hell, you two might have thought your romance was a secret, but everyone in the regiment knew about it. When you vanished without so much as a word, it crushed her. Sure, she was strong enough to keep on doing whatever had to be done, but she did it mechanically. It took a long time for her to find herself again."

Dan narrowed his eyes and willed Morgan to melt beneath his fierce gaze. "Your brother—God! You've got no idea how much you hurt him. He believed that you had dissolved the regiment because you wouldn't trust him with so many men's lives . . ."

"That's not it. . ." Morgan interrupted harshly.

"I don't care what your reasons were, Morgan, that's what your brother felt. It ate away at him, and for the first three years after you left, he was always second-guessing himself. Then he just made up his mind to become the best damned battalion commander possible. He did that, Morgan, and I know he hoped you'd be proud of him."

"I was. I was always proud of him."

Dan snorted. "It's too late for that now, Morgan. Did you know how proud Patrick was of you? He never took the rank of Colonel. He remained a Lieutenant Colonel because, he said, you were the Kell Hound Colonel. All our contracts have a clause that allows you to break them whenever you decide to return to the unit. Hell, Patrick even refused offers from several other mercenary battalions that wanted to bring us back up to regimental strength by joining up, because he said that was your decision."

Dan shook his head. "Do you know what we called it, Morgan, when you left? We called it 'The Defection.' Everyone who came into the Kell Hounds soon learned not to ask about the Defection. Your defection,Morgan, haunted Patrick even to his deathbed."

Dan hesitated as a lump rose in his throat and tears filled his eyes. "You know what he said to me as he died? He said, 'Dan, tell him,tell Morgan I understand. Tell him I finally understand.' To the last, Morgan, to his very last moment, the Defection rode him and drove him."

Morgan sagged forward, but held himself up on his two arms. Dan saw tears splash onto the red rock, but the dark stains evaporated almost as quickly as they appeared. He could sense the tension easing in Morgan's body, but felt no similar release of his long pent-up anger.

Morgan straightened up and stared into Dan's cold blue eyes. "I accept your judgement of the evil I did to my brother and Salome. I await an accounting of the pain I have caused you, Daniel Allard."

Morgan's words unlocked the anguish Dan had shut away during the Defection. "What pain you caused me . . ." He hung his head. "I thought you'd accepted me into the Kell Hounds because you believed I had value. You'd praised my performance in exercises and battles. I always kept my lance one step ahead of the enemy and did all the things I was supposed to do. I kept my people alive, and I thought you saw great potential in me."

Dan laughed harshly and shook his head. "As people started to leave us, I began to notice that you'd selected the best and the brightest to be sent away. I believed you had a plan of some sort, that you had trusted only the elite with that plan. I waited and waited for you to come to me with a mission. When you left, and I found myself suddenly having to hold a mercenary battalion together, I hated you. I felt betrayed, and I felt unworthy. You made me doubt myself—that was the pain you caused me, Morgan, but it's nothing compared to what you did to Salome and Patrick. I recovered soon enough and held the Kell Hounds together just to spite you."

Morgan rocked back onto his heels, hesitated, then stood in one slow, smooth motion. "I have much to atone for. I know that words alone ca

Dan frowned. "But?"

Morgan exhaled slowly. "I saw you as too valuable to the Kell Hounds. No, I did not expect or envision or desire the effect that you say my leaving had on the Kell Hounds—especially for Salome and my brother. Had I suspected then what you tell me now, I would have found another way. I may have utterly underestimated the level of chaos, but I did know it would be a difficult time for the Hounds. With your youthful enthusiasm and fire and intelligence, I believed that you would be the kind of person who couldhold the Kell Hounds together. With Patrick, Salome, and you as leaders, I knew the unit would attract the best possible MechWarriors and that the Kell Hounds would one day be powerful again."