Heydrick's thoughts. He laughed harshly, then turned to a subordinate.

"They're no use to us, either of them. The girl didn't know as much as I thought she did. Now they both know too much. We'll have to get rid of them. Put him in the cell with her while I figure out what to do with them."

Hands reached out of the darkness and dragged Heydrick roughly to his feet. He was thrust along a winding gallery that he realized must be part of an old mine. They must have given him a full dose with the paralysis needle. He kept stumbling, and his legs moved stiffly.

The group came to a halt before an old wooden-plank door. The room inside was damp, and smelled mouldy. It was evidently a chamber cut in the rock for storage of explosives. His captors thrust him inside. He bounced off a wall and fell heavily. The door bumped shut and a sound like a bar dropping in place came muffled through the planks.

"Well, tough guy, how do you like being pushed around?" A familiar voice came out of darkness.

"Who is it?" he asked needlessly.

"It's not your Aunt Sophie," the voice said acidly. "You should kick. You have better company than I have."

The two sat in moody silence for a while. "Are you all right?" the girl asked finally.

"Still stiff," he answered. "You should know what that's like."

"I do. You and your toy handcuffs. They only wanted me; Thorsan thought I knew he killed Feyjak. He was afraid I might give him away. They had to drag you along on account of your silly handcuffs. If you hadn't split my lip, I could laugh at you. They're going to kill us, you know."

"Yes, I heard him say that."

"What are we going to do? Any ideas?"

"Not so far. How about you?"

"Nothing definite. I still have the benzedrine tablets I swiped. They didn't find 'em when they searched me. I'll split with you. If we take it before they come for us, we may get a chance to make a break. It'll counteract the paralysis drug if they're counting on that to make us dead pigeons while they haul us around."

Her hand found his in the dark and thrust six pellets into his open palm. Her fingers were wet and sticky.

"You're 

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