the risk. To hell with giving himself away. He started the incantation in his mind, and his hand reached for the wand tucked in his belt.
“Don’t shoot him,” she said.
Her eyes flicked to the left. A second later, something hit him in the upper arm. He glanced sideways; some sort of dart stuck out of his shoulder. And then everything went black.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“So he went down, smiling skeptically and muttering the final word in human wisdom: ‘Perhaps!’”
—Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
His head hurt.
Again.
Milo groaned. He tried to reach up to rub the bit that hurt, except he couldn’t because his hands were tied to the chair he was sitting in.
Where was he?
What the hell had happened?
It came back to him slowly.
He’d totally misjudged the situation with Yang. What a bitch. At least he wasn’t dead. How long had he been out? And what happened now?
The room was in darkness. He was on some sort of hard, upright chair, his arms tied to the armrests, his ankles fastened to the legs, everything held firmly in place.
He relaxed for a moment. They weren’t going to kill him, not until they knew where Destiny was. He had time. Maybe he could make some sort of bargain. But with what? He had nothing to give them but Destiny, and that wasn’t happening. He was becoming more and more convinced that whatever her role was, it wasn’t good. Not for Destiny at least. Otherwise, why not just tell her?
The light flicked on. He was in a windowless room, empty but for his chair and a screen on the far wall. It flashed to life and at the same time, the door opened. Kinross entered, with Silas at his shoulder, Dr. Yang behind them.
Kinross came to a halt in front of Milo. He had Milo’s wand in his hand, and he tapped it against his thigh as he stared down. “What are you?” Kinross asked, eying him up. “Some sort of…wizard?”
Crap. Rico was going to be pissed.
“What are you?” he countered. “Totally deluded?”
Kinross didn’t answer. He pursed his lips. “We’ll get Dr. Yang to do some testing on you. She’s an expert in genetics. We’ll see just how human you are. We’ll take you apart. Find out what makes you tick. First, we need some information. Where is the woman?”
“Which woman?”
Kinross nodded to Silas, and he stepped forward and swung his fist. It crashed into Milo’s nose with a crunch of bone, and blood flooded his mouth. He swallowed and shook his head, spraying blood across Kinross’s white shirt.
It was going to be a long night.
…
Something awoke her. Destiny had been sleeping, her cheek resting on her arms on the console in front of her. Now she lifted her head and looked toward the door, heart leaping. Was Milo back? He’d said it wasn’t dangerous, and she didn’t think Dr. Yang would do anything to him, but all the same she was worried.
Dylan stood in the doorway. His jaw was tense. “They have Milo.”
She jumped to her feet. “What? Who has Milo?”
“I saw them carrying him off the Trakis Four. Your friend, Silas, and your really good friend, Dr. Yang.”
“Carrying him?” Her mind went momentarily blank. She swallowed as fear swamped her. She forced herself to ask, “Is he dead?”
“I don’t think so, but he was definitely unconscious. What the hell was he doing?”
She ran a hand through her hair, forcing her brain past the fear that paralyzed it. “He went to talk to Dr. Yang.”
Dylan rolled his eyes. “Why? We had a plan. Reconnoiter the other shuttles, find a way to neutralize the nukes, and get the hell off this shithole planet.”
She bit her lip until she tasted the sharp metallic tang of her own blood. “He went to ask her about me. About who I am and what I’m supposed to do.”
“Does it matter what you’re supposed to do? Can’t you just decide for yourself? Bloody hell. Rico is going to be seriously pissed.” He turned away, ran a hand through his hair, growled.
“How do we get him back?” she asked, and her voice sounded small and scared.
“Shit, I don’t know. They were taking him to Camelot. The place is a fortress and guarded by an army. This is not good.” He took a deep breath and smiled. “Well, panicking isn’t going to help. We need a new plan.”
Off to the side, a light flashed. The comm unit. She hurried over. Could it be Milo? Had he gotten away? She swiped her