He coughed again and caught his breath, “Come on Panthers, you must have sensed something. You surprised me a little in Siberia and you got lucky with the phone you got off the Russian. You got lucky again in Thailand, but since then, I’ve kept tabs on you. I knew you’d manage to turn Cale. Hopeless romantic, that fool. That’s why I didn’t leave Emilie up there. I realized it wasn’t worth it, putting people on a space station. We’re going to make a clean break. A summer sale, so to speak. Everything has to go. And we’re still on schedule.”
“What do you want, salesman?” Forest asked, working his keyboard, disarming one drone after another. He had 800 to go.
The Slow King laughed, his voice reduced to a vulture’s cackling as it shifted along the cathedral’s walls.
“I could lie to you and
