13
Backing Up the Backup Plans
“Which way did she go?” Sarah yells, and Manu grabs a handhold just as she swerves to the right. He tumbles onto a bench and grabs at the harness, trying three times to get the buckles to catch. Oriol’s done the same across the way.
“Hail her!” Kai yells back.
“I’m trying. She’s not answering.”
“Of course she’s not answering,” Manu says, and for a split second he gets a face full of Kai’s red-eyed fury. Oriol’s giving him a warning look. “If she and Jaantzen were planning to double-cross the rest of us the whole time, you think she’ll answer now?”
Sarah spits out a string of profanity and veers to the left.
“She’ll have a backup plan with Toshiyo and Jaantzen,” Manu says. He’s staring down the bull; he can feel Kai’s breath hitting his cheek in hot, an
