There was no time to do a perfect job, the hard footsteps were coming, just a few yards away. His sleeves were sodden with blood as he blotted, then pushed rubble into the stain. He pulled back inside and the door closed with only the slightest click.

“I don’t know how you managed it, but I’m glad you found me,” Costa said. There was weakness as well as silence in his whisper.

“It was only chance I found you,” Neel said bitterly. “But criminal stupidity on my part that let you walk into this trap.”

“Don’t worry about it, I knew what I was getting into. But I still had to go. Spring the trap to see if it was a trap.”

“You suspected then that Hengly was⁠—” Neel couldn’t finish the sentence. He knew what he wanted to say, but the idea was too unbearable to put into words. Costa had no such compunction.

“Yes. Dear Hengly, graduate of the University and Practitioner of Societics. A traitor. A warmonger, worse than any of his predecessors because he knew just what to sell and how to sell it. It’s never happened before⁠ ⁠… but there was always the chance⁠ ⁠… the weight of responsibility was too much⁠ ⁠… he gave in⁠—” Costa’s voice had died away almost to a whisper. Then it was suddenly loud again, no louder than normal speaking volume, but sounding like a shout in the secret basement.

“Neel!”

“It’s all right. Take it easy⁠—”

“Nothing is all right⁠—don’t you realize that. I’ve been sending my reports back, so the UN and your Societics people will know how to straighten this mess out. But Hengly can turn this world upside down and might even get a shooting-war going before they get here. I’m out of it, but I can tell you who to contact, people who’ll help. Hold the k-factor down⁠—”