As he entered the room, the Red Corsair twisted the head of the cylinder she had inserted into the blocky device built into the wall. The yellow and black safety tabs came away as her motion locked the cylinder in place. She tossed the tabs aside, then smiled as she looked up and saw him. "I thought it might be you."

Nelson looked from her to the briefcase on the desk in front of her and then to the thing on the wall. The warning symbol on the back of the briefcase was one he knew from his cadet training so long ago. Though he could not see into the case, he knew it had a soft foam bed with a cutout to hold the cylinder in place because, as his instructor had said, "nuclear mine triggers are not built to be banged around."

A nuclear mine? This whole valley, everything, will be destroyed. She is mad!

"It's me." Nelson motioned with the gun and the Red Corsair raised her hands. "It's over for you."

The Red Corsair shook her head. "You will not kill me, Nelson Geist."

"I won't? You're here assembling a nuclear device that will wipe out everything in this valley, save those in the bunkers built into the mountains. You're beyond mad, you're evil. There is nothing you could say that would stop me from killing you."

She smiled carefully. "I love you, Nelson Geist." Her hands slowly fell to caress her stomach through her cooling vest. "I am carrying your child."

* * *

From the first exchange the battle began to go exactly the way Phelan knew it had to. The Thirty-first Wolf Solahma had begun to retreat before the gap could be closed. Their goal was obviously to pull back into the mountain stronghold and fight from there, but Conal had established his line too far forward. He must have forgotten that the Hounds are equipped with weapons like ours—weapons salvaged from the Smoke Jaguars and Nova Cats after the battle for Luthien.

Phelan smiled as he realized that was the solution to the mystery of how Conal had been caught away from his cover. He had expected that a couple of long-range exchanges would slow the Hound advance, then he could withdraw in good order to the mountains. Because he had been too arrogant to coordinate with the Hounds during any of the bandit-hunting operation, he had never learned what they could do. Your stupid arrogance is the reason the truce must remain. If we do not learn to respect the Inner Sphere, they will swarm over and destroy us.

The Khan saw Conal's 'Mech pulling back, but he stopped as a hailstorm of LRMs brought the Red Corsair's BattleMasterto its knees. The Man O'Warinterposed itself between the downed BattleMasterand the Kell Hound lines.

The Man O'Warraised its two arms and crossed them above its head in a clear Clan challenge. "I am untouched, Khan Phelan. Will you be the one to finish me?" Behind him his lines crumbled and the Thirty-first broke running for the bunkers.

Phelan opened his radio and folded in all the tactical frequencies. "What do you offer me if I win?"

"My people surrender."

"They will abide by this?"

"They will, Khan Phelan."

Phelan's eyes narrowed. You are a cheating, treacherous bastard. You cheated during the last fight for my Bloodname and you have done almost as much damage in the Inner Sphere as the Red Corsair.Phelan saw a signal indicator flicker, and his secondary monitor reported that a coded tightbeam message had gone out from Conal to the settlement. You have something up your sleeve, but I have Carew and Caitlin's pilots in the air to forestall an ambush.Phelan set his computer to beep if an answer came back on that narrow frequency, then nodded.

"Bargained well and done, Conal." The Khan smiled to himself as his 'Mech started to move away from the Kell Hound lines. You have your trick, and I have mine. Who will fool whom?

* * *

"My child?"

As Nelson spoke, the Red Corsair lunged for the briefcase. Nelson thrust his gun in her direction and yanked the trigger. The first cloud of lead pellets caught her in the left shoulder, twisting her around. As she swung back to the left, her right hand come up out of the case with the machine pistol that had been concealed there.

Without thinking Nelson pumped another shell into the gun and fired again. Her machine pistol lipped flame back at him, then his second shot hit the gun and destroyed the lower half of her right arm. Her body slammed back against the wall, then slid to the floor, leaving bloody streaks to mark her passage.

Nelson felt himself gasping for air and thought it was because of the shock of such close combat, then he tasted blood on his lips. He looked down and saw two holes in his shirt. The pain started when he dropped his gun and pressed his right hand and forearm against the wounds. But when he pulled his arm away, the pain became even greater.

He took a step forward, then another. The world began to grow dim, but Nelson refused to pass out. Hugging his arm tight to his body, he reached out with his maimed hand and stumbled forward to the desk. He batted the case aside, toppling it to the floor, then worked his way around the corner.

When he saw her, he fell to his knees and knew he'd never stand up again. She was dead—pellets from the first burst had blown her throat out yet somehow left her face untouched. He reached out with his left hand and closed her staring eyes. He bent his head for a moment, mourning what might have been were black changed for white in the universe. Then he began to look for a place to die.

The radio handset on the Red Corsair's belt beeped, and a voice said, "They are in position. Do it now."

Nelson spat out blood and plucked the black box from her belt. He clutched it in his left hand, waiting for what seemed like a lifetime to build up the strength needed to raise it. He heard air slowly hissing out of his lungs, but he forced himself to lift the device to his face. He pressed the red switch down.

"You're on your own." He stopped and caught his breath. "When you get to hell, she can tell you where it went wrong."

* * *

Phelan knew his only advantage lay in the speed of his 'Mech. While Conal's Man O'Warcould have nearly matched him in a foot race, the Wolfhoundcould sometimes be almost impossible to hit because of its agility. If Conal was not careful about the heat buildup in his 'Mech—a tall order for a 'Mech that handled heat as efficiently as the Man O 'War—his targeting circuits would start to fry.

Phelan had to wait for Conal to falter. Moving fast would make him a difficult target, but it also made it damned hard for him to hit anything either. Push him, make him push himself, then take him!The Khan started forward and worked to his own right, keeping as far as possible from the Man O 'War'sright arm.

Conal shifted the 'Mech right and thrust the right arm at the Wolfhound.Twin ropes of crackling blue energy shot out from the over and under PPC muzzles. Both gouged great furrows through the ground behind the lithe Wolfhound,flinging half-molten chunks of rock into the air. The Man O'War'sleft arm also tracked Phelan, but its large and medium pulse lasers scattered their energy darts high over the 'Mech's head.

He missedhigh? What is he doing ?Phelan shook his head as he watched the Man O'Warmove awkwardly. Conal is being sloppy. What is his game? Does he think he can lure me in close? He moves so I cannot kill him, but he is not putting out his full effort to kill me. Why not?

Phelan flipped his holographic display over to infrared and was rewarded with a glowing outline of the Man O'War.Conal had already succeeded in pushing it, but the heat was not thathigh. It would not take enough of an edge off Conal's aim to make any sort of approach possible. As he hesitated, then pushed the Wolfhoundforward in a burst of speed, he had the sinking feeling that Conal—no matter how sloppy he got—would never give him the opening he needed to win.