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said, with unnatural calm, "I need to know how to break the encryption and figure out how to trace it to the source. I figured you'd know."

"Sure, I know, if it's the same encryption I put together," Kim said, and leaned back in her chair. "But why should I tell you?"

"Because it's the right thing to do?"

Kim rolled her eyes. "Wow, you actuallyare an idiot. Do you think the vamps are going to do the right thing once you point the finger at whoever's behind it? You think this is all going to end with somebody getting a slap on the wrist and a fine? I was lucky, you know. Lucky to still be breathing.People are going to die. You need to get that through your head. It isn't about theright thing. It's about the thing that gets you something. If you think the world works any other way, you're just as stupid as you look."

Claire said, "You know, you've got something wrong."

"What is that? I swear, you're more clueless than a Care Bear."

"You think that because I want to do what's right, because I want to make things better, I'm weak," Claire said. "Or that I'm stupid. But I'm not. It takes a lot more strength to know how bad the world is and not want to be part of that, give in to it. And Ido know, Kim. Believe me."

Kim's sneer faded as Claire stared at her very steadily. Then she looked away. "You should say that after you spend a few months in this hellhole."

For the first time, Amelie stirred from where she stood at the back of the room. She advanced to the table, leaned forward, and rested her palms on the flat surface. Her gray eyes were intent and level on Kim, and again Kim couldn't hold her stare.

"You might bear in mind that in earlier times, young lady, your crimes would have meant you died in a particularly horrible way, with your screams ringing in the ears of decent folk," Amelie said. "You're kept in a clean cell, with decent if unremarkable food. You receive reading material and have television. In what way is that ahellhole ? What can someone of your age possibly know of survivinghell ?" There was a keen edge to her voice that Claire had rarely heard. "The man guarding you today knows of hell, very well. He can tell you what it was like to survive in a prison camp with nothing to eat but crawling insects and rotten bread, foryears , until one night his life was taken--"

"Saved," the guard in the knit shirt said.

"Saved, by one of us," Amelie finished softly. "Askhim about the kindness of your treatment, and then speak to me or him ofhellholes. " She let that sink in for a moment before she said, in a brisk and businesslike tone, "Now, you wanted to know what helping us means for you. That entirely depends on what you can do forus. Can you reverse the encryption and tell us the location where these...people are staging and broadcasting their fights?"

"Yeah," Kim said. She picked at a rough spot on the table with a short, well-chewed fingernail. "I could do that. But not for free."

Amelie didn't seem too surprised. "Your price?"

"I want out of here."

"That will not happen. And you know it will not happen."

Kim smiled down at her lap--a secret, cynical kind of expression that made Claire feel a little tingle of alarm. "Oh, I don't know. You want to keep Morganville's big secret, right? How are you going to do that with millions of people watching vampires flashing fangs at each other on pay-per-view? Maybe most don't believe it, but maybe some do; maybe somebody decides to come check it out, like a news crew. Then where do you run?"

"Farther and faster than you can, Kim. You'd do well to remember that."

Kim said nothing. Amelie, after exchanging a look with Claire, shook her head. "Take her back to her cell, please. We're getting nowhere."

"Wait!" Kim said as the vampire behind her stepped forward. "Wait. You want these people, right? I can find them. I'm probably the only one in Morganville who has the skills!"

"I doubt that, but you are the one I have readily available."

"Then come on. What do I get for it?"

Amelie's eyes turned red--a muddy, rippling crimson that sent prickles of warning across Claire's skin, like the feeling before lightning strikes. "You get to survive this meeting with me, little girl. And I warn you, that possibility is fading with every unpleasant word you utter. Be careful."

"You wouldn't do it. You're likeher ." A flick of Kim's eyes included Claire in her scorn. "Full of talk, short on action."

Amelie smiled, very slowly. It was one of the most unsettling things Claire had ever seen her do...as if a

mask had been pulled away and somethingterrible looked out of her eyes. Kim saw it, too. Her handcuffs clicked as she tried instinctively to draw away. "Oh, child," Amelie said. "I have worked very diligently to achieve that image, because a ruler should be seen as just and fair and merciful. But you wouldnot like to see me take action. I am, after all, my father's daughter. Now. You will give me the help I require to trace this signal that Claire has found, and you will be grateful that I choose to allow you to continue in your presently comfortable state. Once you have demonstratedresults , we may discuss an improvement in your conditions."

Amelie rarely exerted the power that Claire knew she had, but she felt it now--heavy, suffocating, full of dread. It pressed down on everyone in the room; she even saw the other vampires shift uncomfortably.

But mostly it was directed at Kim, who crumbled like a sugar cookie. "Okay," she said, after about a second's delay of false bravado. "But I can't do it in here. I need access to the Internet."

"We can arrange that."

"And I need to get out of here. Just for a little while." Kim looked up, and Claire saw that, incredibly, she wasstill trying to bargain. Maybe she wasn't quite the sugar cookie, after all. "A day. Just a day. I need--I need to see the sun."

Amelie didn't move, and the dark atmosphere didn't let up, but finally she gave a regal nod and stepped back. It felt like a storm had passed without breaking, and Claire instinctively took in a deep breath, and heard Kim do the same. "A day," Amelie said. "First, you locate the source of this transmission for us. Then you will be supervisedclosely on your furlough. Mr. Martin will go with you--" Mr. Martin, the vampire standing behind Kim, inclined his head. "And Claire."

"Wait," Claire said, at the same time as Kim. They both had identical tones of alarm. Claire kept talking. "You're making me stay withher ?"

"You don't like her," Amelie said. "And therefore you won't give her any...breaks, I think you call them. At the first sign that Kim is misbehaving, tell Mr. Martin, if he doesn't know already, and she will be immediately returned to custody."

"But I--"

"No arguments," Amelie said. "The deal is done. Mr. Martin, arrange for the girl to have her Internet access, but I want it to be closely monitored. You are not to leave her for a moment. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Founder." Mr. Martin inclined his head. "What if she's unable to complete the task?"

"She has an hour," Amelie said. "If she can't solve the problem within that time frame, I no longer need her."

Kim, tough-chick 'tude or not, flinched at that pronouncement. There was no mistaking what it meant. "An hour's not enough time!"

"I sincerely hope you're wrong," Amelie said. "Let's call it...motivation."

Claire felt an unexpected sense of sympathy for Kim's stricken expression.... She'd been there not long ago. She'd been under threat of death, or having her friends and family suffer, if she wasn't able to live up

to Amelie's expectations. It wasn't a comfortable place, especially if you weren't sure you could get it done.

But she just couldn't sympathize much in the end. Kim was a cold-blooded sociopath, at least as far as Claire was concerned, and she'd never shown any sign of remorse. No point in empathizing with someone who'd turn around and stick a knife in your back, with a smile.

Claire felt the minutes ticking away as the details were dealt with...the computer located, the Internet access enabled and hooked up, the security protocols negotiated. Then, finally, Mr. Martin moved out of the way and Kim sat down in front of the keyboard.

She drew in a breath, put her fingers on the keys, and said, "Okay, what's the URL?"

"ImmortalBattles-dot-com."

Kim typed it in, then flipped to a view of the code, then started up a new coding window.

"What are you doing?" Amelie asked.

"Running a trace route."

"And that is how you will find them."

Kim laughed. "No way in hell. A six-year-old could figure out a way around that. But it'll give me a starting point, and I can work from that."

Amelie settled back in her chair. Mr. Martin leaned over Kim's shoulder, watching the screen intently. If he didn't know what he was looking at, he gave a good imitation of it. Kim cast him doubting looks from time to time, and once he asked her to stop and explain what she was doing. She did it in quiet, calm tones, apparently creeped out by having him hovering so closely.

Claire sipped a cold drink that had been delivered by one of Amelie's guards and waited. She checked her watch from time to time, feeling useless and increasingly worried; every minute they sat here was another minute that something bad might be happening to Shane or to Michael.

She was also aware, though she didn't particularly want to be, that the minutes were counting down for Kim, who was looking paler with every tick of the second hand. Her fingers worked fast, blurring motion, then stopped and hovered indecisively as she leaned closer to the screen.

Thirty minutes. Forty. Forty-five. Claire drained her glass and felt the tension growing in the room. Mr. Martin, hanging over Kim's shoulder, glanced up at Amelie, who gave him some imperceptible signal Claire couldn't read. It probably wasn't good, at least for Kim.

Although Amelie never so much as glanced at a watch, it was exactly sixty minutes by Claire's timepiece when the Founder said, in precise and soft tones, "Your time is up, Kim."

Kim froze, then looked up with glittering eyes through the tangled hair that had fallen over her face. She shoved it back, and for the moment, at least, she looked defiant and unafraid. "Yeah? Well, good thing I'm done, then."

"Get up."

Kim did, and Mr. Martin moved her away from the computer and fastened handcuffs on her again, looping them through a solid ring set in the concrete wall. He studied the screen of the computer and said, "I have an address here. And a map."

"It had better be accurate," Amelie said. "I won't look kindly on misdirection."

"Do I get my day outside?" Kim said.

"Indeed, though you may not enjoy it," Amelie said. "You're coming with us. Mr. Martin, you're in charge of her. Claire, you also have responsibility. Are we clear on this?"

"Yes," Claire said. Mr.