Earth 1, Kaznia
''This wasn't a coincidence'' General Laurel Lance told Cassandra Savage. They were both standing in the morgue, looking down at Caspar's body. ''Two deaths in less than a week.''
The second ex-Time Master had died in what was being treated as a single car accident. According to the - brief - police report, his brakes had failed on a hilly route and he had gone over the edge of a drop.
''Could have happened to anyone'' was how it had been summed up to the two women.
Cassandra doubted it was an accident just as much as General Lance did. Dronon dies of a rather obscure form of blood poisoning - and how did that come about? A few days later, Caspar is dead too.
''Someone's targeting us'' the younger Savage declared, as they headed away from the body.
''And working up the pecking order'' Lance announced, with a touch of macabre humour. ''I wonder who's next on the list? You, me, Nikki or Alice?''
''It's not a joke'' Cassandra snapped, frightened by more than she wanted to admit at the idea of a threat to her lover.
X
I was just thinking the same thing, Naomi thought, as the two women walked straight past her. She'd changed her face and was dressed all in black, in imitation of a bereaved relative. When someone asked who she was there to see, she gave a sad smile.
''It's my grandfather. My grandmother wanted a bit of time alone to say her goodbyes.''
Savage was left with four women who were close to him in different ways. Which one should be first? Alice Murphy was probably the least dangerous, General Lance the most.
She waited for a few minutes, until she was sure the other women had gone, then made her own way out of the morgue.
She had time to spare before she was due back at the barracks and thought of going back to the bar - for old times sake, since she no longer worked there. It had been time to move on and she was now a cadet in Savage's army. The cadets were worked hard, six days a week and some were already complaining about their taskmasters. Naomi was relishing it, gaining skills that were going to be very useful to her in the future - and this was nothing like as hard as her early life had been in South America. She was turning into as much of an assassin as Floyd had been and sometimes, she thought she could almost hear his voice, encouraging her.
X
Alice/Persusis had finally found a place in Kaznia that she liked. About a dozen miles out of the city where Vandal had chosen to make his home, a dirt track leading off a minor road led in its turn into a ravine. The path through the ravine was rocky and narrow in places but she was agile and enjoyed the views down onto the cascading waterfalls below her.
The real benefit though lay further on, when she reached the high plateau and joined a forestry track that had curved up from a valley to the east. The going was easier here and she made good time, thinking of the mountain vistas that lay ahead - stretching all the way to Russia, Nikki had told her.
It was at about that point that her inner ears vibrated for a moment. She didn't change her pace or look round, but she was suddenly alert. Someone was following her.