Gilden tried to flee the Arko building with hard drives, gold contracts and one suitcase full of cheese that belonged to Jocko.
Jocko blocked the laboratory door.
“My Camembert.”
“Move.”
“My Camembert, Fabian.”
“This is not the time.”
“There is always time for property rights.”
Gilden lunged.
Jocko bit him.
The suitcase dropped.
Outside, Hood County bugs poured through the ventilation tunnels Ian had once used to enter their world.
Gilden backed toward his workbench.
For decades he had treated the insects as experiments, markets and machinery.
Now hundreds of them stood around him.
Dewdrop climbed onto the microscope.
False Black stood beside him.
Marshal Orb removed his hat.
Reverend Mercy Mantis was dragged in by members of his own congregation.
Echo Webb carried boxes of recordings.
Countwell carried the census files.
Dr. Sable Tick had already offered to testify against everybody.
Silas Ledger was nowhere to be found.
Dewdrop looked around the laboratory.
“So this the fool been messing with us?”
Gilden laughed.
“You have no idea what I gave you.”
Ian stepped forward.
“You gave us problems.”
“I gave you intelligence.”
False Black shook his head.
“No. You gave us hardware.”
Ms. Ladybug entered behind them.
“What happens now?”
Orb looked at Gilden.
For years, his first instinct had been to decide punishment himself.
He had learned where that led.
“We take him back,” Orb said. “He answers in Hood County.”
Dewdrop frowned.
“Can we at least scare him first?”
“No.”
“A little?”
“No.”
Jocko raised his flask.
“I find the proposal reasonable.”
For the first time in months, Ian laughed without wondering whether the sound belonged to him.