Chapter 26

The Red Panda was not exactly moving like he was in a tremendous hurry, and he hoped that

his companions would take that as a hint.

The Flying Squirrel was clearly disgusted by this turn of events, as it was just the

side of being captured and then rescued, which she was never one to stand for.

But when Pavli had delivered his ultimatum, the Red Panda had not hesitated.

He had simply walked to the base of the statue of Anubis, looking for all the world like a man

deeply uncertain of how to climb a very tall statue of an ancient god.

If she were paying attention, the flying squirrel ought to be able to sense

what his reasoning was. Yes, the odds of surviving a hail of gunfire at point-blank range like

this was dubious at best, but they had been in worse spots. Still, it was important to pick one's

battles. Thatcher's magic was suppressed by the limiter

bands, but Pavley was still a wild card with which they were ill-equipped to deal, and they were

low on some of their equipment to be sure. But when it came right down to it, there were two very good

reasons to obey Pavli's order and climb up to retrieve the eye. First of all, even if he had

done the exact opposite and started a direct confrontation with their enemies, as soon as it was

over, assuming they lived, he would just have to climb up and get the thing anyway, which made the

exercise of refusing seem less than entirely profitable. He was certain that Max would have

arrived at the same conclusion, but he wasn't quite as certain about the squirrel. The main reason

for his gesture of surrender was that it would distract the guards' attention and give Kit a chance

to make a play. He hoped that she would err on the side of subtlety, but it wasn't a tactic

for which his partner was renown. Still, some of that was bluster. He knew that. She was ten inches

...