Higher and higher the sun rose over the Northern No Man's Land and warmed the mountains with its bright rays. And "Pinch" ran. She ran as if her life depended on it. But it wasn't exactly like that. It was someone else's life.

Now she could see a lot more of her way than the last time she was passing through. Taylor had led her in quite a hurry through the darkness, but still she knew she was on the right track. The camp could not be too far away anymore. But what would she do when she got there? She had very few options, especially against someone as gigantic as Whitmore. Her stun weapon was holstered in her belt. Three shots remained after she had gunned down Sykes with a storm of laser blasts. "Pinch" shivered when she thought about it. Not only because at this moment she had completely lost it, but also because Whitmore was not to be impressed at all by those three remaining shots.

The rest she could put up against him was pathetic. She had brought one of those big knifes from Sykes which replaced that one knife she had thrown at her. And the item from the backpack was finally unpacked and prepared - she had done it in the presence of the children who watched her in amazement, but also worriedly. They couldn't even picture what "Pinch" intended to do with it. But that was all she could use against Whitmore. Apart from only her agility and her wits.

Soon she came within sight of the forested hills behind which the criminals' camp was located. She already could see the bushed in which Taylor had been hiding in the night. A thin trail of smoke was coming from behind there, the remains of a camp fire. And she heard loud screams of pain. It was a youthful voice that uttered those screams - it definitely wasn't Whitmore's!

"Pinch" was done for - this constant running with the heavy equipment had exhausted her, and she had taken a long way. But as she heard those screams, she ran even faster and pulled out her weapon. Whatever awaited her behind those bushes, three shots were still better than none.

Determined she approached the spot from where she heard the screams, and soon she had reached the bushes. Right next to them there was a big rock that provided some cover - it was the same rock she had picked as a hiding spot that night. She got to it with her gun drawn, crouched behind it and exhaustedly gasped for air. Her heart was thumping like crazy, the sounds around her were muffled by the sound of her own blood rushing in her ears. She had to take a second for gathering her strength again and to prepare for what was happening on the other side of that rock. Then she ducked out of her cover and took a glimpse.

She wasn't prepared for what she saw there. It was worse than anything she could have imagined.

Whitmore was alone with Jesper in that camp, Johnson was nowhere to be seen. Jesper was lying on the ground, his face covered in blood and agony, covering a wound in his side with tortured hands. Whitmore stood over him, beating him up, kicking him visciously. "Pinch" was horrified, and it pained her to see Jesper like this. My fault, she thought. He let me go. I am the reason he has to endure this now. Once more she felt the anger stirring up in her that she had felt in her fight with Sykes. It wasn't like she was very attached to Jesper in any way - at least not in a way she would have ever admitted to. But he had allowed her to escape. He had helped her. She owed him. And he didn't deserve what he was going through right now. Nobody deserved that.

Her gaze turned towards Whitmore, and her face darkened. This big revolting guy seemed to outright enjoy doing this to his own nephew. That did it! The line of what "Pinch" was ready to take sitting down was crossed now. The warning voice in the back of her head reminded her that she had had similar thoughts towards Sykes before she had gone berserk. It warned her that she had never wanted to experience that again. But in this moment "Pinch" wasn't even sure if those feelings were not appropriate in this kind of situation. You think you get away with this, and nobody does anything about it? The pure thought of it being possibly true - that people like Whitmore or Sykes could do anything they wanted without anybody able to touch them - brought "Pinch" to her boiling point. You think you will go unpunished? Not this time!

This anger gave her power. Without hesitation she jumped out of her cover, raised the gun and fired.

Nobody could ever match Whitmore in astonishment in this very moment when the whirring energy beam hit him in the side, right at the moment when he was about to punch Jesper one more time. Unlike Sykes he didn't even stagger. But the mixture of horrified disbelief and unmeasurable puzzlement about what just hit him compensated well enough for that. For a brief moment "Pinch" thought that he still might fall down if he believed strongly enough to be hit by a deadly laser blast. She even hoped for it. But to her regret Whitmore wasn't really that stupid. As he clutched his side where the blast had hit him and realized that there was no hole in his body, he turned his puzzled look towards "Pinch".

"What the hell?" he grumbled. "Who are you?" Just like Sykes he didn't recognize her.

"Pinch" fired once more and hit the big guy in his left shoulder. This time the blast had him stumble backwards one small step. It wasn't by far what she had hoped for, but still better than nothing. And it gave her time to prepare for the most important shot. The gun in both hands, the feet positioned in a stable stance, the aim right before her eyes, with her target right behind it. Just like Jackson had taught her. Her finger moved, her eyes had fixated the target with cold determination. At the end of this equation was Whitmore's bald shaven head. And she pulled the trigger.

This third blast hit him right between the eyes. Whitmore staggered visibly. Dazed he stumbled on the spot, clutching his forehead with insecure movements. For a few seconds he didn't seem to tell left from right. But he didn't fall. As he overcame his dazzleness and regained his balance, he stood tall and turned his entire attention towards "Pinch". He was furious, no doubt about that. But there was something else: He couldn't believe what had just happened.

"Pinch" kept her gun pointed at him. He couldn't know that it was empty. "Leave him alone, you oversized skunk!" she hissed at him. "Or you're going to face me."

Upon hearing her voice Whitmore finally understood who he was up against. "You?" he asked, now completely stunned, almost like an echo from Sykes who had shown the same reaction. "That can't be!"

Jesper had been watching those events up until this point, and he couldn't believe it either. With a bloodied swollen face, using up his remaining strength to prop himself up with one arm, he stared at "Pinch". "You can't do this!" he cried out. "He'll kill you!"

He was probably right. For a short moment "Pinch" wasn't sure. She was facing a mountain of muscles with no reservation about ending her. A brief glimpse brushed over the holster in Whitmore's broad belt, containing a laser weapon which for sure didn't fire stun rays. There was no shame in running away now. At least that was what her wits told her.

But the rest of her... "Leave him!" she yelled. "Now! Or I send you straight to hell."

It took him a little longer than others. But eventually Whitmore got a grasp on the situation. "With that pea shooter?" His hand slid towards the grip of his own laser - cautiously, since he still assumed her gun was loaded. "Shall I show you how real men handle this kind of things?"

"Pinch" raised her weapon to threaten him, but that wouldn't impress this giant anymore. As his palm touched the handle she realized that she had lost. She stood her ground, pointing the weapon forwards, but her gaze went around, looking desperately for something that would save her...

And then it came to her like a flash. Her young face turned up a triumphant grin. Whitmore had his strength and his gun with which he could effortlessly kill her. All the odds were stacked against her. But still she knew right at this moment that she would finish him. She felt it with every fibre of her body, and this confidence radiated from her eyes brighter than any laser beam she could ever fire from her gun. She knew exactly what to do.

Whitmore saw her smile, and again he hesitated in confusion. Perhaps he felt it, too, that there was something working against him although he had the upper hand. Finally he decided to discart his doubts. Without giving it another thought, he pulled the gun from the holster.

At the same second "Pinch" started to run, dropping the gun in the meantime.

She dodn't run away though. She ran fast enough to evade the first deadly shot from Whitmore's pistol with ease, and circled the camp in a wide bow. Another shot discharged, the blast hitting the bark of the tree under which Vera had spent her horrible night, letting sparks fly from it. "Pinch" turned inwards, moved with her best speed towards the centre of the camp. In her head she skimmed her options and the ones Whitmore had left. Two shot are out - eight are remaining. Straight ahead there was the campfire, with some pieces of wood still smoldering slightly. The tents were right behind it. She had to do it cleverly for it to be successful...

The third blast went off. Too low this time. Barely one yard away from "Pinch" it went into the ground and made dirt and rock burst.

"Pinch" reached the campfire and stormed right through it, kicking a few of these smoldering pieces of wood into the tents. But she didn't slow down. While the wood pieces landed close to the tent which was turned from brown to black under the flames, she kept on charging through the camp, looking for more spots to cause havoc. The fourth laser blast hissed, but it missed her, too.

"Damn it!" Whitmore yelled. "Freeze, you brat!"

"Pinch" still ran. Because this time she realized that her life was at stake. Next to another tent there was a collection of camping dishes and cans with supplies piled up. She trampled right through it, kicking over metal pans and pots and disarranged everything without slowing down. That chaos she was leaving behind wouldn't do her much good in the fight - but it left evidence for the mercenaries and everybody else who would come here to investigate.

"That does it..." As she heard those grumbled words from Whitmore, "Pinch" turned her head slightly towards him and saw him taking the pistol in both hands to aim more carefully. Horrified she saw that his next shot would not miss her, no matter how fast she ran. She made another turn, nearly stumbling upon her own feet in the process, hoping that he wouldn't adapt to it and botch another shot. But that didn't happen. Grimly Whitmore looked over the aim of his gun at her, waiting for the right moment. And "Pinch" ran out of ideas.

But this moment never came. Suddenly something jumped Whitmore from the side. "You bastard!" Jesper yelled, his voice failing him. With all his might he leeched onto his uncle and tried to take the gun.

"What... Are you crazy?" Whitmore was far too puzzled to really get angry, and although he was much stronger than Jesper, he couldn't manage to shake this boy off. Then Jesper came in touch with the gun and pressed Whitmore's finger on the trigger. The fifth blast discharged, went right into the ground in front of them and splashed dirt everywhere.

"Pinch", having stopped at this moment in sight of all this, gasped for air and stared at the scenery with growing horror. What the hell are you doing?, she wanted to scream. One thing was certain: Her plan was done for. And she had to do something, otherwise this rescue would have been for naught. But what to do now?

Stop thinking! The voice in her head positively yelled at her. Get your butt moving and do something!

Shot number six blasted more dirt out of the ground, but Whitmore started to regain the upper hand. Despite his desperate, but heroic attempts Jesper couldn't keep clinging to him, and even the weapon got out of his reach as Whitmore started shaking like a mad bear. Jesper tried to clinch with his legs, but he was injured so badly that his grip came loose almost immediately. Then he fell to the ground, and Whitmore finally freed himself. "You damn slob!" he shouted.  "Wait until I..."

That was as far as he got. A small foot in a durable hiking boot hit him full force at his left shin. Whitmore's words ended in a painful howling, and without thinking he bowed and felt with one hand for his leg while the other was still holding the gun. He also lowered his head substantially - low enough for "Pinch's reach.

Jesper got on his feet again and threw himself on Whitmore's gun in a desperate final attempt.

"Pinch" turned around at Whitmore's other side, hauled off and smashed her elbow onto his cheek with all her power.

The tent exploded.

In some way Whitmore would have expected the two youths engaging him with all they got, and those attacks actually were no real surprise to him. But the tent going up with a loud bang, splashing burning liquids in several directions, gave him at this moment a tremendous shock. Tremendous enough to allow "Pinch" to land a second hit with her elbow and for Jesper to attack Whitmore's hand so effectively that the gun dropped. Only then the big man reacted, first by putting Jesper down on the ground with a powerful kick, then by grabbing "Pinch" by the collar of her jacket and throwing her. She flew across the camp in a wide bow and landed on the ground at least ten feet away. That impact was so heavy that she stayed down for a moment, bedazzled, wondering if she had fractured something.

Another bang sounded, a new cloud of smoke and fire arose from the remains of that tent. Whitmore stared at it in complete horror. "Those were my supplies" he mumbled. "What have you done, you tyke?"

"Pinch" had trouble raising her head. But as she did, she showed a faint smile. "I just told every mercenary in the area where to find you, you filthy scoundrel."

Whitmore gazed at her. He, too, had trouble accepting the fact that she was the same girl from two nights ago. But then his facial expression changed, showing the full extent of his anger. Whoever she was, he didn't care anymore. Taking heavy, threatening steps, he approached her. She had no time to get up and escape before he reached her and grabbed her by the collar once more. "I was planning to let you live..." he rowled at her. His foul breath blew right into her face, and "Pinch" turned away in disgust. For a moment she wondered if it gave her some advantage if she puked on him. "But you know what? I think it will be more fun to kill you while my failure of a nephew has to watch."

"No!" Jesper yelled panicky. "Don't do it!" He seemed even more frightened than before when he himself was the victim of this guy. Almost as if "Pinch's" life meant more to him than his own. "Pinch" found this thought... peculiar, to put it mildly.

Yet she wasn't to be intimidated by this thread. "If you say so", she moaned and squinched her face in disgust as she breathed in another cloud of Whitmore's bad breath. "But do the galaxy a favour and brush your teeth, man!"

Apparently she hit a nerve with that. Anger flashed in Whitmore's eyes, and without hesitation he raised his hand and gave her a violent slap to the face. The bang when his hand hit her cheek was even louder for her than the explosion of the tent, even nearly louder than the explosion of the tunnel before. Her head was pushed to the side as if it was about to fly from her shoulders. It did not hurt - at least not in the first second. For that she was way to dizzy. But then her cheek started to glow and burn. In addition to that her lip had split open, and she tasted salty blood in her mouth.

As the dizzyness faded away and she was able to see clearly again, she defiantly looked Whitmore straight in the face. She grinned, giving her a ghastly look with that injured lip. "Is that all you got?" she asked. She showed no fear. She had none. What Whitmore did was mean and contemptible. He might be stronger than her - much stronger, as she had to admit. Even Igor would have had trouble facing him mano a mano. But using his strength for more than beating up weaker people didn't seem to ever cross his mind.

Johnson shouldn't have left you alone, she thought by herself. Then you might have stood a chance.

"Leave her alone, you scum!" Jesper screamed, completely losing it. After that kick he had received he was still down on the ground, struggling to get up again. His screams and his attempts to protect "Pinch" started to annoy her.

"Stay out of this, Jesper!" she yelled vigorously and angrily, without turning her glance away from Whitmore. "This is between grown-ups."

Whitmore raised his eyebrows. "You think you are grown up? Seriously?"

She almost got him. She only had to push a little further. On the inside she braced herself for what would follow next. Then she threw the next insult full frontal into his visage: "Unlike you I know how to wash myself..."

Whitmore hauled off and hit again, this time with the back of his hand. But even with "Pinch" having prepared herself for it, this hit was as hard as the first one. Here goes the next concussion, she thought by herself. At least her lips didn't take another injury this time. His eyes were full of hate, not turning awayone inch from her face. So she could feel with her left hand for her belt without him noticing... "That's unfair" she playfully moaned. "I can't even tell if I am going to faint from your slaps or from your stink..."

Yet again Whitmore prepared another slap to punish her. "Pinch" watched his hand being raised to her face. Any moment now...

As he hit, she pulled her arm up. His palm never reached her face. Instead it met the point of Sykes' combat knife which "Pinch" had held up in this moment right before her face and rammed itself  onto the blade till it reached the hilt.

Whitmore wailed. His wild, painful howl echoed over the entire plain and over the mountains. He let "Pinch" go at this moment, and she fell down three feet to the ground. So she let go off the knife that now was stuck into Whitmore's hand. Ungently she landed on her butt again, but this time she sat up straight and looked up. Whitmore had apparently forgotten all about her - he was howling like a wounded wolf, holding his pierced hand while tears were coming to his eyes. Gotcha, "Pinch" thought with enormous satisfaction. That's for hitting children in the face. Karma can be a real bitch. She felt for her injured lip and looked at the gleaming red blood on her fingertips. Never before had somebody hit her in the face. Never again would anybody dare to if she had anything to say about it.

"Vera!" Jesper called. "Get away from there! Quick!" She looked over to him and startled. He was still lying on the ground. But this time he had picked up the weapon his uncle had dropped. And he was pointing it at him.

Even with the pain nearly driving him insane, Whitmore did notice it. He slowly turned around, holding his wounded hand. But he wasn't able to pull the knife out. "Forget it, boy!" he exclaimed through grinding teeth. "That thing is empty. I fired the last six shots."

He left "Pinch" alone on the ground, trudging quickly towards Jesper who now looked down on the weapon unsure. As he turned his back on her, she remembered something: that item she was carrying with her... She put her hand under the combat jacket. I hope this still works... "He's bluffing" she called out to Jesper. "It's a trick. Shoot!"

Jesper did not. Until Whitmore was over him and kicked the weapon out of his hand. The laser flew away in a wide bow, far out of reach of Jesper or "Pinch". The big guy bowed down, grabbed his nephew with one hand and pulled him up. "Now I am really fed up with all this" Whitmore growled furiously. Jesper didn't put up a fight anymore. He kept moaning, but was too beat up to do anything against his uncle. Horrified "Pinch" realized that the mountain ended in the direction Whitmore was moving. The cliffside with which he had threatened her before was only a few yards away from the camp, and the drop behind it was frightfully deep.

Her hand felt under the jacket until it found what she was looking for. Just in time before the giant and Jesper had reached the edge of that cliff. "Hey!" she screamed at them. "We're not done here."

"Shut your dumb trap, you brat!" Whitmore yelled back at her. "I promise you'll get what's coming to you."

Maybe he didn't take too well that she stuck this knife into his hand? "Pinch" would have grinned, had this situation been less dramatic. But she had to prevent him from going through with his plan and throwing Jesper off the edge. Then something came to her mind... "That's what Skyes said, too" she challenged Whitmore. "Not that it did her much good though."

It worked. Whitmore paused and doubtfully looked at her. "Bollocks!" he exclaimed as he grasped what she was saying. "That's bollocks you're talking. Sykes is not beaten by by a kid like you."

"Oh yeah?" "Pinch" got up from the ground. "Then tell me where I got this knife from!"

Her jacket was now halfway open, the item underneath ready... Whitmore fully turned around to her, leaving Jesper on the ground who was barely moving anymore. But while Whitmore examined the blade in his hand more closely, "Pinch" looked around for something. One thing was missing for her to end all this... She found it, only two steps away on the ground. She took those two steps in the exact moment Whitmore recognized the knife - and understood that she was telling the truth. "How the hell...?" He struggled to keep it together. "She's nuts anyway" he talked himself down. "Can't be too difficult to knock her down."

"Really?" "Pinch" snorted. "And what about you? No brain, just brawn. And just like Sykes you like to beat up people not able to fight back. I tell you now, you disgusting pile of horsedung that not even the Dawn Serpents would hire: You think I came here for Jesper? He means nothing to me." She made a dramatic pause for Whitmore to follow what she had to say to him: "It is you I came for, you big stinking garbage heap!"

Whitmore was not the brightest in a long shot, but he got what she said. "You wanna finish me off?" he asked bellowing. "You? Me? For real?" With a short glimpse at Jesper to make sure that he wouldn't try anything stupid, he took one step towards her. "Then why don't you come and try, you midget? Show me what you've got! Come on!"

With pleasure! "Pinch" picked up what she had been looking for - a thick branch, for her an ideal sturdy bat. Then she started moving towards him. First slowly, but accelerating with every step. Whitmore grinned gloatingly. "Come on now!" he hollered at her. "Give it to me, kid! Come on!"

"Pinch's" steps kept accelerating, the bat in one hand, ready to strike. Moving turned into running, then into charging. The distance between her and her giant opponent shrunk more and more. She saw Whitmore clenching his unharmed hand into a fist, saw Jesper observing her charge in horror, unable to do anything about it. She saw how he watched this whole scene - an unstoppable object moving towards an unmovable obstacle without anyone being able to determine the outcome. Just like Whitmore Jesper had to have an idea of what as about to happen, and he couldn't have liked that idea. Because all he saw was the girl he had fed and talked to - that one girl he had allowed to get away because unlike any other person in his life she meant something to him - was running unhampened and without hesitation into her own demise. Whitmore, too, had to be under the same impression - he showed a broad grin and waited. Unsuspecting.

But just before it happened, "Pinch" had another feeling about Jesper. For one short moment she felt like he really did understand... as if he knew what she was planning, or at least as if he felt that the next few seconds would allow more to happen than his eyes could predict. As if he had the same feeling "Pinch" had at the begin of this fight: She would finish Whitmore, no matter how bad the odds were, and she could be absolutely sure about that. Maybe he felt some of that confidence she radiated, even though it disappeared under the cloud of anger she felt towards Whitmore. No, right at this moment Jesper seemed to grasp what was happening - that in the instant "Pinch" would meet Whitmore, the entire universe could as well explode.

"Pinch's" combat jacket opened completely when she was still two yards away from Whitmore. "Pinch" almost wished for this moment to last eternally. So she could enjoy this dumbfounded expression on Whitmore's face even longer.

Then she pulled the clasp of the bomb vest.

She herself hardly felt anything. The flash grenades flashed up, but the devastating effect worked only in front of her, towards Whitmore. So did the bang that went off as the charge detonated, the sound went as a wave in all directions while sparing her. She felt sorry for Jesper, that he would be affected by the flash grenades as well, but she couldn't consider it right now.  The important thing was hitting Whitmore right in the face with it. Every mercenary botching up the exercise at the academy and triggering the explosion of the flash grenades had lost his senses and his orientation. The big scoundrel was no exception to that.

"Aaaargh!" he yelled and clutched his face with his unharmed hand. He almost used the hand with the knife stuck in it, but unfortunately he kept himself from doing so in the last second.

That didn't matter anyway. As the vest had exploded, "Pinch" had enough time to grab her bat with both hands and raise it. Then she struck with all her might.

The first strike hit Whitmore in his right hollow of the knee, let him break down. Without him being able to defend against it, he took the second hit right before his chest. "Pinch" swung the bat with all the power she could gather, hitting again and again. She landed a hit on Whitmore's injured hand, turning Whitmore's panicky screams into a painful howl of suffering and let him collapse even more. Then the branch impacted on his head. First from the left, then from the right. He tried to get on his feet and away from the attacks. But all it did for him was stumbling under every strike from "Pinch" and her bat backwards. Step by step towards the edge.

Every step driving him backwards to the cliff was accompanied by a furious shout from "Pinch", seemingly lending every strike some extra power. "Don't. Call. Me Little!"

With the final strike she crashed front and centre into Whitmore's face, the big villain lost his balance... and fell screaming. His scream ended in a loud, unpleasant sounding thump and died down. After that only the wind whispered around the cliffside. And next to "Pinch" Jesper was heavily breathing on the ground.

Her racing heart started to calm down again. This tended to become a permanent sentiment for her. And again she felt trembling. She dropped the bat without regarding it. But she kept standing at the cliff for a moment, motionless, her gaze directed towards afar without truly seeing. Her thoughts ravaged through her head without giving her one moment of clarity, as she felt through her fast breathing how exhausted she really was. The events here had asked a lot of her. Only as the shaking of her arms and the pumping in her chest had eased off a little, she found the courage to look down over the edge of the cliff.

The sight was anything but pretty. Still she was relieved. Whitmore had fallen several metres down and landed on rocky ground. Any normal person would have been killed by this fall - Jesper wouldn't have stood a chance. But Whitmore was not a normal person. He looked back up at her, moved his mouth as if he wanted to say something. But he could not utter one word. Moving was completely out of the question for him - his arms and legs were spread out like the limbs of a limp puppet, and even if his fingers twitched a little, that is all the movement he was capable of. He stared upwards with a facial expression covered in pain, in which she could read how much this defeat ashamed him. As long as she kept looking at him, he kept on breathing, moaned without uttering an intelligable word. There she knew that he would survive. It comforted her.

She took a glimpse of Jesper. He didn't look much better than his uncle at the moment. But at least he managed to show a faint smile. "You did it" he whispered as if he still couldn't believe it.

"Pinch" nodded. She didn't say anything though. There was nothing to say about it. Examining she looked around. The tent with Whitmore's supplies was still burning, the rest of the camp was pure chaos. She had really been on a rampage here. With a shrug she turned her attention back to Jesper. "Help will soon come here" she explained to him. "I'm with the mercenary academy. My people are already on their way."

Jesper listened to her explanations in astonishment. He said nothing, but "Pinch" could see the mixed feelings he had in his eyes. Of course it surprised him to learn that she was with the mercenaries. But he was also wondering what would become of him. And "Pinch" couldn't provide an answer to that. Apart from someone taking care of his injuries and he would live. However, wherever that might be.

Besides, she wasn't done yet. "Jesper, where is Johnson?" she finally asked him. "Where did he go?"

Jesper's expression turned into worry. He realizied what she was planning. "To his ship" he exclaimed tiredly. "Let him go. You can't stop him."

"Pinch" gave him a confident smile. "Yes I can" she replied. "I have come this far. And you know now that I am not alone. Which direction?"

With a nod Jesper pointed at the direction. With considerable strain he also tried to sit up. "Not alone" he said. She wasn't sure whether it was him repeating her, or if he tried to say something else. His next words made it clear: "I'm coming with you."

"Forget it!" "Pinch" pushed him back to the ground. "You are not in the condition to come with me. Then I'll never get to him. You stay here!"

There was nothing he could do. He had to accept it. "Then... take my laser!" He pointed with a weak movement of his hand at some of the boxes stacked at the side of the camp that had lived through the fight undamaged. "The box... top right. It has full charge."

"Pinch" nodded thankfully. This was really some help she could do with. She examined the boy. He had taken a heavy beating, but he didn't look as bad as Tammy after the crash. He would survive for sure until the mercenaries would come and take him to the medical centre. No matter who he was and what he had done, the doctors would take good care of him due to his age alone and get him back on his feet. And then... that would remain to be seen.

There was still so much she could have said to him, and his eyes were full of questions. But there was no time left. With a gentle smile as a bid of farewell "Pinch" stood up and went for the box that Jesper had pointed out.

"Wait!" Jesper called out eventually, overcoming his coyness for one moment. "What you said back then... that I don't mean anyhing to you. That you only came for my uncle. Is that true?"

"Pinch" turned around to face him. She had feared that this question would come up. He had let her go and risked his neck for that. Just for that she had wanted to save him. Because it was the right thing, and because she felt she owed it to him. Sykes apparently had not be completely wrong with her assumption that he felt something for her in a particular war. His behavior during the fight with Whitmore had confirmed that. She saw hope in his face as he waited for an answer.

Sie was sorry to crush this hope. But if he deserved one thing from her, then it was honesty. She felt nothing for him what she wouldn't feel for Vanna and the other children, too. Even if it pained her, he deserved the truth.

"It is true" she then said and gave it a remorseful shrug. "I am sorry."