Zakar stared at Justin for a long moment, piecing things together with the cold, methodical logic of an ex-assassin. The Negative Entity was using both of them for its games. That much he could see. But the pattern beneath the cruelty was what worried him most.
If the kidnappers told Justin to kill him to free Sera and then still took Sera and Myia away. Not only did they do that, they tasked him to kill Justin to get them back. What did that imply? Only one answer made sense to a man who'd spent his life setting traps and reading men: they wanted the whole team to be reduced to ash. If Justin and Zakar fought to the death, if both were taken out of the equation, the Negative Entity would still have their trophies. It was simple, brutal calculus.
