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Jekri looked around and realized for the first time that they were in a storage area. She had been treated while lying not on a table but on a box of stacked bins.

T'Lar picked up a small box of some sort of medical supplies, opened the door, and peered out. She turned to face them, nodded, then flung the door open and strode out Verrak followed, men, taking a deep breath, so did Jekri.

The doctor was an accomplished actress, it would seem. Nothing about her body posture gave her away. She spoke as they strode down the corridor.

"How are those tests coming on the camanovirus toxicology estimates?" she asked. Two other doctors, deep in conversation, were approaching them.

Verrak looked at the padd. Jekri looked at it too, ducking her head to keep her face from being seen. 'It's highly effective, but that's just in the first round of tests," said Verrak. "The symptoms are exactly what we anticipated. Lesions, liquefaction of tissue, all predicted. We're on track."

"Excellent," said T'Lar. They came abreast of the two doctors, heard something about "immunological defects"; then they were past and their conversation lost.

It took Jekri several seconds to comprehend what their false conversation had been about Dr. T'Lar had been discussing using the nearly ninety-eight-percent lethal camanovirus, which had only recently jumped species from hlai to Romulan, as a biological weapon. She stumbled slightly.

Verrak quickly caught her elbow and propelled her forward. "Keep moving," he hissed.

She had not known about this. And anger rose inside her as she realized she, the chairman of the Tal Shiar, ought to have known. They were experimenting on their prisoners. Anger, relief, and terror flooded her system as she realized how fortunate she had been. Dr. T'Lar's ministrations had been far from tender, but Jekri had just been granted a brief glimpse into exactly how badly her imprisonment could have gone. The knowledge strengthened her trust in both T'Lar and Verrak.

They headed for the turbolift. "Exit," said T'Lar. She turned to face them. "When you reach the exit, keep walking. I've erased the identification marks of your predecessors and substituted your ID signatures. It's the usual, lingers, eyes, DNA scan." Her gaze flickered to Jekri. "I'm sure you're familiar with it."

"I am," replied Jekri. This woman might have been part of the mission to rescue her, but she had enjoyed her task of causing Jekri torment far too much for the Little Dagger to like her. "I assume our predecessors won't cause trouble?"

"They have been eliminated. The ruse will be detected soon enough, probably within the hour. But that should be enough time to get to the rendezvous point"

Jekri nodded her comprehension. Two doctors had been quietly killed, their identifying genetic markers switched with those of Jekri and Verrak. For a moment she felt a stirring of regret that innocent lives had been lost but then she recalled what the doctors here did. None of them could truly be called innocent

"Time is precious," said T'Lar. "The guard you killed could be discovered at any moment I would make haste, but be careful. Do not draw attention to yourself."

Jekri felt an expression of annoyance flit over her face. As if the chairman of the Tal Shiar-

No. She was no longer the chairman. She was something better, something that had been strong enough to survive when the chairman had fallen. She was the Little Dagger, and the Little Dagger understood covert operations better than anyone.

The door hissed open. They were in a small antechamber, only a few steps away from the green luminescence of a forcefield. On the wall at about eye level were two purple squares. Casually, Jekri and Verrak each placed their hands on the grid. The system "recognized" them and the field deactivated. They stepped forward into a second tiny antechamber.

For just a moment Jekri felt