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"It is indeed Durge," one said in its cold robotic voice.

Grievous turned his horrible eyes upon Wat Tam-bor. "You said it was a Mandalorian warrior," he said.

Wat Tambor looked at him. "He must have brought reinforcements," he replied.

"It is no matter," said Grievous.

Boba sent another bolt flying from the ion stunner at the bodyguards. Then he turned and started racing for the door.

The holoshroud's illusion would last for only two minutes. How much time was left? Enough to make the bodyguards hesitate before attacking him again?

Everything around him was a glowing blur as he ran for the arch. If he could only escape from this chamber, he could hide within the citadel.

He already had a plan for utilizing those tentacles to capture Wat Tambor. If only he could -

Vvvvvvmmmmmm...

The hum from the holoshroud's power cell suddenly grew silent.

Around Boba, the veil of Durge's image flickered into pixels of color.

For a second he could see himself clearly, as the others had seen him: not Boba but Durge, his mighty arm raised to fire, Boba's weapon shrouded in the image of Durge's own blaster.

Then the holoshroud's illusion was gone. The power cell had run out.

And so had Boba's luck.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"That is him! The intruder!"

Wat Tambor's voice rang out like a clear bell. Boba watched as Grievous and his two bodyguards turned to stare at him.

"You are not Durge, as I suspected." Grievous's voice was cold, with no trace of human emotion. "But you will die all the same!"

He lifted his arm. Before Boba could move, Grievous gave a command.

A blinding flash of energy leaped from an unseen weapon held by one of his bodyguards. It struck Boba in the chest and he fell, another piece of his father's armor smoking and cracked.

"Get him," commanded Grievous.

The droid bodyguards sprang forward. But Boba's body armor had absorbed the blow's impact. He rolled to one side, struggling to his feet and backing against the wall.

"You won't take me!" he yelled.

"Maybe not alive," said Wat Tambor calmly. "But dead will suit us just as well."

The droids stalked toward Boba. He grasped a blaster in each of his hands and raised them. He waited until the droids were just meters from him. Then, ducking, he fired and darted to one side.

KABLOWWW!

The blasts bounced harmlessly from the droids. They swiveled, firing in staccato bursts. Boba fired back.

KABLAAM!

He inched along the wall, blasters flaming. If I can just reach the door, he thought desperately.

There was another blast of power from the droids. Right above Boba's head the wall fragmented. He took advantage of the cloud of splintered metal and mushroom ooze, and ran.

Beside him fresher, cooler air streamed from the dimness - the tunnel. Boba made for it, his breath coming in short, deep bursts as he ran. He could hear the clack of the droids' measured footsteps behind him. He could imagine their arms raised, and that terrible, cloaked figure watching

Don't think! Move!

He dove for the entrance. Cool air embraced him, and blessed darkness. His feet touched the now-familiar, slimy surface. Before him stretched the passage. Just up ahead it divided.

If I can make that fork, I can lose them, Boba thought. His heart strained as he raced toward it. If I can just Searing pain tore through him.

Boba cried out in agony.

He struggled a few steps more.

Another torturous stab penetrated his armor from behind.

He fell.

"So," an icy voice echoed through the tunnel "Now I see you as you truly are."

On the ground, Boba writhed, trying to reach his blaster and turning to look behind him. Above him the cloaked figure of General Grievous loomed into view - and in one hand it now gripped a lightsaber glowing in the haze.

How could this be? Was the general a Jedi?!

Grievous's eyes were yellow orbs within a skeletal, silvery mask.

Behind him stood Wat