'And to you, Captain Control,' Thrawn replied, inclining his head slightly. 'I don't expect to see you or any of your pirates in Imperial space again.'
Control swallowed visibly. 'No, sir,' he said as he backed toward the door to the secret passageway. 'You won't.'
He slipped into the doorway and vanished. 'I hope letting him go was the right thing to do,' Disra muttered. Pellaeon was at the other end of that passageway, and they only had Control's word that he wasn't interested in revenge.
'Don't worry,' Thrawn assured him. 'As you already pointed out, he put a great deal of time and thought into maneuvering Zothip here this way. No, he'll head directly back to his ship with his tale of woe, and that will be that.'
'What about her?' Tierce asked, nodding at the woman. He had lowered his blaster as ordered, but was still holding it ready at his side. 'She
'I came in behind them,' the woman corrected. 'I overheard a comment about clones and pirate arrangements with the Empire and—'
'Clones?' Disra cut her off. 'Who was talking about clones?' She regarded him coolly. 'A couple of New Republic agents named Han Solo and Lando Calrissian,' she said. 'You may have heard of them.'
'I believe we have, yes,' Thrawn said with an easy smile. 'Actually, we're trying to make contact with them at the moment.'
Her lip twitched. 'I'll bet you are.'
'But more interesting to me,' Thrawn continued, 'would be to hear your response to the offer I made to you a few minutes ago.'
She frowned. 'What offer?'
'Don't you remember?' Thrawn asked. 'I pointed out that your recovery to my appearance had been a bit slow, but otherwise not bad. I then spoke of the Empire's wish to acquire allies.' Her forehead furrowed. 'What are you talking about?' she demanded. 'You made that offer to Zothip, not me. You didn't even know I was there.'
'On the contrary,' Thrawn said quietly. 'I knew full well you were there. And if you'll think back to my offer, you may notice that I never mentioned either Zothip or his pirates.' She stared at him, her face struggling as she obviously tried to sort out whether he was being truthful or feeding her a load of lies. Flim weaving yet another of his spells... and even with the audience prejudiced against him, it appeared to be working.
But right now Disra didn't have time to enjoy the show. 'I'm sure you and the lady have a great deal to discuss, Admiral,' he murmured, taking a step back toward the door. 'If you'll excuse me, though, I need to get back to Admiral Pellaeon.'
'Certainly, Your Excellency,' Thrawn said, dismissing him with a wave of his hand. 'Perhaps we'll move to another room to continue our discussion.' He lifted an eyebrow at the woman. 'Assuming, that is, you're interested in what my new Empire has to offer the Mistryl.'
'We've never worked for the Empire before,' the woman said cautiously as Disra stepped to the door and pulled it open.
'That was Palpatine's Empire,' Thrawn reminded her. 'The Empire I propose to rebuild—' The rest of the sales pitch was lost as Disra closed the door behind him and hurried down the corridors. The secret passageway would have been faster; but Pellaeon didn't know about that, and Disra would just as soon it be kept secret. Switching corridors, rounding the last corner, he headed down the main hallway toward the door guards. 'Has Admiral Pellaeon asked about me?' he asked as the guards saluted and stepped aside.
'No, Your Excellency,' one of them said as the double doors began to swing open. 'Actually, he's already left.'
Disra came to an abrupt stop. 'What do you mean, he's left?' he echoed, peering in through the opening doors. The office was indeed empty. 'Where did he go?'
'He didn't say, Your Excellency,' the guard said.
Disra stepped into the office, frowning around the room as the doors closed behind him. This made no sense. Why would Pellaeon and that slinker Dreyf just leave? Surely they hadn't simply decided to let him off the hook.
His eyes fell on his desk...
He was around the side of the desk in five quick strides, swearing the whole way, feeling a clammy sweat breaking out on his face. No. They couldn't have.
But they had. The hidden desk drawer had been forced open.
