Chapter 27: What Breck Does With His Hands

The lead rider did not hurry. That was the first thing I noticed — that he brought his horse forward at a deliberate walk, the way a man crosses a room when he has already locked the doors. The six behind him held their positions on the terrace with the patient discipline of people who have been told, specifically, not to do anything until they are told to do something else.

The arrangement had been conditional on delivery. There would be no delivery. I watched the lead rider absorb this arithmetic through the stillness of his face, and I thought: he has been in this position before. Not this position exactly. But the one where the plan has changed and the only remaining question is which version of not-the-plan serves him best.

I had perhaps four seconds before he answered that question.