"Something was pushing me, something that had very little to do with the look the Mongol had given me. Something dark that had spread its wings on the low-key misery of the cabin, something uncontrolled that Virginia Vidaura would have bawled me out for. I could hear Jimmy de Soto whispering in my ear. "You waiting for me?" I asked the Mongol's back, and saw how the muscles in it tensed. Maybe one of the dealers felt it coming. He held up his exposed hand in a placatory gesture. "Look, man," he began weakly. I sliced him a glance out of the corner of my eye, and he shut up. "I said--" That was when it all came apart."