The gaunt body stiffened ... straightened ... fell.
Jarl threw himself round, searching for Sais and rey Gundre.
They lay in a tumbled heap near the farthest wall. The commissioner was twitching, moaning faintly.
Jarl stumbled across to where he lay, tried to help him to turn over.
A blaster bolt had taken the man high in the chest. Blood already was trickling from his mouth. "Ylana—!" he gasped, then choked on the blood.
A moment later, he died.
Jarl turned to Sais.
She, too, was dead. She held a blaster in her hand—and her neck was broken.
Dully, head throbbing, Jarl remembered rey Gundre's mad, unexplained rush.
Now it needed no explanation.