Shan Kar swung to Sloan. "It's not true, is it?"
Sloan shrugged. "I had Piet work the kid over. He could have talked. Was it our fault if he made it tough for himself?"
Sloan grinned. "You should have realized what I did, Nelson. If the Guardian of the Brotherhood holds the secret of the way into the Cavern as an hereditary trust, his son would know it too."
"And now you know it."
"That's right, Nelson. Now I know it."
Shan Kar said incredulously, "You tortured that secret out of him?"
"Come off it," Sloan answered disgustedly. "You'd have killed him yourself."
"A clean death, the fortunes of war-that's one thing," said Shan Kar. "But torture of a helpless prisoner, a boy—"
"Listen," said Nick Sloan harshly, "I came here for platinum and I'm going to get it. I have the secret of the Cavern now and in the morning we start our drive on Vruun. If you're with me, Shan Kar, that's fine. If you're not, that's fine too, and the Brotherhood, what's left of it, can do what they want to you after I'm gone."
He grinned and added, "From what they did to Nelson, I don't think you'd like what they'd do to you."