vanquished Jellies.

Dark stopped and held up his hand, halting the advance of his little
group.

"We're too badly outnumbered now," he said. "Let's collect Happy and
Shadow and get back down to the vats, where we can hide until the
Phoenix break in."

The Masters had seen them now, and started to move up the corridor
toward them in a group, but were still ten or fifteen feet out of
heatgun range. Dark was not surprised to see that one of the group was
Nuwell.

Dark and Maya turned back toward the entrance toward the underground
vats, but stopped as Old Beard emitted a growl of recognition.

One of the three men who had emerged from the room was skinny, goateed
Goat Hennessey, and he was coming forward now in the forefront of the
group, a heatgun in his hand.

"Dark, you and Maya go on without me," said Old Beard very quietly. "I
have a score to settle."

Dark turned back, his mouth open to protest, but Old Beard had already
started swiftly down the corridor toward the oncoming group.

"Wait!" cried Dark, and started to run after him. But, in his haste,
Dark tripped over the corpse of a Jelly and fell sprawling. In the
moments it took Dark to scramble to his feet and recover his dropped
heatgun from the floor, the drama ahead of him flashed like lightning to
its conclusion.

Old Beard ran down the corridor toward the group of Masters, leaping
lightly over the bodies of Jellies in his path, his gray hair streaming
out behind him.

"Goat Hennessey!" he thundered, his voice reverberating from the walls
of the corridor. "You betrayed me and killed my wife! Now the time has
come for you to pay for your crimes!"

The Masters stopped in their tracks, frozen at the sight of this figure
of retribution charging down on them. In their forefront, Goat stood
staring, open-mouthed, not comprehending until the full impact of Old
Beard's words broke upon him. Then, recognition dawning, he squawled in
amazement and fear:

"Dark Kensington!"

With that cry, Goat turned in terror to escape. But Dark was now within
range, and the intense beam of his downward-chopping heatgun caught Goat
at the base of the skull and swept all the way down his back. Goat
Hennessey plunged forward to the floor, dead, his spine burned away.

Even as Goat fell, his companions emerged from their paralysis. The
beams of five heatguns focussed on Old Beard, and he died in a burst of
flame that flared from wall to wall of the narrow corridor.