Kurtis listens intently, trying to understand.
"You people really think I'm that easy to take down?" Kurtis grinned. "Not to mention that my superiors would more than probably notice my disappearance and send men after you."
He thought for a moment, then sighed. "But as I explained to Sleeper, we're all on the same side here. We gain nothing by trading threats."
He glanced at the floor, not easily offended but clearly not calm either.
"Is that a kind of . . . Aalma?" Kurtis asked, the foreign word clunky in his mouth.