Ryder had no intention of shutting up--nothing could get in the way of his amusement, even getting shot. He'd been proud of Halsey, once Halsey had gotten up the nerve to pull the trigger. And hey, in his experience it was sometimes the Bible-thumpers who made the best killers--convince them they were on a crusade, and the'd hunt you down with every sense they possessed.

"Sorry," he said, tapping out another cigarette. "Inside joke." So inside, in fact, that nobody else who'd ever heard it had lived.