The man's lifeless voice drifted lightly through the air, so faint that Albert almost thought he'd imagined it.
He was wrong.
It wasn't an illusion.
Because in the very next second, Jameson's ghostlike, cold, hollow voice abruptly closed a distance of several dozen meters and exploded right beside Albert's ear.
"You're the thief."
As the words fell, Albert's feet left the ground.
His body was suddenly suspended in midair as Jameson grabbed him by the back of the collar from behind. Four ant wings on Jameson's back tore violently through the air, beating furiously as he carried Albert away from the tunnel entrance at breakneck speed—straight toward another opening on the opposite side of the nest, hundreds of meters away.
"Albert!"
Behind them, the battered white great cat shouted his name in panic.
