19

"Hannah."

She heard her name but didn't want to open her eyes. Bad things happened when your eyes were forced open, always. A hand touched her shoulder, pushed up her sleeve. Something cold and wet touched her, followed by a pinprick. Without warning her eyes flew open and she could see the fluorescent lights in the ceiling of...where?

Then she remembered. Scott shot by the Shield, who never missed. Thomas lying in blood right beside him. McNamara grabbing her, hauling her away despite her kicking and screaming. She tried to sit up, but the restraints held her down on a cold, metal table.

"Stop it. Stop moving. You're going to hurt yourself."

McNamara. He held her shoulders, his hands in gloves and a mask not unlike the kind worn by Division Six covering his face. She couldn't reach him even if she wanted to, which she did, badly. She spat because there was nothing else she could do.

He wiped the spit off his mask.

"Take me to Scott or kill me now, because I swear I'll kill you faster than Miranda Dane."

"I can't. The Shield is disposing of his body as we speak."

"You can. Who's in charge around here?"

"I am — but Hannah, we have to evacuate."

"I don't give a shit what you think you have to do. You will bring Scott's body to me now. You will hook him to an IV and a cardiopulmonary bypass and I'm going to bring him back from the dead."

McNamara stilled, his whole body going rigid and indecision scrawled across his face. "Can you do it? Can you bring someone back from the dead?"

"Scott, yes. You, never. And I will kill you, McNamara. Make no mistake about that."

McNamara swallowed hard. He was entranced with her power. He wanted to see what she was capable of. Good, she'd keep him guessing right up until she killed him.

"I have to admit, it's a temptation. I could get a mobile refrigeration unit and keep his body stored until we — "

The door to the room slammed open. Hannah took the opportunity to look around. She was in an exam room, judging by the medical equipment lying around. The Shield entered, marching over to the table she was strapped to, cutting off her search for an escape route. "Took care of the bodies. What do you want me to do with the other subjects?"

The Shield snapped McNamara out his consideration for her plan, double damn him. Hannah lay back down on the table because holding her head up was awkward. Scott was gone and there was no bringing him back. Her heart broke, then reformed and hardened to thick black ice. There would be time for tears later, when she was alone. Right now, she had to escape, but not before she destroyed McNamara and the Shield if it was the last thing she did before she died. She just had to buy herself time. She had to take back her control.

McNamara's voice changed from admiration of her, to the tones of a man in charge. "Gather the older subjects into room four with one of the nurses and get them ready for transport. The two other nurses will handle the subjects in the lab."

Subjects. Miranda had called her Subject A. She'd called Joe Austin Subject B. McNamara was no different than Miranda. He was experimenting on Alts. She was right back where she started, in the clutches of the Court of Blood.

The Shield left the room without even looking at her. McNamara returned to her side.

"I'm sorry, Hannah, but time is not on our side. I can't risk retrieving Scott's body for you. You will have the opportunity to try resurrecting someone, I promise, but we cannot risk not getting out of here before T-CASS arrives. The vans will be here in five minutes. I've already activated the countdown sequence."

"What sequence? What countdown?"

"I have to destroy this place to erase any chance of anyone discovering it was here. It's the way the Court of Blood operates. No one can acquire any evidence of our existence." He laid a hand on her head. "You're one of us. We created you and it's time to bring you back home."

Home? Created her? What the hell did he mean? "Wait. You're going to blow up the hospital? Why? There are hundreds of patients, plus all the personnel. Maybe a thousand of them. What did they ever do to you?"

"It's not what they did to me, Hannah. I can't allow the Court to be exposed like this. That's how the Court has survived all these centuries. If anyone realizes that this level has existed for so long undetected, they'll start searching for our other facilities...and they'll start searching for us. We cannot allow that. Our work is too important. You're too important."

"There's nothing I can do to stop you. Nothing you want that I have that I can bargain with to stop the bombs."

"I have you, Hannah. You're all I need." He swept her hair off her forehead. She fought not to flinch.

"Let me go."

"I can't do that — "

"I mean, let me get up and move. Keeping me chained here is only going to slow you down."

McNamara stared at her. "If you try to escape — "

"Oh, c'mon. Don't treat me like I'm some idiot. You just shot two people who loved me. You're about to kill over a thousand people. You claim that I'm important, that you want to bring me home, but nothing says you have to bring me home awake or in one piece. I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize myself."

He still wasn't sure about her. Hell, she wasn't sure about her, either. Everything she’d just said was true, but it also wasn't true at all.

"Look, you just said that the Court of Blood created me. I want to know where I came from. I only found out a week ago that Miranda wasn't my mother, and I just scattered the ashes of one of my step-fathers, so how about you give me a break? If the Court knows who my parents are, even if they're just egg and sperm donors, at least I'll know the truth."

It was all true, and still not true at all. She would find out from the Court about her parents, but that didn't mean McNamara had to live to see her triumph. Her murder scheme raged hot in her chest, but she fought like mad to keep it off her face. Kill McNamara and get the hospital evacuated.

He still looked down on her as if she were a bug. "I wasn't just any sperm donor. I was the ideal sperm donor."

Her ears closed to the words. If she didn't hear it, it wasn't true. And, yet...

"Us gingers have to stick together," he repeated.

Her stomach heaved. "Get me off this table before I puke."

McNamara must have believed her, because he released the restraints, but he didn't remove his gloves or mask. She heaved and McNamara grabbed a bucket. Her breakfast gone, he handed her a glass of water from a small sink. She rinsed out her mouth, then made her way to the sink to fill the cup again. She gulped down another two cups before wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

As she did so, she noticed that her phone had been tossed onto the counter. Using her body to block McNamara's view, she managed to grab the phone and shove it down the front of her pants. Not comfortable, but at least she had it. She rubbed her wrists to stop the shaking as she turned around, and quickly found them yanked back behind her and cuffed.

"What the hell?"

McNamara removed his mask at last. His red hair was the same shade as hers. Why hadn't she noticed before that it was the exact same shade? "I'm sorry,” he said, “but I'm not taking chances. We have fifteen minutes to get out of here, twenty-five before the bombs explode."

She wanted to faint, but instead she remembered her mission. Save the hospital. Kill McNamara — commit patricide. She'd figure that one out later. "Fine. What do I do now?"

"You don't do anything. I have someone I think you'll enjoy meeting."

They walked down a narrow corridor. The decor wasn't much more inspiring than that of Miranda's quarry prison, but at least the walls were a more cheerful yellow and there was no grating over the light fixtures. McNamara stopped in front of a room. Hannah couldn't help but notice a large number 4 on the door. He scanned his key card. No voice activation or palm scanning like at the Arena. Interesting.

He motioned her inside first. The room was lit with indirect lighting, its walls splashed with pastel colors, and toys were scattered across the floor.

She looked around. A woman wearing light blue long-sleeved scrubs stood off to the side, with a dozen young children gathered around her. She was struggling to get them dressed from a pile of clothes folded next to her. She wore gloves, and a face mask obscured her features, but allowed tufts of curly black hair to tumble around her head.

McNamara walked over to the woman. "Keep doing what you're doing. We have some time. I just need to borrow this one for minute."

Hannah knew even before McNamara walked the small boy over to her what he was doing. "Hannah, I want you to meet Jimmy Chung. The real Jimmy Chung. Jimmy, can you say hi to my friend Hannah?"

A pair of wide blue eyes stared up at her. The small, adorable face under a mess of curly blond hair looked nothing like what Jimmy Chung was supposed to look like.

"Can you say 'hi' to Hannah, Jimmy?" McNamara repeated.

The boy didn't say anything. Instead the word Mommy echoed through the room, just like she’d heard yesterday. Her throat closed, thick with a rage that went even beyond what she’d felt lying on the exam bed. "Why isn't he talking?"

"I don't know. He's been mute since the surgery, but his Alt ability is undeniable. We now have verification: Alt power is tied to the brain. We suspected it, but now we have proof."

Close. They were so close. She knew the truth about Alt power, but now that the Court of Blood had narrowed the search down to the brain, how long would it take for them to find the microscopic black thread? More importantly, what would they do with that information?

"Let me bloodsurf through him."

"No, we don't have time."

Hannah kicked McNamara. Damn that felt good. "Stop acting like an asshole. It'll take thirty seconds and I can fix him."

"There's nothing wrong with him." McNamara rubbed his ankle, getting himself down on one knee.

"Not from what I saw in...the other Jimmy. I told you the stitching was sloppy. What I didn't tell you was that the swollen nerve tissue you created is pressing against the bone. It's slowing down the nerve signals because of the uneven scarring over the wounds. That's why he was acting so odd. C'mon, let me do this. I'm about to lose everything I've ever wanted. Give me this. Let me take a closer look so that if you need to do this again, you can do it better, with less trauma. You're still a doctor. I'm a healer. Let me heal. Let me help. You don't even have to remove the handcuffs. Just one of my gloves."

Maybe there was still a hint of a medical ethics inside McNamara, because he checked his watch. "Thirty seconds. If you're not out in thirty seconds, I'll force you out."

Hannah had no idea how he would do that, so she rolled her eyes this time. "I have no more interest in dying in a bomb blast than you."

McNamara motioned for her to turn around. One of the gloves slipped off her hand.

"Hold him still so he doesn't move," Hannah said over her shoulder. McNamara still knelt on one knee, favoring the ankle she'd kicked. "Hey, Jimmy, want to see a magic trick?"

The boy nodded slowly, as if he wasn't sure if his head would stay on his shoulders.

"Okay, grab my hand."

Inside. She swam back to where she’d started from in the other Jimmy Chung: the place where the medulla oblongata ended and the spinal cord began. She soothed the bulge and allowed the signals to travel unimpeded. Then she returned to Jimmy's hand. If this was going to work, she'd have to move fast.

Back in her own body. She'd been so fast inside Jimmy, McNamara still hadn't reacted to the handcuffs and the phone on the floor. Before he could reach for her, she slapped one hand onto his cheek and surfed again.

Inside. How long did she have before McNamara pulled free? Already his arm had shifted. Did he wonder what would happen if he pulled away? She had no time to spare, so she pushed harder than she'd ever pushed before, surfing fast up the current to his brain. Not to kill him. Even if she wanted him dead, she couldn't bring herself to kill her own father.

The reticular activating system floated into view. She punched her way inside and scraped along the edges, creating a lesion. Almost immediately her center of gravity shifted. McNamara fell, his body no longer able to stay awake. Hannah swam up to the interthalamic adhesion. No black thread, so no Alt power. The normal firing of electrical activity slowed. She counted three beats, then swam back down his arm and fell back into herself.

Outside, McNamara had fallen forward onto her, firmly in a coma. Hannah shoved his body off her hers. Jimmy had run back to the nurse.

"Hey," the nurse shouted, shoving one of the kids off her lap, heading for Hannah to prevent her escape.

Hannah had no idea how suicidal McNamara's collaborators were, so she grabbed her phone and handcuffs and pelted the latter at the nurse’s face. The nurse ducked. The delay was just long enough for Hannah to run out the door and slam it closed.

She headed back the way she came, but the Shield came into view. Damn it. She ran in the other direction, but another shadow appeared on the wall where another corridor intersected with this one.

Behind her, the door to room four banged open. Like McNamara, the nurse grabbed her from behind. She was well and truly trapped.

The door slammed closed behind Scott. The dingy stairwell only headed down, so he jumped the steps to save time. The final level ended at another metal door. Thank God he didn't need a pass key for this one or he'd have been screwed.

The corridor on the other side surprised Scott. Instead of the dull institutional look of the stairwell, the walls were painted a cheerful yellow with bright lights above to give him a clear view ahead. He kept the Shield's gun at the ready. The first door he could see was near an intersection. If anyone rounded that corner he'd have no place to hide, and he'd have to be the first one to shoot.

He jogged to the door and flattened himself against the wall to make himself less of a target. He slid past the door to a large window that stretched about ten feet across. He peeked inside and his jaw dropped.

Babies. Lined up in a nursery, tucked into cribs. Some cried, some slept, some flailed their tiny arms and feet around. Two nurses weaved through the room, moving the cribs onto carts and lining them up at the door. They were preparing to evacuate. Scott checked his time — ten minutes. He had ten minutes to translocate all of these infants to the Arena. He hadn't even had a chance to find Hannah yet, or the Shield.

He waited until both nurses had their arms full of babies and their backs to the window so he could dash past. If fate were kind, there would be no one around the corner —

A door slammed, followed by a female voice shouting, "Shoot her!"

"I'll fucking kill you! Both of you!"

Hannah, swearing up a storm. Subtlety dropped; Scott raced around the corner in time to see Hannah jam her hand up the sleeve of a nurse, making skin-on-skin contact. Hannah turned translucent and the nurse, screaming, dropped like a rock. Hannah reappeared, only to see the Shield standing over her.

"Walk away," she said. "McNamara's in a coma. He can't help you. You touch me, you'll get the same treatment."

Scott's heart expanded at her tough talk. Hannah had not only taken out the nurse, but McNamara, too. He never should have doubted her ability to protect herself.

If the Shield was impressed with her threat, he didn't say so. "Stand up, so I can get you out of here alive."

Hannah froze, her bare hands raised, fingers curled to attack. Scott wanted to intervene, since Hannah probably couldn't get skin contact if the Shield had his barrier raised, but the Shield took that option away from him.

"I said, stand up." He grabbed her by the back of her shirt and hauled her to her feet. Then he shoved her toward Scott. "Move it."

Hannah saw him standing there. She broke away from the Shield and ran into his arms. He caught her, pulled her up so he could crush her to his chest, feel her arms wrapped around his neck.

"You're alive. I saw you lying there... Thomas...."

"Thomas is alive, too. He took a bullet to his arm, but he's alive."

Hannah kissed him, hard, soft, desperate, needing, and with all the power and passion he had ever wanted.

"We don't have time for this," the Shield growled, coming up from behind. "Bombs, remember?"

Hannah pulled away from him and he lowered her to the ground. "Why should we trust you? You shot Scott and Thomas."

"Do they look dead?"

Hannah had no answer to that, so Scott turned her back so he could cup her face in his hands. "His methods are brutal, but he's the one who kept us alive so we could alert the hospital and T-CASS. I need you to trust him."

Hannah blinked, getting her bearings. "There are children in the room back there. At least six. Toddlers. One of them is Jimmy Chung. McNamara performed a brain transplant. The others are also a part of his experiments."

Scott was surprised that he wasn't surprised. "I'll translocate them to the Arena, but there's something else you need to see."

He tugged her arm so she followed him back to the nursery, motioning her to keep her back flat against the wall.

"Oh, my God." Hannah whirled around to shout at the Shield. "You knew about this? You did nothing to stop it?"

"What do you think I've been doing for twenty-two years?"

"All right, enough." Scott pulled Hannah back from the edge before she antagonized the Shield into shooting both of them. "Like he said, we don't have time. I'll have to translocate both groups of children."

"How much time do we have left?" Hannah asked.

Scott checked. "Eight minutes."

"Can you do it? Can you get them and us out of here?"

Could he? He looked over Hannah's shoulder at the Shield. The Shield nodded, understanding Scott's silent question. "I can't do this if I'm worried about you. I need to know you're safe. My ability is still wild. I still might fail. For all of the strides I've made, I'm not going to take the chance with you. You are the only sure thing in my life."

Hannah swallowed. "What are you saying, Scott?"

He kissed her instead, but she knew what he was telling her. The kiss could have lasted a lifetime, but the clock continued to tick. He pulled away.

"Go." He turned away because he couldn't bear to look at her as the Shield forced Hannah to duck below the window and push her toward the exit.

Scott checked his watch. Six and a half minutes. Before he started though, he needed to make a phone call.

"Highlight," snapped the familiar voice.

"It's Scott. Is the Arena clear?"

"Clear and ready. You can do this."

Now she gave him her support? "I've got a nursery full of babies and a half dozen toddlers and a few Court of Blood agents. Watch yourself."

"Babies? Are you kidding?"

"I'm going to try to send the babies with their cribs, but no promises."

"Got it, Grey. Good luck."

So everyone kept telling him. He hung up. Pulling out the Shield's gun with the tranqs, he positioned himself outside the door. Three...two...one...

He slammed the door open. Both nurses turned around; one had a baby in hand. He shot the empty-handed one first, and the second held the baby close.

"You wouldn't shoot a woman with a baby, would you?"

"Put it down."

"No way. I'm getting out of here and she's coming with me."

Scott aimed for the woman’s thigh and fired. Down she went. Scott could only hope the baby wasn't concussed. He looked around. The cribs had been arranged in crèches of four. It would be faster if he sent four at a time. The baby on the floor had started crying, which set off all of the others.

Scott focused on the four closest to him. He imagined his arms, longer than normal, wrapping around all of the cribs together. He pushed them all into an image of the basketball court at the Arena — the Arena he remembered from his childhood, looking down from Thomas's skybox.

The group of babies disappeared, cribs and all. He wanted to call Highlight to make sure they made it, but he couldn't waste the time. If his crew hadn't deactivated the bombs by now, he wouldn't make it. None of them would.

The next group disappeared faster. Maybe he was getting used to using his ability. The drills with Highlight had served a purpose — to get an Alt to feel what their ability could do without hurting anyone. If he hadn't been such a rebellious brat, he might have succeeded the first time and not fallen for the Shield's more brutal version of getting the job done.

The fourth group disappeared on the heels of the third. It was like his concentration had a good dosing of lube — his commands slipped through to actions with lightning speed. He scooped up the screaming baby next to the unconscious nurse and placed it carefully back in the crib amongst the fifth group. As soon as Scott had her tucked away, he sent them to the Arena. He'd have to come back for the nurses if he had time.

Two and half minutes. He had to find the toddlers. He located the door next to the third unconscious nurse. He left her and McNamara on the floor. If he had time he'd get them out too, he would, but first...

A few of the toddlers were gathered around McNamara, shaking him, trying to get him to wake up. "Hey, kids. C'mon, gather around me okay?"

Most of them waddled over, but he had to chase down two. One minute. More wasted time trying to keep them together. He'd have to leave behind McNamara and the nurses. He threw his arms around as many of the kids as he could and pushed all of them to the Arena.

The crying babies echoed through the cavernous chamber and sang in his ears. There was no explosion. No searing heat or flames to scorch him alive. Scott lifted his head and saw all of the toddlers — safe and sound and looking at him like he was crazy. He could live with that. They all could live... would live. McNamara had failed.

"Grey."

Scott staggered as he tried to stand, but his legs couldn't quite make it. He'd done it. Everyone had lived. At least he hoped so.

Highlight stood over him, in her yellow uniform, her fascinator clipped behind her ear. She knelt down next to him.

"You did it. You saved them all. I knew you could."

He couldn't respond; everything was spinning. All around him people were being pressed into service to soothe the infants. Even the basketball players who'd arrived for practice were bouncing babies in their arms. The spinning wouldn't stop, though. Was this how Hannah felt when she didn't drink enough water before bloodsurfing?

"Hannah. Is she here?"

Highlight shook her head. "I haven't seen her, but that doesn't mean she's not in the building. If she came in through the roof entrance or the main lobby, she might have gone straight down to headquarters."

Would the Shield have taken her here? Would he have used his access to get her inside? Would he have joined her?

Scott pulled out his phone. "I need to call her."

Her phone rang twice before a familiar voice answered.

"She's not here, Grey."

It was the Shield, not Hannah. "Where is she?"

"She's busy. It's a long story. I'll tell you when I get there."

"I'm at the Arena. I got all the kids out."

"I don't train incompetents. Stay there. I'm coming to you."

"But what about Hannah? Where is she?"

"I said I'll explain when I get there. Don't go anywhere until I talk to you." The Shield cut the line.

"He won't tell me where Hannah is."

Highlight’s face softened. "C'mon. Let's get you away from here. I'll take you down to HQ. You expended a lot of energy doing what you did. We'll get you something to eat and drink."

She held out her hand, so Scott took it and tried to stand once more. Before he could topple over, Highlight secured a strong arm around his waist and guided him off the court. Before he left, he took one last look back. He did this. Hannah would be so happy.

The Shield kept a firm hand on Hannah's shoulder as he pushed her toward the exit. She shoved open the door and walked into a war zone.

Three black vans in various states of destruction lay scattered across the near empty garage. Bodies of men and women, all dressed like commandoes, littered the ground, some of them still moaning in pain.

"What the hell — "

From behind one of the vans a giant appeared, dragging another body behind him. He tossed the body next to one of the piles and began to disarm it.

"Who the hell is that?" the Shield growled at her.

"I have no idea."

The giant straightened up and noticed them staring.

"Hi, Hannah!" The giant waved, then jogged over to them, each step like thunder on the concrete. "Let me guess, leather man must be the mysterious Shield."

"Uh, yeah. Who are you?" Hannah stepped closer to the Shield, who had his guns in both hands.

"Oh, right. I'm Danny Rose. Nik's paramour. You've never seen me shift, but it's me."

The giant pulled the elastic out of his hair and let it fall to his shoulders. It had the same brown waves with golden highlights as Daniella Rose.

"You did all this? Where's Nik?"

Danny put his hair back into a bun and the Shield lowered his guns. "Disabling the bombs. We need to evac in case they miss one. I'm headed to the lobby to see if I can lend a hand with last-minute stragglers. Where are you headed?"

"First level," the Shield said. "I'm getting her out of here."

"You've got eight minutes — get going." Danny clapped his massive hand on the Shield's shoulder. He looked at it, but didn't try to shove it off. Danny either didn't notice or didn't care. "I'd say take one of these vans, but I don't think they're in any kind of working order."

"I have a cycle on the ground floor. Easier to get through traffic. We'll take the stairs."

Danny motioned them to follow as he headed toward another stairwell. Once they hit ground level they parted, Danny heading inside, the Shield pulling Hannah in the direction of his cycle. He straddled the bike and motioned Hannah to get on behind him. Two minutes and counting.

The Shield didn't bother with a helmet. The engine revved and they peeled out of the parking space at high speed. Hannah held on for dear life. Not since she and Scott had stolen the muscle car from the Left Fists had she felt like she was about to kiss the pavement. The Shield kept his promise and weaved expertly through traffic, speeding through red lights. After the last red light, Hannah buried her face against his jacket so she couldn't see anymore.

The Shield rode until an explosion rocked the air. The cycle skidded into a half turn and stopped.

Hannah looked back toward the general direction of the hospital, but the explosion echoed from above. Up in the clouds, a light show rained over Thunder City.

Captain Spectacular must have flown one of the bombs into the atmosphere. Only she could have survived.

"Don't let go," the Shield ordered, and sped up the cycle again.

It took a few more minutes before it dawned on her that if the other bombs were going to go off, she would have heard them by now. She pulled her head off the Shield's leather-clad back and looked around. They were far away from downtown, in a sparsely populated area near a set of train tracks.

"Pull over," she shouted, but he couldn't hear her, so she banged on his shoulder. "Pull over," she repeated.

This time he did, finding a quiet area near a telephone pole. Hannah dismounted as soon as the bike stopped. The Shield sat there waiting, patient. She paced back and forth a few times, feeling like she wanted to jump out of her skin. Emotions descended on her, and every feeling she’d shoved away from her heart for the past two days rushed through her, unstoppable.

"McNamara said he was my father. Is that true?" she asked.

"Yes."

"He told you and you believed him?"

"I looked at your file when the Court assigned me to McNamara's facility."

Hannah paused her pacing. "The Court has files on me? No, don't answer that, of course they do. Do you know who my mother is? My real, biological mother? Was she the one Miranda killed? The one who gave birth to me?"

The Shield shook his head. "No, the woman Dane assassinated was a surrogate who had second thoughts and tried to run. Your mother was too busy to carry a pregnancy. You're a test tube baby. McNamara and your mother mixed a bunch of their cells together in a petri dish because they thought the genetic mix would create a powerful Alt. They were right."

"So my mother is alive. Both my father and my mother are alive." The agitation crawled over her skin, so she started pacing again.

"We can't stay out here, Hannah. The Court is going to want to know why I failed to keep T-CASS away from McNamara."

She kept moving. If she stopped, she'd scream. She didn't even understand why she wanted to scream, except to release all of her pent-up fury. "Will they hurt you?"

"Torture me? No. They tried that. It didn't end well for them." He paused, looked away from her and lowered his voice. "There are other ways to hurt a man besides through torture."

He meant there was something valuable out there that the Court could destroy or hurt. Something or someone. She needed answers, because she had a decision to make when she barely understood the question.

"Who are you? Why are you working for them? How did you become a double agent?"

The Shield hefted his leg over the bike so he could lean back against it. "Come here."

Hannah walked closer to him, so close his pure aggressiveness almost repulsed her, but she held her ground and looked up at his face.

The Shield removed his sunglasses and looked down at her. His eyes looked normal, ox shaped, no scarring or obvious signs of disease. The pupils reacted to sunlight, the cornea was clear, the irises looked...gray. Cloud gray. The same shade as Scott's eyes. What were the chances of two men having the same rare eye color in such close proximity?

"My God. You're Scott's father, aren't you?"

The Shield nodded, slipping the sunglasses back onto his head.

"Did McNamara know that when he ordered you to shoot Scott?"

The Shield nodded. "It wasn't supposed to matter. I wasn't supposed to care. Creating Cory was one of my first independent assignments for the Court. Cory wasn't supposed to mean anything except for a possible future subject for the Court. I wasn't supposed to...to love him. I wasn't supposed to fall in love with his mother. I was young and I failed and I did fall in love and I've spent over two decades keeping the Court away from my family. This time, I couldn't."

"So you trained Scott instead."

"If I brought him to the Court, if I could keep him close to me, the less likely the Court would hurt him or Catherine. And maybe, just maybe, I would have someone to help me bring down the Court once and for all."

Her temple started to throb, so she rubbed it. "This is all giving me a headache."

He stayed quiet, giving her time to think, time to process. She knew what decision she had to make. She hoped Scott was successful in translocating the children, because there was only one way that she could see to bring this nightmare to an end.

"Tell me about the Court of Blood. What do I need to know to work against them?"

The Shield tilted his head to the side, studying her. For the first time since she met him, she had the impression he was taking her seriously.

"They're not a huge organization. There's no secret army of Alts looking to take over the world, or the government, or even Thunder City. At least, not now."

"What do they want?"

"To create Alts." He reached out to touch her hair, letting the strands slip through his fingers. "To find the source of Alt power. If they can create Alts, if they can decide what power an Alt will have before they're born, if they can bring about an Alt with more than one ability — that's their goal, their mission, the reason for their existence."

"For now," Hannah said, to confirm her suspicions.

The Shield nodded his confirmation.

"Are they only in Thunder City and Star Haven?"

The Shield shook his head. "There are other locations, but since Thunder City has a higher than normal population of Alts, their main headquarters is...nearby."

Hannah thought about that and a plan blossomed. The more she thought about it, the more determined she became to make it work.

"My mother. What's her role in all this?"

The Shield smiled, and almost managed to not look terrifying while doing it. "She's the Supreme Judge. She controls the Court. The CEO if you will. Everyone answers to her."

"She gives you your orders?"

The Shield nodded his head.

"You can't go back to the Court. McNamara failed, just like Miranda failed, but this time they'll blame you. Even if they can't prove you worked against them, they'll be suspicious. Thomas — he pulled records off McNamara's computer before you found us. All of T-CASS is going to be on the watch for the Court now. The more T-CASS moves against the Court, the more likely the Court will realize you helped me escape."

"So what do you suggest I do?"

He really didn't know, and Hannah didn't know what do with the responsibility he shoved into her lap. The Shield had always appeared to be a dozen steps ahead of everyone else. Why would he listen to her now?

Before Hannah could answer, her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was Scott.

"Answer it." She shoved the phone at The Shield. "Tell him I'm busy and you'll explain everything to him when you see him later."

"What are you up to?"

"Just do it!"

The Shield answered the phone. "She's not here, Grey."

Hannah couldn't hear what Scott said. It was better this way, not hearing his voice. She might lose her resolve if she heard his voice.

"I said I'll explain when I get there. Don't go anywhere until I talk to you."

The Shield cut the line and handed the phone back to her. Hannah pushed his hand away. "You keep it in case he calls again."

"What are you planning?"

Hannah sighed. "The Oversight Committee has a warrant for my arrest. I refuse to go to jail, not for a minute, not for a second, not for them. Not this way. I have to leave Thunder City for a while."

"Where do you want to go? I'll take you there."

Hannah shook her head. "You need to go home. To Scott...Cory. He needs to know who you are. It's his right to know you do care about him and how much you've sacrificed for him."

"If Catherine doesn't kill me first."

"Catherine will get over it." Her heart flipped, again and again and wouldn't stop. "How do you contact the Court of Blood?"

She had the feeling that the Shield knew where she was going with this, but he handed her his phone without protest. "There's only one number. Text the code 9000. When they answer, tell them who you are and where you are. They'll come get you."

She took the phone and shoved it in the pocket where her own phone used to reside. "If they ask about you?"

"Since there won't be a body, best to tell them I rode off into the sunset. They'll try to find me, but I'll lay low."

"At the Blackwood estate."

He laughed again. "I don't think that will go over very well with anyone."

"It's the safest compound in Thunder City and the last place anyone will look for you — living with your wife and her husband."

This time he sighed. "I should be talking you out of this."

"To what end? They'll never stop. The manipulations will continue on forever. There will always be another reason, another excuse to set up a lab and experiment on Alts. We have to bring this to an end. I can do that from the inside. I have to do this myself."

"You don't know what you're walking into." The Shield shoved her phone into his breast pocket. "The Supr — your mother isn't like Miranda Dane. Dane got things done by using a sledgehammer. The Supreme Judge is crafty, cunning, and capable of making you work against your best interests without you even realizing you're doing it."

"Like McNamara."

"Worse."

Hannah didn't doubt it. There was still one more thing she had to do before she chickened out. She reached up to touch the Shield's cheek, but waited for his permission. He leaned forward to let her touch him. There wasn't much for her to fix. For all of the scarring she saw, he was in great shape. Still, no matter how great your shape is, age will rob you no matter how hard you fight it. She couldn't rush this because she needed to touch every point of his body, and did. When she returned to herself, she kept her hand on his cheek because she suspected it would be a long time before she would touch another human with such tenderness.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"I gave you the body of a twenty-two year old."

He raised his eyebrows.

"There's a war coming," she said. "Whether or not I succeed, T-CASS will go after the Court and the Court will retaliate. T-CASS will need you at the top of your game because you will fight for them, Shield. You will fight for your son, for your wife, and for me. Do you understand?"

He nodded. She lifted herself onto her tiptoes and kissed his right cheek. "That is for Catherine." She shifted and kissed his left cheek. "That is for Thomas." Keeping her lips closed, she kissed him on the lips. When she pulled away, she looked into his eyes. The same eyes as her lover. "That is for Scott. You tell him I love him. You tell him to wait for me. I will come back and when I do, there will be no more Court and we will be together forever. Promise me you will tell him this."

"I promise."

She believed him. He stepped away to mount his cycle. After he was gone, she texted the lone number on his phone. The phone rang a second later. A female voice answered before Hannah could even say hello.

"Shield, where are you?"

"This is Hannah Quinn, daughter of the Supreme Judge. Tell her I'm ready to come home."