Their motor gave out more quickly now than on the first crossing, and despite their extra gas, they found themselves rowing most of the way across. The currents carried them east, and they saw the island long before they managed to pull in close and land the boat. Night had fallen, and they took shelter in an old beach house, grabbing a few hours of sleep before moving on. At first light Kira scoured the place for food, but the cans in the pantry were bloated, and the food inside smelled rank when they opened them up. They set them aside and searched instead for a map, eventually finding an atlas near a collapsed bookshelf. There was no detailed section for Long Island, just a larger map of New York in general, but it was better than nothing—she recognized enough of the names to know where they were going, and hoped that some of the road signs outside would help them discover where they were.

They parceled out the guns they had left—a rifle, a shotgun, and two pistols—and traveled quietly, wary of the Voice and Defense Grid patrols. Kira cradled the syringe as carefully as she could, wrapping it in a ball of extra shirts and strapping it around her waist for protection. She said a silent prayer that there would still be time to save Arwen, and watched the shadows for danger.

After barely an hour of walking, Kira began to recognize the terrain—so much of the island looked alike, crumbling houses buried in kudzu and surrounded by trees, but something about the road itself seemed familiar. The way it curved, or rose, or fell; she couldn’t place it. After a moment she stopped scanning the forested road with a frown.

“We’ve been here before.”

“We haven’t even turned,” said Jayden. “How could we have been here before?”

“Not this morning,” said Kira. “I just . . . there.” She pointed to a house set back from the road. “Do you recognize it?”

The others peered at it, and Marcus’s eyes went wide with surprise when the realization hit him. “Is that the drifter’s hideout? Tovar?”

“I’m pretty sure,” said Kira. “Maybe he has some food stashed in there.”

As they approached, it became more obvious—they’d only seen the front at night, in the rain, but they’d seen the back more clearly, and they recognized it immediately. Kira tried the doors, trying to remember which one the old drifter had left unblocked, but froze in place when she heard the click of a gun hammer.

“Just stop right there,” said a voice. It was definitely him. Kira took her hands from the doorknob and held them up to show they were empty.

“Owen Tovar,” said Kira. The others were standing silently, guns raised, searching for wherever the voice could be coming from. The drifter had a knack for staying hidden. “It’s me, Kira Walker. Do you recognize us?”

“The four most wanted criminals in Long Island?” he said. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure we recognize you.”

We, thought Kira. Who else is in there?

“‘Most wanted,’ huh?” asked Marcus. “My mother always said I’d be famous one day. Or at least I assume she did.”

“I’m going to ask you to set your weapons down now,” said Tovar. “Nice and easy, right at your feet.”

“We came here because we thought you were a friend,” said Kira. “We need food—we’re not here to rob you.”

Tovar’s voice was lean and cold. “Is that why you drew your weapons and tried the door without knocking?”

“We didn’t want to wake Dolly,” said Marcus. There was a pause, and Tovar laughed; Kira thought it was coming from a vent near the top of the wall, but she couldn’t be sure.

“I forgot how much I liked you,” he said. “Looks like you’re not being followed, so go ahead and put down those guns, and you can come on in for a chat.”

Kira looked at Jayden, who shrugged and set down his rifle carefully by his feet. Marcus and Xochi followed, and Kira did the same. If we’re about to get robbed . . . , she thought, then shook her head. We have nothing—surely he can see that. The only valuable we have is the cure, and nobody knows about it.

“There you go,” said Tovar. “Now, say hello to my friends.” A bush moved to the left and Kira flinched, and then another bush moved, and a boarded-up window swung open, and suddenly the backyard was filled with men and women in various forms of camouflage and homemade armor, all of them armed.

“Easy,” said the woman in front, and Kira thought she recognized the voice. “Keep your hands in the air and step away from the guns.”

“Gianna,” said Kira, realization dawning. “You were with us last time we came here—you were on the salvage run that found the bomb.”

“Kira Walker,” said Gianna with a smile. She glanced at Jayden, and her expression soured. “And the fascist plague baby. Keep those hands where I can see them.”

“What is this?” demanded Kira. “Are you . . . the Voice?”

“The very same,” said Tovar, stepping out of the back door with his fat black shotgun on his hip. “The new regime is out in force, rounding up refugees and runaways. I don’t know if it’s good luck or bad that we found you first.”

“You’re the Voice,” said Marcus, as if still trying to get his head around it. He laughed. “That might be the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard—and you,” he said, turning to Gianna. “Were you the Voice back then, too?”

“Not until after,” she said. “I get testy when I’m detained without cause.”

“Still, though,” said Jayden, “you were a sympathizer. I was right not to trust you.”

“Even a paranoid clock is being followed twice a day,” said Tovar. He gestured to the open door. “Come inside so we can reset our trap. If the Grid does drop by, I don’t want to be caught in the open flapping my gums.”

They filed inside while the Voice went back into hiding. Tovar led them down one hall while Gianna locked the door and took their guns down another. Inside, the house was more or less as Kira remembered it, including the laconic camel in the living room.

“Hello, Dolly,” said Marcus. “Long time no see.”

Xochi offered her hand to Tovar. “Looks like you know everyone else. I’m Xochi.”

“Xochi Kessler,” said Tovar, ignoring her hand as he searched in his wagon for food. “Or should I say ‘the infamous Xochi Kessler.’ Your poor mother is worried sick.”

“My poor mother can go and hang herself.”

“She’d much rather hang you,” said Tovar, handing her a can of ravioli. “I’m still looking for the can opener.” He turned back to the wagon. “I did mention that you’re wanted criminals, yes? Bounties on your heads, posters in the town square, the whole bit. Here it is.” He turned back to them, pointing at Kira with a rubber-handled can opener. “She’s the great betrayer, the Partial-lover, the ringleader of the whole thing. These two are the dupes who went along with it.” He pointed back at Xochi. “You’re the ungrateful daughter: the symbol of how anyone can believe the Voice lies and go traitor.” He handed her the can opener. “I’ll look for spoons.”

“Who’s in charge now?” asked Kira. “What happened after we left?”

“After you personally threw the island into anarchy, you mean,” said Tovar, handing her a set of mismatched silverware.

“How much did they say about us?” asked Kira.

“That you were in league with the Voice, who are in turn in league with the Partials. That you broke into the hospital and broke a Partial agent out of Grid imprisonment, and are currently either hiding in the wild or escaping to the mainland to aid in a Partial invasion. How much of it should I believe?”

Kira spoke carefully. “I guess that depends on how you feel about Partials.”

Tovar sat on the couch across from her, watching Kira carefully. “Aside from murdering everyone I know, the Partials haven’t really been a big part of my life. Consider my opinion ‘generally very poor.’ That said, I figure if they wanted us dead, we’d be dead, so if you have another perspective, I’m listening.”

Kira nodded. “Do you consider yourself an open-minded man, Mr. Tovar?”

“I’d like to think so.”

“It’s going to have to open really wide to swallow what we’ve got to tell you,” said Marcus. “Number one: The Partials didn’t create RM.”

“And they’re not looking to destroy us. At least not all of them,” said Kira. “At least not yet. Which leads us to number two: Yes, we were in league with a Partial. We broke him out and took him off the island, and then he helped us get back here.”

“Mother of mercy,” said Tovar. “And that caused the riot?”

“It’s the other way around,” said Kira sheepishly. “We started the riot as a distraction for the jailbreak.”

Tovar whistled. “You don’t mess around.”

“No, we don’t.”

“Is that everything?” he asked.

“For now,” said Jayden. “Now it’s your turn.”

“Where to start,” Tovar mused. “Two nights ago you spread your rumor, started your riot, and left right when it was getting interesting. The coliseum burned, though not to the ground; the town hall also burned, with more than a handful of senators inside it.”

Kira went white, thinking of Isolde. We thought it would be safe there. Did she die inside it? “What about the hospital?”

“The hospital was never set on fire, though I can’t say as much for the houses across the turnpike. The hospital was, on the other hand, the home of the biggest riot of the night, and the body count was, shall we say, high.”

“Are the mothers okay? How many people died?”

“Maternity was untouched,” said Torvar. “And I’m afraid I don’t have exact numbers—probably less than the Senate is reporting, probably more than you’d expect.”

“What is the Senate reporting?” asked Kira.

“Two hundred.” Tovar’s voice was as hard as flint. “A very high price for a Partial life.”

It was worth it, Kira swore, though it broke her heart to think it. Two hundred. She looked up at Tovar, still not sure she trusted him enough to explain why they’d be willing to go to such an extreme. They were still prisoners, after all; he’d offered them nothing but information, and promised them nothing at all.

“Who’s left of the senators?” asked Xochi. “Apparently my mother, but who else?”

“It might be more accurate to ask what’s left of the Senate,” said Tovar. “The few senators who lived through the night declared a state of emergency, declared martial law, and filled the city and the countryside with soldiers from the Grid. Elections to replace the fallen have been postponed until ‘a state of peace and equilibrium is reached,’ which is an awful lot of syllables for ‘never.’ It’s totalitarianism in all but name.”

“Yes,” said Kira, “but who are we talking about specifically? Which senators?”

“Oh, you know,” said Tovar with a shrug, “the real hard-liners, like Kessler and Delarosa. Hobb’s a weasel, so of course he’s in there as well, and the one from the Grid—Senator Weist. That’s how they got the military’s support so quickly.”

“The same ones who’ve been running this from the beginning,” said Kira. Her skin went cold, and she gripped Xochi’s hand for support. “They planned this entire thing—Samm, and the explosion, and even the riot. This isn’t a provisional government in the wake of a national disaster, this was a planned and calculated coup.”

“They couldn’t have planned Samm,” said Marcus. “They had no idea you were going to go out and get him.”

“Who is Samm?” asked Tovar.

“The Partial,” said Kira. “And they didn’t have to plan his capture, just what to do with him afterward. They’d probably been planning some kind of power grab for a while, and then when we showed up with Samm, we gave them the means to pull it off.”

“They’re only in charge until the city gets back on its feet,” said Jayden, “and they’re only doing it because of the riot we caused. What else were they supposed to do?”

“Do you actually believe that?” asked Xochi.

“They responded too quickly,” Kira protested, feeling the rage build up inside of her. It was so familiar now, so much a part of her, that it filled her easily. “They had to have a plan already in place, to deal with exactly the kind of situation we forced them into—we started a riot, and they went to Plan F or whatever and seized the whole island. Even when we thought we were stopping them, they were still ready for us.”

“They’re trying to save the species,” said Jayden. “Yes, they’re being extreme about it, but maybe that’s the only way to make it work—a solid grip on the island, with a single vision to lead it and army to enforce it.”

“Remember where you are,” said Tovar.

“I don’t like it any more than you do,” said Jayden, “but they don’t have the—” He stopped, glanced at Kira, and started again. “For all they know this is the only way to save us from RM: to take the Hope Act to its natural extreme and ranch us like cattle until someone’s born immune.”

“Delarosa used to be a zookeeper,” said Kira softly, thinking of all her friends still trapped inside the city.

Tovar snorted. “No kidding?”

She nodded. “She saved endangered species. I guess we’re just another bunch of rare white rhinos.” Kira swallowed her rage and took a long, deep breath. “Mr. Tovar,” she said, looking up to meet his eyes. “We need to get back to East Meadow.”

“Then you’re crazy,” he said.

“Crazy or not,” she said, “we need to go. And you need to take us there.”

“Then you’re crazy and stupid,” said Tovar. “In three days, when all my forces are gathered, we’re going to launch our biggest offensive yet. It’s like your friend said—when the entire species is at stake, people are willing to go to extremes. We’re going to take that government down and you do not want to be anywhere near it when we do.”

“Three days?” Kira’s mind raced. “That might be all we need. If you can get us there without being seen, actually inside the city, we might not need a war at all.”

Tovar frowned. “I’m not an assassin, Kira, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Of course not.”

“And I’m not a martyr either. Getting you or anyone else into East Meadow would be extremely dangerous. When I die it’s going to be for a pretty damn good reason.”

“A good reason is not the problem,” said Kira, and held up the syringe. “We have the cure for RM.”

Tovar stared at it, his mouth open, then laughed out loud. “And you expect me to believe that?”

“You believed all the crazy bad stuff,” said Xochi, “why not the crazy good stuff, too?”

“Because crazy bad stuff is well within the realm of my experience,” said Tovar. “Curing RM is in the realm of magical pixies and talking dogs that piss whiskey. It’s impossible.”

“It’s real,” said Marcus, and looked at Kira. “We’ll stake our lives on it.”

“Suppose it is,” said Tovar. “What do we do with it? Walk into town, hold it in the air, and wait for the magical pixies to make everything right again?”

“If the Senate taught me one thing,” said Kira, “it’s that power comes through the people—the only reason they have control is because the people have given it to them.”

“Also because they have guns,” said Marcus.

“They don’t have guns,” said Xochi, “they have the allegiance of people with guns.”

“Exactly,” said Kira. “If we can change that allegiance, we can free everyone in the city—everyone on the island. If we show them a live human baby, the purest, simplest proof that our way works and the Hope Act doesn’t, the people will rise up so fast your head will spin. We can restore freedom and unite the island, all without firing a single shot.”

“Say your cure works,” said Tovar, “and we can actually show them, as you say, a live human baby.” Tovar’s voice nearly broke, and Kira could practically see the emotion running through him as he said the words. “You’ve already been in league with the Partials—you’ve crossed the sound and met them in person. Won’t people just assume it’s a Partial trick of some kind? A baby Partial, or an engineered . . . doppelganger or something?”

“The mother will have to be an East Meadow regular,” said Marcus, “someone people will recognize as one of their own.” He glanced at Jayden. “His sister is about to deliver—she may already have.”

Kira nodded. “It’s not enough to just show up with a baby: we have to go in, grab Madison, and get her out. Right under the Grid’s noses.”

Tovar looked at Kira. “I get the distinct impression that nothing is ever easy where you’re involved.”

“Welcome to my life,” said Kira. “How many soldiers do you have?”

“Ten.”

Kira raised an eyebrow. “I saw a lot more than ten in the backyard alone.”

Tovar’s voice hardened. “Are you asking about soldiers, or armed civilians with more guts than training?”

“Point taken,” said Kira.

Tovar studied them carefully, his eyes flicking from one face to the next as he thought. “We may—may—have a way to get you inside. Are you sure you can do it?”

Kira grinned. “Haven’t you heard? I’m the most wanted criminal on the island. I think it’s about time I start living up to my reputation.”

“Hell, yes,” said Xochi.

Tovar paused, studying her, his brow furrowed. Finally he broke into a smile. “When you put it that way,” he said, “I’m pretty sure I heard a talking dog just last week. Didn’t drink its piss, though.” He stood up. “It’s still midmorning, and the weather’s with us; if we start now, we can get you beaten and in police custody before dinner. I have a few tricks up my sleeve, though. I’ll round up the troops.”