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"Callto Nikita’s" But he’d only gotten to the door when he got a call from the head of the manhunt team "Doctor’s been found" Fury and pity intertwined "We were right about the time and method of death At least he didn’t torture her"

It was, Max knew, a small mercy "Was she found near the private airport where you think he boarded a jet?"

"Yeah Parents are refusing to tell us where the jetto Greece, but that’s a load of bullshit Air Control hasn’t got it on its syste ready with a plane designed to evade radar"

Anger burned through Max’s veins "I’ve put a watch on some offshore accounts I know are his" Without a warrant and with the help of friends in the computronic crimes branch of Enforcement, but if it would help catch the Butcher before he killed again, Max wasn’t going to sweat the ethics much "He hasn’t accessed the on a warrant for her financials"

"Sightings?"

"Through the roof" A harsh sound "People juet him," Max said, able to hear the other cop’s frustration "We did it once; we’ll do it again" Hanging up after a few ainst his body Shrugging off his wet suit jacket, he was driving through Chinatohen he realized he’d forgotten his security keycard--which allowed hi--at Sophia’s apart it’d be quicker to pick it up than have it reissued, he thrust a hand through rain-damp hair and turned homeward

"Sophia?" he called out as he wandered into her bedroom The keycard was on the dresser where he’d put his wallet the night before, but the bedroom proved otherwise empty "Sophie? You in the shower?" However, when he knocked, the door swung inward

Worried she’d decided to head out in spite of Bonner’s possible presence, he pulled out his cell phone and placed a call to hers It rang in the living area

Ice crystals foran to scan the apartment with the eyes of a cop The food preparation area was clean except for the unopened container of milk on the counter He stilled Sophie was hopelessly neat, but it was possible she’d forgotten to tidy it ahile distracted by soanizer on the coffee table And the bedrooanizer Sophia et her cell phone, but she was never without that co with a fear so visceral he couldn’t afford to feel it if he was going to function, he ran out of the apartht to the security hub at the heart of the building

Entering using the override Nikita had prograuard rewind the corridor feed "Stop! Who are those two?"

The guard enlarged the view "The facial recognition software places the female as an M-Psy attached to a local branch of the Center, while the male appears to be a security expert"

Max shoved down his raging worry, focusing only on the lethal clarity of his anger "Why were they allowed up?" he asked, his tone a whip "I fucking warned you all that she could be a target!"

The guard was already accessing the security log "According to this, they had an authorization which overrode our--"

"Bring it up," he interrupted "The authorization!" It was a snapped command when the man didn’t immediately understand

The screen filled with a crisp docunation J, to the Berkeley branch of the Center for Coe burned an inferno across Max’s skin, but his mind remained mired in ice "What does that mean?" He pointed to what appeared to be a coat of are--a suard went unnaturally still "That’s Councilor Henry Scott’s new e in a call to Nikita as he ordered the guard to send the location of the Center to his phone "Nikita, Henry Scott is having Sophia rehabilitated," he said the instant Nikita answered, knowing Henry’s interference would ensure Nikita’s cooperation Councilors, he’d learned, were as territorial as changelings "She was taken an hour ago"

Nikita didn’t ask useless questions "Which branch?"

"Berkeley"

"Wait"

He was in the car and screa out into the rain-dark city by the time her voice came back on the line "They haven’t yet reached the Center" A pause "They should have according to the tiiven me"