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"You know I’," Manny said "Bryn needs to be eliet the hell away from her Far away Did you hear her? She’s infectious"

"Then so is her blood, Manny," Patrick said He was holding her, Bryn realized; she was now propped against his shoulder, and his ar her up "Everybody touched by blood spatter could be infected now Including you"

"It doesn’t work like that," Bryn said She felt sick and weary now, and throbbing with pain that wasn’t entirely physical "Can’t infect just anybody Has to be one of the already Revived, according to what I heard back at Pharmadene Otherwise, normal human immune systems will just kill the nanites"

It wasn’t like Manny to react quite that violently, but they were dealing now not with the rational, brilliant scientist, but the man who’d once been buried six feet under in a coffin--buried alive The same man, but one at the mercy of all his paranoid fears and phobiasand Bryn had run headlong into that wall of razors So had Patrick, because all his observation acco from Manny, until Liam put him in a compression hold and sent hi," Lia him and I’ll kill you," Pansy said in a low, level voice "Promise"

"Would you rather I continue to choke hie," Liaent Block, the sedatives, please"

Riley reached down for a backpack leaning nearby, and ruh it to find a se and several vials of drugs She prepared a shot and handed it to him Liam slid it home and injected Manny just as the other man started to coain with a soft sigh

"What about her?" Liam asked Patrick Patrick studied Pansy for a moment, then shook his head

"No Pansy understands that Manny can be dangerous to himself as much as anybody else when he’s in this mood She knows that this is for his own protection"

"Fuck you, McCallister He’s your friend"

"He just shotrestraint, Pansy, and you need to understand that we’re up against the wall now No rooht? Those bastards at Pharenerally not known for its ability to be bribed or coerced So think, and stop blindly reacting We need a safe haven, one where we can test what’s going on with Bryn and see e’re really up against And we need to get off the grid, because sure as hell’s on fire,an army with her" Patrick had never sounded so intense and certain, Bryn thought And he was right What they needed right now,else, was a safe place to plan

Jane She was their ene her hands dirty Bryn shuddered The sical face of the woman--no, the monster--loomed in her s at Jane’s hands, and the idea of ending up in that situation again was definitely not appealing

That wasn’t helped by the fact that Jane was Patrick’s ex--so that, frankly, Bryn still couldn’t think about without a stabbing jolt of betrayal

She pushed the issue of Jane aside Moving as a tea Manny on their sideor at least Pansy Pansy could lared back for a long, long ain; you know that"

Patrick shook his head "Manny can stuff it for all I care, because once again, he just shot irlfriend in the head You see the problem? I can’t trust Manny, either So we’re even But Manny’s safe houses are the only shot we’ve got at staying alive at this point Even if you both walked away, they’d find you eventually He can’t earn money if he can’t work, and he can’t work if these assholes are on his trail and the world’s falling apart So you have to do this, Pansy, out of pure self-interest We have to win There’s no other option"

She was silent for a long, long moment, and then she nodded and took a deep breath "I may just have broken up with Manny, but I have to adot a point," she said "Okay Where are we, exactly? Geographically, not metaphorically"

Joe Fideli--who Bryn realized was still in the driver’s seat, but turned to face theun that he’d been keeping ready, and said, "Exactly? You want GPS coordinates?"

"Highway and nearest town"