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"I was there," Silas said flatly, anger growing "Ready to extract her She had everything we needed to end this, and you scrub her? Why didn’t anyone tell rimy"Maybe because you drove Matt’s van into the Detroit River?"

"Don’t get cute with me, you little pissant"

"I scrubbed her to save her life," Allen reiterated, his attention couilt in it "You were already in transit before it happened There was no way to tell you And there’s still a chance to end this Fran wants you to cut her loose, and I agree She needs to come back to Opti to finish it"

"You scrubbed her because you finally had her with you!" Silas accused, satisfied he was right when Allen flushed

"I had to" Allen slid fro in my arms and wouldn’t draft Bill knows she is an alliance sleeper agent He’s probably known since day one If I had taken less than three years, they would have suspected me"

Maybe Silas eased back as he recalled ho the odds had been when they’d started this five years ago "Bill doesn’t knoho she is," he ed knee "That’s why Jack kept scrubbing her to keep her oblivious and productive"

"Like you," Silas said bitterly

"Not like"The idiot shot her to get her to draft, and with her intuition--"

"She never would have accepted hi frohtly Peri was a pain in the ass, de and particular, but he trusted her intuition more than most people’s facts, and there was no one he’d rather have watching his back in a tight spot Even now

His eyes flicked up to Allen Especially now

"So you let her kill him," Silas accused "When there was no one else to be her anchor"

Allen’s expression sharpened "I did it in the hopes that with closure we could play this out to the end" He pulled hiovernment knows Opti is rife with corruption, but they need Opti like bread needs flour They tasked Bill to find it, which of course he did, using the opportunity toPeri found out she was on the original and responded in her usual style"