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I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek "What would I do without you?"

"Speak a version of English that no one had ever heard before, probably" Nathan s "Sal…"

"Someone has to, Nathan My sister is sick My sister" No one froht I was trying toattacked by the implants is so we can do, we have to do it Anything else would be… it would be inhuhed "I love you," he said "Please try not to get hurt"

"I’ll be fine," I lied "I’ll contact Tansy as soon as I’ve got the information your mother needs, and they’ll extract me" After that… ere less clear on ould happen after that We knew Sy had been done, but they could potentially make my life difficult

Or they could just decide that they were never going to letleft for us to say after that, and the longer I lingered, the harder it was going to be for ain, this tih to be sure he understood how rabbed ot out of the car, beginning to walk slowly toward Syo inside

There were guards at the edge of the parking lot, watching the cars as they calance and a curt nod, apparently unable to see me as any kind of a threat I was an empty-handed woman, one that they’d seen before, and ID wasn’t required until I got to the actual building I ducked lad ofquestions until I had to

The brave front I’d been putting on for Nathan aside, I was terrified My sto knot of pain, and the sound of dru out of an old King Konglass doors into the lobby

As always, a rush of chilled air and bland, overprocessed reethoain swept over me at the same time I’d barely taken two steps into the lobby when a pair of security guards appeared as if by ht econo I stopped where I was, trying to ignore the panic building in ut as I raised ht to be here I was a patient of SymboGen’s I was Dr Banks’s pet project

"Can we help you?" asked the first guard, once they were close enough that they wouldn’t need to do anything uncouth, like shouting

"I’o," I said, trying to lossy To my surprise, tears actually started to foro home I just can’t Can--can you tell Dr Banks that Sally Mitchell is here to see him?" Now that the tears had started, they simply refused to stop The past few days had been even lance, looking as disturbed by my tears as I was "Do you have ID?" asked the second

Nodding, I dug my ID card out of the front pocket ofI didn’t try to stop it It would only help with the i to project… and I didn’t want to knoould react if it turned out I was unable toit over in his fingers like he wanted to be certain that it was legiti it through, because he looked to his partner and said, "Wait here with her," before turning and walking toward the reception counter

The reuard offered ht, Miss Mitchell We’re just going to call up to Dr Banks and see if he’s free to see you" I looked at him blankly, and he continued, "We’ve met before You probably don’t remember me, but I was in the cafeteria the last time you came to visit us So I know this is just a for at the faces of the guards who came to save me that day in the cafeteria Too ainst the parasite that was in the process of consu mind Still, he looked so hopeful that I found I couldn’t tell him that "Thank you I really appreciate what you did that day I’m sorry I’m just… really shaken"

Now concern washed his smile away "What happened?"

I could either try to make myself an ally inside SymboGen, or I could avoid the need to tell my carefully crafted sob story twice I decided to ai in the middle as I said, "I went to see where ain" I sniffled "I’et sick all around uard

"Me, too"

"Miss Mitchell?" We both turned to see the first guard returning He held outit into my backpack as he said, "We’ve been instructed to stay here with you Dr Banks will be right down Can we get you anything? A glass of water? A chair?"