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Rogan had plucked hi had filled out, his dark brown hair was neatly cut and clean, and he wore decent clothes He seemed calmer His paranoia had receded He could carry on a conversation without twitching Napoleon, also clean and a good deal plumper, snored by his feet on a little couch, upholstered with red fabric and Île-de-Franceasked

"Yes"

"Don’t leave," Bug said

"I’ve got to go"

"What do I tell hian tell hi"

I crossed the floor, turned the corner, and descended the staircase The lights were on Half a dozen of Rogan’s ex-soldiers, four men and tomen, carried on a quiet conversation It died when they saw uyen Hanh, an Asian woan’s head an’s second-in-coreat smile He usually s?" Rivera asked

"Yes" Killhome"

"But the Major isn’t back yet," Rivera pointed out

"I realize that"

"You can’t leave He said he would be right back, and we’re supposed to keep you safe while he’s gone If you leave, we can’t keep you safe," Rivera said

"You can still keepto h the wide open double door at the warehouse "You never close these doors anyway, so you can watch me walk twenty yards to my house"

"He’ll be in a bad mood if you leave," a dark-haired man said

Rivera looked at hi up a storm "Maybe you could wait for hiht at Rivera He stepped aside, I h the doors and headed toward the warehouse

"It’s because of the Sheroman," another uyen said "I said when she first showed up she’d be trouble"

I crossed the street, punched the code into the lock, entered the office, and locked the door behind me I had had one hell of a day I had left an’s car, and I had no underwear Walking around without underwear felt odd Being without my phone was even more odd There was probably some sort of deep conclusion to be derived fro un And underwear

I eased the interior door open The warehouse was quiet A lonely light glowed at the very end of the hallway in the kitchen With four teenagers in the house, soht, and we usually left the light fixture over the table on for the ht I heard no voices

It was a few ht everyone would be in bed by then, but we’d decided to keep everyone in until the trials Where were they?

I tiptoed down the hallway, took a right, cleared another short hallway, and peeked out at the Hut of Evil, a sned supreme with all his equiphthe’s on top of the building"

"Got it"

Right Tea the world safe from alien zoet right in there and join theht

I leaned a little alow of the ard, the eyebrows furrowed He was focused on whatever was in front of hih the contents of Rynda’s co for the file the kidnappers wanted

I turned around and padded into the kitchen When he found so, he would tell me

My cell phone lay on the kitchen table, illuht it in Ha! I picked it up One thing recovered

A missed call I flicked the icon and listened to the voice mail

"This is Fullerton at Scroll, Inc Please call me at your earliest convenience, no matter the hour"

All the ht hard ball It was past eleven He said as soon as possible I called the nu "Hello, Ms Baylor"

"Hello, Mr Fullerton"

"The analysis of your DNA is completed Your familial relationships are verified, and you are clear for trials"

I exhaled