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Of course he hadn’t taken a burner phone with him--there was no way to contact him to see if he could pump information about Lillian Gray’s whereabouts froue, where were they keeping her? She’d been running her research near Georgia HQ with only a few agents assigned for her protection Would they have brought her to Kansas HQ with the others when they closed the other location?

I passed by the gyht of Zu, To to fuss around with the exerciseaway fro And anted to do so?" I repeated

To under the bare lights overhead "We volunteered For Oasis Sorry, we voted after you, u them up When Toet hiher I smiled

"Do you want to learn some self-defense?" I asked

I’m not sure if their reaction could have been more enthusiastic if I’d offered candy The other kids abandoned theover to the h stretches, taught theht have on them, and demonstrated--repeatedly--how to flip someone over your shoulder if you weren’t a Blue And hours later, ere finished, I couldn’t say as happier with how the day had turned out--me, or theainst the tunnel door I ca the ancient Op files I’d been looking through, and unlocked it He gave a guarded, uncertain smile as he came up the stairs

"The others are back, too," he said "I told the dock Can you gather up the kids to help haul the stuff in? I’ll go ahead and cut the chain so we can get the damn door open--"

"Cole," I said sharply as he started to walk away

He shuffled to a stop, turning his head slightly "I’ents, but they don’t know either Liaot in touch withto say he’d ask around He’s ex-Special Forces and still has a nuovernht a flash of the memory I’d seen in Cole’s mind, and pain stirred indown at their mother that way

"Okay," I said quietly "Thanks for trying"

He let out a shuddering breath and forced hiet the others I’ll ht air filled the warehouse with a crisp, clean scent that reached us in the tunnel The door at the other end was already open, waiting for us But the h, I stopped dead in h they’d poashed it for hours on end They hadn’t been able to actually reht have attracted too ether, using the four walls as the fra units, made some new shelves out of the broken bunks, and created a workstation with the tools they’d found The car lift and frame were still at the center of the expansive space, but it looked like they were piecing even that back together Soe SUVs and one white van had coed over to Liam and Vida as they used their abilities to lift boxes out of the trunks and set them aside

Liam looked up as I caroup co by type Set computers and electronics over there--"

There was an actual, blissful sigh from one of the Greens, which oes here There should be a few bags of clothes, bedding--no, no, leave the stuff in the white van," he said, jogging over to shut the door "It’s--Cole’s going to take care of that stuff"

Meaning, I’d guess, weapons for our locker

Vida wasblank Her expression didn’t so much as flicker with annoyance as Chubs pelted her with a series of endless questions I wasn’t sure she was even aware of what she was doing, there was that much of a visible, nuazemine in question I wanted to tell her not to worry about this, that I was coer you had to be to keep carrying it around But the truth was, all I wanted to do was risk a punch in the face and hug Vida So, I tried

And she let me

Her arrip Slowly, her hands rose and pressed against my back I s with the exhaust froht to volunteer to go instead, so she could have had the day to recover

"We are going to fking get her back," Vida said fiercely "I will burn Gray’s house down over his head If she’s not all right, I’ to rip out his heart and eat it"