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But then it strikes me: it’s not like me at all to think this way In what universe would Captain Lee Chase risk life, limb, and the safety of her people for one exiled rebel and the planet he’s willing to die for?

There’s nothing Lee-ish about any of this

I nod slowly, ignoring the sick feeling inLee-ish"

Merendsen eyesmy hesitation But then he nods and leans back "I’ll be there as soon as I can"

Thethe white text SESSION TERMINATED I press against the keyboard, and the whole thing folds back up intoever happened

I try not to think about what Flynn would say if he knehat I’d just done In the e at Molly’s I don’t have ht have a way forward soon It won’t be enough It could never be enough, and I keep i of e; I know he’s on the run and this base is the last place he’d return But leaving word is solace, soiven up That if he coone now I’uo zher"

The voice stops her short--it’s been years since soe She turns to see an enorbehind the bar It’s her first night off duty since she was transferred, and now she’s wishing she’d gone straight back to the barracks

"Sorry," the girl shoots back automatically "I don’t speak Mandarin" It’s not a lie She hasn’t spoken it since her parents’ deaths

"Right," the bartender replies, his grin friendly, but knowing, like he can read her thoughts "Well, I’, too confused by how strange his friendly voice feels against the backdrop of tattoos andhih they’ve nothing in co an are as she looks at theet to choose what you hold onto"

THE PATROLS HAVE TRIPLED IN the last few days I’ve been hiding out in no-man’s-land, and I suspect every one of them has been issued a picture of the rebel who abducted Lee Chase from Molly Malone’s

What they don’t know is that sooner or later McBride and the Fianna will strike back in retaliation for Jubilee’s massacre--an act of war the military don’t even know took place--and when that happens, hunting for me will be the least of their priorities

I’ve been careful to keep on the move, never too close to the perimeter, never too far away The military base is like a squat, sharp ently curved ays and slow-y backdrop the prefab buildings are unnatural, les and rusted ined the base like a scab needing picking away, full of booted feet treading the ground into bruise-colored slush When I was little I always half iined the scab would fall away one day and there’d be Avon again underneath, shiny and new and healed

I give it a wide berth before finding a place near solid ground to hide s on the outskirts of town, avoiding the searching eyes of the soldiers on guard duty

In the security footage froht before he used the detonator I need to know if it was his daughter, Sofia We played together as kids, and I think maybe, just maybe, she’ll trustabout what turned a peaceful man like her father into a killer What turned Jubilee into a killer That question--and the ie of Jubilee’s face, her eyes black like they were on the island, her features blank--has been rid of worn prefab buildings divided by dirt roads, street signs showing only numbers Normally there’d be people about, but this place is mostly locked down A combination of curfew and caution I wish I could say they were only afraid of the ht in the crossfire than anyone on my side would care to admit I hurry past shuttered homes, head down, the collar of ray, I’ pastfor home or some bolt-hole I turn my head auto’sMy heart kicks up a notch, and I force myself to move slow and smooth as I melt back toward the street beside s That’s the key--no quick, jerkytheir way up the street, and they’re not trodairí They don’t step in ti Avon down beneath their feet But they do nize that movement an instant later: they’re Fianna McBride leads the way, flanked by two others; one of the on his left It’s Sean