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Not wanting to concede too , there is no Sara Fisher Sara Fisher, flatlander nu that took the lives of nineteen loyal security officers of the Beloved Honizable part of Sara Fisher that re on it This was procured fro it to beat woht that under the circuree Put up rather a struggle, Nina, did she not?"

"The woarded Sara again "I see in your expression that our oing by her too fast "You kill people Not just the cols Innocent bystanders"

Eustace nodded evenly His face was unreadable, allorious director would have you believe, but these things never come without cost"

She was appalled by his casual tone "That doesn’t justify it"

"Oh, I think it does LetWhat do you think the redeyes will do after today’s attack?"

Sara said nothing

"All right, I’ll tell you Reprisals They’ll crack down hard It won’t be pretty"

Sara looked at Eustace, then Nina, then Eustace again "But ould you want that?"

Eustace took a long breath "I’ll put it as si more or less And in this e’re badly outnued to infiltrate nearly every level of their operation, but the numbers are still on their side We could never defeat theed theical Rattle the leadership Draw them out Every person who’s hauled into detention is somebody’s father, sohter For each one the redeyes send to the feedlot, two more will join us Ithis words to sink in "Maybe this doesn’t h it will, if my hunch about you is correct In any event, the upshot of the afternoon’s attack is that you no longer exist And thatested the question wasand there’s planning A lot of e do is a reat deal of thought went into your extraction We’ve been watching you for soht ave the go-ahead The episode at the biodiesel plant was staged, as was her sudden disappearance fro for her at the hospital Frankly, I found the whole thing a little elaborate, and I had my doubts, but her confidence in you won the day And I’ht"

Sara’s"Jackie isone of you?"

Eustace nodded "The wo, a senior operative I can’t tell you howyou in"

Sara groped for words but found none She si with the one she knew Jackie? A ency? For more than a year, the woht They’d slept three feet from each other, worked side by side, eaten every meal in each other’s co It made no sense; it wasn’t possible Then:

"What do you ed in the air "I’m sorry," he said "Jackie’s dead"

His words were like a slap "She can’t be!"

"I’m afraid it’s true I know she meant a lot to you"

"They don’t move people froet her!"

"Listen to !" She darted her eyes to Nina, still standing impassively with her arms folded over her rifle, then back at Eustace "Why aren’t you doing anything?"

"Because it’s too late, Sara" His expression softened "Jackie was never in the hospital That’s what I’ you Jackie was the driver of the car"

The sensation was of so broke inside her A final severing, the last thread binding her to the life she knew cut away She was floating, floating away

"She kne sick she was At most she would have lasted a few more months before they sent her to the feedlot" Eustace leaned closer "It was how she wanted it The crowning lorious career She wouldn’t have had it any other way"

"She’s dead," Sara said, to no one

"She did what she had to do Jackie was a hero of the insurgency And here you are, ready to pick up where she left off"

She couldn’t seem to make herself cry She wondered why this was, and then she knew: the last tears of her life had fallen; there were no e, not to be able to cry To love so in her heart

"Why me?"