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"Catheter"

Now, that was not so nice That wasn’t nice at all A an to happen, various pokings and intrusions, the alien sensation of foreign objects sliding under her skin-her forear sound, and a hiss of gas, and a peculiar odor under her nose, strikingly sweet Diethyl ether It was h Sara had never seen how this was done All she remembered were tanks with the word FLAMMABLE stenciled in red on the sides, and their clattering bulk as they were rolled on dollies to a waiting truck

"Just breathe, please"

What a strange request! How could she not breathe?

"That’s it"

She was borne aloft on the softest cloud

Chapter 61

Two days had passed since they’d ency At first, Nina had failed to believe them, as anyone would The story was too fantastic, the history too complex It was Alicia who had finally come up with a way to prove their case She retrieved the RDF froe and pointed it toward the Do the valley below At this distance, Alicia worried that she wouldn’t get a signal What would they do then to convince the woman? But there it was, fat and clear, a continuous pulsation Alicia was relieved but also perplexed: if anything, the signal was stronger Amy was silent a moment, then said, We’ll have to hurry now That sound you’re hearing: itTwelve are already here She drew the knife from her belt and passed it to Nina and told Alicia and Greer to disar to you, said A two armed men Alicia and the others met them with arms raised Their wrists were bound, black hoods drawn over their heads An interval of tio bed; then they heard the sound of a garage door opening They were escorted from the truck and told to wait A few minutes passed; footsteps approached

"Take them off," ahalf a dozenbefore them with raised weapons-all but one

"Eustace?"

"Major Greer" Eustace shifted his broken face toward Alicia "And Donadio, too" He shook his head "Why aestured for theht, everyone"

"You know the Amy "Now, you I don’t think I’ve seen before"

"Actually," said Amy, "that’s not precisely true"

They had arrived on the eve of Eustace’s peopleinfiltration had reached the moment of culmination First, the decapitation of the leadership, followed by siets: HR stations, industrial infrastructure, the power station, the detention center, the aparte of dohere most of the redeyes lived Weapons and explosives had been cached throughout the city Their forces were small, but once the attack was under way, they believed, their nuiant of seventy thousand flatlanders would awaken and rise Once that happened, the insurrection would become an avalanche, unstoppable The city would be theirs

But so Their operative in the Dome had been found out They knew she’d been taken alive, but not where-in all likelihood, the base I must tell you," Eustace said, and explained who this operative was

Sara was here It strained belief No, it went hurtling past it And her daughter, too Sara’s Hollis’s In soed to all of thenified, but so had the situation’s coet the two of them out

Amy repeated the story she had told Nina There could be no doubt that the virals were present somewhere in the city, or what this ions Eustace regarded their tale with skepticis clicked

"Guilder ant to protect them," Amy said "Is there someplace in the city that’s unusually fortified? It would have to be large"

Eustace sent a man to retrieve the blueprints of the Project Three people died to get these, Eustace said, and he unrolled the paper over the table

"We never knehat this place was for Lots of stories, but never anything that really added up The place is a fortress The redeyes have been building it for years"

A swift calculations "This is where we’ll find them"

"I don’t kno you can be so certain"

"Count the chaer, he traced each corridor to its destination Then he looked up

Thus their cause was joined to another The building known as the Project was now the focus Its design played in their favor: like the cave in New Mexico, the Project’s tight quarters could ale boet inside? Doubtful-and even if they could, it would be like walking into a lion’s den Their losses would be heavy, and too ets

"So we don’t go in to get them," Amy said "We make theht a ged Throughout the proceedings he had taken no u Expeditionaries again

"He’s a monster Cruel, obsessive, monoio"

"What would he do if he captured hiio doesn’t exist It’s just a name"

"But what if he did?"

Eustace rubbed a hand over his chin "Well, the e a public execution,everybody"

"I suppose" Eustace’s expression shifted "Oh I see"

"Where would he do that?"

"The stadiuh It can hold seventy thousand easily Which would-"

"Leave the rest of the Hoets exposed"

Eustace was nodding now "And if he’s really interested in lances were exchanged around the table "Sohten me," said Nina

Amy leaned forward in her chair "Here’s e do"

It took another twenty-four hours to make ready Nina returned to the city to contact the leaders of the various cells with new instructions The insurgency’s hideout would be forfeit, of course They rigged it with tripwire explosives-barrels of ammoniuniters Nothing would remain but an ashy hole; with luck, Guilder would presuency’s final blaze of glory