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influence the events in any way. I must ensure her loyalty, somehow.
     
    The girl has no family besides her father to use as a guarantee. I must bind her to this team, this mission.
     
    Yes, that is the answer—the mission itself. I’ll draw out her emotions and connect them to the mission; force her blindness to the actual objectives. Just like I’ve done with Drs Harrison and Jennings. Just as I’ve done with Christyn.
    The burden of secrets is difficult to bear, but a necessity if I am going to achieve success this time, if we are going to safeguard the country from the war that comes.
     
    I won’t let the experiments fail again. We’ve come too far, built in too many precautions.
     
    It has to be a success.

 
     
     
     
     

     
     
    THE SKY BEGINS TO DARKEN AS I MY TEARS DRY AND MY EMOTIONS WANE . I can’t catch my breath, can’t make myself focus and think. I force myself to stand and find the road toward town. I need to find Josh.
    Grey streaks with fuchsia and orange as dusk draws near. The endless rain has stopped and spots of blue break through the massive cloud deck. Mom and Dad’s words bloom through me. “Find your brother.” “We’re in hiding.” “Must leave.” I walk along the road in a daze. My chest is heavy, each breath a labored response to the day’s events. Memories of my life in Cambria vanish as quickly as I can bring them forward, replaced by more macabre scenes of a world I don’t recognize. The landscapes pass in a fuchsia-filled blur. Panic wells in my throat, threatening to undo me.
    And still I walk, mindless and numb.
    My pocket vibrates as a ringing sound cuts through the haze.
    Answer the phone .
    The voice—my voice—screams through the panic. I cling to it, praying for a focus that refuses to come. Fumbling through my bag, I grab the phone and punch the keypad. A strangled “Hello” escapes my lips.
    “Dakota? Are you okay?” My brother’s voice eases some of the panic.
    “Josh?”
    “Hey! I’m trying to find you. Mom and Dad called and said you were in trouble. Their phone cut out before they could explain. Now they aren’t answering. What’s going on?”
    “They’re . . .” My voice cracks. Again my chest feels heavy as my lungs force air through my body. My legs wobble, my hands shake.
    “Dakota?”
    I swallow back the tears that refuse to abate. “I don’t know, Josh. I . . .” The sound ends as the words get tangled in my throat.
    “They’re what?”
    “Dead.” The word is little more than a whisper.
    “What? No! Where are you?”
    My brain refuses to work.
    “Dakota. Talk to me.”
    “I . . . I don’t know. Near town.”
    “Can you get somewhere safe?”
    “Um,” I glance down the road, fragments of the images of the gunmen still present in my thoughts. The pictures spin too fast and panic again seizes my body, stealing the oxygen from my lungs. “The Coffee Shack. Fifteen minutes?” The words are barely recognizable, even to me.
    “Okay,” Josh says in his best big brother voice. “I’ll meet you there. We’ll figure out what’s going on. I promise.”
    Doubtful.
    Josh has always known how to calm me down and force some sanity into my crazy moments. I take several deep breaths, wishing his big brother voice would work this time. The sun dips as dusk begins to settle and changes the landscape into darkened shades of grey and blue. My legs continue to wobble and shake and I begin walking toward town.
    Why can’t I be as calm as Josh?
     

     
    The Coffee Shack is nearly empty when I arrive. Josh nods in my direction, motioning me to a table in the back, behind the counters and out of sight from the few patrons. He looks as relaxed as I’d imagined.
    There’s no mistaking Josh as my brother. We share the same blond hair, the same athletic build, and the same tan skin. But where his eyes are piercing blue, mine are more golden. We look nothing like our parents, and everything like each other. Josh is two years older and