I searched the warehouse, looking for James. I finally found him, talking with Mark and Wallace near the medical bay. They seemed to be organizing people who would stay to look after the patients, after the rest of us left to deal with our tasks. I didn’t worry about interrupting; their plans were going to be changing anyway.

“I need to know how you vetted Jason Cain,” I began.

The group stopped and turned towards me, Mark raised an eyebrow,

“Vetted?”

I resisted the urge to slap my forehead.

“How did you confirm he was actually on our side?”

“We explained the situation, he understood what happened and agreed with our plan,” Mark explained. “I don’t see the problem. We trusted Tom for the same reason.”

“Yeah, I trusted Tom with my life. Not with the lives of everyone here.”

James broke in,

“What’s happened, Rayna?”

“I just went to see our tech expert. I think we have a problem. Simon, tell them.”

Simon squirmed uncomfortably, as all eyes turned to him. He hesitated for a long moment, before blurting,

“I think he was bonded to Suzette. Maybe others, can’t be sure.”

There was a long moment of silence, before James finally spoke.

“What makes you think that?”

“It was how he reacted to Ray. He barely stopped himself from hitting her. The hatred runs deep.”

“Maybe he just knows you?” Wallace attempted a joke, but everyone ignored him.

“I think…” Simon continued. “I think he blames her for killing Suzette. And there’s more. He had Suzette’s phone; he was holding it when we arrived.”

“We gave it to him, genius,” Wallace rolled his eyes.

“I know. But it was the way he was holding it. Stroking it, almost tenderly. It was… as if it was a memento. It is hard for me to explain, but something is off with him, I am sure of that.”

James pursed his lips,

“I think maybe we need to go talk to Jason.”

The five of us headed across the warehouse. As we neared the corner where Cain sat, hunched over his computer, I signalled for the rest to stop. I moved up behind him quietly, observing his actions. He was holding the phone in his hand, tapping something on the screen. I reached down and plucked it from his hands. It was unlocked. He spun to face me, surprise and anger painted across his face.

“So, you managed to get it open,” I smiled broadly. “Good job.”

“Give it back,” he snarled. “I am not done with it.”

“I can see that,” I waved the others over as I began scrolling through the text messages. “There must be a lot here for you to sort through. And it can’t help that messages are still being sent from it, even minutes ago.”

I tossed the phone to James and watched his face darken as he read. Cain had sent dozens of messages over the last hour, to unlabeled contacts, telling them about our numbers, our location, and what little he knew of our plans. Finally, James spoke,

“I’ll go start the evacuation. See what information you can get out of him, then we need to get out.”

He turned and passed the phone back to me, before leaving to spread the word. Fortunately, most of the agents had already left to start their new tasks. Anybody remaining would be needed to help move the injured to safety. The only question was how long we had. They had had our address for almost an hour, now. Depending on how much preparation they needed before they made a move, they could already be here, encircling us, waiting for us to show ourselves. I shook my head, I needed to focus on one thing at a time. I passed the phone to Simon.

“Go through that. See if you recognize any names or numbers. And don’t let it lock, I doubt we’ll get it open again.”

Simon nodded and began scrolling. I stepped closer to Cain, who had his arms crossed over his chest and his chin lifted defiantly. I had just opened my mouth to speak, when suddenly, Wallace grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him into the wall.

“So, you’re a traitor, then?” he barked, face inches from Cain’s.

The man emitted a strangled laugh,

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“Traitor? I’m not the traitor here,” he croaked. “You are the ones who abandoned the Organization, turned on our allies. Even killed them,” he glared at me over Wallace’s shoulder. “They told me what you did to Suzette. You executed her, in cold blood.”

“It wasn’t exactly like that,” I began.

“You didn’t bash her skull in, while trying to escape after burning down our headquarters?”

Ok, technically that was exactly what I’d done.

“There was more to it than that,” I began.

“Don’t explain yourself to him,” Wallace snarled, tightening his grip.

Cain fell silent, choking as his airway was constricted.

“For god’s sake, Wallace, let him go,” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “He isn’t doing this on purpose, you know that.”

“No? He seems lucid enough to me.”

“He isn’t a brainwashed zombie from a movie. He just… trusts people he shouldn’t. Unquestioningly.”

Wallace grumbled, but eased his grip on the technician, returning his feet to the ground. He did keep him pinned to the wall, though.

“I don’t understand, Jason,” Mark looked like he still couldn’t quite believe this had happened. “Why did you do it? We explained the problem. I thought you knew why we had to do this? I thought you agreed?”

Cain rolled his eyes,

“I just told you what you wanted to hear, played along with your ridiculous fantasies. Look, I don’t know if you’ve all lost your minds, like some people are saying, or if this is just some excuse you are using to try and grab power, but either way, someone needs to stop you. When you came to me, it was the perfect opportunity,” he grinned, triumphant. “Now, the Organization can stamp out this rebellion, and put things back in order. They should be here any minute now. Kill me, if you want, but it’s all over for all of you.”

“Now listen here you little…” Wallace began.

“Don’t bother,” I cut him off. “There is no point arguing with him. He’s too far gone, and we don’t have the time for this.”

I thought about asking Simon to try influencing him, the way he had Jessica, but the situation wasn’t the same. This was both the result of long-term bonding, which was more durable than infatuation, and it was also the result of the trust he had in his superiors, who were themselves being mislead and influenced by the Domini. We would never convince him we weren’t the problem. Not in time.

I turned to Mark,

“How much does he know, exactly?”

“Only the overall situation, the information about Suzette, and this location,” Mark hung his head.

“Good. Alright. This is salvageable, then. Wallace, tie him up and we’ll give him to Oliver’s people, for safe keeping.”

“I don’t work for you, Clay,” Wallace snorted. “I say we just kill him and be done with it. Can’t risk him leaking any more information.”

“Don’t be a jackass, Wallace,” I sighed. “He’s already told them everything he knows. You really want to execute an innocent man, in cold blood?”

“He is hardly innocent,” Wallace scoffed.

“He was just doing what he believed to be right.”

“Maybe that isn’t good enough.”

I held is gaze for a long moment before Wallace finally relented, shaking his head,

“Fine. It’s your funeral, Clay. When he comes back for revenge, it’ll be you he goes after first.”

“Well, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there,” I shrugged. “But on second thought, maybe you should take him, Mark.”

“I… I’m not sure I should. This is my fault,” Vasquez rubbed his face with his hands. “I should have been more careful, should have seen this coming.”

“It isn’t on you, Mark. We all made this mistake. Besides, we had to take some risks. This one just… didn’t pay off. We can worry about recriminations and what we should have done later. For now, just get him to Oliver and Liz. Then see if James needs your help. We can’t stay here for much longer.”

Every moment we hesitated, the Organization and the Domini could be closing the noose further.

“Right. Right. We can… talk about this later,” Mark nodded, trying to convince himself more than any of us. He grabbed Cain by the arm, “Come on, let’s get you out of here, before Wallace changes his mind.”

“You won’t escape this time. Maybe if you surrender quietly, they’ll show mercy,” Cain laughed as Mark dragged him away.

“You are too soft, Ray,” Wallace noted. “You won’t make it to my age in this business, if you can’t make tough choices. This kind of thing is going to get you killed.”

“I’ll take that, if the other option is living long enough to end up like you,” I was getting sick of Wallace’s shit.

“You think that you are so…” Wallace was cut off as James placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Now isn’t the time to fight amongst ourselves,” he scolded. “Go help Vasili evacuate the injured, alright?”

Wallace grumbled, but he did as he was told, shooting me a dirty look as he brushed past me on his way to the med bay. James shook his head,

“You know how he is, Rayna, you shouldn’t antagonize him.”

“He wanted to execute Cain. Right here.”

“Well, it is the practical choice, if not the compassionate one,” James admitted. “What did you decide to do with him?”

“Sent Mark to bring him to Oliver. His people are holding Vicki, I figure they can probably hold him too, until we have a better solution.”

“That will work, for now. But I don’t know what we are going to do about all of the compromised immune, when this is over. It is going to be challenging, to break the hold of the Domini, even if we can stop their larger plans.”

“Let’s worry about that if we survive, alright?”

“Fair enough,” James chuckled. “One thing at a time, then.”

“Right.”

“You find anything useful on there?” James turned to Simon, who was still scrolling Suzette’s phone.

“Not yet. There are no names here, and I don’t have any numbers memorized. Some seem familiar, but I’m not sure. I’ll keep looking.”

“Good. Rayna, I want you to take your data and get Simon, Jessica, Liz and Oliver somewhere safe. I will leave where up to you; it will be safer if no one else knows.”

“I should be helping you with the evacuation.”

He shook his head,

“They are civilians. Someone needs to get them to safety, and they know you best. I need you to handle this for me.”

“I’m not certain Liz counts as a civilian, really.”

“A discussion for another time, Rayna.”

“Right. Are you sure you don’t need my help?”

“I can handle it,” he shook his head. “Before you go, though, one other thing. I contacted my people, and the politicians are preparing to make their public announcements. It’s going to happen tomorrow, whether we are prepared or not. So, I need you to talk to Oliver, see if he has anyone who can help you get that data online. If he doesn’t, just post it anywhere you can, then copy and send it to every news agency. It will be better if we can get everything out in the open at once, rip off the Band-Aid.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

“Good. Now go, we don’t have any time to spare. Once I have finished here, I will contact you. You know the number I am using now?”

I nodded,

“Be careful, Jim.”

“You too, Rayna.”

I held his eyes for a moment, then I nodded and turned away. Neither of us could afford a long goodbye.