* * *

Sarah flinched, the mention of a passageway tugging at some memory she’d forgotten long ago. Like a dream that vanished upon waking, it turned to echoes when she tried to latch onto it.

“Do you know where the passageway is?” Pegasus asked.

“No. They made sure of it.”

“What was your mission?”

“What do you think it was?” Robyn rolled her eyes. “Infiltrate, get your missions, see how much you know, eventually help others get in if needed.”

“Have you reported back yet?”

“I couldn’t make a full report. Eventually, they’ll try again…” Her gaze bore into Sarah. “If they still can.”

Robyn’s expression suddenly felt more uncomfortable than the gun.

“Is the New Nation in on this?” Pegasus asked.

“No. They’re the puppets. You’re right about that.”

“Why tell them Sarah was the target?”

Sarah turned a questioning gaze to the com before she remembered he hadn’t heard Robyn say she was supposed to have died.

Robyn leaned closer to the com. “Because she was.”

“Wouldn’t Mark be more likely to spot the switch?”

Since Dad knew about this place, it made sense.

“It was a two birds, one stone kind of thing,” Robyn said.

Sarah’s gaze sought hers, but Robyn was looking at the com. Pegasus had a point. If the objective was killing the entire family, why single her out?

One more misshapen puzzle piece, too many to keep track of.

“Robyn? Why are you there, in Sarah’s room?”

“Done looking for sabotage yet?” Robyn asked, changing the subject.

“You said it yourself, it’s a big place. Care to give us a hint?”

“I like the thought of everyone and the techs crawling through the air vents. Why should I make it easier on you?”

Was there really a bomb somewhere in the building ready to go off and kill dozens of people? Sarah realized she had no idea how many people this place housed, or what might be above it.

“Robyn?” There was a deceptive calmness in his words—maybe it was caution. “Are you done with your mission?”

Robyn blinked, tears falling anew. “No.”

“Care to tell Sarah what you’re doing in her room? Or should we talk about your choices going forward?”

Robyn wiped at her eyes, but another tear rolled down her cheek. “I never had a choice.”

Sarah felt her world spin again. “Why are you here?”

“Because my mission isn’t complete yet.” Robyn’s voice broke this time.

Sarah went cold. The gun left little room for interpretation.

“Why would anyone want me dead? I’m nothing. I’m no threat to anyone.”

“Yes, you are a threat. This whole mess is your fault.”

“How can anything that’s happened so far be my fault?”

Robyn tapped the com. “Care to guess, Pegasus?”

“Why don’t you enlighten us?” he asked. “Tell us what you’d betray family for.”

The anger in his words didn’t go unnoticed. It seemed to sober Robyn somewhat.

“It’s not that simple. Someone had to save the world… and she’s my sister.” More tears started coming down her face, but she didn’t try to wipe them this time.

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“What the hell does killing me have to do with saving the world?” Sarah shouted, unable to contain her outburst.

“You’re dangerous.” Robyn met Sarah’s gaze. “You’re the reason your parents are dead. The reason a lot of people will still die. If you die, it stops. It all stops.”

How could she be the reason people were dying?

Robyn, who now seemed to have no qualms about telling her things, continued: “The orders were to kill you, but I don’t know the specifics. I only know it saves my world, and that’s good enough for me.”

“Your world?” Sarah echoed, somewhat in a daze.

“And what about this one?” Pegasus asked, taking the information in stride. “Is it too late for us?”

“Not yet. If she dies, maybe you get to save yourselves.”

“By killing someone who hasn’t done anything wrong? It doesn’t even make sense,” Pegasus said.

Sarah was glad she wasn’t the only one that thought it.

“Explain it to me. Nobody else has to die today, Robyn.”

“Oh, please, the only reason you’re still talking to me all friendly and whatnot is because you’re afraid I’ll kill her if you try to get in here.”

“Yes,” he admitted. “But also because I don’t want to have to kill you.”

Sarah wiped cold sweat from her face with the towel. It was good that Pegasus took over the conversation. The calm in his voice allowed Sarah to remember how to breathe.

“Why don’t you give us something more, Robyn? You don’t honestly believe we want to see more people die, do you?”

“No, but I believe there are some prices you’re not willing to pay, Anderson. You told me so yourself. Or you would have, eventually. It’s a game of choices and consequences. You’re familiar with that. But for a twist of fate and a detour, all you would’ve been is some regular guy out there in the world.”

“Why don’t you give us all the facts to see if we can’t think of an alternative?”

“I don’t have all the facts.”

“Who gave you your intel? Is that the part we—I—won’t like? Is there some pact with the devil among your orders? Was it a sell-out more than a defeat?”

The laughter that came from Robyn didn’t sound at all normal. She looked a little drunk, if slightly more functional than when she first walked into the room.

“You’re always trying to be so clever, so insightful…” Robyn straightened herself. “And I fooled you!”

“We see what we want to see,” he whispered in response. “Even a troubled friend instead of an impostor.”

Sarah sucked in a breath. That’s what she was doing, too. Seeing her sister in the woman who was standing in her room with a gun pointed at her.

Robyn hadn’t given a straight answer to what she was doing in her room. But she said her mission wasn’t done. And her mission involved Sarah’s death.

Sarah clenched her fists, vision swimming. Was she really gonna die like this?

There was no way she was getting out of that room, except past Robyn. And it didn’t look like anyone would be coming to the rescue. The entire world might as well be sitting around, waiting for Robyn to shoot her.

“So why haven’t you?” Sarah asked, not realizing the rest of the associations had been voiced only in her head until Robyn gave her a questioning look.

Even admitting Robyn was an impostor, Sarah still saw her sister. It was disconcerting to say the least, but it also made her braver than if she were faced with a stranger. “You’re here to kill me, aren’t you?”

Robyn didn’t answer, but the look in her eyes was answer enough.

“Then why haven’t you done it already? You could’ve killed me at any time.”

* * *

Pegasus tapped his finger on the table, frowning.

Sarah was right. Robyn could have killed her any time, including that first week when she was unconscious and still recovering from her wounds. She could have made it look like a result of Sarah’s injuries from the fall and no one would be the wiser. Was she only spurred into action now because of him?

“I was hoping those orders would become irrelevant once I was in place,” he heard Robyn reply.

A change in orders would require communication. During the missions would’ve been difficult. The best opportunity would be when she went out with Unicorn.

“I was wrong,” Robyn continued. “Your death is considered more important.”

Pegasus froze at the use of the present tense. He didn’t take a proper breath until Sarah’s exasperated response came, demanding to know why she had to die. As long as Robyn was talking, they had some time.

Scorpion came running over then, and he raised a hand in warning, pressing the mute button.

“Have they found any explosives yet?” he asked Scorpion when it was clear that Robyn wasn’t going to answer.

She shook her head. “We don’t have enough personnel as it is for a proper search. Zeus ordered everyone to start relocating to Center just in case. She picked one hell of a day. There’s been another explosion.”

There was enough to worry about without thinking of what was happening outside.

Robyn was whispering something, so he turned up the sound.

“I thought if I proved I could handle you, if I could get rid of you, send you back out, then everything would be okay…”

He turned to Scorpion. “What did Michael say? Does Robyn have eyes on the hallway?”

“We don’t know. Some of her mission equipment is missing, but Griffon thinks she wouldn’t have had time after she killed Charlie. Wolf suggested breaching through the wall from the next room.”

“Without knowing where in the room Sarah is?”

“Our main concern is getting to Robyn and interrogating her.”

“If she’s gone to all this trouble to kill Sarah, I think we should be a little more concerned with keeping Sarah alive.”

They’d been lucky enough that Robyn was still stalling. Not that he could blame her. Since Robyn’d been hoping she didn’t have to kill Sarah, she might still be looking for a way around it.

If the mission was to neutralize by any means necessary, for example, it meant that if you found a way to neutralize without killing, the mission was accomplished.

But they needed more information in order to come up with alternatives.

“What are you thinking?” Scorpion asked.

“I want to get in there.”

“Orders are to keep your distance, don’t pressure her. She could have a detonator.”

“Check with Griffon again.”

She glared at him.

“Please.”

“Just tell whoever it is that I’m not a threat!” Sarah protested on the other end.

“It wouldn’t matter.” Robyn sounded pained. “I figured I could leave it to fate. When you went outside, if they still wanted to get rid of you, they could do it themselves. At least then… it wouldn’t be my finger on the trigger.”