Lin stares at her hands as Evan and Louise rush into the cage. The zip ties binding Keeya, Lucie, and Valerie evaporate. Evan runs to Valerie and kneels next to her, checking the bruises and scrapes on her face. Louise helps Lucie and Keeya up as I squeeze padt them all to get to Lin as fast as I can. On my way, I slag all the guns on the floor, just to be safe.

Lin slumps down to the ground, her back to the cage bars. I squat down in front of her.

“Lin,” I say.

She just stares at her hands.

“Lin!”

She slowly lifts her gaze to meet mine. Her eyes are emptying out. I know that emptiness all too well. Shock might brace her for a bit, but that numbness will turn to guilt and despair all too soon. What do I wish someone had told me after I killed my father? The memory of it seems fuzzy and distant, but I try my best to come up with words that could help her heal later.

“Thank you, Lin,” I tell her. “You were so brave. You just did a very good thing.”

She shakes her head and lowers her eyes.

“Look here, right here, in my eyes,” I insist.

She lifts her head until our gazes meet again.

“We’ll talk more later, but know this now: you did the right thing. You are good. Thank you.”

I look into her beautiful, dark eyes framed by darkening bruises for what seems like an eternity. Finally she nods.

Behind me, my many eyes see Yang Song step over the spreading puddle of the General’s blood. She’s looking at me expectantly, waiting for me to turn to face her. Her vitals show an intense fear that her face hides perfectly. She must be wondering if we’re going to kill her now, too. What to do about her? She was clearly complicit in this whole thing, but when push came to shove, she didn’t go along with the General’s plan. She dropped her gun.

“Lin, these bruises.” I raise a hand and gently touch her face. “Did Yang Song give you any of these? Or any others? Ever?”

Lin looks confused for a second, then shakes her head no. “Just him,” she says, her eyes flicking to her father’s body.

I turn around. Yang Song meets my gaze with a perplexed expression. “What will you do now?” she demands.

“You made a good choice just now,” I tell her. “Your life is yours.”

“You are wrong,” she says, her eyes turning to Lin. “My life is hers, as it has been since the day her mother died. I did not betray her father for you. I did it for her.”

“Come on,” Louise urges, “we can sort out who owns whose life later. Right now, we’ve got to figure out how to not have this turn into an international incident.”

She starts herding everyone out of the cage. Max joins us as we leave the room, pulling a pair of handkerchiefs from his breast pocket and offering them to Keeya and Lucie. They take them gratefully and start cleaning themselves up as we walk.

“One second,” I say. “Yang Song, do the surveillance videos go anywhere but here? Do they stream out?”

“No. The security system is closed,” Yang Song says.

I wonder for a moment if I can trust her, but her vitals don’t indicate any deception. Plus, it’s not like she has any reason to lie to us at this point.

“Good,” I reply as I flood my cloud through floors and walls to follow the video cable to its source. I find a utility room in the basement with a rack of servers. I consume everything in less than a minute. The less evidence we leave, the better.

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“Can we go now?” Louise asks impatiently.

“Yeah,” I say. “Let’s go.”

We all rush down the stairs. Yang Song takes Lin by the hand as we swiftly walk back to the conference room. Lin seems to appreciate it. She’s much more than a translator and bodyguard. If I didn’t know better and just saw the two of them, I would have guessed that Lin was her daughter from the way she treats her. Yang Song could be an ally that we desperately need right now to keep what happened here contained. As we take the twisting hallways back to the others, I pump her for information.

“Yang Song, who knows that we are here? And when we arrived?”

“The conference was very sensitive,” she replies without hesitation. “We did not publish a schedule, or inform anyone outside of the guest list of the details. Of all the people who saw you here, only Mr. Wu left with that information.”

“You mean the same Mr. Wu who was leaving earlier by helicopter? The one who owns the place and planned this whole thing?”

She gives me a significant look. “Yes. General Liu has worked with him for several years. He represents powerful people. Very powerful.”

“Good,” I say. “He never left. I stopped his helicopter.”

She smiles a fierce smile. “Then I would recommend that you dispose of him. I never liked him or what he stood for. He caused a great man to betray his country, and me along with him. Whatever you did to those people in the conference room, he deserves a thousand times worse. With him removed, his backers would have no clear knowledge of what occurred here.”

Again, nothing in her vitals shows any signs of deception. I take her at her word and extend my cloud outside. The pilot and guards are still trying to get the helicopter started while Mr. Wu shouts at them.

“Do you know who’s behind him?” I ask. “It’s not part of the Chinese government, I gather.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t know who they are, but I know they have power in many countries, including yours. It was all very secret. They act with impunity and the General was too afraid to defy them. He was the bravest man I ever knew.”

I need to go see what I can get out of Mr. Wu. I hate to leave Lin right now, but I check her vitals and see that she’s in full shock mode. She probably doesn’t register anything going on around her at this point, and Yang Song can do a better job of taking care of her than I can at this point.

“Thanks,” I say, veering off toward the exit leading to the helipad. “I’m going to go get some answers. Go with Evan and Louise and help them if you can. And take care of Lin, please.”

She shoots me that perplexed look again. Of course. As far as she knows, Lin and I only know each other from one conversation and a dozen letters.

“I always will,” she solemnly vows.

I get to the outer doors and feel Andrea’s bots outside formed into several eyes.

To Andrea: The cameras aren’t an issue anymore, you can stop your illusions with them. Also, you might want to look away from the helicopter pad. This could get ugly.

I feel her eyes dissolve and retract as I step outside. Mr. Wu doesn’t notice me, absorbed as he is in berating the pilot and guards who are still trying to start the chopper. I make it most of the way to the helicopter before one of the guards spots me. He shouts something I can’t understand before I bind and gag him and the other two people who I’m not going to kill today because Louise told me not to. I start floating them back toward the house.

Mr. Wu turns to face me, his expression calm. Even his vitals are steady. This guy must have nerves of steel.

“Mr. Kimball,” Mr. Wu says loudly. “The fact that you are here now tells me many things. You are a very resourceful young man. We could use people like you. I can offer you a position of leadership within our organization. The rewards for you would be beyond your dreams.”

I step closer as the guards and pilot float through the doors and I feel one of my siblings take them off my hands. I keep walking until I don’t need to raise my voice to be heard.

“I’m listening,” I finally tell him. “Tell me more about this organization of yours.” I don’t add what I’m thinking: so I can hunt them all down and kill every last one of them.

“Wealth far beyond your father’s paltry few billions,” he promises. “Fame. Prestige. Beautiful women, as many as you like, willing to do whatever you can imagine. Or men, if that’s your preference.”

“Money isn’t a huge issue for me personally, and I’ve got more press coverage than I ever wanted. And I’m very happy with my girlfriend just now.” I check him carefully for weapons again, but still find nothing. Why is he so calm? “Why don’t you just tell me who I would be joining, and what they want. Besides world domination, of course. That part was already pretty clear.”

“All of that will come in time,” he responds serenely. “All I ask now is that you name your price. Whatever it is, we can pay it. Speak your greatest wish, and we will see it done.”

“I recently lost a brother,” I tell him. “Do you have any of those handy? He’d have to be about my height, blond hair, blue eyes, and answer to Chad Butler. That’s my wish, can you make that happen?”

Mr. Wu’s expression changes to one of resignation. “As I expected,” he says.

His jaw stiffens.

And then his head explodes.