Jackson ran.

He felt as if he could run for miles, for hours, maybe even days. The ground was springy beneath his feet. He'd caught his second wind and now oxygen flowed freely through his lungs. Were they bigger now? He felt as if they were bigger. He could feel them press against his ribs with every inhalation.

Everything was… more. He could see more, hear more, smell more. Think more. He heard the thoughts of his pack as they ran beside him. They were losing themselves in the joy of the run and so was he.

But more than that – he could hear the thoughts of other animals. Even, at the edges of his hearing, people. Not the ones he wanted to hear – Chloe and the others – but enough to make him think that, with time and perseverance, he could stretch himself. It was wildly exhilarating.

As he ran he caught the first snatches of thought that weren't wolf… or animal. They sounded in his head, echoing like a conversation in another room.

…follow the signal…

…tell where he's going…?

…no deviation…cut him off…

Soldiers. His lip curled with disdain. They couldn't catch him, not now. He felt as if he had eyes and ears everywhere –

He felt a sharp sting in his neck. His hand flew up even as his feet stumbled; it took everything he had just to stay upright. His hand came away holding a tiny dart.

"How…?"

Dizziness swept through him. This wasn't possible. He tried to run again, putting one foot mechanically in front of another, but they wouldn't obey him. Why hadn't the wolves warned him? They milled around him now, confused, licking at his face and hands.

Hunt-blind, he thought, remembering how he'd felt just a few minutes ago. Caught up in the thrill of the run, knowing you can go on and on and never thinking something can stop you –

Grey mist swam across his vision. He dropped to his knees. He started crawling. He heard shouts behind him, excited and frightened at the same time. The wolves snarled and snapped.

"Go," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "Run. Don't come back here." He could smell gun oil now, gun oil and camouflage paint and the rank odour of fear. "Go!"

As the world slid sideways and faded to white static, his last sight was of a line of wolves trotting away from him, tails flipped high.

"You have him?" Chloe strode along the corridor behind Amelia Sage. "Tell me you have him?"

"Through here, Miss Tousignant." The older woman gestured for Chloe to enter a room. "You're the last to return."

Chloe entered a small room. Jamie, Mitch and Abe were already there; to her surprise, Lieutenant Kazuko Wilson was also present. She held herself away from the others.

One whole wall was taken up by what Chloe guessed was a two-way mirror. In the room beyond she saw Jackson. Stripped down to his underpants and strapped to a table, he was straining against his bonds, muscles cording with his efforts. The leather straps looked as if they were stretched to their limit.

Gowned doctors hovered around him, trying to fix electrodes and patches to his body. His mouth was wide open. Was he yelling? She couldn't hear. Chloe pressed her hands to the glass, feeling the smooth, cold material bite into her palms.

"What are you going to do to him?" she demanded.

"Tests," Sage replied. There was no emotion in her voice, no compassion. "He agreed to undergo an untried, untested medical treatment. What did you think would happen when we got him back?"

"Is this going to hurt him?" Tension stretched Chloe's features, making her face resemble a skull.

"No pain, no gain."

"I did not tag him so you could experiment on him!" Chloe spat. She watched, helpless, as one of the doctors slid a needle into his arm. Cords of muscle stood out on Jackson's neck.

Abe turned away from the window, hands on his hips. His eyes were suspiciously damp. Beside him Jamie turned to Mitch, who put his arm around her. Kazuko Wilson merely watched Jackson with sharp eyes.

"These aren't experiments." Sage was unsympathetic. "This isn't some episode of The X-Files. We have a series of tests we wish to perform."

"He's restrained!"

"For his own benefit! You want him hurting himself? Hurting the scientists?"

"I don't want him being hurt! Untie him!"

"Miss Tousignant, if you can't control your temper, I'll have you removed."

"You would have me removed?" Her eyes flashed. "Without me, you would not have him!"

"That's it! Take her out."

The two burly soldiers, who'd stood flanking the door, moved forward. Chloe – visibly calming – eyed them coldly.

"No! I will remain. And everything that you do to him, I will watch… and remember."

"I can't believe we're letting them do this," Jamie murmured twenty minutes later. She could barely stand to watch – was hardly able, through the veil of steadily dripping tears that covered her face – but she forced herself. She owed it to Jackson.

"We don't have a choice." Mitch was thin-lipped with anger, his face pale. "Anyone can see he's suffering, but we can't stop it."

They'd watched the doctors take sample after sample of blood. Mitch had explained what was happening, in a low, emotionless voice that trembled every now and again. Along with the blood tests they'd performed a spinal tap. Drawn fluid from the eyes. They'd taken tissue sample, tested his reflexes, his hearing. He was hooked up to so many machines he looked half-cyborg.

"I could… I don't know… hack into their security…?"

"No, Jamie. You're good, but they're the Army. All that would happen is that they'd lock you up." He kissed her forehead. "Can't let that happen."

Abe was watching proceedings, unable to look away. Tears streamed down the big man's face. Occasionally he wiped a hand across his cheeks. But he didn't look away.

"I am sorry, Rafiki," he murmured every now and again. "I am so sorry."

They all looked at each other when the alarms went off. One of the soldiers at the door spoke into a walkie-talkie.

"What is happening?" Chloe demanded. "Is it another animal attack?"

"Yes, ma'am. We have reports of large mammals attacking the fence. But they won't get through, not this time."

Chloe looked at Jackson, writhing on the hospital gurney.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that. Are your power supplies protected?"

He gave her a condescending look. "We learned our lesson from the last attack, ma'am. We have our own generator on-site, plus two back-ups, and all three are heavily protected. Nothing short of an elephant is getting to those gennies."

"Right," Mitch said. His condescension was more than a match for the soldier's. "Because we got chased out of D.C by rhinos. No elephants here, no sir-ee."

The soldier finally began to look worried. From outside, the first faint sounds of battle could be heard – snarls, hoots, roars and shrieks, and over everything the heavy crack of gunfire.

The others drew closer to one another, all except Chloe, who was watching Jackson intently.

"I want to hear what is happening," she demanded. She turned to the soldier. "Can we get sound in here?"

"Chloe, I don't think –" Jamie tried, reaching for her.

The French woman shook her off, glaring at the soldier. "Get me some sound!"

The soldier spoke into his walkie-talkie again. A few seconds later they heard a hiss of static followed by a harsh crackle. Then they heard Jackson.

He wasn't yelling, as everyone had thought. He was screaming.

"The animals are reacting to his pain," Chloe breathed, eyes wide with horror. "You must stop these tests, these experiments!"

"Ma'am, we're not authorised to do that." The soldier looked uneasy.

"Then get me someone who is!"

He had a murmured conversation with someone else on his walkie-talkie. Two minutes later – two minutes that felt like a lifetime, as Jackson writhed and screamed and the animals continued their cacophony – Amelia Sage strode into the room. A white-coated doctor scurried after her.

"If this is some pathetic attempt to make the tests stop –"

"It is not," Chloe interrupted. "Can you not hear his pain?"

"Ma'am, this is highly irregular!" the doctor said.

"Think of it as another test," Sage said, glancing at the doctor. "Cause and effect." Her features hadn't softened – not exactly – but there was a slight lessening of the severity around her eyes. Chloe began to hope that she wasn't as heartless as she appeared.

The doctor threw his hands in the air and left. They watched as, minutes later, the tubes were removed and the invasive procedures ended.

Jackson's screams stopped. He slumped against his restraints, panting and sweating.

The cacophony from outside ceased.

"I'd say that answers your question," Chloe bit out. "Lock him up if you must, but for God's sake untie him. He is a human being!"

They watched Jackson pace restlessly from wall to wall of his holding cell. If he felt any lingering pain from the tests he didn't show it, and the animals outside displayed no further reaction.

"Interesting. We know he has conscious control of animals," Sage remarked, "but now we know he has unconscious control. Somehow they felt that he was in pain, and they tried to rescue him."

"Are they still out there?" Jamie asked.

"I have no doubt of it," Abe answered. None of them could take their eyes off Jackson. "He is like a caged animal."

"I hope all this testing was worth it," Chloe ground out. Her eyes were wet with tears. "Because it will not happen again."

Sage gave her a pitying look before turning to Mitch.

"Well, Doctor Morgan," she said, patting him on the arm, "seems like you've pulled off the impossible."

"Not a doctor," he grunted. "And it wasn't my idea."
"Regardless, what you and Jackson have achieved is… incredible." She seemed genuinely amazed. "The possibilities for military use are endless –"

"Military use?" Abe exclaimed. "You mean, you want to turn my friend into a weapon?" He didn't bother to hide the outrage on his face.

"Him? No." Sage was dismissive. "He doesn't have military training or discipline."

"My God. Imagine what a soldier could do if they were in tune with the animals," Abe said, shaking his head. "It would eradicate the need for spy technology, for a start. You could see through a bird's eyes… send fleet-footed rats in through the sewers… nowhere would be safe."

"More than that." Sage was smug. "Jackson's stronger than before, we can tell that even before the test results come back. He's faster. He has more endurance. Imagine a soldier with those kinds of abilities."

"A super-soldier," Abe sneered.

"You were in an army." Her face was cold now. "You know an army will use whatever weapons it has to win a war."
"And some wars should not be fought!" Abe shouted.

"As far as we know, no other country has what the United States has right now." She was cool and calm in the face of his anger. "None of them has Jackson, or his father's research. None of them should have any mother cell left after making the vaccine. We have an edge, and by God we're going to use it."

"Mad. You are all mad."

"How – how exactly are you going to do this?" Jamie asked, her journalist's curiosity getting the better of her.

"Jamie –" Abe wheeled to face her.

"I didn't say I agreed with it," she said quickly. "But Amelia, are you really going to put your soldiers through the same procedure that Jackson went through? Just the thought of it makes me shudder."

Sage's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "All we need is human stem cells, and the mother cell, right?"

"In theory, yes –" Mitch said. She overrode him.

"We can get hold of foetal stem cells, cook up a big batch." She looked through the glass. Jackson had stopped pacing and was watching her intently, almost as if he could read her lips. "Draw on rank and file volunteers."

"Ma'am!" Kazuko said, stepping forward and letting off a crisp salute. Sage wasn't her superior, but she still held authority in Fort McNair. "Permission to get the first dose?"

Jackson felt the beginnings of a plan form in his mind. More than a plan – destiny. His destiny, and that of the rest of the world.

The medical tests had left him screaming, but in rage rather than pain. They'd hurt – they'd hurt like hell – but he was furious that the country he'd tried to save, the people he loved, had turned on him like this. Chloe – Abe – Jamie and Mitch. They'd just stood there and let it happen. He knew it was a two-way mirror, but he didn't need to see them to know they were there. He smelled them. He heard their movements.

Chloe, in particular, pulled at his senses; he heard the staccato beat of her heart, smelled the light, floral fragrance she wore. Mixed in with her own personal body odour, it made a scent he would recognise from miles away, if the wind was blowing in the right direction.

The animals outside had shared his rage. It exploded from him like fireworks, setting them alight and burning through them.

But after it was over, after the pain and anger had begun to recede, he knew that his abilities were stronger. He was stronger. He couldn't hear what Sage was saying, not through all that glass, but he kept catching snippets of her thoughts.

…super-soldiers…

…make a big batch of treatment…

…show the world what the US Army can do…

There would be more of Mitch's treatment. Lots more. He agreed with Sage's basic idea that more people needed to evolve. If they knew how he felt… what he saw, what he smelt, the sheer freedom that being with animals gave him… they'd all understand. They'd all be connected. And with that connection would come peace. That was what his father was striving toward, that ultimate peace.

Of course, he'd need to find a way to bring the treatment to the people. He couldn't let it go to waste on soldiers.

Mitch, Jamie, Abe and Chloe held an emergency meeting later in a corner of the mess hall, where they wouldn't be overheard.

"We're not going to let them do this," Chloe said. Her face was hard, her eyes snapping with anger. "Whatever Jackson's motivations for undergoing the treatment, he would not want this. He is not a violent man."

"But he can be a devious one," Abe said, hands bunched under his chin. "Before all this started, we encountered a group of poachers. It was all legal – they had permits," he couldn't disguise the disgust in his voice, "but it was still wrong. When we saw that the poachers were closing in on the animals, who were unaware of their presence, Jackson set our portable radio to its full volume and turned it on."

"That sounds like something Jackson would do," Chloe said, though her smile was weak.

"Excuse me for being the voice of reason," Mitch said, "but how were you – one person – planning to stop the Army from doing what it wants?"

"Two people," Abe said.

"Three," Jamie added. "I've seen what an 'evolved' person can do up close and personal." She made air quotes. "And it wasn't pretty. Evan Lee Hartley could have killed me when he ran me off the road."

"So what, you see one bad egg and you decide the whole thing's a bad idea?"

"Yes!"

"Jamie, think about this." Mitch leaned forward over the table. "Sage is right in saying that this has possibilities. Massive possibilities, but not just for the Army – for everyone."

"I don't understand."

"Think about it. If everyone was more in tune with 'nature'," and this time he air-quoted, "we'd be less likely to cut trees down, overfish the seas and pollute the damned atmosphere."

"Or we'd end up living like the animals," Jamie interjected. "Fighting each other tooth and claw, slaughtering our rivals' infants like lions –"

"Isn't that what we do already?" Mitch took his glasses off and polished them on a rag. "At least with animals, everything they do is for one reason, and one reason alone. Survival. Can't say that about the human race."

Jamie looked at her hands, balled in her lap. He had her there.

"So you're saying we shouldn't interfere with what Sage and Kazuko are doing."

"I didn't say that. I just think that if you want to go against them, you'd better have a damned good plan."

They tossed ideas around for hours, growing steadily more and more frustrated. They came up with plan after plan. Each was thrown out when they found a flaw, or a weakness. They couldn't afford to have any flaws.

"Miss Tousignant?"

They stopped talking, guiltily aware that they hadn't been paying as much attention as they should have been. Amelia Sage had approached their table, and was now watching them with undisguised amusement.

"Yes?"

"You may wish to waste your time plotting an impossibility. Or you might wish to see Doctor Morgan's treatment at work."

They exchanged startled, wary looks. "You can't have it ready that quickly," Mitch said.

"When your pockets are funded by the US Treasury, Doctor Morgan, anything is possible. Kazuko's waiting."

Eyes closed, Jackson strained his senses. He couldn't hear his people, or smell them (funny that he should still call them 'his people' when they'd turned their backs on him) but he'd spent the last few hours zeroing in on their thoughts. The ability was still rusty, but it was coming.

He found he could hear Chloe's thoughts the most clearly. Hardly surprising. He still loved her – at least he thought he did – but 'love' had become an abstract concept to him. Rather than knowing instinctively what it meant, he felt as if someone had explained it to him in broken English.

So. Sage had a store of Mitch's treatment. He had plans for that treatment, and they didn't involve being stuck here in Fort McNair.

He knew Kazuko was going to be the first test subject. Maybe he could use that. The Army's delivery system wasn't quite the same as his; Mitch had injected his own stem cell/mother cell mix directly into his optic nerve, while Kazuko would have a foetal cell/mother cell mix injected into her blood stream. He couldn't be sure, but he thought her connection to the animals wouldn't be as strong as his. Nor as controlled.

He could definitely use that.

Silently – urging them to be quiet, to stay out of sight – he called the animals to him.

Mitch and the others stood in another room, almost a carbon copy of the one they'd watched Jackson from. This time the sound was turned on before they started.

Kazuko, wearing Army fatigues, sat on a gurney. There was a dog in the corner of the room, caged and barking. Kazuko's first test – if she survived the process.

"What kind of dog is that?" Jamie murmured, arms crossed.

"A big one."

"I mean the breed."

"What, you think because I bought my daughter a dog I know all about them?"

"You're a vet, Mitch."

"Oh. Right. It's a mutt."

They watched as a doctor filled a syringe from a vial. The liquid within was dark gold – not quite the same shade as the treatment Mitch had made, but close. Kazuko held out her arm. With steady hands the doctor injected her.

"How long do you think this will take?" Chloe asked, shifting anxiously from foot to foot.

"Who knows? With Jackson I could tell immediately."

Even before he'd moved, those changes had become apparent in the way he'd held himself. It was ten minutes before anyone noticed a change in Kazuko. Every minute the doctor asked her how she felt, whilst recording her vitals. Every minute her reply was the same – 'I'm fine' – 'No change' – 'Still breathing, doc'.

But then her posture stiffened. Still sat on the gurney, her back straightened; she raised her face, slowly sniffing the air. She focussed on the still-barking dog first, then looked sharply at the doctor.

"Heightened sense of smell," she said. "And doc, you're not kidding anyone with that cologne. When your wife finds out you're sleeping with her best friend, you're a dead man."

The doctor stumbled back, startled. Unease crawled across his face. The dog increased his barking.

"It's started," Mitch said.

"Way to go, Captain Obvious." Jamie's voice was sharp with anxiety.

"I hope we do not come to regret this course of action," Abe said. "For her sake. For all our sakes."

"You still care for her?" Chloe asked.

He shrugged. "I admire her still. What she is doing now, it is brave."

"Or greedy," Jamie added. "She's seen what Jackson can do, and she wants a piece of the pie."

"Ah, let me keep my rose-tinted glasses a little longer," Abe sighed.

"How do you feel?" the doctor asked, yet again.

Kazuko touched her fingers to her closed eyes, then opened them. She was smiling.

"Eyesight's getting better. Didn't even know that was possible. I'm already twenty/twenty."

The doctor looked at her blood pressure readings. They were increasing rapidly.

Kazuko looked at the dog. The mutt looked at her, still barking frantically. And then – abruptly – he fell silent.

"Good doggie," Kazuko said. She giggled.

"Uh oh. I don't like the sound of that," Mitch said. And from the way the doctor scribbled on his clipboard, he didn't, either.

"What do you mean?" Chloe asked.

"That giggle? Didn't sound too stable to me."

"She's just had an untested substance shot into her system, Mitch."

"Jackson didn't giggle."
"Jackson is not a giggler."

"And he had a purer treatment."

"Lieutenant Wilson, would you like me to let the dog out of his cage?" the doctor asked. He didn't look confident as he said it, and every now and then he eyed the door. It was clear he didn't want to be in that room.

Kazuko and the dog continued to stare at each other. The dog ducked its head, tail tucked firmly between its legs, and started to whine.

"She is establishing her dominance over him," Abe said. "Incredible!"

"Creepy," Jamie said.

The doctor unfastened the cage door. The dog didn't move.

"Here, boy." Kazuko held out her hand. The dog remained still.

"Hey, mutt!" A crease marred her face. "Get over here!"

Still the dog refused to move. His whines increased.

"He is fighting her." Abe's wonder had vanished, to be replaced by trepidation. "She is not fully in tune with him, as Jackson was with the wolves. She is trying to control him."

"I said get your damned ass over here, fleabag!" Kazuko yelled, jumping lithely off the table. The dog squealed and tried to curl into a ball in the back of the cage. The doctor managed to slam the door shut and lock it before she made it across the room.

"Get back on the table, Lieutenant."

"Or what?" she yelled, stalking over to him. He shied away. "What're you going to do to me, you weedy little runt?"

"Heightened aggression," Abe said. "I have a bad feeling about this!"

The door to the holding cell banged open. Two burly soldiers rumbled in, bearing down on the diminutive woman. They pushed her into a corner –

And then she was gone, wriggling past them. One of them just managed to grab her leg; she turned around and bit him. He howled and let her go. Blood trickling from her mouth, she sprinted out of the room.

From his own holding cell nearby, Jackson smiled. He felt Kazuko's shifting awareness, felt her unconscious understanding of her connection to the wider world grow – and grow – and then hit a brick wall.

That's what you get when you try to cut corners, he thought. Brushing his awareness across hers – softly, softly, so she wouldn't feel it – he sensed her abilities would grow, as had his, but that process would take longer. And in Kazuko, at least, some part of the treatment had shifted the chemistry in her brain in just the wrong way. Part of her would remain unbalanced, and that shift was only going to get worse.

One day – time and circumstances permitting – he might hunt her down. Animals turned on their sick brethren to maintain the health of the group, and she was definitely sick. She might not know it yet, but she'd figure it out. Eventually. And then he'd be there.

Right now, however, he had to get the rest of Sage's treatment out of Fort Kincaid. Kazuko had had a bad reaction, but who was to say it would be like that with everyone? He had the sense that the strong bond he'd already formed was partly down to his empathetic nature. He'd worked with animals, protected them where he could. What had Kazuko done? She was a soldier and when she had to, she killed people.

He also had the sense that she enjoyed that killing, something she'd kept hidden even from herself.

He heard the commotion from her cell. Heard her scattered thoughts, and those of his former friends. And there it was… just what he was looking for. A distraction.

"Attack," he whispered.

The alarm went off. Chloe felt as if she was becoming desensitised to it.

The door behind them was already closed. Now she made sure it was locked. Desensitised she might be, incautious she was not.

"I knew something was going to go wrong!" Jamie exclaimed. Mitch pulled her close to him. "We should have known better than to mess around with the mother cell!"

"Jackson thought it was a good idea." Mitch tried to defend the concept, but Jamie was having none of it.

"Right, just like Hitler thought it was a good idea to invade Czechoslovakia!"

"Quiet, you two!" Chloe hissed. Her head was bent, ear pressed to the door. "Do you hear that?"

They fell silent, then paled as an animalistic roar echoed through the corridors outside. Chloe and Abe shared a single terrified look.

"Lion!" they said in unison.

"What?" Jamie shrank closer to Mitch. "There's a lion on a military base?"

"Rafiki," Abe growled. "I do not understand it, but I think he has somehow taken advantage of the chaos Kazuko is causing. I think he is trying to escape!"

"I – I have to go after him," Chloe said, reaching for the door again.

"And do what?" Abe demanded. "Are you going to stop him from leaving – or help him?"

"I will decide when I get there!"

"What, are you nuts?" Jamie said. "You're not going out there?"

Mitch let out a frustrated growl. "I am, too."

"For Jackson?"

"For my daughter, Jamie. I have to make sure she's protected."

"Then I'm going with you," she said. "Someone has to haul your ass out of danger."

"Are you going to bring that up every time?"

"I didn't mean literally…"

Chloe and Abe scurried out of their protected room, peering around corners before they committed to any move. There were animals everywhere, though so far nothing had attacked them. The creatures hadn't made any such distinctions for the soldiers.

"Jackson is controlling them," Abe said. "He doesn't want us to get hurt. Whatever changes have happened to him, my friend is still in there."

"I know he is still in there, somewhere," Chloe replied. "I have to believe it. I must have something to cling to, or I feel I will go mad."

They rounded another corner just in time to see Jackson entering a formerly security-controlled door. The power had gone down again. So much for Sage's extra reinforcements.

"Jackson!" Chloe called. He ignored her, and as she raced to close the distance, two huge lions prowled out into the corridor. The message was clear – don't follow.

"What is he doing?" Abe asked, backing away from the lions. "Why has he gone into the laboratory rather than fleeing?" The lions didn't attack – another sign they were being controlled – but lay down in front of the door. One of them yawned, displaying huge teeth that could easily rip through a man's flesh.

"Maybe he is after the mother cell," Chloe speculated. There was a map of the compound on the wall beside her, and she started tracing her finger along the routes, trying to find an alternative way into the lab.

"Could he… no, it is impossible." Abe shook his head.

"What?"

"Could he be looking for Sage's modified treatment?"

"How could he even know of its existence?" Chloe replied.

Ab shrugged. "Perhaps the same way that he knew the precise moment to take advantage of Sage's test with Kazuko."

Chloe tapped the map. "Maybe. I do not pretend to understand what Jackson can do now. But if we cannot get into the lab, we will not be able to follow him. This way."

Jamie followed Mitch through the corridors, keeping an eye out for animals. The intrusion didn't appear to have reached this section of Fort McNair – at least not yet – but Jamie knew Mitch wouldn't rest until he'd seen Clementine with his own eyes.

"Where have all the soldiers gone?" she asked.

"Don't know, don't care." Mitch was characteristically short.

They had to leave the building and cross a yard to get to the civilian housing quarters. Mitch found the exit already open, the soldier supposedly guarding it nowhere to be seen.

"Alright," he said, scanning the sky and the surrounding area, "if we run across the yard, we should be fine. Jackson might have sic'd the animals on us, but he didn't let those wolves attack, did he?"

"We have no idea what Jackson's thinking right now," Jamie shot back. "And frankly, I'm more worried about Kazuko. We have no idea where she is or what she's doing."

"Escaping seems like a pretty good bet."

"Well, yeah. But which way? She's been around military bases before, she must know McNair like the back of her hand."

"We'll cross that bridge when – and if – we get to it," Mitch said. "Come on. Coast is clear."

Hand in hand they ran across the deserted yard, entering the civilian housing complex without mishap. Mitch led her to the one-story house Audra, Justin, Clem and Justin's parents had been assigned, then banged on the door.

They heard the scrabble of a security chain, then the click of locks being opened. The door cracked open an inch, and Justin's suspicious eye peered out.

"You guys OK in there?" Mitch said.

"What the hell's happening?" Justin demanded.

"Who's that?" Clem called from further in the house. "Is it Mitch? Let him in, Justin!"

"Why are you here?" Justin held the door firmly between them.

"Look, I just came to make sure my little girl is alright –"

"She's fine," Justin said.

"For God's sake, Justin, let him in!" they heard Audra call.

A flock of birds wheeled into view overhead, their voices raising a cacophony. Mitch and Jamie flinched.

"I don't think Jackson's controlling these ones," Jamie whispered. "They're all over the place, look. There's no co-ordination. It's gotta be Kazuko."

The front door was wrenched open. Audra had muscled past her husband, a frustrated scowl on her face, and now beckoned them inside. Mitch raced to his daughter and scooped her up; she hooked her legs around his waist and hugged him hard. Jamie followed him in. Audra closed the door behind her.

When Mitch finally put Clem down, the little girl turned toward Jamie. She was smiling shyly.

"Clem," Mitch said, "This is not exactly how I wanted this to go down, but hey. I'd like to formally introduce you to Jamie Campbell. My girlfriend."

Chloe punched a wall in frustration. The laboratory was empty. Jackson was gone.

"I don't know how he did it!" she yelled, punching the wall again. "How could he steal Sage's treatment and flee Fort McNair without being caught?

She went to punch the wall again, fist already grazed and bleeding. Abe caught her wrist and stopped the movement.

"We may never know," he said, "and hurting yourself will not bring him back, Chloe. With the power down we are unable to review the security footage. If he has the treatment, I do not know where he would go."

Chloe slowly calmed down, letting the anger leach from her eyes.

"That – that does not matter," she said eventually. "When he was unconscious, I asked one of the doctors to implant a tracker under his skin. We will find him, and then…"

"And then?"

"Honestly? I do not know."