Alex barely noticed when the Osprey settled onto the ice of Williams Field. The others in the cabin remained still and silent. Even Ellzey kept quiet. Alex held Nicole tight against her body. All of her sobs and pleas for her friend to wake had gone unanswered.

It took her. Whatever was in control took her and used her up. And you helped. You let it happen. She was trying to help you, and you attacked her. It’s your fault she’s gone. You killed Nicole.

The howling from the Osprey’s turbines moderated to a mild whir, which soon surrendered to the Antarctic winds. Shepherd put his hand on Alex’s shoulder. His touch was hesitant as if afraid his fingers would burn.

“I did this,” she said softly, wiping at the tears clinging to her face. “Ryan, she’s gone.”

“It could be a coma,” Shepherd said in an uncertain tone, “like your dad.”

Alex shook her head. She felt like crying again although now, the thrum of the turbines would no longer muffle her sobs. All she could manage was a weak, “No.”

Ellzey stood and went to the cabin door. “Your father is waiting, Ms. Bedford. We have limited time, and we need to refuel. So, if all of you will disembark…”

“There has to be something you can do. That first time on the Reagan, Chairman Lewis said he could help my dad. The Committee can do something for Nicole, can’t they?”

“I’m afraid that’s not my area of expertise.”

“Then find out!” Her shout accompanied a violent gust, which shook the Osprey and added a demonic force to her voice. She set Nicole’s limp form onto the seat and then stood and advanced on Ellzey. He held his ground although his arrogant smile faltered. She shouted again when they were face-to-face, “I saw what you did on the Reagan! You had one of those kids just like in Kansas City! You told him to kill himself and you let this… thing, whatever you have buried here under the ice slaughter everyone! You wanted me on that ship! You were hoping all of this would happen! And if Nicole is gone I swear I’ll make you and the Committee pay!”

“Alex,” Shepherd spoke gently from behind. “Come on. Let’s get Nicole somewhere warm. There is somewhere warm?” He looked at Ellzey.

“I’ll arrange to keep Ms. Serrano comfortable. We’ll have to store that thing somewhere, too.” Ellzey gestured at Webb, who sat unconscious with a black cover over his eyes and zip ties binding his hands and feet.

Alex retreated from Ellzey but kept her eyes on him – steel blue against reptilian green. Neither of them blinked. Finally, she turned and went back to Nicole. “Will you help me?” she asked Shepherd.

“I got it. Don’t worry.”

“Be careful.”

Shepherd hefted Nicole and held her in his arms. Ellzey opened the door, letting in the freezing air. He hopped out of the aircraft onto the ice runway. “Let’s go,” Shepherd said to the team but all of the men were looking at Alex. They did not seem to hear Shepherd’s voice.

What are they thinking right now? Am I still part of the team? Or are they worried they might be next?

“Pops,” Shepherd said to Murray.

“Right,” Murray said although his focus remained on Alex. “You all heard the Captain.” He and the other men stood and filed one-by-one out the door. Shepherd went behind them but then stopped and stared at something in the distance. Alex saw it as soon as she disembarked.

An eddying mass of darkness dominated the skyline. The faraway thunderheads seemed to touch the earth and rise like a black mushroom spreading out over the continent. Lightning flickered across the clouds and flared from within. The size of the darkness was hard to judge but Alex suspected it dwarfed even the tallest of mountains.

“Alexandra.”

General Henry Bedford’s voice overpowered the blasting wind. Alex turned. He wore only his tiger-striped fatigues and patrol cap as if the Antarctic cold were no different from the Colorado summer. His expression was hard but he said her name in the low, throaty tone that so often came when he spoke of her mother.

“Dad,” she whispered.

She found it difficult to believe he was standing only a few feet away. Seeing him in person affected her far differently than seeing and speaking to him through a monitor. His physical presence cemented that he was awake, that he had recovered from his coma, and that now she might have to face explaining Kansas City and all the blood on her hands.

No one moved at first. The cold should have turned her into a shivering mess, her body shaking and teeth chattering. Yet somehow, she was able to stand absolutely still just like her father.

Bedford came forward and embraced her. “I’ve missed you. We have a lot to talk about.”

“I hurt Nicole. Something happened on the Reagan.”

“Nicole?” her father said as if unfamiliar with the name. “Serrano?”

“Yes.”

Bedford spotted Shepherd with Nicole in his arms. “Agent Ellzey,” he said, and when Alex looked, Ellzey was next to them as if summoned by the gusting wind. “Get Serrano into one of our facilities.” He gestured toward the edge of the airfield and a line of prefabricated buildings. The structures resembled oversized shipping containers. The storm clouds rose far beyond. Alex’s gaze again turned to the strangely beautiful display of lightning against the darkness.

Ellzey nodded. “We have a prisoner as well. Colonel Webb.” Bedford scowled at the Osprey as if wishing it would disappear or explode into flames. “Your daughter objected to terminating him on the spot.”

“Get it secured and sedated. I’ll deal with it later. No… mistakes this time, Agent Ellzey.”

It, Alex thought, somewhat put off by her father’s words. But can you really blame him? He was in that coma because of Webb.

Then she recalled the exchange of memories between her and Webb. You have my orders, Bedford had said. Get rid of it by the end of the day. And tell the Committee that if Alexandra ever develops into anything like this…

Ellzey interrupted her thoughts. “As I was sure to highlight in my report, it was the Directorate’s medical personnel that—”

Bedford cut him off. “I want to know when the Osprey is ready for takeoff. Alexandra and I will be inside.”

“What about Nicole?” Alex said.

“We have a medical team on standby. They’ll do what they can.”

Shepherd remained close, shaking from the cold. Alex went to him. “You heard?”

“Yep. Got it. I’ll get her inside. Go talk to your dad. I’ll come tell you if she wakes up.”

“Thank you,” she said, touching his hand briefly.

Two men in black fatigues brushed past them and hurried into the Osprey. They came out a moment later, one of them carrying Webb over his shoulder and the other with a weapon at the ready. They jogged to one of the buildings and disappeared inside. Ellzey gestured after them. “Get your people moving, Captain. Ms. Bedford, I suggest you not keep your father waiting.”

Ellzey left. Shepherd followed after giving Alex a look that seemed to say: Good luck, or I’m sorry, or It’s not your fault –everything will be okay. Whatever he meant to convey, it provided little comfort. The team followed Shepherd. Alex wanted to go with them, to stay with Nicole and hold her friend’s hand. Then her father said, “Come inside.”

Bedford guided Alex to another of the structures. Warmth blasted out when he opened the door. The interior beyond the entryway resembled an office. Desks occupied neat grids to maximize floor space, bulletin and dry erase boards hung from the walls, and fluorescent lights provided ample illumination. Alex followed her father into one of the smaller rooms. He shut the door and gestured to the chair opposite his desk. They sat and looked at each other for a long time without speaking.

“I imagine you have some questions,” Bedford said at last. “We have a few minutes while the Osprey refuels.”

“What happens after that?”

Bedford stared, searching for something in her eyes. “Have you seen it?”

She knew at once what he meant. The sphere. The Anomaly. Instead of answering, she undid the Velcro cuffs around her wrist and rolled back her sleeve. She held her hand out with her wrist upturned.

Bedford nodded, slowly, as if the darkness in her blood vessels was normal, a natural development, a part of life. She thought back to her father’s awkward birds and bees speech from so many years ago. Alexandra, we need to have a talk. Your body is changing. Those changes had been normal and had nevertheless warranted an explanation. Now she was undergoing something else, something abnormal, and somehow her father appeared unconcerned. He raised his eyes from her wrist and said, “Then you know where we’re going.”

She set her hand back in her lap. He was right. She did know. Their destination was the giant crater at the center of those black clouds on the horizon. “Everything General Martin said was true, wasn’t it?”

“John often… overdramatizes.”

“Is it true? About you and him and that sphere and the outbreaks?”

“John and I crossed paths shortly before the outbreaks. He was in charge of the Anomaly’s excavation. I came to assess the project. However, neither one of us knew what was going to happen that August. Did he tell you it was my fault?”

“He said both of you could have done something to stop it.”

“It’s not something I dwell on. It’s a waste of time trying to imagine what could have been. I did what I did, and I sleep well at night. If John feels so much guilt, perhaps he was more involved in the outbreaks than he’s willing to admit.”

“He said I have my abilities because of you. He said you injected me with something – a part of another one of those spheres buried on some island. And… he said mom got sick and died because of that.”

“He lied,” Bedford said sharply. “I never hurt your mother. You know that.”

“But is it true about my abilities?”

“You have to understand, your mother had certain genetic… problems. They were recessive – they didn’t affect her, but you… you might have died before your eighteenth birthday, Alexandra. When we first decided to have children, I researched Kate’s entire family tree going back generations. I had her blood tested, her hair sampled, everything I could think of. I never told her, of course. I loved her, and I wouldn’t have wanted to make her think… But if I hadn’t done anything, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself. I had certain contacts. I knew people. They put me in contact with a group of men who promised they could make you healthy, who could make you… perfect. All they had to do was give you a single injection while you were inside your mother.”

Alex thought back to when her father had revealed the truth about Martin. I researched John, his background, his entire family tree. It went all the way back to the Middle Ages. There was more she couldn’t remember, but he had also said, There was no evidence of genetic disorders. Hemophilia, diabetes, cancer. Nothing. Genetically he was pure. The tangent seemed strange at the time but not noteworthy enough to question. Perhaps it was the normal way of things from before the outbreaks. Yet she found it off-putting to hear him admit he had investigated her mother as well.

“So that injection… Did Nicole and Webb have one, too? Is that why they’re ‘kinetics like me?”

“That thing John calls Webb was a failure. It was the first experiment combining the Novaya Zemlya remains with human DNA. Serrano was injected with a much smaller sample. There wasn’t much left at that point.”

“Did you know I would have these abilities?”

“Not until… after your mother passed away. Those men contacted me again. They made sure I received the assignment to assess Lansing Station and the Anomaly. They wrote my report recommending further testing. All I had to do was deliver the research to the Pentagon.”

“And after they contacted you again, did you know Kansas City would happen? Did you know I’d be able to kill all those people? You said you wanted me to be perfect but I’m not. I murdered thousands of our soldiers. I might have killed Nicole. There hasn’t been a single good thing I’ve done with my abilities.”

“Alexandra, all of that was unfortunate. I regret not being there for you. However, none of that is going to matter. Just as soon—”

“None of it matters?! Nicole is my best friend! All of those soldiers were on our side. They were your soldiers. How… how can it not matter?” The last question came out weak and barely audible. This was not how she had imagined her reunion with her father.

Bedford was quiet for a long moment. He appeared upset, even hurt. Alex wanted to apologize for yelling but he spoke before she could. “What would you do to have your mother back?”

“What? What does—”

“Anything? I would, Alexandra. I’d give anything to have her back. She would be so proud of you.”

“But… what about everything I’ve done? She’d be proud of Kansas City? Are you proud of it?”

“All of that is on my conscience. It doesn’t have to be on yours. None of this was in the plan.” Her father’s gaze gained a renewed intensity as he spoke, and he did not seem to be speaking directly to her, either. His brow furled while his gaze focused on the desk just in front of where she sat. “The Committee deviated. They wouldn’t wait. I wasn’t there to protect you. This war was inevitable, but there were plans. We could have waited a few more years if the Committee hadn’t forced us to send your team to New York. It would have been so much simpler. You see, we had to control the NEA’s nuclear arms. We had to make sure there wouldn’t be any interference.”

“I don’t understand.”

He met her gaze again. “I’m sorry. There’s so much to tell you but our timeline’s become very limited. The NEA is focused on our outposts in North America for now, but if John puts all of this together and redirects their attention here…”

“Did you order the Valkyrie to destroy New York?”

“No. That was an unfortunate loss.”

“So… why?”

“The Committee let things get out of control. Those arrogant old men thought they could manage a war. My goal for sending your team into New York was to open relations with the NEA, which would have made it easier to enter their territory and find their nuclear assets. When the war broke out, the old men thought they could brute force their way to the East Coast and mop up the nukes along the way. Then Park betrayed us. The Committee decided the only option left was to force the NEA to deploy their entire arsenal.”

“They were trying to start a nuclear war,” Alex said in disbelief

“Alexandra, once you understand—”

“But I don’t! Everything you’ve said so far is crazy! I thought we were the good guys. That’s what you always used to tell me. We were the only hope for bringing the country back, and the NEA was only interested in anarchy. Now you’re saying the Directorate’s leadership was willing to start a nuclear war. For what? Just tell me why you brought me here.”

The building’s door opened and shut with a sound like a vacuum cleaner. Alex turned to see Ellzey. He approached the office and put his hand on the door handle after briefly meeting Alex’s gaze. She thought for a moment he would simply barge into the room. Instead, he paused and knocked.

“Enter,” Bedford said. Ellzey came in. “What is it?”

“An aircraft is approaching from the Independence.”

“ETA?”

“Ten minutes. It’s well within range of our missiles.”

“John is on board,” Bedford said, seeming to speak more to himself than Ellzey.

“Don’t hurt him,” Alex said.

“I have no intention of hurting him. Whatever our differences, I owe him more than I can repay. I wouldn’t have you if it weren’t for him. I owe him one more chance. It’s what your mother would have wanted.” Bedford turned to Ellzey. “Make preparations for their landing. Guide them in if necessary. You have authorization to use deadly force on anyone except General Martin. If he’s hurt in any way, the Committee won’t be able to protect you.”

“This isn’t part of the plan.”

“Do I need to repeat my orders, Agent Ellzey?”

Ellzey’s lips curled back for an instant before he flashed a pleasant smile. “I’ll make sure everything goes… smoothly. Will you and your daughter be there to meet him? I only ask for security reasons, of course.”

“We’ll be there.”

Ellzey left without waiting for dismissal and hurried out of the building. Alex watched him until he disappeared beyond the door. Bedford was no longer looking at her, instead staring at the empty wall. For a moment, his face seemed to betray indecision, uncertainty, and then regret. He sighed and met her gaze.

“Dad,” she said quietly, “why am I here?”

“For your mother, Alexandra. We’re going to bring her back.”