Alex thought back to her last mind link with Nicole – the link before the Reagan, before she had allowed the darkness to drag her friend into the void. A memory had emerged from the depths of her consciousness, a recollection that seemed at the time to have little connection to the war, to the Directorate’s defeat, or anything Alex had wanted Nicole to witness.

I’ll get her back, John. I don’t care what it takes. I’ll get her back. They were her father’s last words to Martin before their departure from the cemetery. She had watched Martin as he stood alone in the rain near her mother’s grave. Had he returned to that freshly covered mound of earth, knelt on the wet grass by the tombstone, and cried or perhaps tried to speak to Katherine Bedford? Now, that same man who had been her father’s closest friend, who had been there for her baptism, and who had come to her mother’s funeral was limping across the ice as his scarf and trench coat beat against him from the Antarctic wind and the rotor wash from the NEA’s SH-60 Seahawk.

Martin had emerged from the helicopter alone. The helicopter’s pilot, copilot, and crew chief watched nervously through the windows. Ellzey and a team of men in black fatigues stood in a semicircle between the Seahawk and the Osprey. Martin reached Alex and Bedford and regarded them through the eyelets of his expressionless mask.

“So we’ve come full circle,” Martin said to Bedford.

“Not quite yet.”

“I want you to let Alexandra go, Henry. Let me take her and Colonel Webb back home. She’ll be safe. I promise.”

“Alexandra is safe here. She’s my daughter, John, not yours. I know what’s best for her.”

“Then give me Colonel Webb. I’ll stay here in his place.”

“I’m not interested in that thing. But I have no intention of setting it free until our business here is over.”

“Business? We ruined this planet sixteen years ago. I can’t believe you’d be willing to make this same mistake again. Leave the Anomaly buried.”

“It’s too late, but there won’t be a repeat of the outbreaks. I promise you that much. I’m doing all of this for Kate. I’ve done everything for Kate. I should have told you that when I saw you after— after the outbreaks. Things might have turned out differently.”

“No. I don’t think so.”

Bedford looked annoyed, almost angry. When he spoke again, his voice was tense and harsh as if speaking to an insubordinate officer instead of the man who had been his best friend. “Do you see that, John?” He gestured at the looming storm. “We’re going there. We’re going back to that sphere, and I’m going to prove to you all of this was worth it. That’s full circle.”

“I won’t be a part of this.”

“You already are a part of it. You’ve been a part of it since you took that assignment at Lansing Station.”

“And if I refuse to come?”

“We have that ‘colonel’ of yours sedated with the Committee’s agents on guard. Do I need to say anything else?”

Martin’s frown deepened as his eyes took on a look of sadness and pity. “What happened to you, Henry?”

“Are you coming or not?” Bedford said.

“Alexandra,” Martin said, turning away from Bedford. “Don’t do this. Don’t support whatever he has planned. It’s not worth it. It’s not worth your soul.”

Bedford stepped in front of her as if shielding her from a wild animal. “Alexandra understands what I’m doing. I told you I’d get Kate back. If you cared anything about her, if you were her friend, you’d be right by my side instead of fighting me every step of the way.”

“She’s gone, Henry! Nothing you can do is going to bring her back. I know you feel guilty over—”

“Make up your mind,” Bedford said. “Either come with me or get back on board that helicopter and go home. I won’t stop you.”

Alex stared at Martin’s deep blue eyes. He looked angry, ready to fight despite his battered body. She pictured him rushing forward, grabbing her by the arm, and attempting to drag her toward the SH-60. And would you go with him? Would you get on board or would you try to run back to your dad?

Martin’s shoulders slumped as he turned slowly toward the helicopter. Alex almost rushed forward to his side but before she could, he raised his good arm and made a twirling motion with his hand. The pilot nodded and offered a quick salute. The roar of the Seahawk’s turbines and the pulsing of the rotor wash intensified. A moment later, the helicopter was ascending away from Williams Field.

“I knew you’d make the right choice,” Bedford said.

Martin did not look at Bedford. Instead, he limped to Alex. She realized he was shivering even beneath the heavy clothes concealing his injuries. She wanted to hug him but she was afraid of what that might trigger from Ellzey and the other agents or perhaps her father. “I’m sorry, Alexandra. I’m sorry for everything. Just please… make the right choice when the time comes.”

She nodded and then looked at her father. Although the cold did not seem to register with either of them, it was obviously affecting Martin, who continued to tremble as cold vapor escaped the slits of his mask. “Shouldn’t we get inside?”

“No,” Bedford said. “It’s time.”

Alex looked toward the Osprey. A group of technicians unhooked a hose from the aircraft, wound the line back into the adjacent fuel truck, and then drove off the airfield.

Ellzey approached Bedford. “Ready to go, General?” he said jovially.

“Tell them to prepare for takeoff. I want to be at our destination within the hour.”

“What about Nicole?” Alex said as Ellzey left for the Osprey. “What about my team?”

“They’ll remain here,” Bedford said. “They’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

“Wait. Let me at least… say goodbye.”

“Every minute we waste here is—”

“Please. Dad, just let me say goodbye. Unless you can promise me I’m going to see them again, let me say goodbye.”

Bedford’s expression softened. “You know where they are. John and I will be onboard. Hurry, Alexandra.”

She jogged across the ice toward the team’s building. When she reached the door, she looked back to see Martin and her father walking toward the waiting Osprey. The rotor blades on each nacelle began to spin as the engine came to life. Martin looked across the airfield and paused when he saw her watching. The metal of his mask darkened, reflecting the black storm front on the horizon. She turned back to the building as the door opened. Shepherd was there waiting. Had he been watching the encounter through the windows?

“What’s going on?” Shepherd said once she entered. The rest of the team gathered around.

“We’re leaving. I’m going with my dad and General Martin and Ellzey.”

“Where?”

“Toward that storm. There’s something there. It’s… part of what’s inside me right now. It’s the reason Kansas City happened and the Reagan and the outbreaks and everything else.”

“Sound like you could use some backup,” Wilson said. “Looks to me like that Osprey has plenty of room.”

“My dad said you had to stay here.”

“Screw that,” Murray growled. “I’d like to see him try and stop us from getting on board.”

“No,” Alex said. “You can’t.”

“Why not?”

“You were there on the Reagan. All of you have seen what I can do. I’m not in control anymore. Right now, sure, but once we get closer to that storm and whatever’s inside… you won’t be safe with me.”

“We’ll risk it, ma’am,” Atkins said and then blushed and added: “Alex.”

“We’ve come this far,” Shepherd said. “I’m not going to quit now.”

“Damn right,” Murray said.

Ziegler shrugged. “Hell, by my count, we’d all be dead more than a few times over if you hadn’t been with us since New York. Who wants to live forever, right?”

“That doesn’t mean I want to buy the farm if I can help it,” Jarden grumbled. When Murray and Wilson glared at him, he added, “But whatever. I’m in.”

Alex felt she had to sit down despite the lack of seats in the entryway. How could these men still want to fight beside her after all they had seen? Yet their voices and expressions indicated they were telling the truth. “Thank you.” She wanted to say more, to convey the depth of her gratitude, but those two words seemed to express it perfectly. And it made what she had to say even more difficult. “But the answer is still no.”

“What?!” Murray bellowed.

“I know we’re a team – a family. I know we’re supposed to stick together through anything. I wish all of you could come with me. But…” She was on the verge of tears and knew she would begin to cry if she continued speaking.

“But this is something you have to do alone,” Shepherd said. “You and your father and General Martin.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t like it.”

“I know. I’m sorry. Promise me you’ll take care of Nicole. If I don’t come back, then get her home. Try to find her some help. I don’t know if they can do anything. Maybe Doctor Reilly…”

“I’ll do whatever I can.”

She put her arms around him and pulled him into a tight embrace. His ballistic plates pressed painfully into her chest but she held on. Then she put her lips to his and kissed him. Murray whistled. “Thank you,” she said to Shepherd. “Thanks for being there with me through all of this. I’m sorry I hurt you in Kansas City. I’m sorry for everything.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, Alex.”

“I want to be with you if I make it back.”

“You’re going to make it back,” Shepherd said and then grinned. “You have to; I’m screwed if Nicole wakes up and finds out I let you go alone.”

She released Shepherd from the embrace. The men regarded her with surprised or amused expressions. “Goodbye,” she said to them.

“Go kick ass,” Wilson said. “Watch out for Ellzey.”

“And tell that son of a bitch I called him an asshole,” Murray added.

Alex took one last look at each of the men: Jarden, Ziegler, Atkins, Wilson, and Murray. Her gaze lingered the longest on Shepherd.

You might never see these men again, she thought, although she could not explain why that intuition felt so true.

Shepherd gave her a nod, calm and professional. She wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Alex turned and hurried out the door.