Hughie's cry was swallowed completely by a rumble of thunder in the night sky.
Red-and-white sludge slowly slid down. Mother's Milk stood frozen, half his face covered in warm blood. The CIA Deputy Director, who had seemed to realize something momentous a second earlier, was now nothing but a pile of shredded flesh.
Bits of flesh and brain splattered Frenchie's clothes. He grabbed Hughie by the collar and forcibly dragged the terrified young man toward the car door.
Kimiko crouched low, warily scanning their surroundings.
There was no sniper.
There was no gunshot.
Susan had simply burst apart without warning.
Mother's Milk wiped the blood off his face, his stomach churning. He bent down to retrieve the flash drive from the pool of blood, climbed into the vehicle, and floored the accelerator.
The black SUV carved two deep ruts through the weeds and vanished from the scene.
The downpour washed over the abandoned drive-in theater, over the body on the ground, and over Godolkin University.
The dormitory area.
Rain battered the windowsill.
Cate leaned against the headboard, her fingers rubbing the edge of the blanket. Lucian sat beside her, leafing through a thick neurological atlas.
"I had lunch with the dean today." Cate broke the silence. "The atmosphere was a little strange."
Lucian turned a page, his gaze resting on a complex diagram of the cerebral cortex. "What happened?"
"I told her I was reducing my dosage." Cate tilted her head, looking at Lucian's profile. "I thought she'd be proud of me. After all, I was finally trying to face my abilities. But she... she looked a little anxious."
Of course that old fox was anxious.
Lucian's thoughts raced. Once Cate stopped taking the medication completely and her mind-reading ability fully recovered, Shetty's human experiments and her dirty business of