Within minutes those words would make their way around the world.

Kade collapsed to the floor of the cabin, his back against the side of the plane, the pain and exhaustion almost overwhelming him. In the seat before him, twelve-year-old Sarai held the youngest child, one year old Aroon, tightly to her.

The chaos and fear of the battle at Shiva’s island had been intense for these kids. The fear of the last few minutes had been just as bad. But they’d stuck it out. And Sarai more than anyone was the reason, centering them all, bringing them together in the vipassana that Sam had taught her.

Kade forced himself to smile up at the girl through the pain of his burns, his cracked ribs, his battered eardrums, his twice wrecked hand, the concussion he probably had, the blow he’d just taken when Sam had banked the plane, the shock of Shiva’s mind winking out before him, the deep uncertainty of how the Indian government would treat them.

We’re going to be OK, he sent her. They’re letting us into India.

He sent it to all of them.

Sarai looked up at him, smiled nervously through her own fear, used one hand to move a lock of hair behind her ear.

We know what’s happening.

Kade smiled ruefully at that. Of course they knew. And they knew he was simplifying things, glossing over the questions of what India would do with them. With all his expertise, he was transparent to any child who’d been born with Nexus in his or her brain. Feng was just as transparent. The kids saw it all as it happened, watched the thoughts form in their minds, effortlessly. Even Sarai, who hadn’t been dosed with Nexus until she was four years old, used Nexus so naturally, so instinctively. And the rest, who’d been exposed to it in the womb…

Kade closed his eyes. Sleep pulled at him. No. He forced his attention to the code window that was open in his mental sight. The code for the virus that would close the back doors. He’d had to make a few last minute changes, to adjust for Shiva’s hijacking. Those changes were done. The code lingered in front of him now, ready to go. A status bar showed that he had bandwidth, a tight directional link from the plane to one of Shiva’s constellation of LEO communication satellites circling overhead. Just one quick command and this would be over. The back doors built into every copy of Nexus 5 would be closed. The back doors in the source code and the compiler itself, in every copy of either that the virus could find, would be closed. The temptation would be gone. He wouldn’t turn into Shiva. And no future Shiva could steal these back doors from him.