She opened herself completely to them, breathed as Sam had taught her, breathed in and out and sent her breath to them and felt for theirs. Then they were falling into a rhythm together and even little Aroon was crying less and she could see, she could hear, she could think. The world slowed down and possibilities expanded.

Someone had come. Someone had come to fight Shiva. And in that fight… they had their best chance of getting away.

There was a boom at the door and it flung itself open in slow motion. One of the men was there. He wore the ball of static around himself. He had a gun with him. He reached out his hand to them.

And they knew. They understood. He would take them somewhere, somewhere the new people couldn’t find them. And that was not what they wanted. Fear struck them.

Then Sam was there, in their minds. And their hearts soared.

“Found them,” Sam’s whispered voice came across the laser link, played to Nakamura’s ears. And now it was time for phase three.

Nakamura pulled down the menu, found the item. He hesitated for just an instant. An image flashed across his mind, three of the missiles veering in mid-flight, as if disrupted by countermeasures. Two of them impacting harmlessly across the island. One smashing into Lane’s room, exploding there, ending the threat.

Then, afterwards. The lie he would tell Sam. That Shiva’s countermeasures had caused it. That it hadn’t been part of the plan. Her inevitable suspicion…

He pushed it out of his thoughts. His duty was clear. No one could have this power.

Kevin Nakamura blinked to activate phase three. And around the island, Moray-class drones fired another salvo of their deadly micromissiles.

Shiva reached the roof as another boom sounded. A giant fireball erupted into the night sky to the east, turning into a mushroom cloud as it rose. The fuel depot.

Who were the attackers? Where were they?

He stretched his mind out again, expanded it through the Nexus repeaters throughout his home, felt the minds of his security team, his scientific staff, pulled at them for understanding. He felt fear and panic from the scientists, grim resolve from his soldiers. Enemy ships were strafing the marina now. Sensors were down. They had no visual on the invaders. His men were rushing into position, unlocking heavy weapons, preparing to meet the invaders with shoulder-mounted anti-ship missiles and high-speed flechette launchers that could mow down hundreds of men at once. Other soldiers were heading for Lane, for the children, to move them to the secure bunker. From there, if necessary, they’d evacuate them via the underground tunnels to the airstrip.

Then he felt the intruder. A mind he’d never touched before. A woman. Her mind was reaching out to the children’s, passing through a wall studded with Nexus-band repeaters as it did. He felt their mutual recognition.