“I’m so sorry,” he cried. “I’m just so sorry.”

“It’s over, my brother,” José said, his voice that of a father talking to an injured child. “It’s finally over.”

“What have I done?” the man muttered. “Dear God, what have I done?”

“You lost your way, but now you are found. All you need to do now is embrace the light.”

“There are things, important things I must tell you,” the man said, getting control of himself with sudden urgency in his voice.

José shifted his gaze to one of the cameras in the corner for the first time since the interrogation began, a not-so-subtle cue to pay attention. “I’m listening,” he said and returned his attention to Rodrigo.

“What happened on the mountain was just a test, and a successful one at that.”

“A test of what?”

“A new weapon.”

“What kind of weapon?”

“A directed energy weapon—capable of vaporizing a human being in milliseconds.”

“And the Dark Ones possess this technology?”

“Yes,” Rodrigo said, nodding vigorously.

“How and where did they obtain this weapon?” José asked.

“I don’t know,” Rodrigo said, now seemingly in control of all his faculties. “I don’t know much. My job was to go to the village, confirm in person what imagery had recorded, and keep an eye out for Shepherds.”

José glanced at the camera but this time gestured with his hand. The girl at the workstation, who’d yet to introduce herself, swiveled in her chair and addressed Jed’s team collectively. “He wants to know if you have any questions. If you ask me, I in turn will relay them to his earpiece.”

“What is the next target?” Nisha said without a moment’s hesitation.

The woman nodded, turned back to her computer monitor, and spoke into her boom mic. “What is the next target?”

José returned his gaze to his charge and asked the question.

“I don’t know. They didn’t tell me this,” the former demon warrior said. “I know only that the test was successful.”

“How is the weapon deployed?” Jed asked. “Is it ground-based, is it airborne, or is it fired from space?”

“I was not told this information, but it must be airborne. I don’t know what platform they’re using,” Rodrigo answered after the question was relayed.

José questioned Rodrigo for fifteen more minutes, but precious little else was learned about the weapon. With the demon departed, the ex–Dark One was repentant and eager to share, but the information he possessed pertained almost exclusively to Peruvian operations. When asked about leading Jedidiah to the courtyard and into an ambush, he confessed that this had been entirely his idea—believing that if he could catch a Shepherd and deliver one alive, he would win favor with his superiors. After collectively exhausting their questions, José left the interrogation suite and returned to caucus with Jed and the team in the control room.