“I wasn’t going to kill her,” said the female Partial. She stepped away from the trip wire and took off her helmet, and Kira recognized her as well: jet-black hair, gorgeous Chinese features, and dark eyes that glittered with a terrifying genius. This was Heron, the Partial who’d captured her before and taken her to Morgan. The girl smirked dismissively, looking at Kira the way someone would stare at a lost kitten—someone who didn’t really like kittens. “I was only trying to scare her.”

Samm bent down to help Kira to her feet, and she rose uncertainly, still trying to process what was happening. “Samm?”

“It’s good to see you.”

“What . . . why are you here?”

“Because we finally found you,” said Heron, and pointed at the ceiling. “Everybody knows you’re on the radio, but we’re the only ones who’ve figured out you were in Manhattan.” She bowed with mock respect. “We chose to keep that information to ourselves.”

Samm retrieved Kira’s rifle from the floor. “We’ve known somebody was in this building for a few days, but we also recognized the signs of the same bomber who’d almost blown us up twice already, and so we took our time coming in. We didn’t know for sure that you were in here until”—he paused, tilting his head as if calculating—“thirty seconds ago. When I saw your face.” He handed Kira the rifle.

Kira took it, puzzled. “You didn’t—” She stopped herself, realizing that she’d almost blurted out, right in front of Heron, that she was a Partial. She was going to ask why they hadn’t felt her on the link, since she’d been able to feel them so clearly, but she didn’t know if Samm had told her or not. She would ask him later, in private.

Kira pushed those thoughts aside and looked back at Samm. “You could have just knocked. . . .” She sighed and shook her head. They couldn’t just knock, because if they were wrong, and this had been anyone other than Kira, they’d be exposing themselves to far greater danger: a rival faction of Partials, or Afa’s megaton booby trap. I wonder how far Afa got, if he got away at all.

“A better answer to your question,” said Samm, “is that we’re here because we needed to find you. You’re in danger.”

“Dr. Morgan is trying to find you,” said Heron, and paused just long enough to make Kira uncomfortable before adding, “We’re here to make sure she doesn’t.”

Kira looked back pointedly. “You’re not with her anymore?”

“I’m with myself,” said Heron. “Always.”

“But why?”

Heron glanced at Samm, almost imperceptibly, but didn’t answer.

“She’s helping me,” said Samm. “Dr. Morgan has put all her efforts into looking for you.”

Kira nodded, phrasing her next question carefully. “How much does she know?”