He grabbed his cup and headed for the coffeemaker when a hole appeared in the center of the bullpen. Through the opening Franny saw daylight, dust, jeeps, trucks, troops, and jokers—in short a scene of frenzied activity.

It was a testament to the unflappable nature of Fort Freak cops that nobody freaked. Or maybe they were just getting used to Mollie opening doorways into the station. The girl wasn’t alone when she walked through. Billy Ray was with her.

He wasn’t dressed in impeccable Armani. Instead he wore his fighting whites and ceramic insert body armor. There was a pistol at his belt and an assault rifle slung on his back. His expression was grim and determined. Mollie was white-faced and her eyes shadowed and bloodshot. Her hair looked like it’d been combed with a hand mixer. Frank soon saw why. Her fingers writhed through her hair, twisting strands of hair into virtual knots.

“Let me guess. I’m coming with you whether I want to or not,” Franny said.

“You gotta come. You’ve gotta. You gotta make it stop. FUCK OFF!” This was directed at Rikki, who was just walking past.

Rikki started to snap back, but Franny held up a restraining hand. The joker cop moved on after bestowing a glare on Mollie. Mollie drew even closer to Franny. He had to resist the urge to back away. There was so much crazy packed into that small body.

“You can make everything better. I’m trying but I keep making … mistakes.”

She yanked hard and a clump of hair came away with her flailing hand. Franny winced. Now that she was so close he could see bare patches dotting her head where other tufts of hair had been pulled out. Blood caked a few of them.

Ray took Mollie by the shoulders and tried to move her aside. She bared her teeth and snapped at his hand. “Don’t touch me, cocksucker!”

“Easy, Mollie,” Franny said gently.

“Like Mollie said, we really need you.” Then to Franny’s surprise Ray added, “But I’m not going to force you. I’m asking for your help.” All around Franny the room had gone silent, everyone listening intently.

“We’re going in. We’ll do our best to find this hospital, but time is running out.” Ray suddenly looked old, old and devastated. “Believe me, I don’t want to do this. My wife is on her way here … well, there … Baikonur … leading an army of monsters. I want to stay and try to pull her back from the madness. Save her. But I know that would only be a temporary fix. If I’m really going to save her I have to go to Talas.”

Isn’t there somebody you love? Somebody you’d risk everything to save? The words were unspoken but implicit. Franny thought about his mother and Abby and his friends and companions at the precinct. He thought about the father he’d never known. A police officer like himself and a man who had died trying to protect New York from madness and destruction.