“No? Well, judging by those scratches, she sure as hell tried. I hate to see what you’d look like if you hadn’t shot her with the sedative.”

“You don’t understand.”

“No, Jaz, I don’t.”

Silence.

“I need her, Sonny.”

“Need? You met her a few days ago. Days! And now, all of a sudden, you can’t live without her. I’m starting to wonder where that leaves me.”

“Right where you’ve always been. My brother. Nothing is more important to me.”

“Nothing?”

Silence.

“You want me to choose, Sonny? Is that what this is about? You’re feeling threatened so I need to make a choice?”

“I never said—”

“Here, take this.”

“What the hell are you—?”

“Go on. Take it.”

“For God’s sake, Jaz. Stop being such a fucking drama queen. I—”

“Take the gun. Fire it. Because if you’re going to make me choose, you might as well put a bullet in my brain right now.”

“Goddamn it! You’re crazy, you know that? As screwed up as—”

Silence.

“As Mom?”

“I didn’t mean that, Jaz. You know I didn’t.”

“At least I come by it honestly.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“It’s okay, bro. Maybe I am a little fucked up. Maybe a lot fucked up. But you know what’s really nuts, Sonny? I know that, and it doesn’t make any difference. I look at Hope back there and I think ‘Goddamn it, man, what are you doing?’ But it doesn’t change anything because I feel it’s right. It’s what I’m meant to do. Just like all this.” Pause. “Have I ever steered you wrong?”

“No, Jaz.”

“As crazy as my ideas are, have they ever been something we can’t manage?”

“No.”

“Then trust me.”

“I do.”

“I know you’re tired of this, bro. I know you want it over with. Me and my mad dreams. But we’re almost there. Remember when we were little, and Mom would say we had to move again, and you’d cry and cry. What did I promise you?”

“That someday we’d stop running.”

“And when you were older, she’d say we had to move and you’d try to reason with her, and you’d get so mad because she never listened. What did I promise you?”

“That you’d stop it.”

“The only way to stop the Cabal—really stop them—is to become them. We’re close, Sonny. So close. Just a couple more months, then, when everything’s in place, you can go back to being you. Free.”

“And what about you?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll get used to being Lucas and I’ll have Hope.”

“What if she doesn’t…come around?”

“She will. This is a lot for her to absorb. You can’t blame her for being freaked out. But she loves me. I know that. She’ll come around.”