“Since Morgan captured me,” said Kira. “The first time, when we broke Samm out of prison and crossed over to the mainland. When you rescued me from her, I . . . didn’t know how to tell you. You hated Partials—everyone did.”

“He seems fine enough working with Partials now,” said Falin.

“Meeting one you can work with makes all the difference,” said Marcus. “He’s a buddy of mine, and he’s chasing Delarosa right now, which is something else we need to talk about—”

“Movement!” shouted a gruff, older voice.

Marcus looked up sharply. “Is it the other Partial?”

“Don’t know who else it would be.”

“That’s Commander Woolf,” said Marcus. He grabbed his rifle from where he’d dropped it and shouted a question to the vast, empty mall. “Are we all pretty clear on the issue of friends and enemies? I don’t want anyone getting all excited and shooting the wrong person.”

“A friend of Kira’s is a friend of mine,” called Green.

“And a friend of Marcus has my sympathies,” called Woolf. “But no, I won’t shoot them.”

“She just went off the link,” said Green. “She probably put on a gas mask.”

“Damn,” said Kira. “That’s going to make this a lot harder.” She brought up her rifle and checked the barrel, making sure it was loaded and ready and safe. “You said you had an ambush planned?”

“We have snipers on the upper floor,” said Marcus softly, “bait down there and there.” He pointed along the main hallway, terminating in a clothing-filled department store, and then along a perpendicular hall that led toward a food court. “She took the main hall, probably going after Woolf, since he was the bait in that one, but he’s still talking, so he’s obviously okay. She must have got past him when you showed up and we all started shooting each other.”

“We’ll help you catch her,” said Kira. “We’ve got some questions of our own.” She stood up and jogged down the hall toward the department store, keeping close to the wall with her rifle pointed down. Falin followed close behind her, and she felt the combat coordination flare back to life on the link. Marcus followed behind, running to catch up. “Are there any other exits?” she asked him.

“Two ground-floor doors, but we have people outside both of them.”

“So we won’t go outside,” said Kira. “Let’s keep this among people who’ve already learned not to shoot at us.”

A gunshot rang out from the department store, and Falin muttered, “Tell that to her.”

“Woolf’s in trouble,” said Marcus, and surged forward, but Kira held him back.

“This is the third exit,” she said, pointing to the mouth of the department store. “If we go in there and she gets around us, she’s coming straight back here. Don’t let her past you.”