When it was done, what could be gathered was collected into the only receptacle they might find–garbage bags. Corday stood covered in his mentor’s blood. “I am very sorry, Leslie, for agreeing to bring you here. He told me to keep you hidden. Had I listened, I might have spared you this.”

“You needed help carrying supplies. I needed to do something useful, for once. The months of my seclusion have shown us one truth, over and over. My uncle was wrong... I was wrong. My access to Shepherd’s communications did nothing to further the resistance’s cause.” Leslie let the Beta see her need for vengeance. “The proof is on the wall before you.”

Corday’s response was automatic. “You have interpreted messages that have saved the lives of many of our brothers and sisters.”

“How did they find him? How did no one know he was missing until this morning?” Face pinched, she whispered, “What if Shepherd... what if he only let us think we operated out of his influence?”

An ironic, painful chuckle escaped the Beta.

Rubbing her skull as if it ached, Leslie sighed. “Your visitor, that Maryanne woman, may have been right. If they found Senator Kantor, they know where the resistance gathers. Shepherd knows where you live. He knows about me and my access to this commutations network.”

Exactly Corday’s unspoken point; the resistance was in ruins.

Leslie had more to say. “What if your Omega Claire had made a deal with her mate? He may have been watching us this whole time.” A question wracked with doubt trailed off, “How else could this...”

He didn’t want to hear it. Corday didn’t even want to think it. “We must get back to headquarters. Brigadier Dane needs to be told what was done here.”

Leslie Kantor grew vehement. “This has to end.”

The word left him in a breath, he was at a loss. “How?”

“I have been to your meetings. I’ve spoken with my uncle! Brigadier Dane, Senator Kantor, refused to engage Shepherd’s army. All they did, all she will do, is police the population and bribe potential recruits with food and false hope, while our enemy grows more powerful.”

Everything Leslie was saying was true. Corday agreed with her, but the resistance was too undermanned. Weaponry was scarce, bullet stores diminishing by the day. Had they attacked months ago as Claire had suggested, a rebellion might have stood a chance. Now... the only prayer they had was to find the contagion and wait for the city to implode.

Senator Kantor had been trying to prevent such an outcome. He’d been trying to save as many lives as possible. He had tried to outthink a man far smarter than him.

Corday repeated himself, robotic and unable to even hint at what was going through his mind. “We need to take this body to headquarters.”