Nodding, Leslie considered, offering an alternative. “The classified data cubes housed here have blueprints of the Citadel, the underground, even the Undercroft. Take them, study them, chose the most likely locations she might be held. On the day of the attack, I’ll send teams ahead of the blast. It will be a coordinated effort.”

Spinning the golden ring on his finger, twisting it around and around, Corday turned his furious attention to facts. Should the plan succeed, when Claire learned what Corday had agreed to be a part of, she would never forgive him. But if it worked... she would be free. The survivors in the city would be free.

Whispering, aware what she offered was a monstrosity, the beauty urged, “Asking our men to divert their attention from freeing their families to rescue a woman many here see as a traitor would undermine our mission. This is the best I can offer you. Sacrifices must be made, Corday. I think even your Claire would understand that.”

Taking her seat behind the desk, Lady Kantor became nothing but business. “Now, I will be honest with you. You may find things on this data cube you’d rather not know. Don’t dig too deep. Keep to the maps.”

Claire lay fast asleep when Jules’ voice sounded beyond Shepherd’s door. The Alpha had worn her out as he was wont to do. Knowing she was unconscious when he was called away was a small relief in the storming sea of Shepherd’s growing agitation at the interruption.

Jules had not tried to contact him via COMscreen. There was only one reason the Beta would have dared approach and physically knock on the door: Svana.

Slipping silently from the room to see Jules waiting in the hall, Shepherd scowled. His second-in-command stood with many soldiers, ordering them to take up guard outside Shepherd’s door as if war threatened from above.

There was also something very disturbing about the set of Jules’ mouth when he spoke. “Svana is on the premises. She waits to parlay with you.”

The Beta’s word choice was utterly unamusing. As if Claire might hear through the reinforced steel vault she was locked inside, Shepherd spoke lowly in their shared language. “She has been off the grid, out of range of your trackers for weeks. Describe her approach, was it elusive? Apparent?”

“I have yet to decipher her point of origin, but I can tell you, she was first spotted in the GW94 tunnel walking from east quadrant. She wanted to be seen.”

Considering how long she had been punishing them with her absence, Shepherd had some choice words to share with the Alpha female. “Did she bring the virus?”

Jules fell into step with his leader, blank and focused. “If it’s on her person, it remains unseen.”