“But for how much longer?” It was a pointed question that matched the sinking feeling in her stomach. “I feel like everything is slipping through my fingers and I don’t know why.”

“We will lie down now.” Shepherd purred louder, standing and moving towards her. “Come, little one.”

Frustrated, she complained at his course, feeling he did not understand what she was saying. “No amount of fucking is going to make me feel better about what I just heard.”

He was already pulling her dress over her head, kneading the tension in her shoulders. “Time will soothe you and so will I. This is just one bad day. It will pass.”

7

“We are running out of time. Decide. Where is Shepherd keeping Claire?”

They were back in Senator Kantor’s tomb, arguing over his body as they always did. “I DON’T KNOW where she is, Dane. That’s the point. All I know is that she is in the Citadel.”

Brigadier Dane, leaned closer to their shared COMscreen. “Show me a projection of the building’s layout again.”

“Claire jumped off the roof near the back,” Corday explained, squinting at the image. “He keeps her locked out of sight, and would not have taken her far from his den, especially knowing her penchant for escape. She has to be near this location.”

The older woman nodded in agreement. “And there are no windows in her cell. She told you it was grey, so no decorations either, only concrete. There must be running water for her use.” Pointing to a segment embossed in the middle of the building’s foundation, Brigadier Dane said. “She is here, somewhere on one of these two underground levels. Or she’s here—another branch of the building in a completely different quadrant was highlighted—“tucked between the loading docks and the ventilation systems. Both locations are fortified, few entrances. Once I am inside, there will be even fewer exits.”

Brown eyes hard with intention, he warned, “Bombs will be going off above you. The only plausible way to get her clear of the blast is to go underground.”

“The Undercroft?” Brigadier Dane hummed, scowling over her thoughts. “There must be tunnels spanning the building, the very tunnels Shepherd used the day of the breech. Show me the maps of the prison. We need to estimate which locations he would have found strategic for invasion.”

“These are outdated, originals from when the Undercroft was built. Shepherd’s Followers may have designed a whole network of shafts not on these maps. If you get lost...”

“I don’t get lost.” Irritated, Dane’s eyes flashed away from the screen. “So tell me, Enforcer, which one of these locations am I going to infiltrate?”

Sighing, knowing if he picked the wrong place to look for Claire, that she, that Brigadier Dane, would die, Corday said, “We need a second team.”