The Major held up the fingers on one hand and began to tick them off with the index finger of his other. “First her ‘miraculous’ escape. She says she hit Eric over the head and fled, yet she had the presence of mind to take the packhorse, the radio, matches, and so on, so she could signal us for the rescue.”

“Don’t underestimate Nicole’s resourcefulness.”

“I don’t. But the whole thing looks a bit too pat.”

“Then why did she come to the stadium without a uniform? Why did she insist on running to Mount Pleasant to see her aunt? If she was with Eric, she would have come right back to us. Why did she tell me she was going to resign from the Guardians?”

“All excellent questions, and I must admit they threw me too. But number two, why did she suddenly change her mind when she felt so strongly about it? And third, why all of a sudden is she so cooperative, almost eager to please?”

“I—”

But the Major went on, swiftly overriding his answer. “When I called her in after the meeting last night, why did she agree to continue in Central Monitoring during the period of martial law? If she’s so squeamish about what happened to Dr. Cameron, why is she willing to stay on now when we are threatening maximum Punishment Modes all over the place?”

“So she won’t be implanted.”

“Maybe,” the Major agreed. “Yes, that’s a possibility. But I still wonder. I think Eric let her go in the mountains. She wasn’t completely convinced then, but she was wavering. She wanted time to think. After talking to you Saturday night, she finally decided. Or maybe Eric or one of his men finally got to her and convinced her to join them.”

“What do you want to do?” Travis asked.

“Put another Trojan horse inside the gates. Only this time even the horse won’t know it.”

“How?”

“Two things. First, we want an electronic bug on Nicole’s person. If she is teamed up with the rebels, that will be the quickest way to know it.”

Travis took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “And second?”

Dr. Gould leaned forward and turned to look at Travis. “In the early stages of our research, even before Termination, Dr. Denison and I experimented with different kinds of implantations, and—”

“No!” Travis shouted. “No implantation! It will destroy her!”

“Hear him out, Travis,” the Major said gently.