Cliff leaped up. “Will you listen to me? You aren’t up against a bunch of amateur toy designers, Eric. They haven’t built an empire of two hundred thousand people by overlooking the obvious. It’s programmed to kill anyone who tries. They aren’t doing this for fun.”

He stopped, the pain suddenly twisting his features, and his voice fell to a whisper. “Eric, I haven’t just been sitting around these last few days. I have asked everyone. There is no way out of this thing. None!” He sat down heavily on the cot. “None, Eric. Welcome to Utopia.”

Eric’s jaw was rigid, and his eyes had narrowed to tiny pinpoints. “I can’t accept that. There must be—”

“Eric Lloyd!”

The blaring speaker caused them both to jump, and Eric spun around to the mirror. Cliff’s reappearance from the dead, and then the horror of his revelations, had totally driven Nicole Lambert and the mirror from Eric’s mind.

“Mr. Lloyd, we would like to talk to you and Dr. Cameron. We’re coming in.” As Nicole stepped through the door ahead of the Major, she watched Eric’s eyes closely, anxious to read his reactions. They flicked once to her, then to the Major. They were a hunter’s eyes, scanning quickly, missing nothing. Nicole was fascinated. The gray depths betrayed absolutely no expression as they probed. If the Major was bothered, he gave no sign, just waited patiently, as if amused.

Finally the eyes turned back to her. She caught what she thought was a flash of anger as he noted her orange and blue uniform, but it was gone so quickly that she couldn’t be sure. When the gaze returned to lock into her own, a faint smile of derision toyed at the corners of Eric’s lips, and she knew that he had deduced who she was.

The Major stepped forward and thrust out his hand toward the older man. “Dr. Cameron? How do you do. My name is Major Denison.”

The doctor’s eyes widened slightly as he accepted the proffered hand. “Dr. Major Denison? Curtis Major Denison?”

Eric’s head jerked around to stare at Cliff, but he was no more surprised than Nicole or the Major. “Yes. Do we know each other?”

“No, I just know of you. What neurosurgeon hasn’t heard of the pioneering brain research of Curtis Major Denison and the U.S. Air Force Cybernetics Team?”

“Well, thank you,” the Major said, obviously pleased. “For you to remember that, after eighteen years, I take as a special compliment.”

“When the others kept referring to ‘the Major,’ I assumed it was a title, a military rank.”