“You can’t do this,” Scott said from a few feet away. “I told you to stop. Michael, stop. You’re the First, and Weber needs your help to see the plan through. I’m not a Tangent and neither is she! We’re the same as we’ve always been. We can end this. But you have to…you have to obey her!”

Michael ignored him, refusing to process another word he said. He finally got the stubborn knot loose enough to yank the rope away from Gabby’s legs. And then the world erupted around him.

A jolting concussion of noise shook the room like an explosion. Michael’s ears rang and he fell backward. He gazed up at the wooden beams stretching across the ceiling, then looked over at Agent Scott, who held a gun in his hand. There’d been a scream at some point, Michael knew that, but who was it? He searched the room until he found Sarah. She’d taken several steps away from the chair, where Gabby was now freed from her ropes.

Sarah’s hands were over her chest.

Her shirt was red.

Getting redder.

Blood seeped between her fingers, ran over them, dripped to the floor. A stain of scarlet spread across her shirt. But she was silent, as if it didn’t hurt at all, staring down at herself in disbelief.

She finally looked back up at Michael, who lay on the floor in shock, and sadness crossed her face as she fell to her knees.

“Sarah!” Michael shouted. He was scrambling, trying to get his arms and legs to work, trying to get to her. She was on her side. “Sarah, Sarah, Sarah,” he mumbled as he held her gently by the shoulders, scanned her bloody chest as if there were any chance he might know how to save her. “Sarah,” he said again.

She looked up at him. “I love you,” she whispered. “Every word. I meant it.”

Michael started to tremble.

And then Helga was there. She swooped down as if from the sky and tore him away from Sarah, picking him up as if he were no heavier than a bag of groceries.

“Take him!” she yelled. “Walter, take him and get him out of here!”

“What?” Michael said, dazed. “What’re you—”

“Get him out of here or it’ll never work!” Helga bellowed. “I only have one shot at this. Bryson, you too. All of you. Out!”

Walter ran over, grabbed Michael by the arm, started pulling him away. Michael tried to fight him off, but the man was too strong. Michael felt a darkness passing over him, blocking out the light. He saw shadows on the edges of his vision. A painful fist closed over his heart and squeezed without mercy. Bryson was nearby, looking around, dumbfounded, the blood drained from his face.