She held up a fist as if to salute, though Michael wasn’t sure whom. Maybe herself. “Kaine—the one who started it all—is dead. And by his own carelessness, we were able to pinpoint his signal and terminate his connection, ending him forever. We are sure that others will come forward and claim to be this powerful Tangent, but rest assured, he has ceased to exist. Before our plan to reverse the Tangent takeover has even officially begun, we’ve had our greatest victory.”

She slammed her fist on the podium. “Kaine is dead!”

The audience erupted into applause. There were shouts and whistles, stomping of feet, all of it a thunderous roar of approval. Michael didn’t move a muscle of his Aura. He looked at Bryson and Helga, who appeared equally disbelieving.

“That wasn’t Kaine,” Michael said, though he doubted Bryson could hear him over the noise. Everything about this stank to high heaven. What was Weber’s game here? What was the VNS up to?

As for Weber, she seemed to relish the moment. When she finally raised her arms, motioning the chamber to silence, she appeared reluctant to step away from her place in the spotlight.

“Please,” she said, repeating it several times until the crowd quieted down and took their seats. “Thank you. I appreciate your show of support—we all do—but the time to truly celebrate is yet to come. A massive struggle awaits. Identifying and triggering the Anti–Mortality Doctrine against all known Tangents will take a considerable effort. Even in this room, as we speak, there are those who know they’re guilty. And yet they are quiet, hoping to avoid discovery. I assure you all, they will not. My people are working feverishly to make sure of that. As you can see.”

She held up a hand and snapped her fingers—actually snapped her fingers, as if her childhood dreams of magical hocus-pocus were making it happen—and several more guards fell to the ground around the stage. The remaining guards backed away, as if scared of their own sudden deaths.

Weber looked pleased at the murders she’d just committed. She lowered her arm and continued.

“Our system of identifying Tangent invaders is far from perfect, but you’ve just seen it demonstrated. In the time that Kaine stepped up here and identified himself and gave his speech, my people in our war room were able to lock on his connection to the VirtNet and sever it. They immediately began work on the guards and achieved what you just witnessed. In time—soon, we hope—we’ll be able to sweep the world. This should discourage any Tangent from ever initiating the Mortality Doctrine again. It will mean certain death. It will mean true death.”

Michael winced at the words. The phrase made him think of Sarah, whom he’d lost because of this woman. He could barely keep still in his seat.