“We were all . . . quite drunk, except Nils, who was on a mission. Nils knew ROSA worked in collaboration with the CIA; he thought you were working in covert black ops. We were already working on digging up the dirt that would eventually get Kaplan transferred to ROSA. Nils even told me before we went out he was going to try to get you hammered so you’d fess up. And he badgered you all night, started getting more and more aggressive. Then at some point, you two were alone in the bar, and you told him the truth to get him off your back. Nils told me, you did it in this jokey way, like, ‘Nils, it’s aliens!’ but he could tell there was some truth to it. You included some details that felt too specific to be a joke. So he spent the next several years looking into it.”

Luciana looked away from him, as though some long-buried memory was finally beating at the lid of the coffin she’d entombed it in, clawing at its encasement, demanding to be freed. He had some sympathy. It didn’t excuse her behavior toward Cora, but he had experienced many, many blackouts in his day. “Don’t you remember?”

Breaking glass pierced the silence before Luciana could respond. They both looked into the room through the two-way mirror to see that Cora had broken the bottle of Coke in half like she was in a bar fight, and was on her feet like she was about to attack Ampersand. Then she took the broken glass, and sliced down the flesh of her wrist in one fast, confident stroke.

34

34

Kaveh was out of the observation room before thought could connect with action, both he and Luciana bolting for the entrance to the main room. He barely caught what happened, but even in the split second it had his full attention, he caught the arterial blood spatter that shot out from her like a water gun. She obviously hadn’t expected to get the artery on the first try, but she had, and she grabbed her wrist to stem the blood flow, dropping the rest of the bottle, which shattered on the cold steel floor.

Kaveh had rounded the corner by the time Ampersand roused himself, had almost reached the door before time stopped. He saw through the glass in the door Cora’s look of shock, of terror of what she had done, her right hand clasped firmly on her left as she backed away from the creature, now on his feet, now standing over her, claws spread like briars. Kaveh tried to reach for the door, but he couldn’t move. He saw Ampersand grab Cora around the midsection in a violent, fluent movement like a mantis grabbing its prey.