Kaveh scanned his immediate surroundings, cased what he had working for him. Surrounded by soldiers on all sides, that was no good, but he did have Nikola. All he would need to do would be to say, “Get me out of here,” and Nikola would do it. Nikola didn’t particularly care about federal custody, which he was only really humoring because Kaveh had asked him to. Nikola could get them out of here, then he’d grab as much cash as he could before they froze his accounts, then escape to . . . shit, what was a good non-extradition country? Iceland?

Kaplan stopped right in front of them, his dark eyes darting back and forth between Kaveh and Nikola rapidly, obviously unsure whom he should be addressing. “It’s Jude,” he said, apparently settling on Kaveh as the addressee.

Kaveh nearly choked on his spit. Jude? Not, You’re under arrest for the next twelve eternities? “What happened?”

“We don’t know, but he’s stopped giving off any energy signatures, he’s just collapsed. He’s completely nonresponsive.”

Kaveh snapped this attention to Nikola. “Do you sense anything?”

Nikola’s eyes grew dark and the crest of his head fanned out, smooth yet abrupt like flames. Then he said, “Take me to him.”

Within minutes, they were standing right outside Ampersand’s quarters, Kaplan entering first, then Nikola and Kaveh, then about ten other people, of whom he only recognized Dr. Ghasabian. They had moved Ampersand yet again, this time to something a little more appropriate, if a bit austere. A cold hybrid between a hospital room and a laboratory, with a large metal table covered with a thin foam mattress serving as a “bed,” plastic sheets hung around the bed on all sides, creating the illusion of a smaller sunroom, about ten by fifteen feet. The sight of him nearly made Kaveh’s heart stop; his digits were stiff, his eyes open and almost black, his head cocked at an odd angle. He looked like a dead crab on a beach.

“TELL THEM TO LEAVE,” said Nikola, his eyes wide and the crest on his head flared bigger than Kaveh had ever seen it.

“He wants to be alone with him,” he said, moving to exit and urging the others to do the same.

“I WOULD PREFER YOU STAY.”

“Ex . . . cept me,” he said, staying put while everyone else exited to the adjacent room. Kaplan didn’t even give him his now-trademark patronizing glare, or if he did, Kaveh didn’t see it. He was still in the den of the enemy, still mid–heart attack.

“MY BELOVED HAS ENSURED THAT I AM UNABLE TO SENSE ANYTHING OF HIS STATE. HE IS NOT DEAD, BUT BEYOND THAT, I CAN SENSE NOTHING.”

“Nik says he isn’t dead, but he can’t tell anything past that. Ampersand still isn’t communicating with him.”