Eric’s hand slapped over my mouth before the scream could reach an audible note, and the large man dragged me closer to him and firmly gripped my arm. The instant his hand was on me, I knew what he was trying to do, and I hated him for it.

He was trying to keep me from Grey. My Grey. My sweet, reckless, brave Grey.

Who’d just been shot by Sage.

Rage burned at my very heart, a rage that had been slowly building since this morning’s bloodshed in the Council Room, and my fingers curled tightly around my gun, itching for me to break Eric’s hold and go after Sage with everything I had. Tony rose up to try to wrest control from me, his concern for me trying to cut through my internal tempest, but the rage inside me was too powerful for the AI, and I shoved him back into a dark place in my mind and closed the door on him, trapping him behind it. Then I started to pull away from Eric, intent on slipping out through a gap a few machines back to sneak up behind them, but the stronger man held me firm.

“Sentinel,” he whispered harshly.

A few seconds later I heard the sounds of its steps over the furious beating of my own heart. I exhaled a shuddering breath, common sense threading some rationality through my rage, and tried to focus on remaining still.

It didn’t help that I was quite literally shaking, my entire being vibrating in response to the gunshot and my fear that I’d lost Grey before I’d even had a chance to save him. I should’ve just gone in guns blazing, instead of sneaking around trying to get the drop on them. Because of me, I’d given Sage more time to grow impatient with him, resulting in him dying.

The shadow of the sentinel cut through the beams of light streaming into the small space as it passed, the looming presence of it growing closer and closer, and I closed my eyes, trying not to give in to the reckless urge that told me I should leap out and try to tear the sentinel apart with my bare hands. I knew it was my fury making me feel like I was indestructible, but I couldn’t help it. Sage was a monster, and I wanted to slay him once and for all.

But I resisted, letting Eric hold me in place and letting Tony out of the box I had just put him in, to try to contain my anger. I could tell the AI inside me was still overwhelmed by it—he felt like a small fish trying to swim up a fiery river—but I let him in this time, and he helped push some of it away.

Leaving only the fear and my unanswered questions about Grey. Had Sage killed him, or just shot him some place that would cause a lot of pain? It was horrible to think about, but if Sage had shot him in the foot, he would survive that, provided we could get to him in time. We just had to get there.

Suddenly I was grateful to Eric and Tony; they had kept me from doing something monumentally suicidal and given me a chance to think. I reached up with my free hand to tap Eric, letting him know he could pull his fingers away, and a second later, my mouth was free. The sentinel’s shadow passed us at that exact moment, but didn’t slow, and I closed my eyes in relief that it hadn’t noticed us.

They snapped open a few moments later when I heard a weak groan. “You… shot me…” It was Grey—and he was still alive! Alive but in a lot of pain. My heart ached, wanting—no, needing—to go to him, but instead, I put it aside, reminding myself that I wasn’t alone. Others were counting on me, including him.

I nodded at Eric to start moving, and together we began making our way to the sound. I kept peering through the gaps between machines, trying to catch a glimpse of Grey, but the machines were too bulky, mostly limiting my field of view to only the dome. Occasionally I got a glimpse of Sadie’s back, or Sage bent over something in front of her, but never a clear shot or a good angle.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?” Sage said with a laugh. “Gut wounds are always tricky, too. So many organs to hit. May I?” I wasn’t sure what Sage was asking permission for, but Grey’s agonized cry of pain told me it wasn’t good, and I had to swallow back the massive dose of anger that seemed to shoot up from where I was carrying it in my stomach, like a dragon about to breathe flames.

Then Sage continued. “Ah, shoot, it just passed through some of your intestines. I might’ve nicked your spine, though. It’s hard to tell with just a finger.”

I pressed a fist to my mouth to suppress a gag, realizing that Sage had stuck his finger into Grey’s bullet wound.

“C’mon, Leo,” Sage continued in a singsong voice. “If you tell me, I won’t have to shoot him again.”

Grey was groaning in pain, and I had to fight back every impulse I had to go to him. Please, I begged. Just keep your mouth shut for a few moments. Let him think you’re in agony, anything. Just don’t be a smartass.

“Awww… but I like being shot. Just one more time, please? I—” Grey’s act of bravado was cut off by another gunshot, and I clenched my hand tighter around my own gun pommel, struggling to breathe. I was losing this battle of will. I was too emotionally compromised. I loved Grey, would do anything to protect him, but here I was, slinking behind these machines and trying to get the drop on Sage.

And it was taking too long. Grey was going to die.

I looked over at Eric, who was continuing forward, oblivious to the fact that I had stopped, and swallowed. Tony, do you understand? I asked, needing the AI’s permission before I did something as foolish as what I was about to do.

Get out there and shoot that son of a bitch, the AI declared, giving me his permission, and I quickly looked around, searching for a space that would let me out. We had passed one a few machines back, and after a moment’s hesitation, I made for it.

“Liana,” Eric whispered harshly a few seconds later, but it was too late. I was already moving. I heard him try to reach for me, his uniform scraping against the wall, but I was too far away. Grey gave another pained cry, and I used the anger and fear to fuel my actions, aiming for the gap between two machines, which was just wide enough for me to squeeze through. I shifted the gun to my left hand, knowing Tony could compensate for my lack of proficiency with it, and then shoved myself into the tight space.

I froze a moment later, right down to holding my breath, as the sentinel’s shadow filled the gap a heartbeat before it entered into view. The urge to curl back and hide was strong, but it was already too late—any movement would only further give me away. My heart threatened to explode in terror, my brain certain that it had already seen me, but two agonizing seconds later, it was past. I released a trembling breath, trying to be as quiet as possible, and then seized the opportunity the sentinel had presented me with: it was heading away from Sage, which meant its back would be to me for a few seconds. The other one would be circling around toward Sage, but I had time to get out and act before it was on me.

I carefully slid farther into the gap, taking great pains not to make any noise, and then stuck my head out, looking first at where Sage and Sadie were standing, to make sure their backs were to me, and then at the sentinel that was heading away. It was disappearing around the large curve of the dome, and I quickly stepped into the aisle, shifting my gun to my other hand and looking back at Sage and Sadie. The area they were standing in was slightly different than the rest of the room, in that the walls curved outward to form a small, square alcove, lined by large machines the likes of which I’d never seen before. The bottom half of them looked normal, I guessed, but they were topped by glass balls, not unlike light bulbs, with beams of electricity curling around inside, spilling out from a fountain. Each machine held a different color of light—purple, orange, yellow, green, blue—and it didn’t take me long to figure out that each one was housing one of the AI fragments. Sage and Sadie were standing at the mouth of the room, and between their legs, I could see Grey sitting just beyond them.

Sage was bent over him, and Sadie’s position behind him made it difficult to get a shot. I grated my teeth together as Grey made another choked sound, telling me Sage was continuing to probe the bullet wound he had left in Grey’s abdomen, and I raised my arm, setting my sights on Sadie. In my mind, it played out as simply as this: I would shoot Sadie, then shoot Sage when he looked up in surprise. My only concern was the distance. If I miscalculated the angle of the bullet when I hit Sage, it could shoot through him and hit Grey. And he’d been shot enough for the day.

Blowing out a steady breath, knowing I was beyond exposed, I took several creeping steps forward, trying to get a better angle. My nerves tingled with awareness as Sage began speaking again, and I tightened my grip on my gun, searching for my moment.

“You see how painful it is, Leo?” Sage crooned, and the question was punctuated by Grey’s agonized cry. “Imagine this over and over again, and you’ll know the kind of torment your copy has been enduring for the last two hundred years. Only, you don’t have his protections to spare you the pain, do you? Should I get a new host and infect them with Whispers? I had such fun designing that particular virus to torment Scipio, but I have no idea how it actually feels, so having you endure it would be fascinating. For science, of course. And why stop there? I have always wanted to try flaying someone alive. We should start a list with all sorts of painful deaths on it. Let’s see, there’s disembowelment, setting you on fire… I mean, I’ve been working in the Medica for a hundred years, so I know all sorts of ways to kill. I’ll march in those innocent humans your idiotic creator made you so protective of, shove you inside them, and then tear them apart piece by piece, until you give me that code. It’s your decision. How many more are going to die before you see reason and give me that damn code?”

His patience was clearly at an end, and his speech grew rapidly angrier and angrier the longer he talked, until it seemed he was spitting. I still couldn’t get a good angle on him, and I knew my time was running out. Any second, the other sentinel would be rounding the corner, and I’d be caught. I had to fire at Sadie if I wanted to create an opportunity to kill Sage. He could get out of the way before I could get him, but it was worth the risk.

I was tightening my finger on the trigger, aiming directly for Sadie’s head, when Sage suddenly stood back up, his face contorted into an angry mask. My eyes flicked to the sudden movement, and my gaze met his clear blue one. His eyes widened, and I quickly adjusted my aim for his head, my finger pulling the trigger.

The gun jerked in my hand, the gun casing ejecting from the slot at the top, and I felt like time slowed down, my every hope and prayer for the future inside that small bullet.

Sage was already throwing himself behind Sadie with more speed and agility than a man in his third century of life should have, and there was a spark against the far wall where the bullet had ricocheted, missing him. I gritted my teeth together. Tony was already readjusting our aim for Sadie. The redheaded woman was turning, and my shot was hurried, but I hit her. Her slim form went down in a spinning fall and a spray of blood. Sage was still moving in a low crouch, racing away from Sadie’s falling form toward where I could now see Grey sitting. I fired two more shots, then had to stop when Sage hunkered down behind Grey, using him for cover.

Grey’s head was down, his blond-brown hair partially covering his face, but I could see blood dripping from his chin into his lap, mingling with the blood that was oozing out of two holes in his stomach. I aimed my gun toward him, waiting for Sage to move so I could shoot the asshole in the same places he had shot Grey before adding one to the head. I knew that Kurt was still inside Sage’s net, but at this point, I didn’t care. Kurt had been letting Sage get away with this sort of behavior for long enough. He could die with the man.

“Come out here!” I shouted, knowing Sage was just buying time for the sentinels to get there. I darted a quick glance behind me to make sure the coast was still clear, and then took a few steps forward, now on guard. “I’ll make it painless,” I added. “One right in the head. You deserve worse, but I’m eager to get this done!”

“I admire your bravery, Liana. If I’d had even one child with your mettle, I might’ve let him or her breed instead of sterilizing them. But I’m not going down today. I have Alice to protect me.”

I took another glance behind me and saw the gleaming hulk of the sentinel striding confidently around the curve of the dome, heading right toward me, golden eyes blazing. I quickly shifted targets and fired at one of her eyes, scoring a hit, but she continued to lumber on. I was starting to dance back, ready to throw a lash to somehow get behind Sage, when a sudden volley of crimson lancer fire erupted from overhead, tearing into the back of the sentinel. I ducked down on impulse and then looked up to see Maddox dangling from her lashes in the center of the ceiling above the dome, firing down on the sentinel. There was a sharp spray of sparks from the sentinel, arcing down across the floor and toward me, and it went slack, its eyes going black. For a second, I stared at it, stunned that we had managed to take it down so easily.

And then the room exploded into chaos.