In my dream that night I was sitting alone in a dark room. There was a cold metal table in front of me with two empty chairs on the other side. The room held no windows. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, waiting for something to happen, feeling both cold and confused.

Then two men walked in. They were middle-aged, dressed plainly, and didn’t smile or express any emotion. They sat in the chairs on the other side of the table and stared straight ahead at me. Their faces were nondescript, but I knew instinctively who they were.

It was an interrogation.

“Why did you kill us?” they asked in unison.

I bolted upright in my bed and stared into the darkness before my eyes, my skin coated with a cold sweat, before I had to answer.

It wasn’t the first time I’d had a dream like this. And I didn’t think it would be the last. They’d been waking me at all hours of the night ever since we got back from the Smally mission, and though sometimes I would remember every detail of them, from the setting to the dialogue and even the feelings I had in the dream, there were other nights when I would awake in a panic with no clear recollection of what I had just been dreaming of.

But even when I couldn’t remember, I knew those two men had been plaguing me again.

They were always asking me why I had killed them. And the more they asked, the more I began to doubt my reasons. Yes, I had saved Jackie and Nathan. But whose life had truly been worth more? Was one inherently better than the other?

I almost fell out of bed and stumbled toward the bathroom, anxious to do something to take my mind off the faces in the dream. With a splash of cold water on my face, I was able to push it to the back of my mind. I had more important things to worry about.

It was time for our meeting with Nathan.

My entire team had received word to attend an early-morning meeting the day after the dance. The fact that we’d all been called made me think this had more to do with an upcoming mission—which in turn made me worry that Nelson and I wouldn’t be leaving to find our daughters anytime soon. If we were going on another mission, I wanted confirmation that we would at least begin planning how we were going to reclaim our family members.

I had come to terms with the fact that we were in Edgewood for a greater cause than just fulfilling our own needs. We were here to make a change on a larger scale. But I was a mother first and foremost, and Hope was more important to me than anything in the world. I needed to know that Nathan was at least on board with our mission, even if it would take time and planning.

Nelson and I stopped in the dining hall to grab a couple of oranges to eat on the way to Nathan’s office, picking up Alexy and Zion while we were there.

“So, what did you think about your first formal Edgewood dance?” Alexy asked as she peeled the wrapper off a zucchini muffin.

“It was all right,” Nelson demurred coolly.

“All right?” Zion teased. “You sure were dancing hard to just be calling it ‘all right.’”

Nelson blushed but didn’t answer him, and I quickly stepped in to save her. Nelson had trouble sharing intimate details with me; I didn’t think she’d take kindly to Zion teasing her about her obvious love of dancing. And we didn’t have time for fireworks to fly right now.

“Why didn’t Nathan go to the dance?” I asked Alexy and Zion. As longtime Edgewood members, I assumed they would have more information about his eccentricities and preferences than I did. Was his absence abnormal? Might it have anything to do with Piper’s claims about the government airship over Edgewood? Was Nathan stuck in an office taking care of defensive measures during the dance—or was he perhaps on a different base instead?

Alexy shrugged. “He’s been busy lately, like he’s getting pulled in lots of different directions. Maybe he had a meeting last night.”

“But it looked like there were people from the other bases there last night,” I said. There had been a lot more people than just Edgewood citizens, and the table that Corona had been sitting at had been populated by characters who looked important. I had gotten the impression that they were higher-ups in Little John, and since I had never seen them before, I thought they must be from other bases. Why else would they have been new to Edgewood and given prime seating with Piper and Corona?

“That wasn’t all of them,” Zion replied.

So they were from the other bases.

“I thought the bases didn’t mingle,” I mused. Hadn’t Alexy herself said so previously? The lack of connection between the bases would protect the rest should one of them fall.

“Airship traffic between bases is highly limited,” Zion replied, “but that isn’t the only way for people to travel.”

I wanted to press him further, but we had arrived at Nathan’s office by that time.

The rest of Team Hood was milling around Nathan’s large and impressive desk when we entered. Jace, Kory, Nelson, Jackie, Ant, Abe, Gabby, Alexy, Zion, and I were soon seated and waiting for Nathan to make his appearance. I was excited to be in his office and awaiting him after so much time and struggle, but I was also anxious to hear what he had to say. A mission? New information? Was he going to tell us about new security concerns?

“Surprised you can walk this morning, Robin,” Ant chuckled. “After how hard you danced last night.”

I rolled my eyes, and Jace came to my defense, as I had for Nelson earlier.

“At least she looked good doing it. Watching you two on the dance floor was like watching an execution by electric chair.”

Jackie erupted in laughter.

“Hey, leave me out of this!” Abe snapped playfully.

“I’m sure you’re all beautiful dancers,” Nathan chimed in as he entered the room and walked quickly to his chair.

He was as refined and poised as he ever was, but I noticed that the circles under his eyes were particularly dark. It didn’t look like he had been sleeping very well. Although, I thought grimly, I wasn’t either. But while my sleepless nights were just based on that recurring dream involving the two nameless men, Nathan’s lack of sleep was probably because of bigger concerns. Like surveillance and the overall operations—and safety—for all of his bases.

“So what comes next, boss?” Abe asked casually. We had come a long way from regarding Nathan as our shadowy underground leader. Now we felt like one big team—and it looked like we were all going to treat him as part of the team, rather than someone we needed to be careful with.

I just hoped he would be as honest with us.

“I’ve brought you here today because it’s time that you received some updates. And we finally have some,” Nathan replied.

I was elated to hear this. Maybe this was about the archives. Would we finally be able to discuss our recapture missions?

Nathan sensed the excitement in the room and nodded as if he could hear the questions we were asking ourselves. “I figured you guys deserved some news about the Artemis Protocol.”

I frowned in disappointment, but Nelson jumped right to the head of the conversation.

“The implementation was successful, right?” she queried. She had worked hard as part of the tech team when the virus was being inserted at Smally. It probably would’ve felt like an especially personal loss for her if anything had gone wrong since.

“Yeah, I thought that was what we got the fancy tuxes for,” Ant joked.

But it wasn’t too much of a joke. Hadn’t the parade and dance been a celebration of the success of that mission? Why were we still talking about it?

“It was a success in many ways,” Nathan began. “But, as you have known all along, there is more to be done.”

“Does the Artemis Protocol itself require anything else?” I asked, cutting to the chase. “Or are we moving to something bigger?”

We had known that it was only one phase in a larger mission. But what came next?

“That’s the best part about having you in a meeting, Robin,” Nathan replied, shooting a prideful glance in my direction. “You cut down on the dead air. Right. So, to the point: the mission was successful and we have our hands in the cookie jar, so to speak. We have unprecedented access to government files and communications, as well as some very handy insight into government satellites, surveillance, and military plans and blueprints.”

We knew this much already. Get to the point, Nathan, I thought, frustrated.

“So what’s the catch?” Alexy asked.

“The catch,” Nathan began, “is that we have to be careful about what we use and where we look. Every second we are active in the government system is a second when we’re risking discovery. Pandora’s Box is beautiful tech, but it isn’t foolproof. They will catch us in their software eventually. Hopefully by then we’ll have everything we need. But…”

“But we can’t just go opening files at random,” I finished. “We have to know where to look.”

“Bingo,” Nathan replied.

I knew what that meant. We had to be looking for things that were vitally important. We would be looking for higher-level documents in the government system: executive orders, mentions of unwritten protocols and processes, and communication sent to and from Burchard and his inner circle. One way for Little John to turn the tide against the government would be to prove that the government had ulterior motives. If the government really was selling kids or profiting off of their redistribution, like we had possibly seen with our own eyes when we saw the auction website, there had to be some mention of it somewhere. If we could find that mention and actually get it into the public eye, things might start to change.

“But how can we even begin to know where to look?” Jackie asked.

It was a great question. With all of the files and encryption the government must be using in their cloud system, it would be like trying to find a needle in a very dangerous haystack.

“You seem to be forgetting that not all information is electronic,” Nathan responded, almost as if he was beginning a riddle.

Not all information was electronic? Well… yeah. Some of it was written or spoken. But how were we going to come across personal written or spoken information from out here in Edgewood?

“The executives,” Jace said softly.

And suddenly we were all on the same page. Of course! The executives must’ve been interrogated. That was why Nathan had called us all together: to hear what they’d told him.

“What intel did we gain?” Nelson asked.

Nathan sighed. “Not much. The government keeps most of its executives in the dark for this exact reason. They don’t want them capable of spilling their guts to the wrong parties.”

The imagery in his statement gave me an uneasy feeling, as I imagined the literal prospect of “spilling one’s guts” during an interrogation.

“What happened to the executives?” I asked nervously.

“Don’t worry, Robin. Piper is treating them with the utmost respect.”

Piper?

“I thought Piper was in charge of education,” Jace said.

“And surveillance,” Nelson added.

I had been thinking the exact same thing. We hadn’t known he was involved in surveillance until yesterday, and now he was also involved in interrogations? The mystery around his identity—and his position in Little John—was growing deeper by the second.

Nathan picked up on our trepidations.

“Piper is multifaceted. His specific role is more about general oversight than any one division. He oversees multiple departments. But he is particularly well-suited to interrogations.”

I could see that. Piper’s unusual good looks seemed to disarm the people around him. He was poised and well spoken. He reminded me of a salesperson. But was there also a cold and calculating side to Piper that made him “well-suited to interrogations”? Or an intimidating aspect to him that made people talk? I wanted to press Nathan on this, but the conversation continued before I had the chance.

I was beginning to wonder just why Nathan had called us in here to begin with. He didn’t seem to have any updates of substance. Or if he did, he wasn’t sharing them with us. We didn’t have new information through Artemis, and the interrogations weren’t going as well as we had hoped.

“What do we do if we can’t go hunting blindly in the files, but also can’t get any clues from the human side of the Ministry?” Zion asked next, summing up our conundrum.

Nathan began nodding slowly, encouraging us to continue that line of thought.

“We try a new angle,” I offered.

“Exactly. And we already have the next angle ready. We just need to figure out how to tackle it,” Nathan replied.

He was already making plans for a new way to approach this problem. But where did that leave us? Was he going to let us in on this secret, or just tease us?

“What exactly does that mean? And what do you need from us?” Jace asked.

Nathan paused. Then he stood from his chair and walked around to the front of his desk to stand closer to us.

“I need more than I deserve,” he said thoughtfully.

We all leaned forward in our seats to hear what he had to say next. More than he deserved? What more could we give to him that we hadn’t already? We had already left all of our lives behind and risked arrest, imprisonment, and even execution for Little John. He needed more than that? From what he was saying, it sounded like he was about to send us on our most dangerous mission yet.

I looked around at our team and felt a pang of fear. Who would we lose this time? Who would we be honoring at the next parade? The thought made me feel sick. I just wanted Nathan to spit it out, so we could start to figure out whether we could do it or not.

“Patience,” Nathan finally said. “Patience and understanding.”

The team visibly relaxed. But I was left feeling unfulfilled. Those were two things I was having a hard time supplying at the moment, now that I finally knew where Hope was and was anxious to find her. I’d talked myself into allowing Little John business to come before retrieving Hope, but now it seemed like even the Little John business was going to be delayed.

I definitely wasn’t okay with that.

“So, we just need to wait until we hear from you again?” Kory asked.

“On the bright side, that means no more rushing through the buffet line,” Ant wisecracked. Jackie shot him a look.

“I know you are looking to me for answers,” Nathan said, ignoring the joke. “And I just need you to trust that I’m doing the best I can for Edgewood, and Little John, and all of you individually. You aren’t just pawns to me. Savannah and Ajax… they were good people and good teammates. I don’t want to risk any more lives unnecessarily, even if we’re anxious to wrap up loose ends.”

Loose ends. I thought I was beginning to understand why Nathan was asking for patience. He might send us to dangerous places, but he didn’t like doing it unless—and until—he knew what we were getting into. He simply had more research to do before he decided on the next step in his plan.

“Well, that’s all for today. I hope to be in touch with you guys very soon. In the meantime, enjoy what Edgewood has to offer and enjoy each other’s company. Family is precious, but friends are the family that we can choose. Never take that for granted.”

Nathan seemed particularly pensive and reflective today. Had Ajax’s and Savannah’s deaths affected him that deeply? Or was there something else on his mind that he wasn’t comfortable sharing with us? Either way, the meeting felt like somewhat of a bust. We had received updates, but no new information. All we had was Nathan’s assurances that he had a “new angle.”

But there was nothing more to be said for the time being. Nathan had given us the audience we had requested, and now the meeting was adjourned. The team began to stand and file toward the door, when his voice broke through our murmurings.

“Robin, can I speak to you for a moment?” he asked.

The question took me aback. We had just been in a formal meeting. What did he have to say to me that he couldn’t say in front of the rest of the team?

I shot a confused glance at Jace, but he nodded reassuringly at me and then walked off with the rest of the group. Nelson cast a glance back at us before leaving as well, and my heart hurt for her. There was only one thing I could imagine Nathan wanting to speak to me about alone: the archives. Hope. And if Nathan was about to discuss the archives with me, Nelson deserved to be there for the conversation.

Nathan shut the door, and we returned to our seats at his desk.

“Robin, I wanted to thank you for saving my life.”

Oh.

“O-Of course,” I stuttered. It wasn’t a big deal. I would’ve done it for anyone.

“Have you ever killed anyone before?” Nathan asked.

The question was an uncomfortable one.

“One other time,” I answered. “To save Jackie.”

Nathan nodded, looking in the direction of his large window. The sun was shining through brilliantly, and his face was flooded with light, illuminating all of the lines and reminding me of his age. He certainly wasn’t fragile, but he must be starting to slow down. He shouldn’t be going out on missions anymore. What would we have done if he had died back in Smally? Who would’ve led us then?

“I know you’re facing a dilemma, Robin. I knew from the way you hesitated before you killed the guard in Smally. I knew when you asked about the safety of the executives. You’re right not to see the world in black and white. It’s not good guys versus bad guys. Most of us are somewhere in between. Most of us are just fighting for what we believe in.”

Where was he going with this?

“When Corona and I first learned where her daughter was, we thought about taking an airship and destroying her entire neighborhood to bring her back. We thought about entering her home with guns blazing and snatching her away. We thought about killing every person that ever stood in our way. But her daughter… she loved those people. She loved the people who raised her. She loved her school and her friends and her home. And those people who stole her—maybe they cared about her, too. Maybe they thought they were doing the right thing for her by saving her from the evil clutches of two dangerous terrorists.”

My heart broke at his words. I would never have considered the possibility that Nathan and Corona knew where her child was and were choosing not to reclaim her.

“Your daughter is still young. You still have a chance. But you have to think about what matters to you. Chanley is the capital. The security will be extreme. Is it worth it to get your daughter back quickly,” he asked, his eyes now boring into mine, “if you have to kill the people she loves?”

Finally, he had said it. I had sensed where the conversation was going. I knew that an awful catch would be waiting for me at the end. And I also knew somewhere deep down that he would be right.

Hope was two years old. She was probably already saying “mama” and “dada.” Maybe she was very attached to her nanny. Maybe she had siblings she loved. It was hard enough to imagine taking her away from her home and the people she had known her whole life, but without a well-executed plan, I was at risk of doing even more damage. What if her adoptive father kept a gun in the house? What if escaping with Hope meant going through her adoptive parents? Would Hope be able to bond with me as her biological mother if she knew that I had killed the people who had raised her for two years?

I sat in silence and tried to hold back the tears.

Nathan stood and walked around the desk until he was directly in front of me. Then he knelt and grabbed my hands.

“I just need you to trust me,” he repeated.

I did trust him. He had brought us all together in Edgewood. He was fighting the same fight that we were. And he knew firsthand what it was like to put the greater good over his own desires, which happened to be exactly my own: bringing home a daughter.

He squeezed my hands and then released them and rose to his feet.

“But I need something else from you while we’re at it.”

I looked up at him, slightly confused by the sentiment. “Anything,” I said in response. “What do you need?”

Nathan walked to his door and opened it, then stood there until I rose and met him at the door. We were obviously going somewhere.

“I think you’re the person to tackle that new angle we need to try,” he said as he walked out of his office, beckoning me to follow him.