Anderson placed one hand on top of the barricade and vaulted over the top. He turned to look back at Kahlee. As his eyes fell on her splinted fingers, a hastily formed plan suddenly took shape.

"She's going to need some help," he said, tilting his head to indicate her injured hands.

He looked at Kai Leng, who, wary of some kind of trick, shook his head in response-just the reaction Anderson was hoping for.

"What about you?" Anderson said, turning to the guard with the stunner on his belt.

After a brief moment of hesitation, the guard stepped forward.

"Hurry up," he grumbled.

Kahlee approached the barricade and raised her knee high enough to set her right foot on top of the wall. With her other leg fully extended and her left foot still on the ground, she didn't have the leverage to propel herself over. Instead, she leaned forward awkwardly so Anderson and the turian guard could each grab hold of one arm, clasping her firmly by the wrist and elbows.

"On three," Anderson said. "One ... two ... three!"

Anderson felt Kahlee flexing her knee and shifting her weight with each count to try and help build enough momentum so they could haul her up and over. But as they pulled her toward them, Anderson twisted his hips and shoulders, throwing Kahlee off balance so she crashed into the turian guard as she came over the barricade. Anderson kept his grip on her arm throughout, letting her weight drag him down so that all three of them fell clumsily to the ground.

Kai Leng reacted almost instantly, springing over the wall without even touching it. The other turian guards responded to the situation just as Anderson had predicted, reaching for their weapons to defend themselves against what appeared to be an aggressive and hostile action.

With Kai Leng forced to engage the guards, Anderson had the few precious seconds he needed. He ripped the stunner from the fallen turian's belt, rolled onto his back, and fired at his target.

The stunner blast took Kai Leng right between the shoulder blades, causing him to drop to the ground unconscious. Two of the turians were already down, injured but not dead. The other two were still fumbling for their weapons, though whether they intended to use them on Kai Leng or Anderson wasn't clear.

"It's okay! It's okay!" Anderson shouted, tossing the stunner aside and raising his hands in a gesture of surrender.

The turians still standing rushed over and hauled him and Kahlee to their feet as their fallen captain angrily picked himself up. They slammed the humans back against the bulkhead, pinning them there by jamming their assault rifles into their chests.

Anderson didn't say anything as the nose of the weapon pressed painfully into his sternum. He knew he needed to let everyone calm down before speaking. He saw Kahlee wincing in pain, though he couldn't tell if it was from being roughly pinned against the wall or from banging her tender fingers during the scuffle.

The captain glared at the humans, then went over to check the two turians on the ground. They were both groaning in pain, but with the captain's help they managed to clamber to their feet, much to Anderson's relief. Convincing the guards to let them go would have been much harder if Kai Leng had actually killed anyone.

"I can explain all this," Anderson said, judging that emotions had cooled enough for him to make his case. "That guy on the ground was holding us prisoner."

"He paid for the docking bay," the captain snarled. "He's our customer. You're not."

"You're still going to get your money," Anderson reminded them. "Even if you let us go."

"Maybe we should hold on to you and wait for him to wake up," the captain countered. "He'll probably throw in a nice bonus for keeping you from escaping."

"He's with Cerberus," Kahlee said, jumping into the negotiations.

"Is this true?" the captain asked Anderson, stepping forward and leaning in until only a few inches separated their faces.

"It's true," Anderson declared, staring right into the turian's eyes.

The captain took a step back, but didn't speak right away. The guards cast quick glances in his direction, waiting to see what he would say. Anderson held his breath.

The anti-alien agenda of Cerberus was well known throughout the galaxy, even on Omega. It was only natural that most nonhumans would feel a similar bias against the Illusive Man and his agents. The only question was whether it would be enough to overcome the Talons' mercenary greed.

"You can go," the captain said at last. "Take his ship if you want."

In response, the guards lowered their weapons.

"What about him?" Kahlee asked, nodding in the direction of Kai Leng's still unconscious body.

"We'll think of something special," the captain replied, and the other turians all squawked out evil laughs.

"Things will go worse for Cerberus if you let us take him," Kahlee insisted. "We're with an Alliance task force. We're trying to take the organization down. He has information we can use."

"You don't want to get mixed up in a war against the Illusive Man," Anderson added. "You already got paid. Just take the money and walk away."

The captain considered for a moment, then shrugged.

"Sure. Take him. Get the hell out of here. What do we care?"

Anderson didn't need to be told twice. He bent down and scooped up Kai Leng's unconscious body. With a grunt he tossed him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

"How far to the docking bay?" he asked.

"Not far. Take a right at the end of the alley. Bays are marked on the side. 6358's the one you want."

With Kahlee leading the way, they left the turians behind, Anderson struggling under the weight of his burden.

"I'm sorry I didn't warn you," he said once they were beyond earshot of the guards. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," she assured him. "That was quick thinking back there."

"Why did you want to bring him along?" Anderson asked, indicating the unconscious man draped over his shoulder.

"Figured we'd hand him over to the Alliance for interrogation," she explained.

Her answer made Anderson feel better; he'd been afraid Kahlee was still clinging to the notion that Kai Leng and Cerberus could somehow reverse Grayson's transformation.

Kahlee didn't say anything else, and Anderson decided it was more important to save his breath than continue the conversation. Five minutes later they reached the spaceport. Anderson was relieved to discover that bay 6358 was the second closest one to where they had come in.

"We better hurry," he warned Kahlee as they reached Kai Leng's shuttle. "I don't know how much longer he's going to be out."

It took her a few minutes to hack the security system so they could get inside. Anderson hauled Kai Leng into the vessel, then began searching for something to restrain him.

He found a standard emergency supply kit, complete with rations, bottled water, an electric lamp and heater, extra batteries, a small folding tent, fifty feet of nylon rope, and a military-style field knife.

Working quickly, he cut the rope into eight-foot lengths and used them to lash the still unconscious body of Kai Leng to the copilot's chair.

"Can you fly this thing?" Kahlee asked.

"Basic Alliance design," he assured her, firing up the engines.

After a routine safety check to confirm all the systems were working, he took the shuttle up and out of the docking bay, leaving Omega behind.

He hoped he'd never have to set foot on the godforsaken station again.

TWENTY-TWO.

They had just completed the first mass relay jump on their way back to the Citadel when Kahlee got up from her seat in the back of the shuttle and came up front to check on Anderson.

She glanced down at their prisoner; he was still strapped into the copilot seat, unconscious. With nowhere in the forward cabin for her to sit, she crouched down beside Anderson as he worked the controls.

"I realized I never thanked you for getting me off Omega," she said.

"I figured I was leaving, so I might as well take you with me," he joked.

Kahlee smiled, and reached to carefully place her injured hand on his arm.

"What happened in Aria's ...," she began.

Anderson shook his head. "Not with our friend listening."

Kahlee turned her head to look at Kai Leng. At first glance his eyes appeared to be closed, but as she studied him carefully, she realized his lids were open just a crack, allowing him to see what was going on.

"He's been awake for at least twenty minutes," Anderson said.

Realizing his ruse had failed, Kai Leng opened his eyes wide.

"Where are you taking me?" he asked.

"The Citadel," Anderson answered. "I've got some friends in the Alliance who are going to want to speak to you."

"That's a mistake," he warned them. "You should be going after Grayson. He's just going to keep getting stronger. He has to be stopped."

"You're probably right," Anderson agreed. "But unless you know where we can find him, we'll stick with the original plan."

"I don't know where he is," Kai Leng admitted. "I just assumed you did."

Kahlee sensed genuine surprise in his voice.

"Why would we know where he's headed?" she wondered aloud.

"The Illusive Man told me you were the key to finding Grayson," he told her. "He thinks you two have some sort of special connection."

"He's not the Grayson I knew," she said coldly. "Your people made sure of that."

"But you saw the files," Kai Leng continued. "You know what's happening to him. I thought you would be able to piece it all together to anticipate his next move."

"Don't listen to him," Anderson warned. "He's trying to get inside your head."

"No," Kahlee said softly, "he's right. I was thinking about this earlier. I feel like there's something I'm missing."

"You saw what he did to Aria's guards," Anderson reminded her. "Even if we knew where to find him, what could we do?"

"That's a coward's excuse," Kai Leng insisted.

Anderson didn't bother to reply.

Sensing that continuing the discussion would only make the tension worse, Kahlee retired to the rear of the shuttle again.

Taking a seat, she continued to mull over the problem. The thing she'd seen in the warehouse wasn't Grayson. It was his body-at least partially-but the Reapers were manipulating and controlling him.

If she could just figure out what the Reapers wanted, and how Grayson fit into their plans, she told herself, she could find the answer.

She thought back on the data from the experiments, trying to piece together everything she knew about the Reapers. They were interested in humans; that much was clear. They had even gone so far as to have the Collectors abduct humans so they could perform their own versions of the Cerberus experiments.

But if all they'd wanted was for Grayson to start abducting people, they'd have simply sent him out to the remote colonies in the Terminus Systems. The chances of finding him would have been almost zero.

She slammed her fist against the padded arm of her seat in frustration, sending sharp jolts of pain up through her splinted fingers. But she was too focused on trying to solve her problem to give it more than cursory notice.

Kai Leng had claimed she was the key. The Illusive Man felt there was some special connection between her and Grayson. Was he referring to Gillian? Was it possible the Reapers were going to go after Grayson's daughter because of her unique biotic abilities?

She felt like the solution was close, but she knew she wasn't quite there. The Cerberus data speculated that the Reapers would eventually be able to pull knowledge directly from Grayson's mind. But even if they found out about Gillian, there was no possible way they could find her. The best they could do would be to inspect her files from the Ascension Project- The answer hit her with such force she almost cried out. Leaping to her feet, she raced into the forward cabin.

"Send a message to the Grissom Academy," she ordered, speaking so quickly her words nearly tripped over themselves. "Warn them Grayson is on his way."

To his credit, Anderson didn't argue or question her. Acting on her instructions, he dropped the ship out of FTL and sent out a signal to connect to the closest communications buoy.

"I've got a signal," he said a few seconds later, "but something's wrong. I can't connect to the Academy."

"Try emergency frequencies," Kahlee suggested.

"I'm trying them all," he said. "I'm getting no response. It's like they shut down all their comm systems."

"The Reapers," Kai Leng declared. "They found some way to block transmissions so nobody can warn them."

"How close are we to the Academy?" Kahlee wanted to know.

"Two relay jumps," Anderson informed her. "I can have us there inside of three hours if I push the engines."

"Push them," Kahlee told him.

Grayson's shuttle decelerated from FTL speed only a few thousand kilometers from the Grissom Academy. At this range it wasn't necessary to use the comm buoy network to send a message; he was able to hail them directly.

Grayson knew Kahlee hadn't told anyone else at the Academy the truth about him. Convinced he had truly rejected Cerberus and was trying to turn his life around, she hadn't seen any purpose in poisoning his reputation. She'd also left him an open invitation to come visit her, though he'd never followed up on it.

The Reapers had discovered all this back on Omega while probing Grayson's mind for information about Kahlee. Now they were going to use what they had learned to gain access to the files of the Ascension Project.