Ja.n.u.s and Milo both stared at the scene. Apparently neither knew what to say.

Finally, David rose and walked over to Kate's computer. He closed it and stuffed it and the other equipment in the backpack. "Let's move out."

Outside the building, David led the group back to the square. Their helicopter was gone.

He turned to Ja.n.u.s. "What's the plan? We can't beat them to Germany-they're too far ahead of us."

"There is an alternative," Ja.n.u.s said. "If we can get there in time."

"The Knights have a plane," Milo said. "Can you fly it, Mr. David?"

"I can fly anything," David said. Landing had sometimes been an issue, but he didn't mention that. There was no need to worry them.

Dorian watched the sea below turn to land. Italy. Soon they would cross into Germany, and they would reach the portal shortly after.

The plague had crushed continental Europe. NATO had folded early, offering their resources to the humanitarian effort. Nothing could stop him now.

Kate opened her eyes. Dorian stared at her.

She didn't blink now. She wasn't scared of him any more. She knew who he was, and she knew who she was. History wouldn't repeat itself.

"Everything okay, Kate?" Dorian asked sarcastically.

She matched his tone. "I'm good."

The helicopter touched down a half hour later, and Dorian dragged her out, onto the ground.

Humvees circled the portal, which glistened, giving off wisps of white light into the cold silent night.

They pa.s.sed the Humvees and Kate saw the dead soldiers lying on the ground. Plague victims. The German government must have dispatched troops to investigate the portal, but they had fallen sick. Those that hadn't died must have fled.

Dorian dragged her toward the glowing portal.

"Stay with me," he called behind him, to Shaw. "It closes behind us."

As Shaw pulled up even, the three of them crossed the threshold, and they were standing in a different place.

To Kate, it felt like the corridors in the tombs in Antarctica. But the hallways here were more narrow. She knew this place. It was her ship-the deep s.p.a.ce transport that had brought her and Ja.n.u.s here.

Kate tried to take a breath, but she found that she couldn't inhale fully. Dorian's eyes flashed on her, but before he could say anything, air began rushing into the s.p.a.ce. Did the ship recognize Kate? Was it coming back to life for her? Yes, that was it.

Dorian tugged at her arm, yanking her down the dimly lit hallway.

He paused at an intersection. He seemed to be trying to remember where he was going. Or had gone?

"This way," he said.

The soft beads of light from the floor and ceiling seemed to grow brighter. No, Kate realized she was just getting used to the darkness.

Another change was gradually setting in. She was adjusting. The last memory, her death in Antarctica at Ares', or Dorian's, hands had changed her.

Kate had always had trouble relating to others. She never fully "got" people. She desperately wanted to have fulfilling personal relationships, but it never happened naturally for her. It had always been work.

She had a.s.sumed that this personal desire had drawn her to autism research, to seek a cure for people who lacked the brain wiring for understanding social cues and managing language. She now knew her motivation was much more than that.

Dorian had been right: she wasn't great at reading people. She was easily misled. But now the game was strategy, and she knew the history. She knew the players. And she knew how it would unfold. She was smarter than he was, and she would win.

CHAPTER 94.

Outside Ceuta David had pushed the plane to its max speed. There was no risk of exhausting its fuel.

On the horizon, Ceuta came into view. David activated the radio and began conversing with air control. The rail guns could easily blow the plane out of the sky, and he wasn't exactly sure what sort of response he would get. He didn't have any alternatives.

The response was swift. "You are cleared for landing, Mr. Vale."

David's landing was b.u.mpy at best, but it didn't evoke a reaction from either of his pa.s.sengers. They were on the ground, and they were alive. And so was Kate, as far as he knew. One step at a time.

As David, Ja.n.u.s, and Milo exited the aircraft, David spotted a convoy approaching the airfield. He subconsciously tightened his grip on his a.s.sault rifle.

The convoy stopped, and the door of the lead Humvee swung open. The Berber chief, the same one who had branded him days earlier and helped him take the base, stepped out and sauntered over to him. A smile spread across her face.

"I thought perhaps that I would never see you again."

"Likewise."

She grew serious. "Have you returned to resume your command?"

"No. Just pa.s.sing through. I need a jeep."

Fifteen minutes later, David was driving recklessly toward the hills where he had emerged, days earlier, when he'd left the Atlantean ship wearing an Immari colonel's uniform.

"I don't know where the entrance is," David called back to Ja.n.u.s.

"I'll direct you," Ja.n.u.s replied.

They drove on for what felt like an eternity to David. The slope grew steeper and the rocky terrain more treacherous. With each pa.s.sing second, he imagined his chances of rescuing Kate slipping away.

Finally, Ja.n.u.s tapped his shoulder. "Stop here."

David pulled up next to a steep rock face. Before he'd even come to a complete stop, Ja.n.u.s bounded out and started striding purposefully ahead. David and Milo hopped out and tried to catch up.

"What's the plan, Ja.n.u.s?" David shouted ahead. Ja.n.u.s had refused to share any real details of his plan on the plane ride, and that made David nervous.

"We'll get to that," Ja.n.u.s called back. He turned a corner, and when David cleared the turn, the scientist was gone. David spun around, searching. The rock face of the mountain to his left looked like the one he had emerged from, but David wasn't sure.

"Hey!" David called. He ran to the rock face and felt it. It was solid. He paced back and forth. Milo merely stood there, as if he were waiting in line for something.

"Ja.n.u.s!" David screamed. Ja.n.u.s had betrayed him. This was his plan all along- Ja.n.u.s emerged right out of the solid rock, and as he did so, the projection of the rock face dissolved behind him. "I had to disable the forcefield. Follow me."

"Oh. Well, you could have..." David shook his head and fell in behind Ja.n.u.s, who led them down the tunnel the cube had carved-the path David had followed out. They took the same elevator David had used.

During David's time here, all the doors had been locked. Now they opened as the three men approached.

Ja.n.u.s cut left, leading them into a room with four doors.

"What now?" David asked.

"Now we wait. If I'm right, Kate will know what to do. She will not only release the tube that holds Ares, she will open the entire ship. That will be our opening. It will be a very, very short window to do what we have to do."

Ja.n.u.s related the rest of his plan, and David merely nodded. He was out of his element; he had no choice but to trust Ja.n.u.s.

David turned to Milo and held out his sidearm for him to take.

Milo eyed it, then took a small step back.

"Milo, if anyone besides us comes through that door, you have to shoot them."

"I cannot, Mr. David-"

"You have to-"

"I know. I must do it to survive. But it is not in me. I know if the time comes, I cannot pull the trigger. I cannot take another life. On my journey to the Ark in Malta, I learned many things. The most important thing I learned is who I truly am. I am sorry to disappoint you, Mr. David, but I also cannot lie to you, and I will not pretend to be something I am not."

David nodded. "Believe me, I'm not disappointed, Milo. And I hope the world never gives you time or reason to change." For a brief moment, he thought about himself, in his grad school days, before that building had buried him and started him on his own journey of vengeance.

Ja.n.u.s walked to the wall. A panel opened as he approached. He took out another yellow cube and began working his fingers in the light that emerged around it.

He returned to Milo and handed him the cube. "This is a cube similar to the one I used in the catacombs under Malta. It will not take a life, but it will incapacitate everyone within reach-you as well, Milo. And it won't work on Atlanteans, obviously. But perhaps it will give you some time, time for an ally to arrive."

"Got any more high-tech weapons?" David asked.

"Nothing of use. Just follow the plan. And follow my cube." Ja.n.u.s inched closer to the portal door and held the cube up, ready to release it.

"I want a cure for the plague before we go through."

"I told you, Mr. Vale, that discussion is finished. You and Kate share the pure form of the Atlantis Gene. You will both survive as you are."

"Unacceptable."

"Your acceptance is not required."

Dorian brought Kate to a stop before a set of double doors.

He worked the panel and the doors parted.

Seven tubes stood in the room. The middle one held Ares. His eyes followed them, cold and unblinking.

Dorian stared at him for a long moment. "Release him," he said without turning to face Kate.

She held her bound hands up and wiggled her fingers. "Release me first."

Dorian spun on her. "You can manage."

"I can't." She motioned to the panel. "It's impossible to work the system with my hands bound. Untie me, and I'll let him out." She paused. "What's the matter? You think both of you can't handle me? Or all three of you can't?"

Dorian nodded to Shaw, who took the a.s.sault knife out and snapped the zip tie in half.

Kate walked to the control panel. She felt Ares' eyes following her.

Her next move would determine her fate, and that of many others.

The memories were clearer now, and the most vivid ones were of people, more than places. Ja.n.u.s. They had studied a hundred worlds over thousands of years. He had stayed the same. Somewhere along the way, she had changed. She had grown a bit more compa.s.sionate, more reflective, and more driven. And she longed to be with someone more like herself: someone with intellect and pa.s.sion. Someone like David.

However, one thing about Ja.n.u.s stuck out in her mind above all else: he was the smartest person she had ever known. She was counting on that. The opening she was about to create would leave no margin for error.

She manipulated the cloud of blue light that rose from the panel.

Around her, lights snapped on and the other control panels flickered to life.

The tube slid open and Ares stepped out.

"Well done, Dorian."

"Now, David."

The portal door opened, and Ja.n.u.s rushed through, David close on his heels.

Ja.n.u.s flung the cube into the hallway and it raced away, a yellow wake of light marking its path.

The cube would find Kate, and David would lead her back to the portal. Ja.n.u.s had promised David that he would take care of the ship. He couldn't allow it to fall into Dorian's or Ares' hands.

David chased after the cube. From the adjacent corridor, he heard Ja.n.u.s's boots pounding the floor.

As soon as Ares stepped out of the tube, Kate lunged across the room at Dorian. Her attack took him by surprise. Her fist landed square on his jaw, sending him into the wall, then to the ground. She fell on top of him, and she felt Shaw's hands grip her, pulling her back. But her distraction had succeeded. Had she bought enough time? The answer came in a blinding yellow-white light that erupted throughout the room.

David pumped his legs harder, racing down the corridor. Up ahead, the glowing cube ducked into a room and flashed. David heard a scream. He pressed on.

Shaw screamed out in pain, then fell to the floor beside Kate and Dorian and began writhing back and forth.

Kate was on her feet and out the door, but hands grabbed her. She tried to break free, but the strong hands spun her around.