Miranda slid her car to a stop on the sidewalk just across from the entrance to Saint Louis University and yanked the keys from the ignition.

“Ready?” David asked from the phone. They’d driven separately so Miranda and Juliet appeared to have no affiliation with David whatsoever, although Darrow’s dead mercenary killed by Miranda was evidence to the contrary.

Miranda had set the phone on speaker and left it on for the five-minute trip down the street. It was packed with God only knew how many people wanting to see the soon-to-be infamous professor prove evolution himself.

If only they knew he was also soon-to-be homicidal they might change their tunes.

“We’re ready here,” Juliet replied for Miranda.

Juliet. The tall brunette who had captivated David entirely in a matter of hours. It wasn’t that Miranda disapproved, not at all. She actually liked Juliet. David simply needed to be focused on what was important.

His lunatic science professor.

“Then go ahead,” David rang over the phone. “I’ll be there in just a minute. By the way, thanks for trusting me with the car, Juliet.” His voice was crowded with sarcastic gratitude. Juliet bought it.

“Anything to save the world.”

Miranda pulled the car off the sidewalk and entered into a turn, passing right by the gate leading to the SLU campus.

“You’ll be on your own from here on,” David said. “Good luck.”

“You too,” Miranda replied. Juliet hit the off button.

Miri kept on a straight course until she reached a split in the road, at which point she consulted the campus map David had gathered for them. Juliet said to go left, so Miranda went left.

Silence engulfed them for the two minutes it took to get to Darrow’s lab, aside from the odd comment here or there from Juliet telling Miranda where to go. They were both more talkative whenever David was around, Miranda realized. That or the profound gravity of what they were about to do had them both so busy with their own thoughts that neither could even think about conversation at the moment.

Miri pulled up beside the laboratory building and checked around quickly. Juliet did the same.

Thankfully the campus was practically empty. Darrow’s speech just outside was taking care of that. The two women stepped out of the silver Mercedes and strode confidently up the steps to Darrow’s private building.

Miranda knocked. No one answered.

Juliet took her pistol from her hip and held it out professionally, as if they were about to clear the building drug-raid-style. Miranda grabbed hers as well and pulled her badge out of her jacket. She didn’t intend to use either, of course, but for the sake of pretenses they had to act as if they were on official business.

“FBI!” she yelled. “Open this door or we’ll have to use force.”

Nothing.

Juliet nodded.

Miranda pelted the door with two shots, one for the doorknob and one for the deadbolt. Luckily there had been an assortment of equipment in the hideout, silencer included.

Juliet went in first, sweeping the room to make sure it was clear, then Miranda.

Empty. Completely, totally empty. Miranda hadn’t expected that and, by the puzzled look on her face, neither had Juliet. They surveyed the room for a moment before gathering the senses to speak.

“Darrow must have all his people with him at the conference,” Juliet said. She began wandering the room, looking for evidence.

It was a simple, almost classic lab setup: a wall of microscopes to the left, a sealed and sanctioned room in the far right corner filled with all manner of scientific instruments, a dozen computers scattered about on desks almost hidden by stacks of paperwork.

And in the right corner, a stairwell leading to a basement.

“Juliet,” Miranda called. Within seconds Juliet was at her side, gazing down the stairs with her. That was where Darrow’s research had to be.

Miranda holstered her pistol and descended the staircase, knowing Juliet would be right behind her with gun aimed.

What if she actually found it? What if she and Juliet were able to determine for absolute certainty that Darrow had turned his experimental aid into a lethal weapon? Miranda wondered if she should just destroy it, weapon or not. It would be beneficial either way. If it was merely a research tool and actually did prove evolution, then Darrow would be forced to rebuild it, costing him years of research and billions in funding. If, on the other hand, it was a weapon, he would never be allowed to use it.

But Miranda wasn’t able to discern what kind of trouble she would cause if she did destroy it in either instance. If it was no more than a research tool the penalties might not be so severe; she’d face charges for vandalism and trespassing and abusing her authority, which she’d no doubt be let off on because the president himself had sanctioned the operation.

If it was a weapon, however, she may very well set it off on accident.

Destroying it would have to wait.

By the time Miranda reached the basement she knew that they had indeed just found Darrow’s place of work. A large orb, about ten feet in diameter and constructed of what looked to be pure silver, was suspended in the center of the room by thin, shining beams that attached either to the ground or ceiling. All around the orb were dozens of work stations outfitted with several computers each and machinery Miranda didn’t even recognize.

This was Darrow’s research.

This was Darrow’s weapon.

Miranda circled the entire room, making sure it was empty, then returned her attention to the orb. For a long time she and Juliet simply stared at it, knowing that this big shining sphere may prove to be their greatest enemy in the next few days.

“Well then,” Juliet said, still not breaking her eyes away from the silver ball. “Let’s get to work.”

Miranda nodded and went for the nearest workstation. The computer flickered to life and she disabled the cognitive process reader, stopping the machine from glimpsing into her thoughts. Though the technology had been around for a while now, it was still relatively distrusted.

Juliet had gone to a station opposite Miranda and began the same process, no doubt, digging through volumes of data. It took Miranda a minute or so just to figure out how to navigate the screen—research computers were obviously designed differently than her Mac back home—but despite the setback Miranda was eventually scrolling through an in-system database that recorded everything pertaining to Darrow’s research, some of it going back ten years. The man was thorough.

And possibly homicidal.

Miranda pushed aside the thought and went for the search bar that showed up in the top left corner of the screen. She put in several keywords, all of them things she thought might indicate a danger of some sort.

None did, so she returned to the database, a seemingly endless list of information all broken down into categories and timeframes. Miranda searched for the weapon’s schematics. Found nothing.

She sighed loudly, enough for Juliet to hear, she thought, then returned to her work.

Miranda began to think that they wouldn’t find anything. After ten full minutes of searching around the compilation of intricate research and statistics, she found nothing indicative of danger. It may have simply been that Darrow had stored a full year’s worth of useless reading into a single, massive program, but Miranda thought they would have found something by now.

Ten minutes stretched into twenty. Then thirty. Whatever David was doing to hold Darrow and his people off was working well enough.

But Miranda and Juliet wouldn’t get what they needed. Assuming it even existed. Miri was starting to lose hope in spite of her brother’s voice in her head.

“Just keep it up, Miri. You’ll get there, I promise.”

I can’t, she argued with herself. There’s nothing here!

“Oh ye of little faith.”

Something close to fear crept up on Miranda, but it wasn’t the same. Instead of the ice cold fingers of panic wrapping around her spine, she felt a tingling sensation buzz at the back of her skull.

That hadn’t been David’s voice, had it? Or her own.

“I found it!” Juliet yelled from across the room.

Miranda shook the sensation off and relief flooded her. She wondered if she’d heard correctly and sped across the room to see for herself.

There it was. David had been wrong about the amount of nuclear power contained within Darrow’s invention. And there was something else, something Miri didn’t quite understand about temporal signatures and other terms that went far over her head.

“What does it mean?” Miranda asked blankly, not really caring. She glared at a screen that showed at least thirty percent more nuclear energy than David had first told her.

“I assume you see what I see,” Juliet said flatly. She pointed to the percentage Miranda was gawking at.

“How much energy is that?” Miranda asked.

Juliet looked her straight in the eyes. “Enough to take out this entire city.”

Miranda’s jaw clenched and her heart hammered. Her gaze turned to the shining silver orb, so beautiful at first glance. Now, knowing what it was capable of, it seemed ugly. Offensive, even.

“Darrow lied in his research about how much nuclear energy he was using,” she informed Juliet. “I’m sure this is exactly the kind of information the White House would be interested in.”

As if on cue, Juliet dug out her phone and set up a link between it, the computer, and another phone number Miranda didn’t know. Someone they trusted, hopefully.

The small voice in the back of Miranda’s mind whispered still, softly.

“Faith.”

She hoped she wasn’t going crazy.

John Walker was tired.

So was Miss Amelia Evans. He could see it in her eyes.

John and Amelia had had a good long conversation about her employer—a Russian—which, in the end, really amounted to nothing. Darrow had half a dozen Russian backers and undoubtedly a hundred more friends, having lived in Moscow for three years. Any one of them could be Amelia’s employer.

There was no way to narrow the suspect list down by mere observation on John’s part. Not without meeting each and every one of them face-to-face, and they didn’t have time for that.

The only useful information John had gotten from Amelia was that Darrow was still clueless. He had no idea that his invention would be turned into a weapon.

Unfortunately that didn’t help. John had already suspected that Darrow might not know and that the real threat would come from one of his supporters who’d learned of the device’s potential. The job now was to find out which one, and to make sure that Darrow didn’t help them in any way.

John thanked Amelia for her cooperation and left her to sit in the room alone. As soon as he’d closed the door behind him he reached for the camera/pen in his shirt, turned it off, and looked up to find a suit staring at him.

“What?” John growled. He was aware that he was becoming edgy, but it was now eleven o’clock. He hadn’t slept in over twenty-six hours.

The man was offended for a moment, then realized the seriousness of the situation. He was one of the same suits who had escorted Miss Evans to the Pentagon almost twelve hours ago.

“I’m here to take you to them, Mister Walker.”

John nodded absently. The suit turned and began to walk down the long hallway, John following closely behind.

Unfortunately there was nothing they could do. Aside from, of course, working on means to apprehend Darrow without letting the man wriggle his way out of it. For all John knew, the man already had plans to leave U.S. jurisdiction and find some of his Russian friends to lay low with.

But that was nonsense. His lack of sleep coupled with aggravation at not being able to do anything was making him tense. He just needed to find a couch and go out for a while, then come back charged and ready to think clearly.

The guard lifted a hand in the direction of a stainless steel door and John took his cue. He twisted the knob and shoved inward.

Frank, Arthur, and Frank’s general, Wolcroft, stood in the center of a room barely large enough to give four men the space they needed to be comfortable. John stepped inside and filled the rest of that space.

“She didn’t know much,” Frank said, face and voice drooping. They’d all probably been up just as long as John.

“No, she didn’t.” John wished there were a chair—anything to sit down in and conserve his energy—but the room was devoid of all furniture. Four gray walls and the linoleum flooring beneath his feet were all John received.

“You’re certain she doesn’t know anything more?” General Wolcroft asked. The man stood just over six feet tall and had the appearance of a stately warrior in his black, decorated uniform. He was an honest and sincere man, John could tell by his soft brown eyes. Someone Frank could trust.

Or could he?

There was John’s exhaustion getting to him again. They’d already found the mole. Found her, interrogated her, and learned absolutely nothing of any consequence.

“I’m sure,” John stated. “What we need to do now is worry about keeping Darrow here, no matter how illegal it is.”

“Actually, John . . .” Frank’s eyes held a bit of enthusiasm. “It’s perfectly legal.”

John’s eyes darted around the room to each of the three men, all giving him the same sly grin.

“Our agent began transmitting data,” Arthur explained. “We have schematics on Darrow’s device and are sending it to our tech analysts to break it down. According to Io, this will be all the evidence we need to bring Darrow in.”

Finally some good news!

“Well then bring him in!” John nearly shouted. Frank chuckled at his enthusiasm despite his obvious fatigue.

“We’ve already given the order,” he said. “David, his sister, and Darrow will be brought here on a private jet escorted by our agent.”

“Good,” John said hastily. “Then I can work on Darrow. We’ll have this all worked out before the day is over.”

Frank was definitely amused at John’s happiness, and his face had lightened considerably since their discussion in his conference room. “Well I don’t know about you, John, but I’ve been up for the last twenty-seven hours. I’m going to take a nap. You might want to consider it, as well. The world will still be around and need saving when you wake up.”

John yawned. He was right.

They’d won already.

“He’s gone!” David repeated into the phone. “He’s gone and everyone’s in an uproar here. Where are you two?”

“We’re on our way to you now,” Miri’s voice came through. “You didn’t try to stop him?”

“Of course I tried to stop him! He just said he had an urgent matter to attend to and left, didn’t even say anything to his own staff. And I think I know where he’s headed.”

“The airport.”

Miranda had called not more than a minute ago to inform David that she and Juliet had found what they were looking for and sent everything to Slogan via Juliet’s phone. The Secretary then told them to take Darrow in now that they had viable proof of what his machine could be turned into.

And it was too late. Darrow had just walked off stage and to his car two minutes ago, leaving behind a crowd of angry reporters, scientists, supporters and critics. With the flailing mob in his way it was impossible for David to reach him before he drove off, leaving the press conference as if it were nothing.

He had panicked and was headed to the airport because somehow he’d been tipped off that Miranda and Juliet were in his database. He had an alert on the program that would contact him whenever there was an unauthorized entry to the system. There was no better explanation.

“Can you stop him?” Juliet asked through the phone. David barely heard her over the outraged cries of the mob.

No, he really couldn’t. The streets were filled with people left and right, outraged that Darrow would leave without so much as an explanation. He hadn’t even done any Q-and-A; he simply stated the facts of his research and left. His staff were getting drilled by accusing questioners.

Aside from that, he’d left already. Undoubtedly being escorted to the nearest airport where he would head off to some of his Russian friends to seek shelter from the U.S. Even if the police were alerted it would take at least twenty-seven minutes to shut down the airports and apprehend Darrow. One of many millions of seemingly useless facts David had found interesting. Assuming Darrow had already purchased his ticket, and seeing as the nearest airport was only minutes away, he could be in the air before the authorities even had time to mobilize.

“He’s gone, Juliet,” David said, trying to face the fact himself.

Darrow had left, which meant he had known his invention could be lethal. May have even planned to use it right from the start. Either way, he was a threat that was now beyond their reach.

“I have to talk to Slogan again,” Juliet said. “Find out what he wants us to do. We’re headed for you right now.” She paused for a second. “Don’t worry, David. We’ll fix this.”

The phone chirped and David knew he was alone amidst a crowd of angry people. He stuffed the thing in his pocket.

It all seemed so inconsequential. His entire life before all this—none of it mattered until right here and now. David felt it more than anything. This was his destiny, as insane as it was. He had been put on earth to save it.

And he didn’t know if he could.

Darrow was gone, God only knew where. Well, technically he probably hadn’t even made it to the airport, but David was thinking in future tense. They couldn’t reach him in time; he was already flying over the Atlantic or Pacific to some faraway country that would welcome him with open arms and shield him from the oppressive United States. There he would fashion ten more of his devices and blow half the world to hell.

David had done the best he could though, hadn’t he? He’d found the evidence Slogan had sent him to find; he’d stalled Darrow longer than anyone else could possibly stall him; he’d presented a very convincing argument on national television that Darrow’s research was inaccurate, even though he knew it wasn’t.

The fight wasn’t over. David decided then and there, the fight would not be over. Even if it violated every international law in the book, he would chase down Darrow and make sure that the lunatic never got the chance to use his weapon.

“Could you kill him?” he could hear Miri’s voice ask. It was just his own subconscious mind asking the questions he didn’t want to answer, he knew that.

He could. At least, part of him thought he could. David was by no means a violent or harsh man, but when it came down to it, to protect himself and Miranda, he could kill someone.

That’s what he told himself, anyway, because he believed that at some point it may come to that. At some point he may be faced with the choice to kill one man to save billions, and no matter how wrong he thought it may be to take a life, he would have to do it.

He may have to kill Darrow.

David shuddered at the thought. What he wouldn’t give for a bit of Dean Weaver’s advice right now.

Juliet finally made good on her promise when Miranda’s silver Gullwing was spewed forth from the entrance to SLU’s campus. They took a good deal of condescending looks from the mob encircling them, but continued on a course to the open street where David had parked Juliet’s Mustang. Whatever group she was with didn’t loan the same class of car as the FBI, apparently.

David angled away from the crowd, away from the prying eyes of the cameras and the raging cries from among the mob, and toward the two women.

Juliet opened her door and stepped out, phone in hand, brown hair breezing in the wind. David flung her the keys to her car.

“What are the orders?” he asked.

“We’re heading to the airport.”

“Darrow’s gone by now, Juliet. We don’t have the time to reach him—”

“No,” she interrupted. “We’re going to D.C. President’s orders.”

The President himself? David felt his brows raise involuntarily, skeptical and a bit surprised. He’d become an important man now, no doubt, but to be flown in to the White House? The realization of exactly what he now meant to the government came down on him.

“They want me in Washington?” he asked for reassurance.

“You’re an asset now, David. Like it or not, you’re worth more to them than anyone else alive. Aside from Darrow, of course. They’re putting up a bounty on him. Ten million dollars.”

The figure crushed David into a state that was far beyond shock. There was no way that was necessary. Every government in the world would give him up without a single qualm! They’d shoot him on sight and ship his corpse stateside for the money before he had a chance to explain.

“You’ve got to be joking.” David searched her eyes. He didn’t know her nearly as well as he’d like to, but he was still a master of reading people, regardless of whether he knew them or not.

Juliet wasn’t joking in the slightest.

“We’re headed to Washington to work alongside the president’s advisor to determine who’s helping Darrow and how to find him. Then if you have the time, you’ll be working with some of the federally-employed scientists to work on a way to disable Darrow’s weapons if he decides to build more.”

David ran his hands through his hair, blowing out steam. For a long moment he just stood there, disbelief and adrenaline flooding his veins in unison.

“Okay,” he finally said. “Okay, we need to go. There’s no use in splitting up now. Let’s take Miri’s car over there and get to D.C.”

Juliet nodded, grabbed her purse out of her car quickly, and stepped back into the passenger seat of Miri’s car.

Miranda stepped out of the driver seat and opened the back door, facing David. “You’d better drive,” she said.

He acknowledged her and had nearly reached the driver side before Miri stopped him. She pulled him closer.

“It’s not your fault, David,” she said in a low voice. Low enough so Juliet wouldn’t hear.

His face sunk. “Yes it was. I should’ve seen it right from the start, I should’ve run with Juliet’s idea and just gone in last night. He got away because of me.”

Miranda slapped him lightly. Not a violent slap, just enough to bring him back to the reality in which he was just a man. One who couldn’t control everything.

“Don’t kill yourself over this,” she whispered. “You can’t blame yourself for what Darrow’s doing.”

David looked into her eyes, the blue orbs that matched his own, and he saw something in Miri he hadn’t seen or expected in years: true concern for her little brother and a fierce compassion for what was happening to him.

“But I still have to take the responsibility for letting him get away,” David said. It was as much to convince himself as it was to convince her.

“Why?” Miri asked. “Just because you’re his rival? Just because you sat in his classroom every day and listened to his ravings? If it weren’t for the fact that you’re so darn smart you wouldn’t even be involved!”

And that was exactly why he had to be involved.

“It’s not any of that,” David said softly. “Do you believe in God, Miri? Not just that he exists and made us and all that; I know we have the same beliefs on that. But do you think that we each have a purpose for our lives? That whatever we’ve done has prepared us for moments that, even if we don’t know it, change the world?”

Miri blinked. “I . . . sure, I guess so. What about it?”

“This is my purpose, Miri. If I wasn’t sure of it before, I am now. It wasn’t just dumb luck that I got involved in this. Having this intelligence that I have, being in Darrow’s class, getting money in order to research the origins of life . . . it wasn’t just a coincidence. It all happened because God or fate or whatever you want to call that spiritual essence we all know is there meant for it to. And I’m meant to stop it or die trying.”

The speech had even David wondering if it was actually he who had spoken. For a moment or two they stood in silence until Miri found the words she may have been meant to say.

“Then I guess I’m supposed to help you.”

David let a smile spread onto his face and slipped his arms around his sister.

They set off for the airport, ready to save the world.

Or die trying.