Page 430 of Scars of Fate

General Kane appeared.

He stood inside a hangar.

Elena lay unconscious near his feet.

Blood covered her shoulder and chest, but she was breathing.

Behind him waited a small aircraft.

Kane kept most of his weight off the leg Boone had shot.

Roth, Adam, Hawk, and Lucas were nowhere in sight.

Kane held up a small black drive.

Not Wynn’s source archive.

Not the booby-trapped decoy he had left at Garrison Eighteen.

His personal Meridian registry.

“You destroyed my life’s work,” Kane said.

“No. We destroyed the weapon you used to destroy lives.”

“You believe there’s a difference?”

“I know there is.”

He turned the registry drive between his fingers.

“Do you know what happens if these identities become public?”

“You go to prison.”

“Governments collapse.”

“Maybe they should.”

“Wars begin.”

“You’ve already started wars.”

“To prevent worse ones.”

I almost laughed.

Every monster believed he was saving the world.

“What do you want?”

“You.”

Lucas had been right.

Kane still needed me.

“Why?”