His disfigurement made him look simultaneously ancient and rapacious, and Lily shrank back. Whatever she is, she’s wall meat, and she’s seen my face.” “Not sure what she is, Parker, but she’s not Security.” “Your people let a Security agent through.” His teeth were just as bad as those of the man outside. Red, angry tissue covered his cheekbones and crawled over his forehead. He had lost most of his face to acid, or something worse. The man at the near end of the table turned around, and Lily fought not to recoil. Tear looked up in annoyance as they approached, but as he spotted Lily, his face changed, became unreadable, and he stood up from his chair. Two of the guards were women, which surprised Lily she had somehow assumed that Dorian was unique. Several more guards moved to surround her now, though she was relieved to see that they only had pistols.

Dorian prodded Lily in the back with her rifle, and Lily marched forward. Lily first spotted Jonathan, standing behind a chair at the far end, and in the chair sat William Tear, staring with narrowed eyes at the man opposite. A small table was set up in the middle of the room, two men seated there.

When she recovered, she found herself in a large room with corrugated metal walls. Lily went through the warehouse door, her hands still laced behind her head, and blinked as light assaulted her eyes, blinding her for a few moments. Had the Blue Horizon figured out a way to remove the tracking chips from equipment as well as people? When the scan was done, Dorian chattered the strange language into her own headset for a moment and then prodded Lily with the tip of her rifle. Security equipment was supposed to be tagged upon manufacture. The scanner made her wonder, again, where they had gotten all of this hardware. Lily held still for the body scanner, though the black man gave her an extra sharp prod in the stomach.

The invasion of the tearling