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“Don’t worry about this,” she said confidently. “Ms. James is really good with organic machines. She shut off everything that could have traced me anywhere. All of our headsets are completely un-networked. They’re solely for data access now. Maps, medical info, etc. There are no signals going in or out. It’s all stuff pre-loaded on here.”

She lowered her arm and hand.

“And we’re in the basement of that church,” she explained. “You know, where me and Mal used to live. Before we came to stay with Ms. St. Maarten.”

Nick immediately felt a jolt of panic.

“No.” She shook her head, and gripped his arm tighter. “No, Nick. Ms. Maarten doesn’t know where this is. She’s never seen it. You’ve seen it, but only the upstairs. Remember?”

Thinking, he gave her a bare nod.

She leaned back, observing him shrewdly with pale eyes.

“We’re being really careful,” she said seriously. “We thought about all this stuff, Nick. We don’t want to get hauled off by the Leash, either.”

Nick forced his shoulders to slowly relax.

He could feel that everything she said was true.

Still, he couldn’t control how worried he was.

What was the plan, exactly? Were they all going to dig out their implants, live off the grid forever, like he might have to do? Did Wynter and James Morley plan to join the White Death? Live as refugees, maybe in some other Protected Area under fake names with fake ident codes and fake blood records?

What kind of life was that for any of them?

He fought to control the swirl of emotions that worsened his headache.

They’d probably drugged him with something, to make sure he couldn’t break out of whatever they’d bound him with.

“We did,” Tai affirmed.

It was probably making him crazy.

At least a little irrational.

“It is,” Tai agreed. “And more than a little, Nick. You’re super loopy right now. You should relax. I’m sure Ms. James and Malek and Detective Morley can explain it better than me. They’ve been talking pretty much non-stop for the past two nights.”

Nick let that information settle into him.

Two nights?

“Nick.” Tai sighed. She tossed her head to get her bangs out of her eyes. “Relax. Just relax. You should close your eyes. No one’s going to leave you out of anything. No one’s going to do anything nuts. We’re safe. You’re safe. Ms. James is safe. I promise.”

He fought to do as she said.

He should just think things at her, then.

Trying to talk was just a waste of energy.

That’s why they’d left Tai with him while the others went off.

“Don’t think,” she scolded.“Close your eyes.You should be asleep right now. They didn’t think you’d wake up until after they got back. So no, they didn’t leave me here so I could argue with all your crazy thoughts.”

Nick made himself close his eyes.

He didn’t want to, but he could see the logic in it. He could feel it.

He closed his eyes with an effort.