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More to the point, Wynter was on file as a hybrid.

If they ran her bio-matter and found out her blood was closer to that of a full-blooded seer,bothof them would get a lot more than just a few months of reprogramming. Nick would likely get the death penalty. Wynter would end up in a government lab somewhere, probably for the rest of her life.

Which would be worse.

It would likely be a lot worse.

“What about the train?” Nick blurted. “How the fuck do they explain me not being on either train? Or on any of the surveillance at any of the New York stations?”

Morley nodded.

His dark brown eyes never changed.

“Some of them think a celebrity vampire fighter wouldn’t need to take the train,” the gray-haired detective said evenly. “Some think he could probably afford some other means of getting to the city… something that might not get noticed so easily.”

Nick bit his tongue, fighting back another string of curses.

He didn’t want that on the record. He knew anything he evenwhisperedin here would get picked up by the I.S.F. and whoever else might get access to the tapes.

He didn’t want to seem like he wasn’t cooperating.

He didn’t want to seem to angry, or too emotional in any way.

He couldn’t act too cozy with Morley, either.

“A plane’s pretty fucking noticeable,” Nick said, keeping his voice low with an effort. “I assume you mean a plane, right? There’d be a flight plan. Logs at both control towers. A flight crew. Not to mention mechanics and grounds crew.” Pausing with an effort, Nick clenched his jaw. “…There’d be the actual fucking plane I’d have to somehow hide,” he added tersely. “Not to mention all the security at even the smallest of private landing strips. There’s no way I could get through all of that without being seen. Legally, they have to cover the entire landing area with image and audio capture, facial-rec, gait mapping, not to mention what’s required in the terminals. They’d still have surveillance of me somewhere.”

Morley folded his long fingers.

Exhaling in a barely-disguised frustration, he leaned over the metal table.

“That’s the problem, Midnight. They think theydohave surveillance of you.” Morley’s expression turned grim. “Unfortunately, where they have it happens to be right near a whole lot of fucking dead people… dead people covered in vampire bites. Covered in injuries consistent with a vampire death. Covered in signs of torture. Covered in bruises. Whoever killed these people didn’t just feed… he hurt them, Nick. A lot.”

Nick grimaced.

Thinking about Morley’s words, he slumped back in the chair.

“So they think it was a plane?”

“Or a boat.”

“Security would be even more intense at the docks,” Nick pointed out. “Nothing gets through the dome anywhere without it being recorded, scanned, ID’d, logged…”

Morley only shrugged, his expression noncommittal.

“I’m aware.”

“But you still think I pulled this off. Somehow?”

“You surf. You’re comfortable in the water, Midnight. Even outside the dome. That’s documented.”

Nick didn’t answer. He frowned at Morley, but he knew the middle-aged detective had his part to play, too. If he didn’t play it, they’d take him off the case altogether.

They certainly wouldn’t let him remain in this room.

Nick knew all that.

Still, it was hard to remember that when he saw his friend’s blank-eyed stare.