Page 103 of Lessons in Power

I made it two feet, maybe three, and then I was slammed into a wall. I heard a crack.My jaw.My teeth bit into my tongue.

One of the guards grabbed me roughly, my arms held so tightly behind my back that my shoulder threatened to dislocate. My eyes teared up. My vision blurred. I blinked.

Mrs. Perkins stepped out into the hall. She took her time and traded her knife for a gun.

My eyes found their way to Henry’s. For a second, I let myself pretend that none of this had happened. That it was just Henry and me. That he was the boy I’d known, the person I’d thought he could be.

“Stop, Kendrick. Please.”

I saw him say the words as much as I heard them.

Stop fighting. Stop taking chances. Stop.

I couldn’t. I had to keep Mrs. Perkins looking at me. I had to keep her attention on me for just a few more seconds.

“The program won’t work,” I said. “Ivy wouldnevergive you what you wanted. If she gave you anything, it’s afractionof what she has.”

Mrs. Perkins raised her gun. “Thank you for your honesty, Tess.”

A second before she pulled the trigger, Henry threw himself forward. His body slammed into mine, curved around mine, shielding it, protecting it.

Protecting me.

I heard the gun go off. I felt Henry’s body lurch forward with the impact.

No.I thought the word, and I screamed it. And all around me, the world exploded into chaos.

I sank to the ground with Henry.Shot, just like John Thomas. Bleeding, just like John Thomas.

Not Henry.

Traitor—betrayer—friend—

Please, not Henry.

His blood was on my hands. My fingers frantically searched for a bullet hole, combing his back, the weight of his body in my arms.

“Up!” one of the guards yelled at me. “Get up!”

“Or,” a voice said behind him, “youcould put your weapon down.”

Priya Bharani pressed a gun to the back of his head.

The plan is working, I thought dully. We’d taken our chances that the snipers’ attention would be on the FBI and securing the perimeter, not on the “body” killed within ten feet of the Hardwicke door. Priya was a trained operative. She could movequickly and silently.The plan is working. This was the plan.I should have felt a rush of victory. Relief.

I felt numb.

The guard lowered his weapon. Holding Henry, his blood thick on my fingers, I tried to stop the bleeding and took in the sight beyond us.

Mrs. Perkins was on the ground. There was a tiny, perfect bullet hole in the side of her head.Priya’s handiwork, thanks to my distraction. Daniela had taken out one of the guards. She currently held another at gunpoint.

That just left one guard, and Dr. Clark.

The sole remaining guard trained his gun on the dead woman who’d appeared in front of him. He wouldn’t make the mistake of underestimating Priya twice.

“Before you pull the trigger,” Daniela told him lightly, “you might consider the fact that by now, that twenty million dollars has been transferred again—into one ofmyaccounts.” She smiled. “Were you hoping to get paid for this job?”

“You—” Dr. Clark couldn’t get out more than a single word. She looked from Daniela to Priya.