สำเนาบทสนทนา 🔗
WEBVTT
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My name is Hannah Keegan.
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I'm a lead detective for a top secret New York Police Department Task Force.
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We're assigned to the unexplained cases that border on the paranormal.
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This is Division 13.
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And here are our case files.
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The Sentinel Prime Bulletin came through at 0830.
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Priority one.
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The subject line read Officer Reina Castillo, suspected rogue.
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All points bulletin issued.
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I read it twice.
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Then I read the body of it.
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The bulletin stated that Officer Castillo had been absent from duty for three days without authorized leave, that she had been observed on surveillance footage meeting with known Parasapian fellowship operatives, and, on a separate occasion, with individuals suspected of nullborn affiliation.
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Sentinel Prime had concluded that Officer Castillo was the suspected source of intelligence leaks to both organizations.
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A warrant had been issued for her immediate arrest and detention pending investigation.
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I set down the printout.
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My team was already gathered around my desk.
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Every face was grim.
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Every eye was fixed on me.
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And every person in that room, with one conspicuous exception, was present.
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Reina Castillo was not there.
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My eyes found Kendrick.
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He held my gaze without flinching.
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I held it a moment longer than was strictly necessary.
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Does everybody know what they have to do?
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Grim nods, tight expressions.
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No one spoke.
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Which was the right answer.
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Let's go see Loretta.
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I said.
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Loretta Smith does not waste words.
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She was standing when we entered, a single sheet of paper in her hand.
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New intelligence, she said.
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Forty minutes ago.
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Castillo has been spotted in the company of a suspected PSF operative in the vicinity of Intermediate School 381 in Brooklyn.
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The school shares a building with Public Elementary School 197.
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PS 197 was Lizzie's school.
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Castillo wasn't just running intelligence.
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She was going after Lizzie.
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That was the shape of it.
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Cold, clear, and personal.
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In my head, I heard Cato's voice from what now felt like another lifetime.
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The words he'd thrown at Castillo across the precinct floor.
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You're the same dirtbag murderer you always were.
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I don't care what kind of leash they've got you on.
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I was glad Cato wasn't in this building.
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With his history with Castillo, this operation would have been over before it started.
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Let's move, I said.
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The storm clouds roiled in the darkened afternoon sky as we took our positions.
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We deployed in two vehicles.
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Overton rode with me, positioned near the school's front entrance on East 22nd Street.
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Kendrick and Kagamoto were south of us on Kings Highway.
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Busier street, better sightlines, more cover.
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We had plain closed Division 13 and 67th Precinct Officers positioned around the school's full perimeter, unmarked vehicles standing by.
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The athletic field behind the building was our target zone, a large open expanse enclosed by 20-foot chain-link fencing with limited entry points.
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We'd sealed every exit we could identify.
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The rain hammered the roof of the SUV in a sustained, relentless rhythm.
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The wipers worked.
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We waited.
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Do you think he'll be okay?
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Overton said.
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Will he hold up?
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I knew she meant Kendrick.
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Even in the middle of all of this, the operation, the stakes, the rain, Victoria Overton still had enough room in her to worry about him.
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I noted that and tucked it away.
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He'll be fine, Vicky, I said.
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He's a professional.
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He knows what needs to be done.
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She nodded and said nothing more.
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That was all she needed.
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I wished I could say more, but I couldn't.
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Not right now.
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Not yet.
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The radio crackled.
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Briggs.
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Captain, subject is leaving the building.
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Northeast exit.
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She's got the girl, hooded jacket, both on foot, heading south on East 22nd toward Kings Highway.
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Load full transcript
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We spotted her, moving through the rain with a small hooded figure at her side.
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Should we apprehend?
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We have a clear approach.
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Negative, I said.
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Hold position.
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Do not approach.
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Let them reach the field entrance.
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I needed the situation to play out.
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Kendrick's voice came through a moment later, cold and quiet.
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Well, well, well.
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Captain, you'll never guess who just showed up to the party.
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Billy Rath.
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Far into the field, under the trees by the basketball court.
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He's got two operatives with him.
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There it was.
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What I'd been waiting for.
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All units, move in.
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Primary targets are Castillo and Billy Rath.
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Do not hurt the girl.
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Repeat, do not hurt the girl.
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Lock it down.
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The operation went live the way a good operation moves.
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Simultaneously, without hesitation, every piece knowing its place.
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Plain clothes units lit up their flashers around the school perimeter.
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The building went into lockdown.
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Remaining field entrances sealed.
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Overton and I moved in on foot from the west through the rain.
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Kendrick and Kagemoto came from the east.
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The field stretched out in front of us.
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Large, open, storm-darkened.
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Castillo and the hooded girls stood at the near end.
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Billy Rath and his two operatives were positioned at the far end, beneath the line of trees bordering the basketball court.
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Substantial open distance between them, exposed asphalt between all of us.
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I spotted Billy the moment I had a clear line of sight.
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He was already moving, reacting to the flashers the way a jungle cat reacts to sound, instantly and with total commitment.
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In the storm-darkened afternoon, I could see his eyes from 50 yards, orange, glowing.
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He was around 14 or 15 now, bigger than the boy I'd first encountered in that Brooklyn warehouse in 1979.
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He was just as fast as I remembered.
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Faster even.
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He didn't try to escape.
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That was the thing.
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He ran, but not to evade us.
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Billy Wrath was moving toward his target.
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Two shots rang out from the east side of the field.
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Flat, controlled, purposeful.
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Kendrick and Kagemoto had efficiently dropped Billy's operatives.
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I turned to Overton without breaking stride.
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You're the best shot we have.
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Don't worry about Castillo.
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If he gets to the girl, you put him down.
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Headshot! She already had her rifle up, aiming.
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She nodded once.
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Billy was closing fast.
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30 yards.
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20.
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The gap was almost gone.
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Castillo, now! I commanded.
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Billy stopped cold as the girl accompanying Castillo dropped her hood.
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She was 5'3, slight in stature.
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Not 12, not a child.
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A Division 13 support operative named Sharon Jacobs, who had volunteered knowing exactly what it meant to stand in that spot.
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Before Billy could process what he was looking at, both Sharon and Castillo had their weapons trained on him.
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They fired.
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Billy Rath went down hard on the wet asphalt.
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He wasn't finished, I knew that much, but he was down.
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I spoke into my radio.
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Kendrick, Kagemoto, you're up.
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Close in.
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The Raijin rifles fired twice in quick succession, the deep, resonant crack hum of a discharge that disrupts at the neural level.
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Billy went still on the field.
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Then stay down, you little creep, Overton said quietly, almost to herself.
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Kendrick and Kagemoto moved in immediately to secure his hands and feet.
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A containment vehicle, reinforced, purpose-built, rolled onto the field.
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Sergeant Briggs behind the wheel.
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I crossed the field to where Castillo and Sharon Jacobs were standing.
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They were both smiling.
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I didn't blame them.
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Castillo?
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Jacobs?
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Great work, you two.
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Sharon Jacobs had been on Division 13's support staff for two years.
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She was good at her job.
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Thorough, unshakeable, and she'd wanted field duty since before she'd applied to the NYPD.
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Physical requirements.
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That was the official reason it hadn't happened.
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But I'd seen the way some testing officers operated.
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They could find any disqualifier they needed when they were looking for one.
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Thank you, Captain, Sharon said as I approached, for giving me the opportunity.
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I always wanted to be in the field, but you know how it goes.
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I do know, I said, and I don't agree with it.
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You performed well today.
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I'd like you to formally test for D-13 field agent status, if that's still what you want.
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She blinked.
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Then her face lit up in a way that had nothing to do with professionalism and everything to do with being a person who'd been told yes after a long stretch of no.
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She pulled herself together, cleared her throat.
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Really?
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That would be awesome, Captain.
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Seriously?
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Who knew my height would turn out to be an advantage?
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I mean, I'm a little taller than a 12-year-old girl, but not by much, Castillo said, smirking.
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Sharon laughed and gave her a playful shove.
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For a moment, standing in the rain on a field where we'd just taken down a nullborn enhanced operative, just two colleagues giving each other a hard time.
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I turned to Castillo.
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I'm proud of you, I said.
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Thank you for volunteering for this.
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No thanks necessary, Cap.
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She said it simply, without performance.
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He threatened Lizzie.
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When you threaten one of us, you threaten all of us.
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I nodded.
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I didn't have better words than that, and she didn't need them.
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You were very convincing, Overton said from behind me.
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Castillo glanced at her.
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So were you.
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For a second out there, I actually thought you were going to shoot me instead of the little creep.
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Not today.
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Footsteps behind me.
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Kendrick, crossing the field, reading the situation in about half a second.
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He pulled Castillo into a hug, and I heard him say, low and proud,
That's my girl.
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I kept walking.
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But I noticed Overton, a few feet to my left, go quiet for just a moment.
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A slight pause.
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A small exhale she didn't announce to anyone.
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She didn't make anything of it.
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I made note of it anyway, because it mattered.
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I passed Kagemoto and stopped on my way by.
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Nice work, Kenny.
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Could have used you on my old SWAT team.
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He straightened slightly.
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Thank you, Captain.
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You've got me now.
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Want me to call this into Loretta?
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Let her know the plan worked?
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Do it.
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I clapped him on the shoulder and started toward the containment vehicle.
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He called after me.
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Captain, one more thing.
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An unexpected bonus.
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I stopped without turning.
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Looks like one of the PSF operatives is going to make it.
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Medics are with him now.
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I nodded once and kept walking.
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One prisoner.
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One possible source of information we hadn't planned for.
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I filed it.
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The disciplined part of my brain was already turning it over, already noting what it might mean, what questions it might answer.
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Later.
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All of that was for later.
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Sergeant Griggs and his team were prepping to load Billy into the transport.
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I held up a hand as I approached.
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They paused.
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How long before the Rygen effect starts to fade?
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The discharge disrupts nullborn neural signaling, Briggs said.
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Shuts down the enhanced motor and resistance functions temporarily.
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It won't hold indefinitely.
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Usually 20, maybe 25 minutes.
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With him?
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He said, nodding at Billy.
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No way to tell, honestly.
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And the transport?
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Reinforced restraints, redundant physical lockdowns, containment system built specifically for enhanced nullborn prisoners.
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We were ready before the effects started fading.
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He's not going anywhere, Captain.
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--> 00:13:02.559
Good.
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Give me a moment.
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Billy Rath was strapped to a transport board, secured at the chest, wrists, and ankles with reinforced restraints.
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He was already awake.
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The Rygen discharge had taken him down, but not for long.
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His eyes were open, orange, glowing, staring up at me with a cold, flat intensity that reminded me, just for a second, of a certain reflection I'd seen in a dream not long ago.
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I stood over him and said nothing for a moment.
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Remember me?
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I said.
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Rain on the van's roof, the hum of the containment system.
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Silence between us.
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Your mistake was threatening someone I love.
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I let that sit.
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You were never going to win that fight.
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Something moved behind his eyes.
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Not fear, anger.
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The kind that comes from someone who isn't used to losing.
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He started to say something, changed his mind, and decided to resume staring at me, deep hatred burning in his orange eyes.
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I leaned in close so that what I said next was heard only by Billy.
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I got you.
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I turned to Briggs and nodded.
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The containment door closed behind him.
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I turned away and looked back at the school building.
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The lockdown was being cancelled behind me, because of course it was.
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There had never been students inside those halls today.
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The school had been empty since this morning.
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Everything had gone exactly as planned.
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I stood there in the rain for a moment.
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We had struck a blow at the PSF and the Nullborne today.
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Not a finishing blow, I knew better than to call it that.
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There were still threads loose, still questions without answers, still a name on a Sentinel Prime bulletin that would need to be cleared.
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All of that would come in time.
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But Billy Wrath was in a containment vehicle headed for a secure holding facility, and Lizzie was safe.
00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:14.879
I thought about Angela, about the call I'd make as soon as I was back in the office, about what she'd say when I told her, what her voice would sound like when the relief landed.
00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:17.200
The thought made me smile.
00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:23.039
End case file zero one three-zero two one.