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next steps so be prepared for daily briefings.” Daniel Haws, Wil Ellis’s right-hand man, nodded in Andrei’s direction. “How are we coming on the data you brought back from Parron, Vincenz?”
    “I worked up a program that will spike every time certain parameters in the data are breached. I’ll start with the anomalies.”
    Julian was proud of how intelligent and resourceful Vincenz was. If there wasn’t a program to do what they needed, he simply created one. Brilliant.
    On the screens, Ellis nodded, satisfied for the moment at least.
    “We’ve raised security levels. Travel will be restricted for the time being.”
    “I saw the footage.” Julian had watched the tapes of the Federated Universes’ response to what Fardelle had done. He’d known thenthat the Federation would have to restrict travel and raise security presence on the streets. To ease the citizens’ fears and to underline that they would be prepared if the Imperium got far enough through the portals to end up in a position to do them any further harm.
    “Rank and file will leave you alone. You’ve all got the clearance. They don’t need to know anything about what you’re doing there.”
    As if he was freshly minted or something.
    His annoyance must have shown on his face because Daniel snorted. “Oh, get that look off your face. I know you understand. But let’s move along.”

Chapter 4
    “W hy did they not just kill her? She’s a high-value target, isn’t she?” Daniel paced.
    Vincenz watched as his friend worked through the problem. A problem he and Julian had discussed with Dr. Pesch just a few days earlier. Back then Ravena had agreed to table the issue, but it had to be discussed and Vincenz knew it couldn’t be avoided any longer.
    “They had her for almost a year. Why did they take her to start with?”
    “All we know is that she was taken from the program she was granted to work with. Several others were also taken that day.”
    They’d been discussing Hannah for the last several minutes and it made him defensive. He knew they’d have to question her about her time in that cell, but she was fragile. Just barely making it through each hour; the idea of pushing her recovery back even further to debrief her was untenable. But he knew it had to be done.
    “What does she say about it?” Ellis asked.
    “She still can’t keep her time straight. She has a difficult time speaking and keeping track of her thoughts. When she’s alone she talks to herself. For hours. She retreats to a corner and wraps one of Julian’s shirts around herself. This happens less the longer she’s with us, but she’s not ready to be debriefed.” Vincenz wanted to make that totally clear. “She’s barely holding on. To push her to relive her time there, right now, could be detrimental to her overall health.”
    Ellis nodded, a shadow crossing his features. “It is not my intention to harm the woman, Operative Cuomo.”
    “But the fact is, we need the information. She’s been with you a week already.” Daniel tapped his pen against the table. “They took her for a
reason
. They kept her alive for a
reason
and if they just wanted to torture someone to experiment on them, why not do it in their own territory where it’s safer? They chose her for a
reason
, and there’s no getting around the fact that the why of it could very well be integral to what we’re doing.”
    “Dr. Hal Pesch would like to address our group. He’s the person who’s been working with Hannah. He’s got level four clearance and I ran him again earlier today.” Vincenz shifted, hoping they’d let Hal speak. He’d be a powerful advocate for Hannah, and she needed all the help she could get.
    “Yes, yes.” Daniel looked over the data on his comm to verify this information. “Patch him in.”
    In short order, Pesch’s face was on a screen at the conference table in Ravena. Pesch was an unassuming person. He wasn’t too anything. Just the right height, average