Carter led Gray up the stairs like a sherpa to the mountaintop. Every step tightened Gray’s nerves, turning them to steel inch by inch with the courage that he was able to scrape together. Or maybe it was the drugs, he couldn’t tell; he’d never had to pop anti-psychs before. Whatever it was, he wasn’t falling apart by the time they got to her door. Conflicted, anguished, horrified that he’d gotten to this place with that woman that he didn’t truly know, but as completely together as possible. Carter gave him a nod as he reached into his coat and pulled an ancient chrome-plated Sig-Sauer with a laser rig, gleaming like a righteous sword. Gray hesitated for a moment before pulling the Henekker from his pocket and racked the slide.

“On three,” Carter mouthed. “One, two…” And ‘three’ was Carter planting his foot into the old door, kicking it open with a loud crash and the splintering of wood; it swung open hard, banging off the wall as Carter roared challenge into the room. “Civil Protection,” he bellowed, the beam of his targeter sweeping the space beyond. “Come out with your hands behind your head!”