Sophia could feel the tears drying over the blood and grime on her cheeks. She stepped into the operating room. Cecilia lunged forward, catching her before she collapsed.
Without saying a word, Cecilia helped her onto an operating table and inspected her shoulder wound. Sophia could smell her oriental perfume. It was warm and spicy, sweetened with vanilla and patchouli. Comforting. But not comforting enough to dissolve her guilt.
‘They came looking for the vector codes, didn’t they?’ she said.
Cecilia nodded. ‘They were here before me, so they didn’t find them.’ She rolled up one leg of Sophia’s combat pants. ‘Everyone here paid the price.’
It felt like something bit her thigh. She looked down to see Cecilia holding an auto-injector, the needle already inside her flesh.
‘You’ll need p
