A door slammed, and adrenaline surged as she heard a familiar voice shout, “Susie, will you take Buddy for his walk? The auto walker has gone fritzy again. I can’t keep the stupid thing …” Howard’s voice trailed off as he came around the archway, looking professional in a white lab coat, dreadlocks pulled back. “Flying …” He set a leash-draped drone on the counter and stared at her.

“Please. I need your help,” Peri said. “Something awful happened.”

“She has a squirrel, Doctor,” the receptionist with him said, and the silence stretched as disbelief, curiosity, and finally mistrust came over him.

“I’ll take a look,” he finally said, and relief filled her. “Exam room three. We can skip weighing her in. Has she bitten anyone? We might have to put her down to check for rabies.”

“No, she’s really very sweet-tempered.” Peri lurched into motion, the rocks sliding as she passed the front desk and entered a short hallway. “Just in a bad place and misunderstood.”

Howard held a door open for her. “Trying to help a wild animal rarely works out. The safest thing would be to turn her over to the proper authorities.”

“They’d kill her,” Peri said, meeting his eyes as she passed by him. “And she doesn’t mean any harm.”

“Wild animals seldom do,” he said sourly.

The door shut, and Peri carelessly set the box of rocks on the exam table.

“Are you crazy?” Howard almost hissed, snatching up a wand and coming at her.

“Hey!” she exclaimed, then lowered her voice as he ran it over her. “You already took the chip out. I’m clean.”

“You could have been rechipped and forgotten it.”

“I haven’t drafted,” she said as he set the wand down, beads in his hair clinking.

“You sure?”

“Pretty sure,” she said, and his eyebrows rose as he saw her doubt. “Wait,” she said as he pointed at the door for her to leave. “Opti has Silas. They caught him.” Howard’s mouth dropped, and she looked away, ashamed. “I ditched him to go back to Detroit, but Allen called me as I was hot-wiring a car, and now …” What am I doing? He’d never believe her.

“You stole a car?” he said as if that was the only thing that registered.

“You’re worried about a stupid car?” she said, then frowned at the shadow of feet passing at the thick crack under the door. “Allen admitted that Opti is rife with corruption,” she whispered. “Him. Bill.” Jack? “Allen told Silas that I set him up to be captured—that I’m in on it. They’re going to let him escape, knowing he’ll use the lies Allen is filling him with to try to shut Opti down and make me the fall guy. But Opti won’t go down;it’s too big. They’re going to frame me for everything to give the corruption in Opti the chance to bury itself deeper. Howard, you’ve got to help me.”

“How do you know my name?” the man asked, his dark eyes suddenly threatening.

“It’s on your vet certificate in the office,” she said, and Howard dropped back, grimacing.

“Allen admitted Bill is corrupt?”

She nodded, breathless, and then they both turned at the knock on the door. Not wanting anyone to come in, Peri ran a hand along the counter, knocking things over and making noise. “She got away! Oh God. I’m so sorry!” she shouted.

Howard stared, then added, “Give us a few minutes, Anne. I’ll call you if I need help.”

They waited until Anne’s footsteps shushed away, her loud conversation with the other girl up front both complaining and excited. “You’re not afraid anymore,” Howard said as he gathered a handful of cotton-tipped swabs she’d spilled.

“I don’t have a tracking chip in me anymore. It’s amazing how that can boost a person’s confidence.” Peri frowned. “Please. I have to get Silas back before they fill his head with lies.”

Eyes averted, Howard tapped the swabs on the counter and returned them to the container, brow furrowed as he pushed the jar to the wall. He looked different in his white lab coat, but his hands were the same. He wasn’t a large man, but he had a big presence. “I don’t know what you think I can do,” he finally said.

“You don’t care that he’s being held?” Peri said, aghast. “Lied to? Manipulated?”

“Of course I do, but he knew the risk. We all want to see Opti shut down. But I don’t care if you fall with it. And neither does Silas.”

Peri sucked her teeth. Lame, it was lame and cowardly. “Listen to me, little man,” she said, and Howard started in affront. “Who do you think keeps terrorists out of U.S. airspace, gets the guns to oil-friendly rebels, and cleans the crap off your favorite politician? Too many people want Opti, depend on it to keep downtown America buying technology they don’t need, and that the alliance is trying to shut it down is starting to piss me off! They will shred the files, fire the secretary, and open it back up again calling it something else with the public thinking we are the Green Berets or SEAL Team Six B or some other special ops group. But I’ll be damned if I let Bill be in charge of it. I’m not corrupt, and the Opti I worked for isn’t either.”

“Yeah?” Howard had his arms over his chest, clearly not liking the little man comment.

“I don’t need to explain myself to you,” she said. Coming here was a mistake. “Are you going to help me rescue Silas or not?”