The sound of the rotor was louder the closer Pierce came to cresting the ridge. He had been running a dead heat from the second he had heard the helicopter. Minjun had been left behind but Pierce trusted he'd be able to track everyone. The trail of exhausted shuffling wasn't hard to follow.

At the top of the plateau, he dropped his hands to his knees amid tiny dancing dust devils and surveyed the scene. Everyone was collecting at the bird but Robin was holding up her hand like a traffic cop preventing anyone from going any further. It wasn't until his gaze landed on Danny that he realized something was terribly wrong. Danny sat stiffly, dead-eyed, staring straight out the front of the helicopter, a cat waiting patiently for the mouse behind the wall.

Finnegan turned to say something to Danny, and when Danny turned to reply, he met Pierce's eyes. It was that slightest of slight pauses before continuing to lean back toward Finnegan and respond that clinched it for Pierce. He pulled his pistol from his waist and lined up the shot. There wouldn't be any mistakes this time.

Finnegan turned from the helicopter. Andrew flinched at Robin's side. Pierce took the shot.

Chaos.

Pierce wasn't sure they had heard the bullet ping away from the helicopter, but he was certain someone had voiced the alarm at the cold hard steel of the MP5, and they were all now headed his way.

Marybeth tripped and fell and Michael skirted around her, then skidded to a stop when he came face-to-face with Pierce and his gun.

"Move!"

Michael dropped to the ground, hands over his head and the scientists skidded to a huddled mass behind him. Farmer and Mandy were helping Marybeth up while Jordan pulled at her mother's arm. Doc Galen had caught his nurse into his arms before she stumbled, and held up his hand to halt Jinho who was running with Aurum cupped in his hands.

"Move!" Pierce shouted again.

"Get down!" Minjun shouted from behind. Pierce shot off through the crowd, not waiting for their compliance. He pushed his way between the scientists, who dropped to the ground with their hands over their heads in his wake.

Robin stepped over the soldier at her feet and leaned into the helicopter, pointing the MP5 toward the cockpit and then into the belly of the chopper. Danny wasn't there and she quickly squatted to look under the helicopter. Danny had come around and under the tail. They were face to face in a stand-off with their guns pointed at one another.

Pierce took the shot.

Danny went down. Robin spun with the MP5 and Pierce thrust his hands in the air. The barrel of the MP5 went down and Robin thumbed the safety. With another quick motion, she pulled the clip from the gun and tucked it into the helicopter then turned to rush to Pierce.

He caught her in a hug before she made two steps. She fought against his strong embrace until he loosened up, and then her hands found the sides of his face and brought him to her lips for a salty, dusty kiss.

"Get a room!"

Andrew kicked Evan's shoe and shouted back, "Are you still curled up on the ground down there? Time to get up, sweetie."

Evan climbed to his feet and almost tripped on Finnegan's leg because he was staring into the helicopter.

"I know. You were right," Andrew said.

Evan cupped his hand over his ear. "What's that?"

Andrew rolled his eyes and gave a rueful shake of his head. "You're right, I said!"

"A little louder?"

"You're right! It's a Sikorsky. Painted over."

Evan nodded his head. His hair rocked wildly back and forth. He threw his hands into the air. "He said I'm right! Did everyone hear?!"

Robin pulled his arm down and Pierce broke free of her with a rueful grin. Doc Galen checked the pilot for a pulse.

"He's not going anywhere," Doc said. He glanced around the plateau. "If someone doesn't retrieve him before nightfall, there won't be any retrieving possible."

"How about him?" Robin toed Finnegan and Galen moved to check his head.

"Nasty bump. We should probably take this one with us."

Robin climbed into the helicopter and poked her head back out a moment later. "There's nothing to tie him up with in here."

Pierce nodded. The dome inhabitants were standing outside the circle of the spinning blades once more. They had grim looks on their faces when Pierce walked over to them. "We need to tie him up. Anyone have a belt?"

Michael shook his head no, but Jordan lifted up the tail of his shirt. "What's this, genius?"

Pierce raised his eyebrows and waved his fingers at him to give it up.

Along with Michael's belt, eight pairs of shoelaces were used to tie up the soldier. Once tied and tossed into the chopper, Robin began helping Andrew aboard.

Minjun touched Pierce's elbow. He pointed at his watch. Pierce nodded. "Ten minutes?"

Minjun waggled his hands. "Twelve?"

"Robin! We need to get everyone on the helicopter! Now!"

Robin waved everyone to the helicopter, but they had all heard the urgency in Pierce's command and quickly queued up to climb on. She and Evan helped give the others a lift. Marybeth cracked her knee on the edge and swore in colors she hadn't even reserved for Pierce. Evan apologized profusely until she held a finger over his lips.

As Michael scrambled into the helicopter, his pants slipped. Evan gave them a little tug from behind. "Don't usually see a full moon this time of day."

Michael turned a furious shade of red, but everyone else relaxed and things progressed more smoothly so Pierce could climb into the pilot's seat.

Once everyone had packed in, the helicopter lifted into the air. A moment later, he was slowly ascending the side of the cliff as if he were a guide showing the occupants of his desert tour the beautiful red and orange striations on the wall.

Mandy leaned over his seat. "We need to go back. We need to make sure nothing can be recovered from the dome."

Pierce nodded and settled the helicopter down on the sand. The rotors slowed to a stop as he twisted in his seat.

Mandy was angry. With an angry wave, she pointed toward the dome, nearly hitting Robin in the face. "But it hasn't blown up!"

Farmer caught her hand. "Mandy, I'm sure they did their best. Everyone's–"

All eyes were on Mandy; a quiet inquisition of what she was talking about. "It's all poison.

Jordan blanched.

"We needed time. We needed to make sure everyone was far enough away," Pierce explained.

"We modified the oxygen and carbon dioxide filtration system in Mechanicals to–"

"Actually..." Pierce interrupted. "What we did is top secret. Let's just leave it at that."

Evan's face fell in disappointment. "We'll talk later," he said conspiratorially to Pierce.

"I don't understand. You were going to blow up the dome?" Marybeth asked.

"We had to," Minjun said.

"But that was your baby."

"No, my baby is right here." Minjun pulled Jinho under his arm. Aurum fluttered into the air and settled on the top of Jinho's head. "I can build another one of those. I only have one of these."

"I don't understand, though. Why blow it up?"

"We didn't know it, but we were modifying plants that mimic ALS in people who eat them." Jordan's mom answered. She didn't notice Jordan's soft moan, but she had everyone's attention and went on to explain. "A reaction inside the human body produces a protein that causes a person to have symptoms like muscle twitching, tiredness, weakness, muscle degeneration, and eventually death. According to Leslie Carrel's medical records, the symptoms are so like ALS that it fooled all her doctors. Even her husband, who was a doctor and who conducted research in the field, didn't recognize the reason why she was getting sick so fast. Her blood tests finally tipped him off."

"Are you okay, Jordan?" Farmer asked Jordan. She had gone pale and looked like she might throw up. He cracked the door at his side open. "Is the heat getting to you?"

Andrew held out his water bottle but she brushed it aside, threw her arms around her father, and buried her face in his shirt. Caught off-balance, Farmer's eyes widened in surprise.

"Wouldn't there be a red flag if all the subjects in the trials were dying?" Robin asked.

"I'll have to finish reading the materials but I think it only affects..." Mandy slapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh my god. The phone!"

"Here." Still wrapped around her father, Jordan held out the phone.

"We're going to work on that," Mandy said to her softly as she took the phone and stroked her hair. "I think it only affects pregnant women because of their hormones during pregnancy."

Jordan slowly turned with a look of hope on her face toward her mother. Mandy nodded. Jorden let go of her father and leaned into her mother's arms.

Jinho leaned over to Jordan and whispered too loudly, "Did you know you're pregnant?"

"What? I am not!" Jordan exclaimed. "Why would you think that?"

"Because...well...she..." he stuttered. "Your mom just said, women who are pregnant are affected, and you were eating the vegetables. And you had those shakes."

Mandy started. "You were eating the...You have symptoms?"

"My hands shake sometimes." Jordan shrugged. "Not all the time."

"Around your period?"

Jordan looked around in horror and met Andrew's eyes. "Mom!"

"It's probably hormones when you're menstruating. We can–"

"Oh my god, Mom. Stop!" She pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her head and covered her eyes. Her father pulled her back against his body.

Jinho leaned forward to get closer to Mandy. "So, you're saying when girls are going through their cycle, their hormones are elevated and that's when Jordan's hands would shake and she might feel weak or tired."

Mandy nodded. "We would have thought it looked pretty normal for a girl her age, who's probably already moody–"

"And who has gone through some recent stress," interrupted Farmer with a smile for Jordan.

"The shaking and tiredness might have gone away when she moved on in her cycle and the hormone levels changed again."

"Boys should not even be aware of this stuff. I can't believe they're having this conversation. Didn't you say you have a car?" Jordan pulled the strings tight on her hood and turned to Evan. "I really need to get to a mall."

"I'm game to go to the mall!" Evan said and hooked his arm into hers.

"Excellent." She smiled brightly into Evan's face.

Jinho scowled.

Evan looked at Andrew and winked. "Coming?"

"Yep. I mean, my work here is done, so why not." He looked at Robin and said sweetly, "Mommy, can I go to the mall?"

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe after a trip to the hospital. Let's start there first."

"Smart move," said Evan. "I mean it's not like he needs to run out and blow up all the other secret facilities today. Take some time. Rest up a bit. We'll‒"

"What did you say?" Robin asked him.

"Smart move? Going to the hospital–"

"Not that." She used her forefinger to show she wanted him to back up. "The part about the other facilities."

"Oh, that," he shrugged. "There's a couple hundred blind spots on the map. I suppose they can't all be secret GMO research domes though, can they?"

"Time!" Minjun's loud voice made everyone jump. "Cover your ears!"

The sonic boom echoed off the mountain and vibrated their insides. Debris rained down on the helicopter, small stones pinging and flinging away like a violent hail storm. All eyes flew to the mountain hiding the dome as debris jarred loose and large chunks of rock slid down the side of the mountain. A large cloud mushroomed into the sky. Glittering flashes of light bounced off shards of shattered glass as they rained down from the heavens to hide on the other side. A second explosion sent another round of dark smoke skyward followed by a forked tongue of red flames that licked higher than the mountain itself.

"Holy shit! That was awesome!" Evan sounded muffled and Andrew worked his jaw until his ears popped. "So much for sneaking in and sneaking out."

Pierce started the helicopter and everyone became silent wondering what they would see when they got to the dome. It wasn't much. Smoke had filled the sky and blocked out much of the scene on the ground, but Pierce swung around the biggest plume being blown toward them on the wind and swooped as low as he felt was safe.

The dome was gone, obliterated except for the glitter of glass around the perimeter. Everything was on fire. As they watch, a flame licked out of the shattered recess and the outer fields caught. A wave of new flames rolled over the dry stalks and ate them to the ground.