Max pressed the device and started back toward us through the crowd. The infected opened and closed around him without interest. The scorched face of the headquarters still held its lights. The yard still burned in patches.
"You're sure she opens them?" Ingrid asked.
"I'm sure."
Max reached us.
"So what's the plan?"
"Abram has someone inside," Ingrid said. "The doors are opening."
Max looked at me and a smile came up that had nothing but doubt in it.
"That's a government building. Nobody in there is opening anything for you." He shifted the radio unit under his arm. "The way in is through the front. We hit it until it gives."
"The doors are opening. Give it a minute." I held his eyes. "But I want one thing from you first."
"Go on."
"Don't kill the people on your list."
"I'm not killing anybody." He said it like the suggestion offended him. The controlled face tightened. "They go in a cell. That's the whole point. You can't make a man beg you for mercy after he's dead."
