They both knew she had the power to stop him, the only individual in the Net who could. ”If you ever do it,” he’d said when she touched her fingers to his cheek in a tender good-bye, “make sure you go all the way and end me.” Should he be left breathing after Sahara’s power sliced through him, taking the only thing that mattered, he’d become the monster Santano had groomed him to be. “Serial killer, mass murderer, there’s not a name for the evil that lives inside me.” Jaw set and eyes fierce, she’d shaken her head. “I won’t let the darkness have you.”















