“You get some sleep, Abigail," Townsend told her. "I'll keep watch.""That's very gracious of you, but being that we're on an airplane..."Even after the plane took off, they kept debating security perimeters and protocols. I'm pretty sure they argued for forty-five minutes about where the best place for cappuccino was near the Colosseum.”

“Excuse me, Abigail, but whose shift did she get away during?' Townsend asked with a glare.'Excuse me, Townsend, but who was supposed to booby-trap the doors?''I'm an agent of Her Majesty's Secret Service,' Townsend said, indignant. 'I do not do booby traps.”

“After finals and winter break...after I'm back to full strength, we'll go get Preston. Whether Mom and Abby and Joe and Townsend like it or not, we'll go get him. And then...' I trailed off. 'And then we'll finish this. Next semester, this thing ends.”

“So you're Zach." Townsend didn't even try to hide the judgement in his voice as he looked Zach up and down in some sort of silent but dangerous examination.Zach huffed but smiled. "so you're Townsend."The two of them stared for a long time, wordless. It felt like I was watching a documentary on the Nature Channel, something about alpha males in the wild.”

“How are we doing, Simon?" she whispered into the small microphone in her collar. "Just about..." Simon started slowly. And then he stopped. "Wow." "What?" she asked, panic in her voice. "Nothing," he said too quickly. "What?" she asked again. "Well...it's just that...your boobs look even bigger on TV." Kat took that opportunity to turn and glare at the nearest security camera. In his bathroom stall thirty feet away, Simon nearly fell off the toilet.”

“What is it?" When Kat's voice finally came into Hale's ear, it was cold and steady and even. All tease was gone. If she was angry at him for standing her up, she didn't show it. she just said, "Tell me what's going on.""Party crashers," Hale whispered. He watched Macey watching him. "Five, and they brought toys.""Guns?" Kat guessed."Big ones," Hale said. "You know this is what you get for doing a favor for your mother.""I know," Hale admitted."What are they after?" Kat asked."Hard to say," Hale said; again, he eyed the room."Who is that?" Macey asked."The reason I wasn't flirting with you,"Hale told her.”

“Macey was just starting to argue when Abby asked, "What can you tell me about the gunmen?""They're amateurs," Hale said at the exact same time Macey told her teacher, "They're pros.”