The Zoo, a center for Kurian operations in the heart of Chicago. The Zoo is a horrific place where many women labeled as criminals meet their end. Valentine tracks down then rescues Molly. The book ends as Valentine and Molly finally reach the Ozarks again. Choice of the Cat Valentine, now a lieutenant in the Wolves, is left in charge of men in an ambush by Grog cavalry. A Cat named Alessa Duvalier helps Valentine and his men retreat. Valentine is subsequently faced with a court martial, as his commanding officer attempts to obfuscate his own incompetence by sacrificing Valentine's career. Valentine is offered an alternative to the court martial: he can resign his officer's commission. While initially determined to face the court, Valentine changes his mind when Duvalier offers to take him in as a Cat. Valentine resigns and follows Duvalier to Ryu's hall, where he is again enhanced, and receives the training necessary to survive as a spy-saboteur behind enemy lines. Following his training, Valentine and Duvalier venture into the Kurian Zone in search of a mysterious group called the Twisted Cross. The Twisted Cross is somehow connected to reports of Reapers that not only speak to one another (normally all Reapers in a given group are unified by the will of their Kurian controller) but also use firearms. The two Cats quickly bond on the trail, but their relationship is strained by Valentine's decision to help cattle-driving nomads, the Eagles, to fight against the Twisted Cross, rather than withdraw as a Cat would. Duvalier leaves him behind and continues her intelligence-gathering mission. Following the Eagles' victory over the Twisted Cross unit, Valentine continues his search for the Cross alone. In the ruins of Omaha, he encounters a badly wounded Grog named Ahn-Kha. Ahn-Kha reveals that he speaks English and that he is a member of a Grog tribe called "The Golden Ones". The Golden Ones helped the Kurian Order in taking over Earth, but were eventually betrayed by their former benefactors and now live as virtual slaves to the Twisted Cross. Valentine and Ahn-Kha become extremely close friends, to the point that they regard one another as brothers. The Cat joins the Grog in beginning a revolt against the Twisted Cross overseers and their puppet Principle Elder. During the battle, Valentine stumbles upon the secret behind the new, strange Reapers: they are controlled by men, not Kurians,