“
Cara
, let him help.”
Anika glanced at Gianni and his motionless legs. She gestured at Mac with the laser. “Pick him up.”
Mac crossed his arms over his chest.
She clenched her jaw and lowered her weapon. “I’m asking.”
“Sure thing, sweetface.” His grin returned. Bending over, he lifted Gianni up and across his shoulders in one fluid move. Then he slid the chair across the floor and stepped up on the seat. With a sound between a growl and a grunt, he hoisted Gianni skyward.
She sucked in a breath, held it.
Gianni reached toward the vent, pulled himself up and through the opening.
She didn’t exhale until his legs disappeared inside the duct.
“Okay, your turn.” Mac extended his beefy hand.
She coiled the laser barrel around her shoulder. “I’ll need to stun you. It’ll help with your debriefing once lockdown is lifted and Command returns from her off-site.”
Mac pulled her up to the chair. “Command isn’t off-site. She’s here.” He stirruped his hands. “Up you go.”
“What do you mean, she’s here? What about her weekly meeting?”
“All I know is that her and Second are going over some files. Evan was pissed ’cuz they ordered her in even though she was scheduled for down time. She kept muttering over her porridge. Something about ‘the federals.’”
Anika grabbed Mac by the shoulders. “Federals? What about federals? Are they being recruited?”
“Jeez, don’t ride my ass.” Mac drew back. “You going up or not?”
Sub-level four cleared. Remaining levels stand by.
Anika glanced at the vent’s opening, then at the room’s locked door. She couldn’t get inside Command’s suite. Not with the shields in place. What good would it do, anyway? She couldn’t stop the recruiting process.
She nodded at Mac. “Ready.” He boosted her up and she wriggled inside.
Gianni had begun crawling along the duct, but turned to look back at her.
She yanked the laser off her shoulder and slammed it down.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing.” She ground her teeth and shoved the nozzle into position. “I need to stun Mac. Then we’re out of this hellhole.”
“Anika, what is it?
Parlami
.”
She looked at him over her shoulder. The phosphorescent light that trailed behind him cast a yellowish glow in the duct. They were so close,
so close
. This was what she wanted. All that she wanted. The two of them — together, safe, free.
“Command and Second are reviewing files on federals.” Fury boiled inside her.
“Go,” he said.
“Not enough time. Besides, this weapon won’t get through the shields.”
“They’re not in Command’s office. Federal reviews take place on sub-level four. Main room.”
“How do you know that?”
“I just do.”
She stared at him. Would there always be secrets between them?
“I’ll wait for you at the entrance.”
“If I’m late … no, don’t shake your head.” Her brows drew together. “The jetbike’s at the end of the alley.”
“There’s a vent in the southwest corner of the main room. That’s your egress,” he said.
“The bike’s ignition code is oh-five-one-four-ET. It’s already programmed for the New Angeles Marina.”
“Once you’re through the vent,” he continued, “take the first left in the duct, then a right. It will shortcut you back to this section.”
“The boat’s at Slot one-thirty-three.”
“How much time before the duct is sealed?”
“Fourteen minutes,” she said. “Don’t wait past then.”
“Don’t be late and I won’t have to.”
She looked back into the room where Mac stood, legs wide apart, shirt raised to expose his back, waiting for the hit.
“Mac.” She jumped back into the room. “I need to borrow your shirt.”
Seconds later, stepping around Mac’s inert, shirtless body, she fired a quick blast at the door and ducked through the smoking hole.
The corridor outside of the room was eerily quiet.
Anika sprayed a three-meter band of the liquid compound across the floor, walls, and ceiling. Then she knelt, set the laser nearby, and placed her hands on top of her head.
The first of the ’bots appeared.
Her breath hitched at the sight of a dozen rounded- disk bodies perched on spider-like legs. She was still outside their scanning range when they reached the liquid and paused. The domed lights on their bodies flashed. They spread out, some staying on the floor, others crawling up the walls and along the ceiling. None touched the liquid barrier.
Come on, come closer
. Their circuits blinked like fireworks, trying to confirm whether it was safe to proceed.
The ones on the floor moved first. Tentatively. Then, as the liquid didn’t slow them, they grew emboldened. A third of the way across, the ones on the walls and ceiling ventured out.
Her heart sank as the ’bots continued to step easily through the liquid. She should have sprayed a wider band.
A few more millimeters and they would be close enough to confirm that she wasn’t a U.N.I.T. operative who had panicked during lockdown and failed to stay at her station.
The ’bot closest to her raised its back leg and almost toppled forward as its front legs remained stuck. The same thing happened to the other ’bots in the vanguard. Their computerized bodies had generated enough heat to create a sticky surface that stopped them in their spindly tracks.
Anika grabbed the laser and jumped to her feet.
The ’bots ducked low, twisting and torqueing to evade harm.
If she didn’t have to conserve her firepower, she would have blasted all of them to ’bot paradise.
“Suckers,” she hissed through her teeth.
Disturbance on sub-level three. Group A ’bots report to Clinic.
Anika sprinted toward the end of the corridor. Several quick laser shots opened a hole through the sealed egress. She dashed through it and down the steps, rail sliding the last few. She blasted a hole through the door and kept firing at the ’bots stationed on the other side.
Sharp tingles stung her chest, stomach, and arms as some of the ’bots returned fire. But the shirt worked its magic and she fried them into a smoking mass of metal, plastic, and circuitry.
Rounding a turn, she dropped to her knees.
Two operatives stood guard outside the main room.
She took out the surveillance cam and rolled sideways. Laser fire sizzled past her. A tingle penetrated her right shoulder. Another hit her left ribs. She returned fire.
One guard collapsed to the ground. The other sank to his haunches, his weapon arm limp at his side.
“Take off your shirt.” She kicked his weapon out of the way and tossed the other guard’s on top of it. She removed the unconscious guard’s comm device, slipped it on, then stripped off his shirt. Throwing both shirts over the weapons, she fired at them.
Smoke billowed from the pile, sneaking through the edges of the door into the room.
“Get me inside.” Anika pointed her laser at the guard. “I’ll be listening.”
The guard raised his hand to his ear.
“What is it?” Second’s voice came through, icy and impatient.
A mustache of sweat formed on the guard’s upper lip. “Fire out here. Evacuate.”
“Why isn’t the cam working?” Second demanded.
“Fire,” the guard repeated. “Smoke.” He choked back a cough.
The door opened.
Anika dashed inside. She sealed the door and jammed the control panel. A fiery spark radiated through her shoulder and another through her waist. She raised her arm to shield her head an instant before a third spark hit.
“What the hell?” Second blocked Command, who remained seated.
Two half-empty wine glasses and a monitor sat on the table.
Anika pivoted and shot the weapon out of Second’s hand.
Second barely flinched, even though Anika knew her hand had to burn like hell.
“Who are you?” Second demanded.
“U.N.I.T.’s best shot,” Command answered. “It’s her, underneath the curls and the doll’s face.”
“Sit,” Anika told Second.
“I assume you’re responsible for the lockdown,” Command said.
“Of course.” Second’s eyes widened. “That explains the surveillance cam going out in Gianni’s room.”
“I said sit down,” Anika commanded.
Second narrowed her eyes and stood in place.
Anika released a spray of liquid.
Second jerked back from the thick wet substance.
Anika circled, continuing to fire until she had covered her with half a dozen strips. The liquid solidified, helped along by Second’s struggles and the hot fury that poured out of her mouth.
“Your turn.” She swung toward Command, who sat gripping the chair arms, her eyes as hard as the stones in the miniature sandbox in her office. Anika sprayed the commander’s left arm and both her legs, tethering her to the chair. Then she moved in to study the monitor. A blank screen met her gaze. “Activate it.”
Command lifted her free hand and pressed all five fingers against the screen. It sprang to life, flashing file after file. All kids. One, in particular, caught Anika’s attention.
“Stop,” she said.
Command gave the order and the images froze.
“Go back three.”
A girl’s face occupied half of the screen. Her dark hair was shaped in a bowl cut topped by very short fringe. The other half of the screen listed her name, ID number, estimated birth date, federal orphanage location, test scores. The start of her profile.
“Hello, Becca,” Anika whispered. The girl’s eyes in the image stared straight ahead. “Delete. All of them.”
Command hesitated a moment, then tapped a few keys.
The files vanished.
“Satisfied?” Command asked.
“Almost. Contact Evan.”
Command shook her head.
Anika reset the laser and turned it so Command could see the setting at maximum force. “Instruct Evan to destroy the files at their source.” Anika placed the tip of the laser in Command’s ear.
“She’s bluffing,” Second said. “She doesn’t kill unless under direct threat. It’s in her profile.”
Anika hesitated a moment, then lowered the laser out of sight. “Game over.” She approached Second, standing in a cage of her own making, and knocked her to the ground. She pointed the weapon at Second’s head, but glanced back at Command. “Contact Evan.”
“No, Leyla.” Second struggled against the straps. “I’d rather die.”
“I can’t let that happen.” Command’s voice rippled like a soft breeze.
“But our recruiting … ”
“I won’t lose you over it.”
Anika’s eyebrows lifted. When had this started?
Command touched the monitor.
“Yes?” Evan’s clipped British tones pierced the room’s quiet.
Anika bit her lip to keep from calling out.
“The recruiting files are infected,” Command said. “I’ve deleted them from the local system. Destroy the source files.”
Anika held her breath. She could almost hear her friend’s mind clicking through the possibilities.
Finally, Evan spoke up. “Understood. Awaiting authorization.”
Anika’s eyes narrowed. What authorization? She glanced at Command, then at Second. They returned her gaze, revealing nothing.
Into the silence, Evan spoke again, “Awaiting
DNA
authorization.”
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Anika stepped over to Command. She placed the end of the laser underneath her chin and lifted.
The smooth oval head angled back.
Anika plucked out an eyelash and fed it into the computer.
“Received,” Evan said.
More silence.
Anika wanted to yell.
What are you waiting for?
“Standing by for secondary authorization.”
Anika sensed Second’s warning shout. She spun and fired before a sound escaped. Second’s body stilled. Anika yanked out a strand of blond hair and fed that into the computer.
Evan acknowledged authorization, confirmed source file destruction, and disengaged communication.
“So you have your retribution.” Command looked over at Second. Pain flashed through her eyes. “And I will have mine.”
“She’s not dead,” Anika said.
Command flicked a glance at the operative. Her eyes narrowed in disbelief.
Anika showed her the weapon set to stun. “I’m not my profile. But there are things in it that are true. Lucky for you.” She aimed the laser at Command. “Time for you to go to sleep now.”
She fired, took in a breath and did a time check. Seven minutes left. The vent was in the southwest corner, just as Gianni had said. She entered the passageway and started crawling to him, to their life together, to freedom.
• • •
The sun brightened the morning sky and sparkled on the water at the New Angeles Marina.
Anika and Gianni rode through the gates and stopped beside a silver-hulled jet-powered boat that bobbed up and down, like a child eager to play.
Three slots away, a bearded man dozed on the deck of a schooner, while two rows over, a young boy and a white-haired man fished over the side of an elegant yacht.
She looked at Gianni whose gaze also searched the area.
Will it always be like this? Always looking over our shoulders, always guarding against a surprise attack?
He caught her staring at him. “It’s not forever,
cara
. Not once we reach The Triangle.”
“The last time I set foot on a boat this size, I ended up in a fight with a crew member.” She reached out to finger his gray streak. “I vomited my steak-and-potato dinner all over him.”
“I consider myself warned. When was the last time you ate?”
“I don’t remember.” Anika laughed. “Are you hungry? I can fix us something as soon as we’re underway.”
“You cook?” Gianni lifted an eyebrow.
“I reheat. It will have to do until you’re on your feet again.” Worry knotted the back of her neck. “Any sensation yet? Tingling?”
“Not yet.” Gianni caught her hand and brought it to his lips, warm and firm on her fingers. “Don’t worry. It will come.”
She bent down and brushed her lips against his. “Be right back.” She started the engine and set the navigation system.