“Not detecting any people. No live feeds except the one we looped. That’s coming from the end of the hall. If there’s anything or anyone waiting here, they’re very well cloaked.”
“Okay,” Taryn said, still uneasy. Would Caspar really leave Hope unguarded?
Still quiet but with more purpose in her stride, she walked the long hallway until she arrived at the closed door at the end.
Taryn pressed her ear to the wood. Was that... beeping?
The steady beeps were similar to the ones she’d heard in Ash’s video. But what if it was something else, like a bomb?
Taryn turned and looked at her team. She hated to risk them. “Gen, can you tell what’s behind this door?”
Gen scanned the door and the surrounding hallway with a different device.
She shook her head. “No.”
“Everyone get back. Just in case.”
There was some grumbling, but no one argued.
“Get back.” Taryn put her hand on the knob and turned slowly. The door opened quietly.
Without the barrier of the door, the beeping was louder.
Everyone took a position along the walls while Taryn took a cautious step into the room. One step, then another.
The monitors emitted an eerie blue glow and Taryn couldn’t see much in the dim light. The open door blocked the entire right side of the room from view. The left was clear, so she stepped farther into the room.
The door swung toward her and caught her in the shoulder. “Ow.” The impact knocked her back a few steps.
The momentum carried her to the left and away from the door. The impact reverberated along her metal arm. If they’d hit her flesh and blood limb, the pain would have likely incapacitated her.
Someone was here.
“You missed someone,” Taryn growled over her shoulder.
“Shit! Recalibrating!” That was Gen.
Taryn focused on staying out of reach and locating her attacker in the dim room. The eerie light from the monitors cast shadows everywhere.
Taryn looked right and left as she stepped deeper into the apartment.
“Got it! To your right!” Gen’s warning came just in time.
Taryn turned her torso and hips to face the threat.
A fist swung toward her face.
She ducked.
The fist whistled by, clipping her on the jaw rather than knocking her out.
Motherfucker!
Pain radiated through her jaw. She drew on her lessons from living with the previous Jack and forced the pain back.
Her assailant had landed two hits already. She wouldn’t let him get a third in.
Rolling onto the balls of her feet, she stayed loose, ready to dodge the next time he took a swing. Right shoulder angled toward where she thought he was, she drew her arms into a defensive position.
