The ballroom was in chaos. In the pulsing red light and the shrieking alarm, I saw Carys.
She stood near the wall panel, twenty meters away. She was looking right at me. She wasn’t panicked. She wasn’t screaming.
She was waiting.
She’d done it. This was her move, launched under the cover of my social maneuvering.
I nodded once, a sharp dip of my chin. Go.
She nodded back. Get the sculpture.
I turned and moved toward the exit corridor. The guards were all facing the other way, trying to control the crowd. No one saw me go.
CARYS
Istood near the central display, answering questions about a Thal’reth pottery fragment for a Fanaith couple. My voice was level. My hands were steady. Outwardly, I was the perfect, unimpressed curator.
Inwardly, I was waiting.
Tarsus wanted me to wear this dress. This ridiculous, backless silver thing. He thought it made me a display piece. He didn’t realize the loose folds at the waist, designed for aesthetic, were perfect for concealing the two items I’d nearly died to acquire from Renna.
The miniature power source was strapped to my inner thigh, digging into my skin. The data spoofer was tucked in a small pocket Flinx had helped me sew into the lining.
Flinx sent from his post near the refreshment tables.
I glanced over. Brevan was facing Tarsus. Valerius was nearby. The tension was exactly what Brevan had described. He was creating the social cover. He was pulling the senator’s focus, making the interaction all about ego.
I sent back.
I had to act.
“If you’ll excuse me,” I murmured to the Fanaith couple. I moved away from them, not toward the confrontation, but toward the side of the ballroom. Toward the main control junction for the ballroom’s atmospheric and holo-display systems.
It was an ornate panel, disguised as part of the wall’s sculpted glass. I’d identified it two years ago.
Flinx sent.
I “stumbled.” Just a little. Enough to brace myself against the wall, my hand landing on the decorative panel. My body blocked the view from most of the room.
My fingers found the maintenance seam. Tarsus was still focused on Brevan. “I’d hate to think my hospitality was being misused.”
Brevan said, “Never.”
He opened his mouth to say something else. To call out Valerius. That was my cue.
I palmed the spoofer from its hidden pocket and jammed the power source from my thigh strap against it. I shoved both components deep into the panel’s diagnostic port.
The effect was immediate. I felt a sharp jolt and the smell of ozone as the components fused, burning themselves out in a massive power surge. The manufactured sunset on the walls tore itself apart in a wash of static. The main lights exploded in a flicker and died. The room plunged into blackness.
A second later, red emergency lights stuttered on. They pulsed, casting horrible shadows. A mechanical voice blared over the speakers.
“SYSTEMS FAILURE. ALL LEVELS. CONTAINMENT BREACH DETECTED IN SECTOR FOUR.”
The alarms shrieked.
It was beautiful.
