“Do not be alarmed. Please evacuate to the nearest designated safe zone.”
I hustle upstairs. Rosie’s awake, and she’s pissed for obvious reasons. I curse, hurriedly change her diaper, then grab her bag and shove some extra clothes inside. I carry her downstairs and into the elevator.
Lady gives me directions. I follow blue lights through twisting turns. There are no guards around, no staff, no random employees wandering nearby. Which is strange. The Fortress is surprisingly large, but it never feels empty. Mass has hundreds of people working for him in various roles and capacities.
Now they’re all missing. Usually, I’d have at least a couple guards tailing me at a respectful distance. Now it’s just me, listening as Lady directs me to a part of the building I’ve never been before.
“Are we going toward the Resort?” I ask in surprise.
“Continue forward, please. Do not be alarmed. This is only a drill.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, only a drill.” I walk faster, sick of this whole thing, holding Rosie tightly.
But the bad feeling only gets worse. I’m not supposed to be in this part of the Fortress. It’s not exactly connected directly with the Resort, but the back section is the least secure since it has the door leading out toward the jungle. I hesitate, but Lady insists the safe room is nearby, and I’ll do basically anything to sit down and give Rosie a pouch to make her less fussy.
I finally end up outside a simple, unmarked door. It’s nothing special as far as I can tell. Lady encourages me to go inside.
“But I thought this was a safe room.” I look around. I get the feeling we’re in some kind of utility hallway. The floor is barelinoleum and the walls are gray and marked with scuffs. “Where are we, exactly?”
“Please enter. Do not be alarmed.”
I shove open the door despite myself and step inside.
Immediately, I know this is wrong. There are shelves on either side of me. It’s clearly some kind of supply closet. “Lady, what the heck am I doing here?”
A figure steps forward around the nearest rack. I stare at her, heart rate ticking up as I clutch Rosie tighter.
Satya levels a gun at me.
The old woman’s wearing staff clothing, black on black. She’s smiling like she always used to, but there’s no warmth in her expression now, only a dead-eyed coldness.
“Thank you, Lady, that will be all. Continue the evacuation until we are well away.”
“Confirmed, Root User. Evacuation proceeding as planned.”
My skin crawls. “You took control of Lady?”
“The house AI was surprisingly easy to hack. Medved provided the necessary tools. All I needed to do was plug them in. And nobody bothers to look twice at a nice old lady like me.” Her grin turns wicked. “You should have gotten on the boat, Allie.”
I step away from her. “Why are you doing this? Why are you working for Medved? Mass trusted you.”
“Mass is a better man than he lets on, I’ll admit that. I have deeply fond feelings for him and what he did for me back when my late husband got sick. But times change, Allie. I’ve seen andheard too much in this place. Medved offered me the chance to atone for some of the crimes I helped commit, and I’ll be honest. I’m an old woman thinking about what’s next, and I don’t like my chances the way my life’s been going to this point.”
I almost laugh at the absurdity of it. “Medved offered to cleanse your immortal soul?”
“No, foolish girl. He offered me money. I’ll pay for a fucking priest.” She raises the gun and aims at my face. “Give me the little one.”
I turn my back, shielding Rosie. “Go to hell.”
“This can be easy or it can be hard. I don’t want to hurt either of you.”
“You tried to kill us!”
“And I’ll try again. But this time I won’t miss. Give her to me.”
“Fuck you.” I jerk sideways and slam into the nearest rack. It teeters and topples, spilling toilet paper, towels, shampoo bottles, and other toiletries all over the floor. The noise it makes as it slams into the other racks is incredible. I turn and start toward the door, running hard?—
But something slams into my back.
