A hologram image of the ice sculpture flickered into place, concealing The End from view. He’d covered all his bases perfectly. Well, almost perfectly.
“A masterful crime,” I said with a laugh. “Not a clue remains for anyone to track down the thief.”
Varok growled, following my gaze to the slowly melting ice sculpture propped against the wall. “Careful, human. I canstophelping you.”
“Oh? Please tell me when you start, because it looks like you’re going back to your original plan.”
“No, just putting it aside in case. Maybe I can return for it before the Hive leaves.”
That was the stupidest idea I’d ever heard, but I didn’t object.He can do what he wants after I get The Night Watch away.With an effort, I ignored the pang in my heart at the thought of him getting caught. If he was crazy enough to return to the scene of the crime, he deserved the consequences.
“Okay, so what’s the next part of your famous plan?”
“My plan, which is working better than yours, human.”
“At least I’m getting out of here with the target I came for.” Was it stupid to taunt him while relying on his help? Yep. Unfortunately, the words were out before I realized it.
“You are not,” he said, lips drawing back from his sharp teeth. “We are getting out with a target you didn’t expect or prepare for.”
“Details.” I waved him off with a laugh. “I overcame an unexpected challenge, that’s all. Speaking of getting out of here, what’s next? I planned to walk out with the other guests, but that won’t work. All my backups relied on the target being small enough to hide in my kit bag.”
“Whereas mine might still work?” Varok’s grin showed his sharp fangs. Which should have been frightening, but it was my reaction that scared me. I bit my lip, trying to control a sudden surge ofneed.Damn, that was a sexy look.
No. Down, girl. Don’t let him distract you!Did scolding myself like that work? It did not. All I managed was to keep myself from saying something even stupider. Varok got on with his preparations while I fought with my sudden urge to fling myself at him.
Adrenaline, I told myself. Or rather, lied to myself.
He repositioned his remaining lifters onto the case, balancing it and binding it securely. I watched him work, allsmooth motions and confidence. When he turned back to me, I saw a new tension hidden behind his lopsided smile.
“I had a subtle way in,” he told me, pressing the datachip against the wall. “Out is the hard part. My first plan wasn’t exactly discreet, and the backup, well, it’s direct.”
The datachip blossomed into holographic life, menus and programs flickering in and out of view too fast to follow. I winced at the sight—taking pre-programmed hacking scripts against the Collectors’ software? My confidence in his plan, never exactly high, deflated further.
“What are you trying to do?” I asked, fidgeting and fighting the urge to grab the chip and take over. Without a chance to study the scripts, I’d just make things worse.
Varok’s eyes sparked as he watched my discomfort. “Just wait. It’ll be obvious in a moment.”
I started to object, but before I said a word, the lights went out.
“What thefuck?”The pitch black lasted only a moment before Debbie’s camera lights came on, illuminating Varok in stark detail. He was already on the move, pushing The Night Watch toward the doorway, muscles bulging against the seams of his shirt.
No point in arguing now. This kind of disruption was impossible for anyone to ignore. I grabbed hold of a pair of carrying handles, put my shoulder against the floating crate, and heaved for all I was worth. It was impossible to tell whether I’d helped, but I felt better for trying. I refused to stand around letting Varok do the heavy lifting.
“Dataspike,” he explained as we lugged The Night Watch toward the door. “My brother Zakar made it for me, simple enough for even me to use. It overloaded their local network, froze up the system, and bought us some time while they’re recovering.”
“That’s your plan? Shut down their computers and hope we have enough time to escape before they reboot?” Despite my efforts to control my outrage, it leaked into my voice. “I had a carefully timed plan, detailed logs. I studied their systems and what’s known about their code.Yougot a crystal full of scripts from your brother and let them run?”
“Worked, didn’t it?” He flashed that infuriating, smug, sexy grin at me again, and I didn’t know if I wanted to punch him or jump him. There wasn’t time for either, so I gritted my teeth and kept pushing our prize through the crystal tunnels.
“Your plan was fragile,” he said, pulling the crate around a corner. “Too complex. One thing went wrong, and it broke. Mine’s still going strong.”
To my surprise, I resisted the urge to argue. Perhaps because I was getting out of breath—the anti-grav canceled The Night Watch’s weight, but its mass made controlling it hard work. Moving faster and faster, we careened around the maze, surrounded by eerie silence.
I’d expected the Collectors to react with panic or a well-practiced emergency plan, but I heard no sign of either. No Collector’s panicked footsteps echoed in the corridors, no shrieks of alarm, nothing. The Hive was all connected — had the spike killed them? That was a terrible thought, and I pushed it aside. I couldn’t know, and speculating wouldn’t help.
Varok led me on a different route from the one I’d planned, and I hoped he knew what he was doing. Not that I had a better idea. My extraction route would take us back through theoccupied guest rooms, into the arms of guests who’d want to stop us.
The big silver alien seemed to have a plan. That would have to do.
