“It’s off,” he said.
“Get back into the duct, I’ll hand you weapons. There’s a laundry chute about two meters east,” I said.
He grumbled about all the climbing, but he scaled the wall like a pro. I handed him two at a time, waited while Logan dropped them down the chute and returned for two more.
Working together, we managed to empty the safe. We also managed to alert the Outsiders. The door’s lock beeped. I glanced at the clock. It had taken us two hours to complete our task.
“Go,” I said to Logan. “Get back to level one.”
“How?”
“Laundry chute. Wait thirty seconds after you send the last weapons. I’ll let them know you’re coming.” I closed the vent and signaled Riley.
More beeps emanated from the door, then pounding and, finally the buzz of a cutter.
“And when can we expect you?” Riley asked.
“I’ll meet you on level five.”
“You better,” he grumped.
I removed the vent from the heating duct as the door flew open. By the time five people rushed into the room aiming their weapons at me, I had the stun bomb in hand. I recognized Phelen, one of Hank’s supervisors.
“Don’t move,” Phelen said.
Counting on my collar’s protection, I yanked the pin on Ivie and Kadar’s stun bomb and rolled it toward the group. They all glanced down, but nothing happened. A dud. Damn.
“Made you look,” I said.
“Ha. Ha.” Phelen deadpanned. He gestured to the door with his stunner. “Let’s?—”
A bright flash cut him off. I dove for the heating vent as a wave of energy exploded from the bomb. The glass shards pelted the walls as they grunted. When it grew quiet, I peeked out from the duct. Lying on the floor, Phelen and his team remained motionless. A few sported cuts from the glass.
I checked to make sure the gashes weren’t too deep and they all had strong pulses. Then I removed all their weapons and anything else that looked interesting like Phelen’s communication device.
Back in the air shaft, I signaled Riley, warning him of incoming, and sent my loot down to the laundry room. I kept one stunner. “Any damage?” I asked him.
“One really annoyed Tech No, but otherwise all came through fine. How many did you neutralize?”
“Only five.”
“Better than getting caught. What are you planning now?”
Good question. “I’ll spy around level five. See what we’re up against.”
“Be careful. We’re starting our ascent. Bubba Boom is leading the Quad I team, and I have the Quad A stairs.”
I ghosted through the air shafts on level five for the next hour. No one guarded the brig. It was my first clue of something strange. Groups of Hank’s supporters raced through the hallways, but I didn’t see any Outsiders. And Lamont failed to answer my hail.
Sloan reported success in the air plant.
Riley and Bubba Boom encountered only a token resistance as they secured each level.
The fight to reach Hank’s control room in Quad A5 lasted a mere five minutes. We met up outside the double doors. They opened without trouble.
The control room appeared the same. Banks of computers. Half-completed consoles leaking wires. And Hank, sitting in the big captain’s chair in the center. He was alone.
CHAPTER 22
