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Pounding down the corridor, she felt inflamed with rage at how they had been used by the bad guys. She wanted to go back and punch him, but she knew that wouldn’t solve anything except, perhaps, to make her feel better momentarily.

  Besides, he was probably calling security now.

  She glanced down at her holo. The patch was holding; she still had the comms in that sector of the building locked down. Finding her way to the northwest stairwell, she pushed against the bar and slipped out of the hallway.

  She glanced down and then up. Five floors to the roof, where Joel was meeting her. Much faster than going down and out the front door. She ran up the stairs, feeling much better for having confronted the scumbag. Maybe not having to answer to a superior was turning out to be a good thing. No one was going to come down on her about this little confrontation.

  And that felt good enough to overcome her desire to punch him.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Two days later. Joel’s Apartment. Downtown Uptarlung. Irk’n Quarter

  Joel sat at his desk, working away. He couldn’t believe how much business he’d managed to generate in such a short space of time. Okay, sure, the last job had had its difficulties; but something told him that Molly was going to steer them straight…er.

  Even if she had the social skills of an amoeba.

  Joel updated his ops report.

  It was looking like they were booked out for the next three months already. He was going to have to talk with Molly about bringing in some help at this rate. And with the paycheck from the last gig having come through okay, they would have the funds to bring in new talent whenever they were ready.

  If he was honest, he was a little relieved that the funds had still come through. He had been concerned that Molly’s little talk with Mac might have had some fallout. Presumably, she had been scary enough for it to have had the right effect.

  He sat back in his ergonomically designed office chair, thinking about the calls he would have to return. He rocked gently as he tensed and relaxed his stomach muscles. He’d been working on getting back into shape, and he knew that any extra effort would still make a difference at this stage.

  There was a knock at the door.

  He got up and headed through the apartment toward the sound. Through the spy hole he saw one skinny short dude. He looked Ogg. His bald head shone in the corridor light, like a little beacon used to light the runways for ships landing.

  He didn’t recognize the guy, but he was wearing an atmosuit, so he probably wasn’t a resident. A resident would have been in indoor clothes. Or pajamas.

  “How can I help?” he asked through the door, standing slightly to the side. He didn’t feel threatened, but training is ingrained like that.

  “Wondered if you might have a moment to talk about a job? Heard you have a certain skillset we could use in our company.” the Ogg replied, casually but politely.

  Joel opened the door.

  No sooner had he done so then two Estarians stepped into view. One stayed outside and the other slipped in, pulled out a pistol, and aimed the business end in Joel’s direction.

  “What the fuck?!” Joel shouted, staying near the door and keeping it open.

  The Ogg was now inside, too.

  “Close the door,” he commanded Joel. “We just want to talk.”

  Joel, annoyed, looked at the pistol as he ground his teeth. Finally, he closed the door.

  He was about to read them the riot act about barging in, and that this wasn’t how he did business, but no sooner had he opened his mouth than the Estarian on his right slammed him against the door and knocked his head against it, jamming something into his neck.

  Joel flung an elbow back, catching the Estarian in the face so that blood exploded out of his busted nose, the cartilage crushed.

  One down, two to go.

  Joel was working to swing his leg around, waiting for the shot from the pistol when his world went black.

  Safe house, fifty kilometers west of Uptarlung

  Molly was still in her pajamas. It had been an eventful few days, and since she wasn’t going out and Joel wasn’t due over, she figured she’d save the time and not bother getting dressed.

  Joel had left the day after the mission to go back to his downtown apartment. He said he just felt more at home there. Of course, Molly still needed a place to stay, and the safe house had kind of grown on her. She felt resistant to having somewhere nicer and homier. Plus, she wasn’t sure what the future would hold, so taking on a lease probably wasn’t sensible.

  The kitchen was cold, and atmosphere spilled through the cracks in the doors and windows whenever there was a hint of a sandblast. This planet had random sandstorms all the time, and yet the isolation of the place made her feel somewhat safe. As long as she had an XtraNET connection, she could deal with anything. Even when Joel had left, she barely thought about safety in a lonely place like this.

  Using military socks doubled up over her feet as slippers, she shuffled into the kitchen. Dirty dishes lay all around. She’d been absorbed in her planning, and washing up was a task that could be done when she was processing, not researching.

  She liked that Joel had let her be and gone back to town. But now she needed to speak with him. If they were going to take this next op he had sent her the file for, they were going to need another crewmember.

  And people were Joel's thing.

  Oz—he’s not picking up his holo. Is there another way to reach him?

  Sure. Let me see if he’s working on his home holo…. Yes, he was, just a moment ago. I’m flashing a notification on his screen.

  Great. What does it say?

  “Call Molly, dickwad.”

  Dickwad? Why is that appropriate?

  I dunno, I just thought I’d try it out. I haven’t quite figured out the qualities that make someone a “dickwad,” or an “asswanker,” or anything else you call people. It seems random, but I figured if I tried it, I’d get some social feedback and refine from there.

  Right. Remind me to have a talk with you about that later. Now, what’s going on? Why hasn’t he responded yet?

  Not sure. His system has been idle for three minutes now. Let me track his holo….

  You can do that?

  Sure.

  Molly plunked her half-finished cup of mocha on the counter, and considered warming it up.

  Molly, it looks like Joel is traveling southwest of his apartment. From his speed it looks like he’s in a car. Shall I try calling him again?

  No—wait! Can you give me access to the security cams in his building?

  Sure. For the last eight minutes?

  Perfect.

  Pulling them up on the holo now…

  Molly stepped back from the counter to see the image being projected against the kitchen cupboards.

  Okay, cross reference the people who live there and filter them out.

  I think I’ve got who you are looking for.

  Oz pulled up a still of the three Sarkians who had shown up at Joel’s door. two Estarians and one Ogg.

  I think our boy’s been taken, she realized right away.

  H16, towards Uptarlung

  Comprehending that Joel had been kidnapped, Molly flicked into operations mode. It was the mode Joel had seen many a time on exercises. When she switched, she stopped being a geek, and she became the effective pain in the ass the other team did not want to cross.

  Kieran, Joel’s second in command at the time, would joke that in that mode she would be able to take the general.

  He was probably right.

  And now she had Oz.

  Working together, Molly and Oz had tracked down the three goons and Joel, and knew exactly where they had stopped. Oz had pulled the schematics for the building while Molly dressed and prepped her gear.

  Now, flying through the traffic, Oz was deftly switching the signals and using traffic calming measures to smooth their passage downtown to a converted department store.

  It had been a theater, but
the basement wasn’t appropriate for stock storage for some reason. Molly surmised it was probably damp, but given the location of Joel’s holo, they most likely had him stashed there.

  Moments later, Molly pulled up alongside the building. There was a no-parking zone all along the front, and no way to get a car around the side.

  The kidnappers must have had some way of dropping him near a door.

  Oz, search the area for underground tunnels and parking garages.

  She signaled and slipped back into the traffic, keeping her eyes peeled for any way she could get back into the building.

  Got it. There’s a parking garage underneath the next building. Turn left next opportunity.

  Molly spotted the parking garage entrance. It was employees only.

  Oz, we’re going to need some electronic help here. She looked directly at the corrugated gate in front of her. Can you get us in?

  No sooner had she finished speaking than the gate started to rise.

  Easy…

  His tone was somewhat smug. Even for an AI.

  Hmm, thought Molly to herself. He was quick to catch on to arrogance. She wondered briefly about the development of personality, then remembered the stakes involved right now.

  Later, she told her inner geek.

  Driving around to the far side of the parking garage, she found a door. She ditched the car in a space, and quickly got out with her kit bag, slinging it over her shoulders as she jogged towards a door in the wall.

  The door was locked. She pushed against it, and pulled. She could feel it rattling.

  “Fucking arse of a wanker,” she hissed.

  There must be a way in.

  She bent down to inspect the handle. No lock. No push bar. No keypad.

  And then she saw it. Top right corner of the parking garage, there was a camera trained directly on the door.

  Fokk. Chances were she’d already been made.

  Oz… Can you…?

  On it.

  A moment later, the door clicked open.

  What about the camera feed?

  Adapting it now, and looping a static segment. If it wasn’t being viewed in real time, you’re fine.

  Molly slipped through the door and into total damp darkness.

  Downtown Uptarlung, Ii’tn Quarter

  Molly’s eyes started acclimatizing to the darkness. There was water underfoot, and a smell of mold and mildew.

  Let’s get this over with.

  Putting the signal up on your holo.

  Molly glanced down at the readout on her holo and started following the signal from Joel’s device, relieved that the kidnappers were too dumb to realize that he could be tracked. Unless…unless they thought he’d be working alone.

  As she got deeper into the darkness, she could hear voices. There was a clearing, and some light was coming from a makeshift lamp strung up somewhere near the voices.

  “Who are you working with?”

  There were gasps and splashes. It sounded like they were drowning him. Or waterboarding him…

  Djöfulsins óskapnaðar drulla! (Satan's disastrous shit!) We need to do something, Oz.

  Molly listened intently for clues as to what was going on and thought about how she could interrupt the proceedings.

  I don’t have any suggestions at this point.

  Molly didn’t respond. She was busy.

  Oz felt himself get pushed out of her circuits again. Well, his circuits, her neurology. She had gone into that zone again.

  Moments later she sprang into action, stealthily checking round the perimeter of the room. Though she hadn’t had ninja training, the martial arts she had done prepared her to walk lightly. Thinking on her feet was something inspired by The Bethany Anne Chronicles, which had also inspired her to hack more and more intel about how Bethany Anne would operate. BA could think on her feet, so fourteen-year-old Molly worked hard to figure out how to do the same.

  Right now, she’d just assessed that there were working electrical ports all around the room.

  Oz, is there a water system that opens out down here? It’s damp. Something is leaking; I want to know what.

  I have no way of knowing that.

  Okay, well is there a sprinkler system down here?

  Affirmative.

  Excellent, put a schematic up on my holo. She slipped behind a concrete pillar and shielded the light from her wristband, so as not to draw attention to herself prematurely.

  Flicking through the details of the building layout, she was quickly able to see which pipes were sprinklers, and from the wet and rust it looked like there was water in them.

  Thank fuck for that, she thought as she took a brief look around the pillar. She had no idea what her other options were.

  She bent down and opened her satchel, and rooted around for a few tools. She pulled them out along with the extra wire she would use for mule harness efforts. Next, she checked her kit bag for a little case. Oz had no idea what she was planning. He just stayed quiet, awaiting an order.

  She took a deep breath.

  Molly knew she wasn’t going to have many seconds between lighting the metaphorical fuse and time running out for Joel if she did this.

  This was it.

  Pulling her dart gun from the holster on her leg, she took two deep breaths to steady herself. Then she took a step out from behind the pillar and shot the dart above the heads of the Sarkian heavies, blowing open the pipe of the sprinkler.

  Water gushed out over all four of them, including Joel. Hands tied behind his back, his head had been repeatedly forced into a large tub of water.

  “How did you get in here?” a gruff Estarian started demanding through the spray.

  The Ogg started barking orders at the other two.

  “I’d stay right where you are if you know what’s good for you,” declared Molly. She’d moved near an electrical outlet, and was hoping the other two Estarians she had seen on the video weren’t hiding somewhere around.

  “Why, what are you going to do, little girl? Turn the lights on? Scared of the dark, are we?”

  “Nope, I’m going to run this wire,” she opened her hand, and the length of the wire dropped down into the puddle of water next to her feet, “and connect it up to the main supply of this building.”

  A look of panic spread across their faces. They looked down, realizing they were standing in several millimeters of water.

  “Unless you let my friend go,” she added.

  “Keep dreaming, sweetheart. You electrocute us, you electrocute him.”

  “Yes, I’m aware of that,” she smiled, clearly knowing something they didn’t.