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  Knotts nodded. “Right. Fungus-amongus technique.”

  Piles looked at him questioningly.

  Knotts got up and walked to the door. “Keep ‘em in the dark, and feed them shit.”

  Piles shook his head, closing his eyes briefly.

  “Oh, and Carl,” Knotts turned back to look at Piles, waiting for the question. “You’ll be handling this yourself, of course?”

  “Yes, of course,” he confirmed. “You stay out of it, though. We don’t want her to be able to nail all our balls to this.”

  Piles nodded appreciatively.

  Knotts stepped out into the corridor. Considering Piles often came across similar to his namesake, an infliction on the lining of an asshole, he was still his friend.

  “Plus,” he called back. “It would be prudent that one of us stays out of this mess to pick up the pieces… after it all blows to shit.”

  The sliding doors closed, leaving the conference room quiet.

  Piles sat back in his ergonomically designed chair, feeling like he was going to dodge a bullet after all.

  Gaiman-67, Safe house, Conference Room

  Molly was sitting on the table in the conference room, legs crossed in a yogi position. Though her eyes were closed and her back was to the door to avoid distractions, the frown across her forehead and her slightly squinted eyes said it all to anyone watching.

  This lady was not enjoying the transcendental experience of becoming one with the veil.

  Joel walked past the conference room door and saw a figure on the table out of the corner of his eye. Having already passed the door, he took a step backwards.

  And then another.

  And another, to peer inside.

  He saw it was Molly.

  Nope, he thought to himself, and willed himself away from the door handle. I’m not going to ask.

  He took a couple of paces forward.

  No, I’m not going to ask, he told himself again.

  He took a step forward.

  He stopped. And then backed up again.

  He paused.

  Oh, fuck it.

  He turned back and opened the door into the conference room. The sound of the opening door caused Molly to spin around suddenly. Her scowl accused him of a thousand sins.

  Joel couldn’t help but smile. “So you’re, erm… meditating now?” One mocking eyebrow rose as he looked at her.

  “Yes. And you’re disturbing my zi,” she snapped.

  “Now, now, we both know your zi was zipped long before I disturbed it,” he grinned. “So why, pray tell, are you suddenly meditating? I didn’t think you were into all that realm stuff?”

  “I’m trying something new,” she said, eyeing him up and down.

  Damn, she has a way of making a guy feel self-conscious, he realized. Did she mean that he didn’t try anything new? He wondered. Shit. How, in one sentence, did this become about himself and his lack of aspirations? Joel, get a grip! he instructed himself.

  Joel paused, then his face lit up. “Oh, my ancestors! You’re trying to dimension walk!” It made sense now. For a second he thought she was going after inner peace. “Like those creepy things in the basement!”

  “I’m not,” she protested, looking a little awkward in her skin. “I’m just trying to understand what all this realm stuff is about.”

  “You’re not!” Joel wagged his finger. “I’m onto you, Bates. You never do anything without a direct reason for it.” He was grinning like a Cheshire cat now, on the offensive in the teasing. “You’re trying to figure it out so you can reverse engineer it… aren’t you?”

  She blushed, and knocked a strand of hair out of her face.

  Molly had nowhere to go. Joel was onto her. And she was floored by how easily he could get a read on her.

  “So what if I am?” she admitted reluctantly.

  “Interesting,” he cooed.

  And with that, he turned on his heels, and left the room, closing the door behind him.

  Molly watched him go, frustrated by her own mental unquiet, as well as by the way he understood her better than she did herself.

  The stray hair fell down in her face again, and she blew upwards to move it, with very little lasting result.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Gaitune-67, Safe house, Gym

  Molly released the weights she was bench-pressing, and they crashed back onto the rack. Paige jumped back, barely suppressing a girly squeal.

  Crash looked over in amusement, which quickly turned to respect when he noticed the weight she’d just dropped.

  “Looks like you’re making progress on that thing!” he called over.

  “Thanks!” she breathed. His beating of the punching bag had kept her psychologically motivated, but now that he had finished his cardio and was about to leave, she suddenly felt more fatigued.

  “You done?” she asked him, a hint of disappointment creeping into her voice.

  “Yeah. Gonna hit the showers.” He waved to the two girls as he headed out of their basement gym.

  Paige smiled at Molly. “You have been increasing the weight you’re pressing quite a lot each time. He’s right. You got this.”

  “You make a great cheerleader,” Molly told her affectionately.

  Paige clutched both her hands together awkwardly and to her chest. “Aww…” she cooed, her manner almost matching the pink cardigan she was sporting.

  Molly got up from the bench. “Want me to spot you?” she asked, taking a drink of water.

  Paige’s face turned from one of a beaming angel to that of a panicked damsel. “Oh. No. No thanks. I’ll break a nail or something.”

  Molly chuckled. “You know you don’t need to be afraid of the weights. It’s just good for resistance training.”

  “No. I’m good. Thank you. I’ll stick with those other machines for resistance and cardio in one.” Paige waved her hand over to the array of other machines that Crash and Brock had ordered up and then installed over the last few weeks.

  The ones she had not even attempted to mount, nor seriously had any intention of using.

  “Okay,” shrugged Molly brightly. She knew Paige was taking her training seriously in other ways, and as long as she stayed in shape for the missions, how she did it was entirely up to her.

  “Yo!” Joel popped his head around the corner. “Not to interrupt your gossiping,” he paused, contemplating teasing them about how they always seemed to be talking rather than working out in the gym, “but we have a case.”

  Paige and Molly exchanged glances.

  “Someone has asked for you specifically,” he told her.

  Molly looked behind her and then pointed at herself. “Huh? Me?”

  “Yep. By name.” Joel looked just as surprised as Molly as he explained to her. “Something about you being the ‘foremost expert’ on some gene shit. I have the details upstairs when you’re ready.”

  Molly looked at Paige and shrugged. She went to sit down on the bench again.

  Paige grinned at how unaffected she was by the accolade. I wonder if she’s on the spectrum, she thought to herself idly.

  “Looks like there is big money in it,” Joel coaxed.

  “Uh huh.” Molly had lain down to do another set. Paige stood in position again to spot her.

  He tried again. “It’s dangerous.”

  Molly had her hands on the bar and was about to lift, but she stopped in her tracks.

  “And without you, thousands of people are probably going to die,” he finished.

  He’s got you.

  Shut up, Oz.

  Girl, he can play you like a -

  Shut UP.

  Seriously. It’s like he OWNS you.

  OZ!!!!! SHUT THE FUCK UP OR I’M FORMATTING YOU.

  Her head went quiet.

  She paused, her eyes locked onto the bar, as if her mind were processing something else. Then after a moment, she released her hands, and sat up.

  “Okay. Lemme hit the showers and eat, and I’ll be right u
p.”

  “I think it’s really urgent,” Joel was in ops mode, now he had confirmation they were taking the case.

  Paige jumped in to help. “You shower and get up to the conference room, and I’ll have a protein shake and Stim drink waiting for you.”

  “Wow!” Molly was impressed. “Okay, sweet. I could totally get used to this.”

  She swung her towel over her shoulder and, downing her water, paced out of the gym to go and get herself ops-ready.

  Joel gave Paige a thumbs-up and headed back up to the conference room.

  Paige smiled to herself.

  She didn’t care that it was just a protein shake… She was part of something bigger and way more meaningful than her job on Estaria. And besides, if she could keep training and prove herself as a core member of this team, maybe they’d trust her with more than just the purchasing and the sports drinks. She smiled to herself as she tidied a few pieces of equipment away, and then made her way up to the kitchen.

  Life on Gaitune-67 was so very, very goooooood!

  Gaitune-67, Safe house, Conference room

  “Yo! I. Is. Here!” Brock announced his arrival, his beloved antigrav flask in hand as he closed the door and took a seat at the table where the rest of the team was assembled.

  “Okay, great. Let’s get started.” Molly clasped her hands together over the quieting chatter, her arms resting on the desk. “We’ve got a case.” She paused, and looked over at Joel. “On the surface, it seems like an R&D job for myself; but what we’ve already realized in our communications with the client is that actually it’s high stakes.”

  There was a hush; she had their rapt attention.

  “The client has had a vial of toxin stolen. A toxin that would render the entire city of Spire sick, and then very dead. The death rate will be 88% if we don’t intervene with an antidote.”

  She looked over at Brock and Crash. “We’re going to have to get our arses down to the client’s lab to pick up samples and confer with their team of scientists to figure out exactly what we’re dealing with.” She turned to look at the rest of them. “But the reality is they’ve violated the Billingham Convention by developing this in the first place. So this could bring all kinds of heat down on them - and us - if anyone outside this team were to get wind of what is happening. This means discretion is of the utmost importance.”

  “Yeah, Crash,” started Brock, leaning over and nudging the arm of his teammate. “So that means no telling your mom in your vlogs!”

  Crash smiled without humor. “Yeah, and no announcing it on your geek-boards, dickwad.”

  Molly looked at them sternly. “I’m serious, fellas. Unless you want me to rain violence down on you.”

  Paige chipped in. “Yeah, and she’s bench pressing more than Brock right now!” She all but stuck her tongue out at the boys as she spoke.

  Brock dropped his eyes. ”Yes, ma’am.”

  “Honestly,” said Crash in his usual unemotional manner, “we have very little contact with the outside would. I don’t know who any of us could tell.”

  Crash is forgetting his late night chats with Chantelle.

  Hmm, chats? So a local?

  Yes.

  Anything else I need to know?

  Not at this time.

  Thanks, Oz.

  “Who’s Chantelle?” Molly asked Crash.

  He blushed, taking her point, and dropping his eyes.

  “Well, okay then,” she said, eyes slightly wider than normal, backing away from the subject. She shook her head clear of the thoughts that had materialized in her brain. “Time is of the essence,” she continued, “and we’ve not done an op together before… so we’re going to be figuring it out as we go along.”

  She nodded to Joel, who took over.

  “The client, Ventus Research, have had two scientist go missing. Finding them is not our mandate. But we need to be aware that there may be law enforcement poking around. Our job is to get down there, get the intel we need, get samples of the toxin, get back, and develop the antidote.”

  Molly said, “Joel will be staying on the surface to help with deploying the antidote once we’ve got it sequenced…”

  Joel interjected “… yeah, and I’ll also be interviewing a new team member. Just FYI. It’s not important to the mission, so if we need to drop that meeting, that’s okay.”

  Molly scanned around the table observing her very quiet team. “Any questions so far?” she asked.

  There was a pause, and then Crash spoke, looking more or less recovered from being outed for having a “friend”.

  “When do you want to leave?” he asked, the glint in his eye revealing that he was ready to be flying again.

  “As soon as we can,” she responded. “When can you have us lifting off?”

  “Couple of hours. Max.”

  “Okay, make it so,” she said, nodding to him. “Two hours, people,” she announced to the group.

  “Hang on,” Joel raised his hand at shoulder height to signal to the troops not to move. “I think it’s worth looping them in on why we have this case. It may become important.”

  Molly paused, reluctant to share. Sensing her hesitation, Joel continued.

  “Okay. So, Molly was requested specifically because she is the person in the Central System who is uniquely qualified to handle this task. Molly wrote her thesis on exactly the toxin that we’re going to be tackling, so she is the one best equipped to develop the antidote.”

  Molly’s head was bowed and Paige could see a little section where her chest was exposed turn a deep red.

  The team gave a mini round of applause.

  Joel kept talking. “I, for one, wanted you to know who your boss is.” He paused and looked at Molly again, before turning back to the team. “But also - stay alert. This may be relevant. I don’t want to be paranoid, but better paranoid and safe. This toxin may be a way to pull us out of hiding. Do I think we’ve caused certain powers enough of a problem for them to go to such lengths? No. Not yet. And there would be easier ways to draw us out. But there is no such thing as a coincidence; not in this game, and not with these stakes. So keep your eyes peeled, and pay attention to everything that might be remotely connected. Do we understand?”

  The team made a series of yeses and yes sirs.

  “Okay, great. Molly, want to tell us who is doing what?”

  Molly had managed to compose herself, though her chest was still a little flushed. She cleared her throat gently before she started speaking again.

  “Sure.”