His teammates murmured their support for their number two, but Dante’s gaze remained on Boz. “What’s going to happen to him?”

  “He’ll be detained until the mission is over,” I said. “But first, did anyone else have a similar encounter?” I turned and walked down the line of Magnum and Gaia, searching everyone’s faces. “Whether it was this blond guy or someone else, did anyone ask you to spy for them?” Both teams replied in the negative. I repeated the question again to be sure, but they were all telling the truth.

  “Uh, boss?” Rusty called.

  I glanced over. “What’s up?”

  “I sorta had a visit from a blond-haired guy, too,” he said meekly. “Right before I was released from Centurion’s custody.”

  I approached him until I was towering over him. “And you didn’t tell anyone?”

  “He said the same thing to me,” Rusty blubbered. “That he couldn’t guarantee my kids’ safety if I didn’t send him updates. He gave me this, but I never used it, I swear.” He pulled a small radio from an ammo pouch and handed it to me. “I-I checked it out. There’s no transponder or GPS, it’s just a two-way. He doesn’t get any info unless I activate it, and I never planned on doing that. Swear to God, boss.”

  “Were you going to say anything to me?” I growled.

  “He told me he’d know if I did. Said he had someone else working on the inside.” He glanced down at Boz. “I-I didn’t want anything to happen to my boys. Little Hodge just had his seventh birthday!”

  “Are you going to detain him too?” Dante asked.

  The rest of Magnum muttered their agreement and pressed closer.

  I glared at Rusty for another moment before turning to Purdy, who was watching from the periphery. Back at the hospital, I had shared my suspicions with him about Boz, and he’d given me the go-ahead to follow up, trusting my lupine perceptions. He’d also arranged for Daniela to be transferred to the home of a retired doctor, the last place Fein or her mercenaries would think to look for her.

  “Can you protect Rusty’s family?” I asked him now.

  “I’m on it,” he replied, tapping on his phone.

  Meanwhile, the protests among team Magnum were growing louder. “That’s bogus, man!” one of them complained. “How can you bust Boz like that but then give your own guy a free pass?”

  “It does seem unjust,” Dante said.

  Sarah stepped between us. “Rusty never contacted them.”

  “Yeah,” Olaf grunted, joining her along with Takara and Yoofi.

  “So, that’s it?” Dante said. “Just because he’s your friend, he walks? What happened to the Front?”

  Jana stepped toward me. “They have a point.”

  As members of team Magnum voiced their agreement, my own teammates began raising their voices back. Olaf shoved someone. Members of team Gaia joined forces with Magnum, sounding off for the first time.

  Croft stood silently to one side, but his nervous glances at me suggested he was fully aware of the precariousness of my situation. With everything at stake, I was on the verge of losing control of our team—hell, of losing the team entirely. It seemed I had a couple choices, either ditch our tech wiz or keep Boz. But Rusty was essential to the mission, and Boz could have gotten everyone killed.

  I decided on a third option. “Shut up!”

  My roaring command reverberated off the concrete walls and crashed back through the sudden silence. I lifted my foot from Boz’s chest and stalked between the teams, forcing them apart.

  “I get that he was put in a challenging position,” I said, aiming a talon down at Boz. “But he still compromised us. He compromised the Front. The consequences could have been deadly.” I swung my talon toward Rusty. “He didn’t. It’s as simple as that. Boz is out, Rusty’s in. That’s my decision.”

  I glared around, searching for opposition. Dante and his team were cowed, but they still didn’t look convinced. Neither did Jana and several members of Gaia.

  Boz pushed himself to a sitting position.

  “He’s right,” he huffed, stopping to catch his breath. “I screwed up. I should’ve asked for help. Should’ve thought of the team instead of yours truly.” He raised his chastened eyes to Dante. “I appreciate you getting my back, but I’m out. You’re Magnum’s number one now. Do what Captain Wolfe says.”

  “We’ll get protection for your family,” I told him.

  Boz nodded wearily, then signaled for Purdy’s men to come take him. As they led him away, he said, “Give ’em hell, guys.”

  I turned back to the team. “Can we proceed with the mission plan?”

  When I got nods in response, I pointed to Director Beam, who had remained out of the fray.

  “You’re up,” I told him.

  29

  Director Beam cleared his throat and glanced nervously around. His natural habitat was a corporate suite, not a warehouse sublevel on Houston’s seedier side, addressing a team of renegades. As if to divert attention from himself, he indicated the drawings he’d taped to the wall beside some aerial images.

  “This is the layout of the operation site,” he said. “The entrance is disguised by a building that looks like a hangar. That’s how internal communications refer to it, in fact. ‘The Hangar.’ It also serves as a storage area for mining vehicles and equipment, all hidden from the air. To further conceal the nature of the site and to make it appear largely idle, workers and operators are bussed in for their shifts.”

  “Sounds like Area 51,” Rusty muttered.

  “That’s right!” Dante said excitedly, seeming to have forgotten his beef with Rusty from just moments before. “With the aliens and the ships.”

  “Which is what we’re trying to keep from happening here,” I growled. “Let him talk.”

  “Inside the Hangar, there’s a causeway to an underground facility,” Beam continued, hovering a pencil over his diagram. “The opening is in the floor, secured by a retractable door. The underground is comprised of three main sections, each separated by a lock. Section 1 is for personnel—dormitories, offices, mess hall. Section 2 is a large machine shop, where equipment is modified and repaired. Section 3 is an anteroom. There, a twenty-ton steel blast door opens onto Engineering. That area contains the electromagnetic technology that makes the wormhole function. A spur leads to this command and control building, the only site where the system can be shut down.”

  “And it can’t be done remotely?” I asked again. That would make mission planning a hell of a lot simpler.

  “No,” Beam confirmed. “For security purposes, my—that is, the director wanted the Project to be self-contained.” He had almost slipped. At his request, we’d agreed to keep the part about his mother out of the mission planning.

  “What’s at the end of the causeway?” Takara asked.

  “Another blast door,” Beam said. “Beyond is ground zero for the Project—the Crios moon. There should be no need to access it.”

  “So, they’re really mining a frigging moon from Earth?” Dante asked. “That’s dope.” The rest of his team agreed enthusiastically.

  Takara frowned. “Going back to security, what can we expect?”

  “Outside the Hangar, the Project relies mostly on passive detection systems,” he said. “Part of keeping a low profile. On the inside, however, security teams of ten to twenty guard the Hangar all the way to Section 3. They’re military trained and armed by Centurion.”

  “So, what’s the plan?” Dante asked. “Storm the joint, guns blazing?”

  We were getting into my part of the mission plan, and Beam nodded at me to take over. “It’s going to be more of a stealth operation,” I said, stepping forward. “Any offense we use will be nonlethal. Remember, the security is comprised of men and women contracted to do a job. I doubt they have any idea what they’re protecting. Plus, most of the personnel inside will be unarmed civilians.”

  “Well, that’s no fun,” a member of Magnum grumbled.

  “Our objective is to place Rusty in here,” I said, tapping the command and control building on Beam’s diagram. “He’s going to shut the system down, but he needs time to do it properly. The wormhole relies on anchoring and driver nodes. As events have already shown, it’s a highly unstable arrangement.”

  “I could just throw the switch,” Rusty put in, “but that’s liable to bring on the apocalypse all by itself.”

  “How are you going to get him inside?” Jana asked me.

  I pointed to a folder of printed headshots on a table. “Using facial recognition, we’ve ID’d several workers. Their educational backgrounds and work experience give us best guesses as to where they operate inside the Hangar.” I indicated an area map now. “Using old aerial images, Purdy’s team plotted the bus route. Workers are picked up here, in a city garage fifteen miles away. They’re driven into the Hangar, where they transfer to personnel carriers that take them underground.”

  “Great for them, but how does that help us?” Jana pressed.

  “Croft here has perfected a spell called transmogrification,” I said. “Using hair samples from the contractors, he can craft potions that will transform any one of us into their likeness for a short period.”

  A light of understanding went on in her eyes while whoas sounded from Magnum.

  “But here’s the thing,” I said. “The command and control room requires a biometric scan. And to create a biological match to the target, and not just a likeness, requires a high degree of magical precision. Practically speaking, that means Croft will only be able to transmogrify one of us, and that person has to be Rusty.”

  “Sorry, guys,” Croft said with a wave.

  “No, that’s huge by itself,” I said. “Placing Rusty in command and control is the key to everything. But once he starts powering down the system, alarms will sound. It’s to warn the miners to clear the Crios moon. We want that. Innocent contractors, remember? But the alarm will draw engineers and ultimately guards to Rusty’s position, meaning we need a buffer around him to hold them off while he works.”

  “It’s gonna take me twenty minutes, minimum,” Rusty said.

  “That’s where our other magic user comes in.” I nodded at Yoofi. “He can’t transmogrify, but he can cloak, which is the next best thing. Under his spell, we’ll slip in alongside the transport. Small teams will post in each section of the Hangar, with a reaction force on standby. I’ll be going into the command and control building with Rusty. When the alarm sounds, we’ll be in position to neutralize the local response. By the time outside forces arrive, we should be done.”

  “Can’t they just turn the system back on?” Jana asked.

  “Not with the bug I’ll be burying in the software,” Rusty said mischievously.

  “I’ll also be working on something,” Purdy put in, prompting Beam to look over nervously.

  “You’re talking about a lot of people,” Dante said. “Can Yoofi really cloak that many of us?”

  “With some help,” I replied. “The lumina we’ve been using isn’t just a weapon. It can also boost the power of a god. A small lumina offering to his patron, Dabu, will give Yoofi extra juice for casting. The resulting cloaking spell will get us into the building covertly and fully armed. Right, Yoofi?”

  “Yes, Mr. Wolfe,” he answered confidently.

  “And how do we get out again?” Dante asked.

  “The locks between sections require special security procedures to open from the outside,” I said. “From the inside, it’s as simple as hitting a button. That’s true even of the blast doors, which feature emergency releases for quick exiting. The security system was designed to keep people out, not in. We’ll have a couple predetermined points outside where Purdy’s team will arrive to extract us.”

  Finding no fault, Dante nodded. “Sounds legit.”

  “Before we get into the mission specifics, are there any big picture questions or concerns?” I asked.

  Teams Gaia and Magnum remained quiet, but Beam surprised me by raising his hand. When I nodded at him, he said, “With Purdy here still officially unaccounted for, I’m concerned there will be extra security at the Hangar.”

  Purdy chuckled. “Well, that’s easily fixed.”

  Beam’s smooth brow folded. “How so?”

  “Report me captured and have me brought in. Voilà.” He opened his hands as if he’d just performed a magic trick. “I’m no longer a threat.”

  “That seems unnecessarily risky,” I grunted.

  “It’s something I’ve been considering,” Purdy said. “Director Beam is right, you see. My capture would shift the lion’s share of attention from the Hangar to me. It would be in the best interest of the mission.”

  “They could kill you,” I pointed out.

  Purdy removed his handkerchief and patted his thin-lipped smile. “Not before they determine what I know, and that could take hours. By then, it will be too late. Remember what I told you about backups?”

  One must always have backups, he’d said at the hospital. And backups for the backups.

  Trusting he knew what he was doing, I gave a reluctant nod. “Anyone else?”

  “When do we move?” Jana asked.

  “That depends.” I turned back to Purdy. “What’s the status on our engineer?”

  With only one shot at a transmogrification spell, we’d singled out the person most likely to work inside the command and control building and placed a team on him. We needed his hair for the spell as well as a guarantee he wouldn’t show up while Rusty was playing doppelganger.

  “Tranquilized and in our custody,” Purdy replied.

  “We move tonight, then,” I announced.

  30

  From my position in the trees, I glassed the Hangar. Lights glinted from the metallic exterior in the growing dusk. A gravel lot to one side held a handful of cars. Other than the pair of guards manning a large door, nothing stood out, definitely nothing to indicate the massive operation going on inside.

  Exactly what Fein had wanted.

  My radio crackled. “Buddy’s here.”

  I looked over my shoulder at the large team assembled behind me. “Buddy’s here,” I repeated.

  “Buddy” was the bus with the arriving shift workers. Rusty was among them, transformed into a replica of our target. While Professor Croft had been performing that feat of magic, Yoofi had spun a powerful cloaking spell around the rest of us, enabling us to establish a position only a half mile from the Hangar. Now, with the sound of the approaching bus growing in my hearing, it was time to move.

  I pocketed the scope and took my MP88 into both hands. “Hit us again,” I told Yoofi.

  Our magic user stepped from between Takara and Olaf with his staff. “Yes, Mr. Wolfe.”

  He’d made his lumina offering to Dabu hours earlier, and already the growth in his casting abilities was evident. His coat stirred around him as he raised his black blade. The discharging energy swept through our numbers and strengthened the field that concealed us. Every time I blinked, it felt like I was going to disappear from existence. That was how powerful his magic had become.

  Yoofi lowered his staff, nodding to say it was done.

  “Stay together,” I reminded everyone as I moved off.

  Sarah, Yoofi, and Olaf followed, as well as Dante, Gaia, and their respective teams. Takara took rear.

  We emerged from the wooded plot at the same moment the bus passed. We pursued it in two columns, jogging down the final quarter mile of road. Purdy’s team had used aerial surveillance to measure the average time between a bus’s arrival and its entrance into the Hangar. Our goal was to arrive just as the door was opening. I radioed the member of Purdy’s team monitoring the action from the air.

  “How do we look?” I asked.

  “Can’t see a thing,” he replied. “You’re clear.”

  We’d run tests back at the warehouse. Yoofi’s cloaking spell had fooled several forms of passive detection, including seismic surveillance, but that was no excuse to get sloppy.

  Ahead, the bus slowed toward a guard booth set in a fenced perimeter, the way beyond obstructed by a line of bollards. While the driver spoke to the guard, the second guard remained back, covering the bus. I watched closely. Extra personnel or procedures would indicate that security remained heightened.

  A moment later, the bollards sank into the road. Ahead, the large door to the Hangar slid open. Purdy’s gambit had worked, it seemed. But with him in Centurion’s custody, every second mattered.

  “Pick it up,” I urged my teammates.

  The bus idled another moment before pulling forward, allowing us to close the distance. As we passed the booth, I glanced over. The guard inside was entering something on a tablet and never looked up.

  Our two columns threaded the rising bollards and caught up to the bus, which had slowed again. We took positions on either side of it and entered the Hangar as a single unit.

  The interior was a large, high space that held rows of mining vehicles. I immediately spotted the security team. Dressed in battle armor, they watched the bus circle a roundabout, assault rifles in down-ready positions.

  We trotted beside the bus until it came to a stop. The door folded open, and workers disembarked, filing toward a guard stationed near a personnel carrier. He scanned their IDs with a handheld reader, greeting workers with a familiar nod.

  Rusty was the last to disembark. Though I’d seen Croft’s transmogrification magic in action before, this was mind-blowing. Our wiry tech wiz was now an overweight engineer with an unkempt shock of curly hair. He nearly tripped over his own Velcro shoes as he rushed to catch the back of the line.

  Beyond a crooked pair of glasses, his close-set eyes searched for us. But with Yoofi’s concealing magic between us, Rusty couldn’t see a thing. That seemed to make him more anxious. To preserve his cover, we hadn’t risked arming him or even equipping him with a hidden radio. He was entirely dependent on us getting inside with him.

  “Bongers!” the guard barked.