As the chopper lifted off the ground, my eyes drifted over George, Nick, and Keep, sitting across from me, I was amazed at what a difference a few weeks could make in anybody’s life. From a dying, depressed young adult to flying headlong into danger with my sister’s ex-boyfriend, a retired Marine, a retired Army pilot, and a sort-of wizard from another galaxy—all of us on our way to hopefully save the universe from a tyrant.

  I laughed as I raised my left hand, using my right to tap on the bulge beneath my glove. “The Fellowship of the Ring.”

  “What?” George asked, confused.

  “Us. We’re like the Fellowship of the Ring. You know, Tolkien. Lord of the Rings. Like Smaug from the Hobbit?”

  “You’re reaching,” Nick said.

  “How is this a reach? We were all just thrown together to complete a goal. We all have specific skills that will help us meet that goal. We have Gandalf.” I motioned to Keep, then pointed at George. “Legolas. Bill is Gimli.”

  “How am I Gimli?” Bill asked. “I’m over six feet tall.”

  “But you’re built like a Gimli,” I replied.

  “So I’m Aragorn?” Nick asked.

  “No, you’re that other guy. The traitor. Boromir.”

  “Why can’t I be Aragorn?”

  “Because I’m Aragorn,” I said.

  “You can’t be Aragorn,” George interrupted. “You’re carrying the ring. That makes you Frodo.”

  The others started laughing.

  “I’m not Frodo,” I said. “I’m too tall and thin to be Frodo.”

  “But I’m Gimli?” Bill questioned, his lip curling in disgust.

  “You’re Frodo,” Nick said to me.

  “Frodo,” Bill confirmed.

  “More like Hondo,” Keep said.

  “Hondo?” George asked. “What’s that?”

  “It’s his intergalactic smuggler handle. He hates it.”

  “I’d rather be Frodo,” I said, cringing at the handle.

  “Hondo, it is,” Nick said, laughing.

  “Yep. If I’m Gimli, you’re Hondo,” Bill agreed.

  “This didn’t turn out the way I thought it would,” I said, laughing along with the others.

  The Black Hawk swung southwest, taking a more direct route toward the industrial park outside LA, once again staying away from populated areas as we made the trip. We bantered back and forth a bit more, using our Fellowship names and keeping things as light as possible until Bill told Keep to prep the FRIES.

  Keep whispered as he got to his feet, sleeve glowing beneath his shirt. He hadn’t reinserted it beneath the skin, instead molding it the other way like a true bracelet, the needle plunged into the top of his wrist. He used it to diminish the noise of the helicopter for its approach, the effort less efficient and less effective than it had been when he had connected the catalyst directly to the chopper.

  “Why don’t you just drop us down with sigiltech, too?” I asked as he stood and moved to the system near the door.

  “I could, but then I’d be weakening myself further for an outcome we can already achieve with ropes. Remember kid, just because you can use the sigiltech to do something doesn’t mean you should. Keep all the variables in mind.”

  “Right.”

  “Remember,” Keep continued, addressing all of us. “We only have about nine minutes to get in, get what we’re looking for, and get out, assuming somebody in that office calls the cops. We may need to get rough if they resist.”

  “I don’t want to hurt anybody who's just doing their job,” Nick said.

  “This is more important than a few bruises,” Keep replied.

  “We’re approaching the target,” Bill announced. “Get in position.”

  I removed my safety restraints, put on the thicker gloves to descend, and lined up last behind Nick. Like before, George would take point as we dropped onto the rooftop of the building where Exotic Mining’s main offices were located. We would need to move fast. Nine minutes wasn’t a lot of time.

  “We’re in position, Chief,” Keep said once we finished organizing. I could feel the helicopter slowing down, and the view from the chopper's open side door revealed large, low, squarish buildings surrounded by parking lots. Early evening meant a diminishing number of employees. We could only hope at least one person in the company had stayed a little late.

  “Coming over the target in five. Four. Three. Two. One. Go!”

  Bill’s voice still echoed in my ears as Keep dropped the rope out of the Black Hawk to the rooftop below. George wrapped his hands and feet around it and vanished as he corkscrewed downward, already on the roof by the time I reached the rope. I didn’t wait for Nick to land, stepping out and descending right behind him.

  George ran to the stairwell, halfway there by the time my feet hit the rubber weather proofing. Keep landed right beside me, his sleeve still glowing on his wrist.

  “You need to teach me that,” I said.

  “Right now, you’d be more likely to launch yourself into orbit than break your fall,” he replied, reminding me how poor my control over the sigiltech still was.

  We ran to the stairwell together. George had already jimmied open the locked door, revealing the stale-smelling access stairs beyond. Fortunately, we only needed to descend one floor, exiting the stairs into a bland corridor with a light gray carpet and white walls lined with equally boring landscape artwork. I could hear the Black Hawk outside the building, but the helicopter sounded much further away than I knew it was. Its volume diminished further as Bill pulled away, the distance freeing Keep to use his sleeve for other potential purposes.

  “What the hell?” someone nearby said. I turned to see a man in a suit standing a few feet away, the men’s room door closing behind him.

  CHAPTER 35

  “We're looking for Exotic Mining Group,” Nick said to the guy who'd come out of the men's room, as if we didn’t look at all out of place in flight suits.

  He stared back at us without speaking.

  “Singing telegram,” George said with a shrug. “This is what they paid for.”

  He looked us over, probably convinced of the lie by the flight suits and energy rifles that didn’t look at all like anything he had probably seen before.

  “Must be some news. End of the hall,” he said, pointing.

  “Have a nice day,” Nick said.

  We turned away from him, hurrying down the hall as the man left through the outer door. The windowless door to the EMG office was locked, keycard access normally required. Looking back over his shoulder, Keep made sure the corridor remained clear before putting his hand on the handle and whispering something under his breath. The entire handle frosted over beneath his grip, and when he forced it down, the lock mechanism shattered from the cold, giving us entry.

  “Thanks, Gandalf,” I said as we pushed into the office.

  A dozen connected cubicles occupied the center of the small space. A handful of larger offices lined the windowed corners of the perimeter, a break room on the interior. Despite the hour, the entire office seemed fully occupied. Twelve heads lifted from their desks to look at us.

  “Nobody move!” George growled, swinging his rifle toward them.

  “Do as he said…” Nick mimicked the move. “...and nobody gets hurt.”

  My eyes passed over the labels on the offices, pausing at Alonzo Dellacqua’s name. His office was empty, the lights out. Same for Colette Dellacqua. The other two offices were occupied, and I sprinted toward them as the woman behind one of the desks picked up her phone.

  It flew out of her hands and across the room, Keep smashing it against the wall.

  “Where’s your boss?” I asked the surprised woman, not pointing my weapon at her yet.

  “Wh…what is this? We’re just a mining company. We don’t have any money or valuable minerals here or anything.”

  “Alonzo Dellacqua,” I said. “Where is he?”

  “I…I don’t know. He hardly ever comes into the office.”

  “What about Colette Dellacqua?”

  “Same. I haven’t seen either of them in weeks. Please. I don’t know what you want, but we don’t have anything of value here.”

  “Au contraire,” Keep said, entering the office. “That depends on your definition of value. We’re here for information, which you’re going to provide.”

  “Information? I… I signed an NDA. I can’t discuss…”

  Keep used the sleeve to shove her chair back into the wall, which served to frighten her a little more. “You’re a mining company. That means you have mines. Correct?”

  “Y-yes.”

  “Where?”

  “I don’t see how—”

  “Where!” Keep shouted with a violent urgency I hadn’t seen from him before. Seven minutes and counting.

  “Three mines, near Baker to the north.”

  “I need exact coordinates. Latitude and longitude.”

  “I don’t know the coordinates.”

  “Are you logged into your computer?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can you get me the information I want?” He pushed her seat back to the desk. She had to catch herself with her hands against the desk to keep from crashing into it.

  “Keep,” I said, worried he was being a little too violent.

  “She complies, kid,” he replied. "Or she pays the price."

  I wanted to argue. There was a difference between being rough with someone difficult and someone compliant. We didn’t have time for me to lodge a complaint.

  The woman used the computer to bring up a map. “There,” she said, turning her monitor to face us. “Take what you need and go. Please.”

  Keep used his phone to snap a photo. “What are you mining for?” he asked as he looked at the map.

  “Lithium,” she replied. “For batteries.”

  “Mmm-hmm. How long have you worked here?”

  “Seven years now. Since they first opened this office.”

  “And what do you do?”

  “We work with acquisition, permitting, licensing. I don’t know what any of this has to do with anything.”

  “Colette Dellacqua,” I said. “What do you know about her?”

  “She’s the head of human resources. She hired me. She’s a nice young woman. Very kind. Her father, Alonzo Dellacqua, is also a kind and generous man. I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”

  “Where’s the processing facility?” Keep asked.

  “The what?” the woman replied.

  “Where does the lithium go after you mine it?”

  “Oh. I. I uh. I don’t know. I’m only the office manager.”

  “Who here knows the answer to my question?”

  “Mr. Shinzo handles post-excavation. He works remotely. He doesn’t even have a desk here.”

  “And nobody here works with him?”

  “No.”

  “This is all bullshit,” Keep decided.

  “What do you mean? The mines are there.”

  “Nope. I don’t think so.”

  “Those are the coordinates,” the woman added. “I swear. If you give me a minute, I can pull up the paperwork.” She reached for the keyboard.

  “Don’t touch that,” Keep growled.

  “Keep, we don’t have time for games,” I said.

  “Move, lady,” Keep growled, circling the desk and pulling the monitor back around. She moved her chair aside, and he leaned in, using the mouse to zoom out in a satellite view to navigate the area. “There.” He pointed to a building to the north of the mines. “That’s the facility. But it’s too far north to be very efficient for the other coordinates.” He zoomed out again, tilted his head slightly. “Bingo!” He took a new picture of the screen.

  “What?” I asked again.

  He ran his finger along the monitor, tracing an outline of the geography. “What does that look like to you, kid?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied at first, before I realized the pattern he was drawing. “Oh. It’s an impact crater.”

  “Sure is. And there’s a national park sitting on top of it. I’ll make you a million dollar bet EMG is mining illegally and using their legal mines as cover.”

  “We’re doing no such thing!” the woman cried.

  “How do you know?” Keep asked.

  “Mr. Dellacqua would never—”

  “You don’t know enough about Mr. Dellacqua to have any idea what he would or wouldn’t do. Who’s your IT guy in this place?”

  “Mia,” she replied.

  “Take us to her.”

  The woman hesitated. Keep raised his eyebrows, and she hopped to her feet. “This way.”

  She guided us back into the main office, where the people sat at their desks with their hands behind their heads. George and Nick circled them, covering them with their rifles.

  “Why is everyone still here?” Keep asked. “It’s almost six.”

  “Mr. Dellacqua put everyone on overtime to finish up some logistical planning.”

  “Everyone here works in logistics?”

  “No. That section is logistics.” She pointed to four people at the corner of the cubes. “But he said to hold back everyone, so I did. We need to speed up some of our timelines, he said.”

  Keep glanced at me. We had spooked Dellacqua enough that whatever he was doing, he wanted it done faster.

  “This is Mia,” the woman said, stopping behind a petite Asian woman with short hair died silver. She had three earrings in each ear, a sharp contrast to her conservative white blouse and long black pencil skirt.

  Mia glanced nervously at us. “Can I help you?”

  “Indeed, Mia, you can,” Keep answered. “I want you to log my friend here into your intranet with full root privileges.”

  Her mouth gaped open. “I…I can’t do that.”

  “Even if refusing means getting a bullet in your head?” Keep asked.

  I turned the muzzle of my rifle toward her, though I didn’t put my finger near the trigger as she turned back to her computer and quickly remote-connected to the intranet server. “Do you have tape backups?” I asked.

  “No,” she answered. “Mr. Dellacqua refused any backups. I warned him we could lose all of our data, but—”

  “I want you to delete it,” I said.

  “Delete what?”

  “Everything.”

  Her face flushed. “I can’t—”

  “Do it!” I snapped. “All of it.”

  I watched her enter commands, making sure they were the right ones to erase the server. I was pretty sure they did have another copy, probably at the processing facility. At least for the data they wanted to save. Data about the catalyst and the elements they’d mined to recreate the exotic compound.

  “What about the workstations?” Nick asked.

  “Pull them out and blast them,” Keep said. “Everybody in the break room. Now.”

  “You heard him,” George said. “Get up. Go to the break room.”

  I let Mia squeeze past me. She had done her part, setting the delete in motion.

  “We’ve got three minutes,” Keep said.

  “Less than that,” Nick replied, looking out the window. I turned to look too, spotting flashing lights in the distance. No doubt coming our way.

  “George, Ben, shoot the desktops and the phones,” Keep said. “Nick, check the employees. Confiscate their mobiles. I have the coordinates.”

  Before we could do anything, the door to the office swung open. An armed security guard rushed in, pointing his handgun at Keep. “Nobody move.”

  Keep didn’t move his lips, but I heard the focus word under his breath. The gun jumped out of the guard’s hand, coming to Keep. He caught it and turned it on the man.

  “What the—?” he said, terrified by the move. “Please. Don’t hurt me.”

  “In the breakroom,” Keep said, using the gun to lead the guard away before turning back to us. “Take out the desktops. Hurry.”

  I shot the computer at the desk next to Mia’s, putting three holes in it. George and Nick followed my lead, shooting all of the computers at the cubes and moving on to the offices. We were fortunate there were no paper files. Everything was digital and in the process of being wiped.

  “It’s almost time to go,” Keep said.

  “Chief,” I said, contacting Bill through the comms. “We’re finished up here. Ready for retrieval.”

  “Copy that, Hondo,” Bill replied. “On my way.”

  George and I finished shooting the computers, taking out Mia’s desktop last. Keep backed away from the breakroom, holding his hand out toward it, the sigils on his sleeve still illuminated.

  “Come on,” he said. “George, take point.”

  He rushed out the door. We didn't have to go far to reach the stairwell. Taking up the rear again, I noticed the guard try to get out of the breakroom just before I left the office. He came up against an invisible wall, pushing against it like a mime without breaking through.

  The Black Hawk came in fast, loud, and low—rattling the windows of the building as I entered the stairwell—quickly ascending one floor to the rooftop. I watched Keep go up first, pushing himself off the ground and arcing gracefully into the open door. I was jealous of his fine-grained control over the strange technology, and seeing how smoothly he used it left me more determined than ever to master it.

  Once on the chopper, he turned and pulled us up, one by one, getting us back inside more efficiently than using the FRIES system. While it could also do a quick extraction, we hadn’t trained in both ingress and egress. As soon as we were all seated, Bill pulled the helicopter up and away from the rooftop. Looking down, I could barely see the flashing lights of police cars through a thick cover of fog that had enveloped the parking lots around the building. I glanced at Keep, who smirked arrogantly.

  “You need to teach me that too,” I said.

  “I’m going to teach you everything I know, kid,” he replied. “Just stay alive long enough to learn it. Billy, I’ve got the location. Northeast toward Baker. Badabing badaboom.”

  “Copy that,” Bill replied. “Hold on.” He made a quick turn to orient the chopper in the right direction, opening the throttle to get us there in a hurry.

  A new race was on. Could we get to the processing plant before someone in the EMG office got hold of both a phone and their boss’ number?