“Keep moving,” Cassidy replied, walking quickly down the hall, his weapon back in ready position.

  They followed the passage another thirty feet and turned right at the next intersection.

  “Contact,” Jessica said over the comm. “A single patroller.”

  “Disabled,” Jazz said a moment later. “We’re clear.”

  “Cassidy, sensors are going off at your stairwell,” Shell said. “Correction. Both stairwells.”

  “Told you,” Garrett said.

  “Get out of sight, try to slip past them,” Cassidy said. “They can waste their time looking down here while we’re headed topside.”

  “Copy,” Jessica said.

  Cassidy spotted a pair of doors a short distance ahead. He knew from the blueprint that one led into the staff dining area and kitchens, the other to an exit out from the north side that wrapped around and doubled back to the stairs. “This way.”

  He and Garrett hustled to the door. Cassidy opened it slowly, checking the room for occupants before entering. The smell of recently cooked food still lingered in the room, but there were no people sitting at any of the dozen tables spread across the open floor plan. Windows along the west side revealed the flashing lights of police rotos hovering outside the spire, though he couldn’t see any of the vehicles from his location.

  “There’s another exit through the kitchen,” Cassidy said, heading for the door leading into the preparation area.

  Garrett started to follow him, pausing a moment later. “Cover!” he snapped, ducking behind an island in the center of the floor. Cassidy did the same, getting down just as the door into the dining room swung open, a unit of guards filing through, quickly spreading out and sweeping the room with their rifles.

  Cassidy signaled to Garrett to hold his fire. The guards were searching the room, not following them. They hadn’t been spotted yet.

  A bright light suddenly poured into the room from the window, the spotlight catching Cassidy. He looked back at it, unable to make out the type of vehicle past the blinding beam. In front of him, the guards began turning their rifles toward his hiding place.

  Garrett stood and opened fire, bullets slamming into the guards and quickly taking out two of them. Cassidy dove from his hiding place, ducking behind a table as the initial volley from the guards cut through the plastic and metal and into the floor. They turned their attack to Garrett a moment later. He charged toward the door to the kitchen, returning fire as he ran, the guards stitching bullet holes in the wall behind him.

  The distraction allowed Cassidy to slide out from behind cover and fire at the guards, the needles taking down two of them as a loud whine came from behind him. Certain he was about to be shredded, he swung around just as the thump of a high-output, high-velocity cannon round shattered the window. Hovering outside, a UDF drone belched fire, not at him but at Garrett.

  He never had a chance. Though the rounds came in behind him, obliterating the northern wall. The concussive force picked him up and threw him through the swinging door to the kitchen, tearing it off one of its hinges.

  Bullets came at Cassidy over the top of a table the two remaining guards had overturned for cover. Most of their velocity dampened by his coat, they still hit the lighter ballistic material of his clothing hard enough to hurt. Cassidy ignored the pain as he unleashed a dozen needlegun rounds at the drone. Small detonations erupted beneath its lightly armored skin but didn’t knock it down. It rotated toward him. Cassidy blasted it another half dozen times, finally hitting something critical. It careened away from the Spire, black smoke pouring from it as it dropped out of view.

  Cassidy ducked back behind cover as the guards continued firing, pinning him down. He didn’t see what happened next, but he heard the loud booms of Jazz’s shotgun. Four reports and then the shooting stopped.

  “Cass!” Jessica called out.

  He used the closest table to pull himself to his feet, looking over to the entrance door where Jessica and Jazz stood.

  “Garrett,” he gritted out, pointing to the kitchen door.

  Jessica ran to it while Jazz moved to his side.

  “Shit, Cass,” he said. “You’re hit.”

  Cassidy looked down at his shirt. A small spread of blood seeped through it. “It’s just a flesh wound,” he replied. “You’re supposed to be on the other side of the floor.”

  “We slipped around behind them and took them out, but Shell said you had heavier resistance, so we came to assist. Good thing, too. I can’t believe Praan authorized a drone to chew up his house.”

  “He probably didn’t,” Cassidy growled, angry he had made the wrong decision. He hadn’t expected the drone attack either. “Nevis is getting more desperate. Whatever this is about, I’m more certain than ever that we’re going to find something damning up there.”

  “If we make it up there,” Jazz said.

  “You were pretty confident a minute ago.”

  “That was before you got shot. If you don’t make it, this whole thing is over you know”

  Cassidy nodded and headed for the kitchen. Pushing through the door, he froze when he saw Jessican leaning over Garrett, stroking the back of his head as tears fell from her eyes and blood continued to spill out of nearly a dozen large holes in his back.

  “Shit,” Jazz said.

  “I’m sorry, Jess,” Cassidy said, jaw clenched. “It’s my fault.”

  She looked back at him. “No, it isn’t. This is a war, Cass. People die. We need to find out what they’re dying for. Now more than ever.”

  “Cassidy, I think the security system controls have been diverted out of the Spire,” Brie said. “Someone else is trying to take over, and it’s a lot harder for us to keep up with it.”

  “The bureau,” Cassidy replied. “If Nevis calls a state of emergency, she can essentially seize whatever she needs from whoever she wants, including Praan.”

  “But if he’s controlling Unity, how can he be forced to turn over control of his own house to the UDF?” Jessica asked.

  “He might have done it voluntarily. He doesn’t want us to get to the top either. Bottom line, we need to reach the objective. Brie, how long can you keep them out?”

  “It’s hard to say. Five minutes? Maybe.”

  “Cass, we have another problem,” Shell said. “Police presence is increasing, and they’re starting to shine spotlights on the rooftops. They know we’re up here, and they’re looking for us.”

  “Let’s hope it takes them at least five minutes to find you,” Cassidy said. He looked at Jessica. “Leave the bag. It’s going to slow us down. We need to go in hard and fast.”

  Jessica caressed the back of Garrett’s head one last time, left the bag where she’d dropped it and stood up. “Let’s finish this.”

  Chapter 49

  Cassidy and the others circled back to the elevator and the emergency stairwell beside it. The use of the UDF drone had severely impacted Cassidy’s original plan, forcing them to regroup and consider an alternate approach which had led them back to where they had started. The effort didn’t go unchallenged as a second group of guards made their way down to intercept them.

  Garrett’s death lit a fire under them all, foremost in Cassidy. Not as much because of Benjamin’s demise—he had hardly known the man after all—but because of what the heavy assault by the drone represented. While he had miscalculated by trying to escape through the dining area, Nevis had screwed up even worse.

  They stayed away from the windows, clinging to the interior passages, Jazz’s superior Sliver a huge asset in getting them back to the elevator without additional damage. They had cut through the defenses with reckless abandon, leaving three units of guards in their wake—dead, dying or unconscious.

  Cassidy still couldn’t identify what lay at the root of what they sought. But he was certain now that Jessica was right. Dorne had believed enough in finding that truth to give his life for it. Hall had too. And now he believed in finding the answers as well, no matter the cost. The circumstantial evidence they had so far promised that whatever lay behind it, it was much too considerable to ignore.

  The trio stopped in front of the elevator as Brie opened the doors. “You know what to do,” Cassidy said, stepping into the cab alone.

  “We’ll be there,” Jessica replied.

  The doors closed again. Cassidy ran his hands through his hair, messing it up. He was already sweaty from the fighting, and he untucked his pants and slumped onto his knees for added effect. Then he put his needlegun on the floor in front of him and placed his hands behind his head.

  “Brie, send me up.”

  “Copy,” she said.

  The elevator began to rise.

  “Cass, the cops are getting closer to us,” Shell said. “They’re circling like vultures out there. At least a hundred of them. I’ve never seen so many police rotos in one place at one time.”

  “Stay focused. Watch my beacon. Make the call when it’s time.”

  “Okay.”

  The elevator stopped a few seconds later, the doors sliding open. Cassidy looked out into the corridor, where two more units of guards were positioned behind clear, bulletproof shields. They were better prepared than the first group they had encountered. Seeing Cassidy kneeling there, sweaty and bloody, hands on his head, the guards held their fire.

  “My name is Detective Jeffrey Hall,” Cassidy said. “Tell Captain Nevis I surrender.” He waited while his message was relayed.

  “Where are the others?” one of the guards asked.

  “Downstairs,” Cassidy replied. “Dead.” He waited a few more seconds before the line of shields parted and two guards walked toward him, careful to keep their weapons trained on him.

  “He’s shot,” one of them said, loudly enough for the team lead to hear.

  “We’ll get him to the hangar,” the lead replied. “Nevis wants him back alive.”

  Cassidy fought to keep from smiling. Of course she did. He was counting on that.

  The guards reached him, taking him by the arms. He groaned in fake pain.

  “Take it easy!” the team lead snapped. “You want to make that wound worse?”

  They eased off, lifting him gently. One of them scooped up his needlegun. He didn’t resist as they walked him back to the other guards, bringing him face-to-face with the leader. A gruff, older man with a bald head and thin, white beard.

  “I applaud you for the efforts, Hall,” he said.

  “Can you let go of me now?” Cassidy asked. “This really hurts.”

  The lead smiled. “Sure, why not? You’re unarmed and surrounded. Let him go.”

  The two guards released his arms. He winced and rubbed at them.

  “If you were lying about your friends, they’ll be done for soon enough,” the lead said. “Meanwhile, let’s get you up to a roto.”

  The line of guards shifted to their feet, shields moving out of position. Cassidy walked along the corridor with them toward the next elevator going up.

  “Underdogs, now,” Shell said through his hidden earpiece.

  “Copy,” Jazz said.

  At the other end of the hallway, the stairwell door adjacent to the source elevator slowly pushed open. The security guards didn’t see it.

  “Shit,” Brie cursed suddenly. “Cass, I just lost access to security.”

  He wanted to ask her if she could get it back, but couldn’t. Not yet.

  A loud cough at the end of the corridor brought Cassidy’s entourage to a stop. He grabbed the team leader by his wrist, stabbing him with the tranq-ring. He ducked low as the guards momentarily forgot about him, reacting instead to Jazz and Jessica, their bullets slamming into the guards as they struggled to get their shields up.

  Cassidy grabbed hold of the guard who had taken his weapon, clenching the man’s wrist tightly enough to inject him with tranquilizer. He caught his needlegun as it fell from the guard’s hand, and pivoted to kick the leg out from under the other guard. He put a round through the man’s helmet as he fell.

  Four more fell under Jessica and Jazz’s continuous fire before the guards could get their bulletproof shields up and their rifles in line to shoot back. They didn’t realize until too late that the effort to defend themselves was futile.

  Cassidy grabbed the nearest guard, pulling him back into a choke hold against his chest. He put his needlegun to the man’s temple. “Drop your weapons. All of you. And that includes you,” he said, cinching his arm tighter around the guard’s throat. The man’s rifle hit the floor, along with those of all the others.

  They glanced back at Cassidy as Jazz and Jessica ceased fire, keeping their guns aimed at the guards as the men slowly lowered their rifles and dropped their shields, allowing Jazz and Jessica to approach.

  “Brie, can you get the system back up?”

  “I’m trying,” Brie replied. “It’s getting locked down so fast. I don’t know who they’ve got working on this, but whoever it is, they’re damn good.”

  “Not who,” he said. “What. Hades, if I had to guess. Forget security. Do you still have elevator control?”

  “Negative.”

  Cassidy glanced back at the unconscious security team leader. “I think we can work around that.”

  “Brie, look,” Shell said over the comm. “One of the rotos is coming our way.”

  “Overlord, get out of there,” Cassidy said. “You did what you could; it’s all on us now. There’s no sense hanging around to die.”

  “What about you?” Shell asked.

  “We’ll rendezvous as planned. If we don’t make it out, follow the contingency.”

  “Good luck, Cassidy. Remember, you owe me a cup of coffee.”

  “I remember. I’ll see you when I see you, Shell.”

  “See you when I see you,” she replied.

  Jessica kept her rifle on the guards as Jazz gathered up their weapons and stripped them of their comms. Cassidy immediately shoved the guard he held forward, the man stumbling before regaining his balance and throwing a dirty look over his shoulder at Cassidy. “You won’t get away, you know.”

  “Shut up and sit down.” Cassidy pointed to a spot on the floor, and as the man sank down on it, he grabbed the double zip-tie handcuffs off the man’s belt. “Now, you.” He pointed at the next man and then down at the floor next to the first man. He quickly had all of the guards sitting back-to-back in a circle on the floor, their wrists bound together.

  “Jazz, grab him,” Cassidy said, pointing to the downed team leader. “We need his hand, and maybe his eyes.”

  Jazz dragged him over to the security panel for the elevator. The LED had turned red again now that Hades was in control of the system, at least until Jazz shoved the security guard’s hand against the biometric scanner, and the doors opened.

  “One more time,” Cassidy said as they piled into the cab, directing it all the way to the top.

  Chapter 50

  Soft music greeted Cassidy as the elevator doors slid open again, revealing a large foyer with high walls lined by priceless artwork. An ancient Persian rug covered the foyer’s seamless marble, the long corridor stretching out from it covered in matching runners. The artwork on the walls and the rare artifacts on display tables sitting on either side of the corridor had to be worth millions of coin. Cassidy was certain any thief in their right mind wouldn’t hesitate to grab some of this stuff before beating a path back to the elevator to make an escape.

  Only they weren’t thieves, they had no interest in stealing anything, and they couldn’t go back down in the elevator even if they wanted. The doors of the elevator had slid closed the moment they stepped out. The security system was under Hades’ control, leaving them locked inside Bizrathi Praan’s residence whether they liked it or not.

  And Cassidy didn’t like it. He wasn’t used to not having an exit plan. Besides, what was the point of reaching the objective if they couldn’t get back out? His experience helped him stay calm despite his trepidation. He knew how to improvise.

  There was no hint of security anywhere near the elevator. No guards. No UDF. The entire area around them was clear, though he could hear the music and smell food wafting from under the door at the end of the long corridor. He thought he heard voices too, soft and muffled, dozens of people in conversation. After what they had gone through to get up here, the stillness, the normalcy, was more jarring than if they had come under attack again as soon as the elevator doors opened.

  “This is weird,” Jazz said, verbalizing exactly what Cassidy had been thinking.

  “We need to move,” Jessica said, pointing to one of the doorways halfway down the hall. “Remember the blueprint? We need to go east from here.”

  Cassidy remembered. There was a small negative space in what had been described as the library. It looked just large enough for a small elevator or a tight stairwell, which in turn could lead to a hidden floor above this one. It wasn’t much to go on, but it was their best estimate as to where Praan might have stashed a transfer unit or other clandestine equipment. Besides, the Spire had a large UnityComm array directly above that area.

  “Stick tight, stay quiet,” Cassidy said.

  They started down the corridor, holding their weapons at the ready. Still cautious. More guards could rush out at them at any moment, the thought proving out as they neared the target doorway.

  The twin doors at the end of the corridor slid open.

  Cassidy froze, staring through the doors at a number of people in tuxedos and evening gowns. They were talking and laughing, having a good time, ignorant of everything else happening on the floors below. They hadn’t heard the gunfire or seen the flashing lights of the police rotos. They were unaware of the cannon fire that had torn through the structure’s side. Of the death and blood soaked carpets. Of the danger present all around them.

  Cassidy saw past them to the well lit gardens on the deck beyond the ballroom. LEDs illuminated the lush vegetation and waterfalls beneath a starlit sky. The last time he had seen stars, he had been on board a Marine spaceship headed for training on the Moon. It was too bad he didn’t have the time to just stand there and look his fill.