His voice creaked as he answered. “Gimme a minute.”

  “Go with Lars,” she ordered and stepped away from him. “He’ll get you kitted out.”

  Matthias pushed stiffly to his feet and straightened as Arne stared.

  “Holy hell, man! What happened to you?” He noted that his hair had gone from a silver-peppered black to a faded curly brown and that his skin was two shades lighter. That wasn’t the worst of it, though.

  He had always been taller than Arne but now, he stood a little shorter and was stockier than he’d ever been in real life. The confused Marine studied him slowly, saw freckles, and glanced at Stephanie.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “So he isn’t recognized and carpeted for his part in this little operation.”

  “More like dishonorably discharged and jailed,” Arne muttered.

  “That, too,” she agreed and gave him a bright smile. “Your turn.”

  Instinctively, he backed away a step and ran into Vishlog’s armored front. He stilled and glanced anxiously to where Matthias spoke to Lars. When the two stepped toward the door, he half-turned to follow.

  Stephanie caught hold of his shoulder. “He’s with my bodyguard,” she told him. “You’ll simply have to trust him.”

  Arne swallowed. Trust was a commodity he wasn’t sure he had, but he took one more look at the two men and forced himself to concentrate on the witch. “What do I have to do?”

  She gave him a slow scrutiny. “Well, I think you’d be harder to identify if you were more Frog’s build.”

  Frog? He looked around and one of the men—the second shortest in the room—waved.

  Taking in the man’s narrow, wiry build, Arne had to agree. It was close to what he was, minus a couple of inches and quite a few pounds. Swallowing hard, he nodded. “So, what do I have to do?”

  “You?” she asked and arched an eyebrow. “Simply hold still—and try not to scream like a girl.”

  “Gre—” he began and bit back a shout of pain. “Oh…gods…”

  Bone shifted and his perspective changed. In very short order, he understood exactly how Matthias had ended up on the floor.

  At the end of it, he knelt in front of her, his breath coming in short gasps as the pain slowly cleared. Now, he knew how the commander had felt. It was a relief to have Vishlog’s hand under his elbow as he clambered slowly to his feet.

  The big Dreth guided him onto the chair the commander had so recently occupied, and Arne leaned shakily on the table.

  “That,” he observed and looked at Stephanie, “was not pleasant.”

  “Aww, poor baby.” She gave him a look of mock sympathy and stretched her hands toward him. He flinched but stayed in the seat, even when her palms settled on his shoulders.

  “And screw you too, young lady,” he retorted.

  She tilted her head and grinned. “Yeah…no. Hold still.”

  Arne recoiled from her hand and she gave him a grim smile. “Like I said, Arne. Hold still.”

  So saying, she settled her palms against his shoulders and focused. Blue light flowed from under them and spread to sheath his chest and head. He flinched once again.

  Everywhere the blue light touched, the pain receded, and he gave a shaky sigh of relief.

  “Oh, gods…” he whispered. “That’s better.”

  Stephanie stepped back. “No more pain?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “Go with Frog,” she instructed. “He’ll get you kitted out.”

  Arne assumed this should take him to wherever Lars had gone and pushed to his feet.

  “And don’t tell Matthias or what you went through will look like a picnic,” she added.

  “Why not?”

  “Elizabeth and I are trying to make a point. I’m not healing him. He barged in. You’re simply doing your job.”

  “Oh.” As he followed the guard to the door, he was glad he wasn’t the one who’d upset them.

  Elizabeth handed him a cup of coffee on the way out.

  For that, he thought he might actually forgive her.

  Chapter Seventy-Six

  When Arne reappeared, Vishlog left him and went to join the team in the atrium. The master sergeant found Matthias standing to one side and stopped beside him.

  He was relieved to see that the man no longer winced when he moved. They were both dressed for a fight and it felt good to be armored up and carrying a decent weapon again.

  Arne grinned at him. “It’s good to be back.”

  The commander shot him a quizzical look. “Back from where?”

  “Back in the saddle, sir.” He shook his head. “Not hanging around an office and doing admin while you wait for someone to bring the fight to you. No offense.”

  Matthias’s mouth quirked. “None taken,” he replied, “although I wasn’t that bad to be around, was I?”

  “No, sir, but the most interesting thing you did was give me the slip. I was bored out of my skull, sir.” He gestured at the team surrounding Elizabeth and Stephanie. “I like this far better.”

  “Even though we’re breaking the law?”

  “Even then, sir. We’re saving a world.”

  “From what I can tell, we’re saving a rogue AI.”

  “A rogue AI that’s saving the world, sir. What good is he to anybody if he can’t operate freely?”

  “So you’re on board with this?”

  He shrugged. “I can’t see a viable alternative, sir.”

  “No matter what can of ethical worms it’s about to open?”

  “I joined the Marines so I could fight for the ‘good guys,’ whoever they might be,” Arne told him, “and some of the things we were ordered to do…”

  His gaze took on a faraway look that came and went in a flash. “Let’s say that good comes in many guises, sir, and I’d like to protect it where I can.”

  “And the Navy be damned?” Matthias asked softly.

  Arne flushed. “Any enemy of good be damned, sir.”

  The commander thought about that for a moment and found himself in agreement. He nodded. “When are you due to retire?”

  “I hadn’t planned to retire, sir, but age catches up with us all and the Corps has other plans.” He paused. “I think someone’s idea of easing me out of service was assigning me to you.”

  Matthias tilted his head and frowned. “Exactly what are you trying to tell me, Master Sergeant?”

  Arne grinned. “Nothing, sir. I’m simply laying out the facts.”

  “Hmmph.” He gestured toward Elizabeth. “And what d’you think of this group?”

  The Marine followed the direction of his hand and assessed the team. “They’re professional. It looks like a good outfit, to me. I’d hate to come up against them, myself.”

  The commander relaxed. “Yeah. Me, too.”

  They watched the team go over each other’s gear and noted that even though Elizabeth and Stephanie were in close conversation, their guards interrupted them for the check. Matthias tapped Arne on the shoulder and began walking over to join the team.

  “I have no idea where this will take us,” he warned, and Arne shrugged.

  “It can’t be any worse than where we’ve been.” He paused, his eyes thoughtful. “It might even be better, sir…if we give it a chance.”

  Stephanie and Elizabeth broke apart as the two men reached the others. The Witch surveyed the team and clapped sharply.

  “Listen up, people. I’m gonna have to leave the most identifiable of us behind.”

  She looked at Vishlog and Garach and lowered a hand to each of the cats’ heads. “This means the cats will stay and so will the Dreth.”

  The large warrior’s mouth dropped open and his younger counterpart scowled. Frog placed a hand on the young Dreth’s shoulder. Before any of them could say anything, Stephanie continued.

  “We need as much deniability as possible. I can blame my magic on a rogue Meligornian.”

  As she spoke, her features changed to resemble a Meligornian mage and her hair turned coal-black. Matthias registered that she wasn’t wearing it up in its traditional plait but loose so that it hung to her waist.

  Even with a mask, it was still distinctive but not Federation-Witch distinctive.

  Clever girl, he thought, and the pain of his own alteration seemed so much more worth it.

  Vishlog, however, wasn’t impressed.

  “I am your arms man,” he protested. “I cannot stay behind. I am sworn…”

  His words trailed off as Stephanie raised her hand.

  “Even so, you cannot come.”

  The Dreth opened his mouth to argue and she raised her head and her blue eyes turned pitch-black.

  The Morgana’s voice was implacable. “It is not negotiable.”

  “I will stand for you,” Lars broke in, and Vishlog turned a savage look in his direction.

  “It is your life if you fail her,” he snarled and turned abruptly on his heel.

  “If I fail her it will have been my life,” the man answered, but his reply was lost to the Dreth’s sharp whistle as he called the cats to his side.

  Garach looked from his uncle to Stephanie and back again before he turned and trotted away in the larger warrior’s wake. Judging by the look on his face, the younger Dreth wasn’t happy, either.

  Stephanie watched them go and her eyes gradually turned from black to blue. Her expression flowed swiftly from rejection to regret and then became unreadable as her gaze swept across the remaining members of her team.

  Arne took a moment to register that Elizabeth had also altered her appearance. Her blonde hair was hidden by a mane of deep brown pulled into a French plait, her skin was three shades darker, and her cheekbones less prominent.

  “We’re taking the shuttle downtown,” she informed them. “Our rides have been delivered to the Downtown Parking Warehouse and the shuttle pad’s reserved under another name.”

  So there will be no trail leading back to One R&D, he mused and felt twin pangs of relief and anxiety that such precautions had been taken. Exactly how deep down a rabbit hole have I gone?

  The shuttle touched down on the top floor of the Downtown Parking Warehouse a bare half-hour later. A small fleet of armored cars was waiting.

  They stood silently, sans drivers, on the rooftop parking lot. As the team debarked, a drone lifted from a spare car lot and made Matthias glad Elizabeth had ordered them to mask up before the shuttle doors opened.

  The drone flashed yellow, green, and red lights in a set sequence and Elizabeth laid a hand over Lars and Amy’s blaster muzzles to push them down. She stepped forward without explanation, reached into the pocket of her combat suit, and withdrew a small disc.

  Pressing a button on its surface, she held it up and it returned the sequence of flashing color. The drone hovered a moment longer, then bobbed once in the air in acknowledgment and flew away.

  She turned to address the team. “Try not to scratch ʼem. The insurance premium on these guys is prohibitive.”

  Lars smirked. “Are you sure that was wise?”

  “Wiser than any of you scratching them,” she snapped in response and headed to the nearest vehicle. “You know the plan.”

  The team fell into silence and moved after her.

  Brenden and Avery secured the shuttle and teamed up to head to a car. Frog and Marcus took a second, and Stephanie and Lars a third. Amy grabbed Matthias, and Elle accompanied Elizabeth.

  Arne followed the commander and didn’t care if the girls disapproved. He’d taken leave so he could do one thing and that was to keep an eye on the errant Naval officer. The heavens only knew how—if—either of their careers would survive this.

  The drive proceeded in silence and the cars simply dropped over the edge of the parking building rather than take the winding route inside it. Each vehicle must have been disconnected from the Traffic Authority’s network because not one of them squawked a protest at the unorthodox exit.

  Even before they reached ground level, the team separated and each duo took a different route through the silent, early morning streets. Arne was intrigued to see that two vehicles remained at the third-floor level, while the rest continued their descent.

  By the time Amy had drawn in close to the curb, they were alone. Matthias looked around, his posture anxious and alert.

  “You’ll see her in a minute,” Amy reassured him, “but we need to stay out of sight and look for trouble as we move in.”

  He sighed. While he knew that, it didn’t mean he had to like it. He’d come so he could spend more time with Elizabeth and maybe clear the problems that were getting in the way of seeing her. It wouldn’t help much to be caught out of position when she ran into trouble.

  Still, he didn’t argue but trotted in the woman’s wake, uncomfortably aware of his own personal bodyguard moving behind him. Why, in all the worlds, did Arne have to poke his nose in? Now there will be two careers on the rocks instead of only my insignificant one.

  They moved forward carefully and hugged the shadows between warehouse buildings and old tenements. Occasionally, Amy would signal a stop and they’d slide into the dark alcoves as she spoke quietly into her comms.

  Once, they watched as a group of five armed and armored men stepped out of a doorway beside the wall they knelt against. The men didn’t stop but continued quickly across the road and around the back of the building opposite. Only when their footsteps died to silence did the trio continue forward.

  “It looks like a set-up to me,” Arne muttered.

  “Yuh think?” Amy retorted.

  He shook his head and smirked at the woman’s response. It was good to know the ambush was anticipated. He listened as she relayed the encounter to Elizabeth and Steph and was relieved to see Matthias scanning their surroundings like the danger wasn’t over.

  Although he hadn’t served with the commander, maybe he’d lucked out and the damn desk jockey could handle himself, after all. The heavens knew he gave him a run for his money when they sparred—but sparring and the real thing? They definitely weren’t the same.

  They reached their vantage point moments later and settled into the shadows beside a warehouse to watch as Elizabeth, Elle, and Stephanie met with the delivery.

  The driver had pulled his truck into the warehouse yard and slid from the cab as the three women entered. Frowning, he made a point of looking beyond them to scan the street like he thought there was something he’d missed.

  His next words confirmed it. “Where’s your transport?”

  Elizabeth stopped, her body tense and alert and her face hidden behind the mask she wore. Arne wished he could see her expression. It might give him a chance to anticipate whatever would come next.

  “Not far.” Her voice was cold with disapproval. “And none of your concern.”

  “And your driver?” For the hired help, the man seemed particularly pushy.

  The woman was not impressed. “That is also not your business. Show me the shipment.”

  Listening to her, Arne could only admire the coldness that laced her tones. He glanced at Matthias and was relieved to see that the man didn’t look surprised.

  Instead, he smirked. He looked far too pleased with how she handled the situation.

  The Marine suppressed a groan. The man is smitten, he thought and resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

  Out in the warehouse yard, the co-driver slid out of the cab.

  A brief flash of blue highlighted Stephanie’s fingertips and vanished. Ahead of him, Amy started to raise her blaster but lowered it again.

  Elizabeth was still in control and whatever force lay in ambush simply waited.

  The co-driver walked down the side of the truck and loosened the tie-downs so he could peel the tarp away from the load of crates. As soon as it was clear, he climbed up on top of them.

  “Preferences?” he asked and gestured to the crates at his feet.

  The driver stepped away and allowed Elizabeth’s group to approach. She led Stephanie and Amy around to the other side of the vehicle.

  “That one,” she said and slapped the side of a crate well away from where the man stood.

  Arne caught the quick exchange of looks that passed between the two men and smiled. You didn’t expect that, did you, boys?

  The co-driver recovered first. He rolled his shoulders in an exaggerated shrug and made his way cautiously to the crate she’d selected.

  “Sure,” he agreed but he didn’t sound happy.

  He and the driver unloaded it and placed it gently on the pavement before they opened the lid. Both men moved back as Elizabeth stepped forward.

  Elle slid in between them and used her blaster to indicate that they should take another two steps back. They did but reluctantly.

  “We need to see,” the driver protested.

  “No, you don’t.”

  “How do we know you won’t do some—” was as far as the driver got before Ms E drew a pistol and shot him in the head.

  She snapped her head around to stare at the co-driver. “Do you have any more questions?”

  He raised his hands to chest height and backed away another two steps for good measure. “Nope. No questions. None at all.”

  At the same time, Arne noticed the look he shot to the body of his partner. The man’s throat worked as though he tried to choke down some kind of strong emotion and his eyes were wide in a pale face.

  Yeah, he thought, that wasn’t what you expected, either, was it?

  He wondered if the drivers had known the head of the network would come to inspect the load. Elizabeth hadn’t been clear in the briefing.

  All she’d said was she thought there would be some kind of coup attempt, not that it would occur at the exchange. As far as he’d been able to tell, the exchange was supposed to be the bait to draw the new crime lord out so that he could be attacked.

  He tensed. Does that involve assassinating his employees as well as sending sub-standard goods? he wondered, and his heart sank.

  Of course it did.

  The Marine adjusted his posture slightly to make sure he was able to respond quickly when the attack came—and hoped there wasn’t already a sniper with his sights centered squarely on his head.