blends in perfectly. How Lai ever found it is a mystery to me. However, the military isn’t aware of it, thus it isn’t guarded. That’s all I truly need to know.
I allow my internal grid to unfold behind my eyes. It’s past curfew, so most everyone is asleep, but there are still the soldiers on patrol to watch out for. And the Watchers that patrol Central—small, spherical, hovering machines that record audio and video as they roam the halls at random. Much less easy to plan for and track, but so long as I’m cautious, I should be able to see them coming and avoid them. I can’t afford to make a misstep.
When there’s no one outside the meeting room, I slip into the hallway. It’s easy to keep my steps light; the military trained me well and I was keen to learn. Something lodges in my throat as I recall just how eager I was to do whatever the military told me.
It’s dark. The only light comes in from the high, narrow slits of windows at the top of the walls. It’s a long, slow process getting from the meeting room on the first floor to Austin’s office on the third. When I have to make a tight pass by two patrolling soldiers, the beams of their flashlights sweep out before me. I hold my breath as they approach. Waiting, calculating from the patrol paths I used to take myself to predict when and where they’ll turn. So long as I don’t make a sound, I’ll be safe.
The footsteps come closer. Closer. My lungs are about to burst. Then they keep walking by me, and I release the quietest breath I can. I wait a few more heartbeats before slipping into the hall the soldiers were just in and heading the opposite way.
My nerves refuse to calm even when Austin’s office is finally in sight. Between me and it is a large reception room. My heart thuds as I sense Austin’s secretary, Noah, at the front desk. My back is pressed to the wall leading into the room, so I can’t see him, but I hear the soft tap tap of clicking keys on a computer. From what I remember of the layout, the desk looks straight over the room, which has to be crossed in order to reach Austin’s office.
Shouldn’t Noah be in the barracks by now? Or on another of his many missions to a different sector?
Deep breaths. Calm down. Panicking won’t solve this. Think. Think.
I scan the bit of room visible to me for anything I could use to my advantage, but it’s a typical reception space: two couches face each other over a low coffee table, a few chairs line the walls, and a couple of paintings hang as decoration. I briefly wish I had a more useful gift for causing distractions like Erik or Al.
I finger the throwing knives strapped around my arms. No, I need something more subtle. I twist the MMA around my wrist to better see the face of it. I flick through the options on the tiny screen until I reach the electronic signal blocker. There should be an option that would shut down any electronic devices in the vicinity. My finger hovers over it. If Noah’s computer were to suddenly crash, he might leave to get help from someone in tech. Or he could become suspicious of such a sudden malfunction and look around for the source. Still—it’s my best chance.
I tap the screen on my MMA—then immediately retreat as quietly and quickly as I can in the direction opposite the tech office. It would’ve been nice to get some distance beforehand, but with Central’s high-grade security, I needed to be as close as possible for the signal blocker to work when I activated it.
For agonizing breaths as I continue to backtrack, nothing happens. Then, on my internal grid, Noah’s presence flickers with yellow surprise. He heads toward the hallway entrance. I nearly breathe a sigh of relief. But I still need to be quiet, and there’s yet more work ahead.
I wait for Noah to start down the hallway that I know to be the quickest route to the tech office, but he passes the turn and keeps going straight. Straight down the path I took. At nearly every corner, he stops and pauses before continuing on. My heart pounds in my ears. He’s searching for an intruder. He knows—or suspects, which is almost as bad.
I continue backtracking down