Synnr's Hope - Kate Rudolph Page 0,48

clock ticked down the final minute they headed for the basement. The door was in the hallway and had been locked the night before. Now it slid open and led them to a well-lit staircase and a wide open room. There were wires along the walls and floors and a large machine in the far corner. This was the heart of the house’s simulator, and it was strong enough that it could project Apsyn soldiers onto the main floor and make them feel real enough during a fight.

The machine whirred and the simulation was built around them. They stood just beyond a fence that surrounded the research facility and the dark sky overhead was evidence they were on Kilrym rather than Aorsa.

Getting past the fence and into the facility was easy. They followed the path laid out in their brief and didn’t run into any guards or scientists. Their codes worked perfectly and they were in the wide halls of the building and walking around as if they belonged.

The toxin was kept in the most secure lab at the center of the building. Their intel stated there was only one vial, but that the Apsyns were close to synthesizing the compound. If they didn’t steal the vial, soon there would be too much for them to destroy it all and they could poison entire towns and cities or take out an army with a few bioweapons.

They’d made it all the way to the center of the building when a door slammed. Both he and Lena froze in place. Their eyes met. Lena pointed to herself and then down the hall and made a gesture he couldn’t quite interpret. He was pretty sure it meant she would take care of it. He agreed with a nod and she slunk off.

A few minutes later, he felt a tug on his power as he was entering the code to the final lab. And a few minutes after that, Lena joined him.

“All good?” he whispered.

“All good,” she confirmed.

The vial was held in a locked refrigerated container. Extracting it took time since he had a special carrying case and it had to be placed with great care to make sure it didn’t get damaged during transit. Solan’s hands were steady, and after a few more minutes the vial was secure.

They left the way they came, their intel giving them another two minutes to clear the building before the guards did their rounds. But twenty seconds into their trip the alarms blared.

They ran, sprinting for the door. Something hit Solan square in the center of the back and there was a burst of pain before everything went black.

A moment later his vision cleared and they were back in the empty basement.

“Mission failed,” said the computer. “Lena used her spark on a scientist but failed to terminate him. That scientist reported your infiltration and you were executed by the guards. Further analysis of the mission will be available for your review later. This test is complete.”

Lena groaned and slowly got to her feet. She looked at him for a moment, then headed for the door.

Solan called after her, “It’s—”

She cut him off. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

They both left the basement with heavy hearts. They needed a win, but it wasn’t going to be easy.

THE NEXT DAY, LENA was still ready to punch someone after the failed simulation. And since she couldn’t punch the disembodied computerized voice that was running their lives, Solan had better keep his distance. But really, she should probably be punching herself. She knew the parameters of the op and she was the one that failed. No witnesses meant no survivors. She’d screwed up.

She couldn’t do it again.

But she wasn’t the only person to blame for the failure. She’d known something was bound to go wrong, but Solan had been so sure of his recon that he hadn’t been willing to come up with alternatives to the main plan. She was his partner, not his subordinate, and he needed to acknowledge that.

There was no schedule for the simulations, but she was sure another one was coming soon, and Lena wanted to go into as ready as possible.

“You need to trust me.” Solan was eating his breakfast and had been paying no attention to her. She knew it sounded like it came out of nowhere, but she didn’t care.

“I do,” he insisted.

“Prove it.” She didn’t know how she meant to back that up, and she was saved from coming up with something