I still wasn’t inside the building’s systems, but it was geared for internal wireless, which meant the darn thing was shielded from outside interference…and scans…and transmissions. Now, what legitimate mining concern would do that?

  It made me wonder just how good an idea it was going to be to return the kid to her mommy, if her mommy was part of a set-up that locked its workers in tiny cubicles, and probably didn’t pay them…and also why Bluebirds was going for a mega-hostile take-over, when they’da made ideal partners for these pricks.

  Maybe it was because guys like these didn’t play well with each other…

  I looked around, figured one of the closed doors on the left had to lead to quarters for the kitchen staff, and the other door was either the one for the guards, or an office. With not an opponent in sight, I took the risk, and dove back into my head to check the schematics.

  It was no surprise when they didn’t match. Maybe Bluebirds had a problem with their intel. That couldn’t be good… It meant I really needed to get into the building’s systems before I took a trip through one of the side doors the guards had been blocking.

  I decided the kitchen staff would be behind the door closest to the kitchen, and that the guards had probably come through the open door to the room on the right, which left the second door in the left wall. Here was hoping something went right, right?

  It’s always nice when a guess turns out to be correct…and when you don’t need to blast the lock off an office door. Looked like the whole place ran on the same system. Right up until I jacked into a port on the data-bank, and discovered it really didn’t.

  Wow!

  Also, what in all the fornicating Stars was this shit about?

  I wondered if I’d locked the office door, but it was too late; I was already dealing with some aggressive anti-intrusion software. Fortunately, I had memories of another, equally aggressive system to fall back on, so when the security construct tried tangling me in a sticky web-like program designed to hold me in place, I countered it with an equally slimy protective coating, and got right past.

  This was, after all, a snatch and grab mission, right?

  I mean, it had to be, otherwise I doubt I’da been given twenty teleportation bracelets.

  Turns out twenty wasn’t going to be anywhere near enough…and I was sickened by the brief glimpses of what I’d found. Took me a minute to find the right folder for the schematics, and then it took me another minute to extract, unfold, and go over them.

  It was almost a minute too long, and the security construct had worked out where I was by the time I was done.

  “And it’s very nice to see you, too,” I told it, when it materialized in the space beside me.

  By then, I’d worked out a faster way out of the system, so I renewed my coat of slime, activated an attack program that looked something like a flaming sword in my avatar’s hand, and got right into it.

  Tight-assed cheap-skates shouldn’t be allowed to source defensive programs for illicit operations.

  Just sayin’.

  The first coils of a clichéd immobilization program wound around me, and slid off my digital armor. I retaliated with a counter-strike with the blade, and watched with surprise as the security construct collapsed in a spectacular pile of ash.

  And then I left.

  It was a relief to be back in my own head and body. It was even more of a relief to know exactly what the inside of this building looked like. It was not so much of a relief to know exactly what to expect once I got through those doors.

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  “Tell Delight I need more teleport bracelets, and that she needs every trauma team on that cruiser on stand-by,” I said, speaking out loud as I commed Mack and Tens.

  I was running for the rear door, as I said it.

  Honestly, I should have remembered to lock the bastard on the way in—and I was two hundred times the fool for forgetting. As it was, I was almost too slow.

  Almost…

  Getting there in time to stop it opening all the way, and only having to shoot one of the returning guards—granted I had to shoot him twice, but I only had to shoot one—before I could pull the door closed and lock it so it wasn’t going to unlock anytime soon. Doing all that counted, right?

  Well, too bad. It counted for me.

  I eyed the door to the kitchenhands’ quarters and decided it needed to stay locked, as well.

  I love mini-welders—especially the kind that take micro-seconds to do their job.

  For a moment, I thought about welding shut one of the doors leading into the rest of the building, and then decided I didn’t have the time. The building had protocols for my kind of intrusion.

  “Is there any way Delight can port these kids out without the bracelets?” I asked.

  It took me a moment to realize that neither Mack, nor Tens had replied, and I didn’t have time to wait for them to come back on-line. Maybe the system had shielded the buildings from scans—even if comms could get through. Maybe that same shielding meant Delight couldn’t port the kids out without bracelets … and that was something I could do something about.

  I just needed the right weapon to do it with.

  I wondered if Mack was close enough to share his rocket launcher, and whether or not he’d be that generous.

  “Stand clear.”

  His voice was quiet in my head, as though he had other things to worry about, but I got the impression he was hefting the launcher and swinging it in my direction.

  Stars help me, but I hoped the man had a clear line of fire…or even knew where to aim. If he hit anywhere but the kitchen, Delight wouldn’t have to worry about porting anyone out.

  Tens cutting in wasn’t anywhere near comforting.

  “All good, kid, he’s using your system as a guestimate. Stand as close to the rear wall as you can so we can minimize the damage to the internals.”

  I did as he said, and he spoke, again.

  “Okay, I need you to find cover at least thirty feet away in five, four, three…”

  My brain froze, and then my legs were moving back through the kitchen, and in through the open office door faster than they’d ever moved when I was in control. I still hadn’t worked out how they could cut through the shielding for communications and not scans, but Tens had an answer for that.

  “You carried us in, but Delight’s port systems need something with broader coverage.”

  My body found its way behind the server racks and then a heavy metal cabinet as far from the kitchen as it could get. It scrunched down, and I found enough control to tuck even tighter and wrap my arms over my head. The explosion was almost simultaneous, and heat and sound crashed over me, as the back of the building shattered. I breathed a silent thanks to whoever had hacked my head enough to drive me.

  “No problems, Cutter.”

  Ha! And I thought Tens had banned Rohan from interfering with the bodily control of others. Tens sounded tired, as he explained.

  “I was busy, and the boy knows how.”

  The. Boy. Knows… Great.

  My body stood up without my permission, and I reached out and grabbed hold of one of the racks.

  “You can let me go, now,” I said, briefly recalling the last—and first—time, the boy had gotten into my head. That time had been at my request, because I’d been drugged to the gills and needed to get out of a very bad situation. Back then, I’d passed out before the drugs had worn off. Now was different, and I was asking him to give me back.

  He laughed, but my body became my own, again.

  Honestly, having folk in my head was bad enough, but having someone take me over like a puppet… I was never going to be comfortable with that, no matter how much I needed it at the time.

  It took me a moment to gather my scattered thoughts, and I did it on the way out of what was left of the office. The room holding the kitchenhands was no longer locked… and I felt a twinge of pity for them—right up until I remembered what I’d seen in the files. Given they had to have known what was going on, and hadn’t lifted a finger to stop it, I only wished they’d taken longer to fry.

  The guards trying to break down the door were still there, but not a single one of them was going to be guarding anyone, ever again—and that was even if all their pieces could be put back together. Looked like I hadn’t need to be limited to stun, after all.

  Surveying the damage, I had to give Mack this: his aim was pretty damned precise…and I was really glad the rooms closest the back wall had ended up being storage. After everything these kids had gone through, it would have been unfair if we’d lost any while trying to save them.

  I picked my way through the devastation of the kitchen and its rear wall, and started checking for survivors. There was no-one in the first room—that was easy enough to see, given it no longer had a door, and most of its back wall was missing. The next half dozen rooms were empty, too, but there were signs they’d been recently occupied, and I guessed Delight had had the cruiser’s port teams on stand-by.