“Delightful.” He did not sound delighted. “Where are you right now?”
“May I have authorization to assault the lab?”
“Are you at the lab?”
“Technically, no. But I’m looking at it.”
The steady rumble of a helicopter echoed from above. A large chopper passed overhead, carrying a container on steel cables. The cables snapped free, and the container plummeted to the ground and landed in the field with a loud thud.
“Oh,” Grandma Frida said. “A present.”
The sides of the container collapsed outward, revealing a strange-looking block of metal parts. With a loud metal clang, the block rose, unfolding into a nine-foot-tall exosuit on two sturdy legs. Massive turrets protruded from its arms. Its shoulders bristled with weapons.
Great.
The exosuit turned, zeroed in on us, and stomped in our direction. Runa raised her hand, aiming for it.
“No,” I told her.
The exosuit treaded over, each step of the heavy metal legs like a blow of a giant hammer, and towered over me. Its facial shield turned clear, and Linus stared down at me from the inside.
Perfect. Just perfect.
Linus’ voice spilled out of the loudspeaker. “When this is over, you and I are going to have a long conversation about the nature of orders and the meaning of the word wait.”
I winced.
Grandma Frida wiggled her fingers at him. “Hello, Linus.”
Mom put her hand over her face.
“I promise to sit through the entire lecture quietly,” I said. “May I please have authorization to rescue Alessandro and Halle Etterson?”
“Authorization granted. You are authorized to go down there, gain entry to the facility, neutralize any hostiles you encounter, and retrieve any civilians you find. Do not screw with anything in the labs. Don’t touch anything, don’t drink anything, don’t put anything in your mouth.”
Leon looked like he was about to speak. I made the no face at him.
“Follow me,” Linus ordered. “And cheer up. We’re about to embark on a killing spree accompanied by massive property damage. Try to have fun.”
The facial shield darkened. Leon grinned and gave Linus two thumbs-up.
The exosuit started down the hill. Mom climbed onto Brick’s roof with her sniper rifle. Grandma Frida took a picnic basket out of the vehicle and perched on a grassy spot. The rest of us followed Linus.
“So, do we have a plan?” Runa asked.
“We go inside, Leon and I try to find your sister and Alessandro, and you and Arabella kill everyone you see. Try not to die.”
“That’s it?”
“The best plans are simple,” Leon said.
Ahead of us a barrel on the exosuit’s right shoulder spat out thunder. A missile streaked through the air and smashed into the wall. Concrete exploded, huge chunks hurtling into the air. Sirens wailed, reaching a hysterical pitch.
Linus continued his advance, the exosuit stomping forward, boom, boom, boom.
“Well, I’m off,” Arabella said.
“Give me a few minutes before you start on the building,” I told her.
“It’s not my first time.”
Leon grinned. “Remember, try to have fun.”
My sister smiled. “I always do.”
She sprinted after the exosuit. Her body tore, the transformation so fast, it seemed almost instant. An enormous shaggy beast spilled out of my sister, towering sixty feet above us. Arabella raised her head with two curved horns, opened her maw, baring a forest of fangs, and bellowed.
Runa jumped back. “That’s the Beast of Cologne!”
“Yes, it is,” I told her.
“How?”
“Long story,” I told her.
The monster that was Arabella charged to the left, circling the lab, and cleared the wall in a single leap. Gunfire erupted. She screamed in rage, grabbed a vehicle, and threw it at the building.
In front of us Linus broke into a run. The barrels on his shoulders spat more missiles, trailing smoke in their wake, and for a moment he had wings of smoke. The missiles flew through the gap in the wall. Explosions blossomed, yellow and orange. Linus charged into the gap, the turrets on his arms sending death into the air.
I stopped. Leon sat on the grass next to me and whistled. Runa stared at the two of us. “Shouldn’t we go in?”
“Not yet.”
“You have to let the big kids have their fun,” Leon said.
Arabella had gotten ahold of a semi-truck and was pummeling something with it.
Seconds ticked by, dragging minutes behind them. Waiting was torture.
Please stay alive. I’m almost there.
The sound of explosions receded, moving deeper toward the building and into it.
“Now we go in.” I ran for the gap.
The inside of the wall was chaos. People ran back and forth, equipment and vehicles burned, broken bodies slumped everywhere. Thick, oily smoke poured out of what once might have been a truck and was now an unrecognizable clump of metal. Small firearms crackled. Somewhere a turret was going, spitting out a staccato of bullets. I turned toward the tower.
The doors no longer existed. I jogged inside, Runa and Leon following me. The inside of the tower was hollow. A bank of glass elevators waited in the center of the room. Each floor resembled a wheel with a central narrow hallway and individual rooms radiating from it like spokes. If I rode that transparent elevator, I could see the entirety of the lab.
A woman with a gun stepped out from behind the elevator. Leon’s gun barked and she collapsed.
“Don’t shoot the next one,” I said. “We need a guide.”
“No promises,” Leon said.
I closed my eyes, looking for the nearest mind. Someone was hiding behind the counter to our right. I turned and started humming. “Mary had a little lamb; its fleece was white as snow . . .”
The mind under the counter responded to the tendrils of my power. A chair rolled to the side, and an older white man in a lab coat stood up and smiled at me. His name tag said “Chad Rawlins.”
“Hello, Chad,” I said, sinking power into my voice.
“Hi.” He waved at me.
“Come stand by me.”
Chad moved over on trembling legs. “I’m very scared right now.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
An explosion burst above our heads. The building shook. Chad cringed.
“Do you know where they’re holding Halle Etterson?” I asked. “She’s my friend. I want to find her. It would make me very happy.”
He nodded. “She’s on the seventh floor. Room 713. Can we go? We shouldn’t be here. It’s very dangerous.”
Runa ran to the elevator and mashed the call button. Stairs would be safer, but I wasn’t sure I could make it. My magic was replenishing, but my body was still exhausted and getting more so by the minute.
“What about the prisoner they teleported in this morning? Where is he?”
Chad blinked. “I don’t know about a prisoner.”
Leon nudged me. “Ask him where Benedict is.”
“Is Benedict De Lacy here?”
Chad nodded. “He’s on the top floor.”
Of course he was. Benedict would never pass up a chance for a penthouse. If Alessandro was here, Benedict would keep him close. They hated each other, and Alessandro made a valuable hostage.