“That was August Marcenn. You already knew that.”
“But you were there, weren’t you? What was the official death toll? My memory is a bit hazy…”
Andrea’s voice was so quiet I could barely hear it. “Half of all the blood Section 9 has ever shed has been on your hands.”
“That’s probably true. I’ve never taken pleasure in it, either.”
Katerina was not an easy person to read under the best of circumstances, but I was starting to get a sense of who she was. She saw herself as an elite, better qualified to make the important decisions than the majority of other people. At the same time, she saw herself as a woman of principle, blind to her own sadism. The cruelty behind her smile was the real Katerina, even if she didn’t know that about herself.
Andrea sat up, trying to rally against Katerina’s attacks. “You weren’t on Venus with us. You weren’t on Mars either. You don’t know what happened in either case, and you don’t know why. This is nothing more than another game of yours.”
“How do you think I’ve always taught you?”
“You can tell yourself you’re trying to teach me something, but we both know that’s a lie. You’re deep in it and grasping at anything to save yourself.”
“I could say the same about you. You lost one in Hellas, didn’t you? The tall one. What was his name?”
Andrea just stared at her with her teeth clenched and her eyes blazing. I sent a dataspike message to Veraldi.
Shouldn’t you intervene?
He glanced up at me and shook his head just slightly.
We have to let them play it out.
Then Andrea laughed. The atmosphere was so tense in that room that the sound almost made me jump.
“You’re so full of it even you can’t tell when you’re being insincere.”
Katerina, for once, did not reply.
Andrea pushed her chair back, as if creating distance between herself and her mother. “You’re stalling for time. All you’ve done since I came in here is to try to talk circles around me and get under my skin, but it doesn’t really have anything to do with me, does it?”
“Maybe you’re not as naive as I thought,” replied Katerina.
Andrea sent us all a message.
Someone’s coming for her. Thomas, check the perimeter. Everyone else, arm up.
“This interview was a waste of time for me.” She looked over at Katerina like she was seeing her for the first time. “But for you, it was just another fight. Another chance for you to use those strategies and techniques you put so much effort into developing. When I come back, I’ll return the favor.”
“What makes you think that will ever happen?” asked Katerina. “I gave you an opportunity to learn just as I did. A chance to understand why I’ve done what I’ve done. My ulterior motives don’t matter. I’m always doing more than one thing at a time. It’s a skill you’ll need to develop if you want to survive.”
The door to the interrogation room opened and Thomas walked in. “I couldn’t reply to your message. Communications are under attack as we speak. We need to initiate lockdown.”
Raven called out to him. “What’s going on?”
He looked up in our direction. “A coordinated attack on our network. Messaging has gone down for the moment, but I’ll have that resolved shortly. It coincides with the arrival of four unregistered vehicles in the secure car park.”
Andrea stood up immediately.
“So they’re coming for her?” Veraldi asked.
Thomas shook his head. “I doubt it. My guess is that her masters want to retrieve the Warwick node. The technology is beyond priceless.”
“Hello, Thomas.” Katerina’s voice was as smooth as ever. “It’s been a long time.”
He ignored her and turned to Andrea. “We must not lose that node.”
“Agreed,” replied Andrea. “But we can’t let them take her either. If we break her, we can break the case. Get the building locked down and all defense systems active,” Andrea ordered.
Thomas left the room, followed almost immediately by Vincenzo Veraldi. With one hand on the door, Andrea stopped and turned back to Katerina. “The source from which things derive their being is also that to which they return for their destruction.”
“That’s apropos,” her mother replied, “but I’ve always found Anaximander a bit sophistic.” There was no stopping Katerina Capanelli from getting the last word.
17
The armory was a tight space with all five of us packed in and rushing to gear up. Andrea made her intent clear as she sealed her thermoptic camouflage. “They’re not leaving here with anything—not the Warwick node, not the prisoner, not their lives. This doesn’t end until we kill everyone.”
“How many attackers can there really be?” asked Raven. “With four vehicles, I’m thinking sixteen to twenty at most.”
“That seems likely,” Veraldi answered, “but we don’t know who or what they are yet. They could be Augmen, or androids.”
“We have our own androids as well,” Andrew said as he slipped a fifth magazine into the webbing of his tactical vest. He clearly expected a long fight.
“I’m not so sure about that,” said Andrea. “Thomas mentioned an attack on our network. He wouldn’t have brought it up if it was something trivial.”
I didn’t like the implication. “Could someone have hacked our androids?”
Andrea nodded. “Assume every proxy is hostile until proven otherwise. Is everyone ready? Move out.”
She opened the door to a stream of gunfire. As suspected, there were in fact proxies waiting in ambush. Andrea pressed against the wall as she sidestepped back into the armory. I took a knee and aimed into the corridor, waiting for an android to walk into the frame of the doorway. The androids were likely thinking the same about us. We were trapped in a standoff before we’d even begun.
Veraldi messaged Thomas. Our androids are compromised.
Thomas replied immediately. Only some. Are you under attack?
Yes, replied Andrea. They’re in front of the armory.
I’ll send relief, stand by.
“Did you see how many were out there?” I asked Andrea.
“I’d say three or four, but they have the door covered.”
“We don’t have the time to wait for backup,” Veraldi pointed out. “The attackers will breach our external defenses and overrun the building if we don’t get to the perimeter soon.”
“I’ve got it.” Raven sidled up to the door, fired two shots, and then ducked back in as the androids responded with gunfire. “Two down, two remaining.”
We heard another burst of shots, then received a message from Thomas.
The hallway is clear. The proxies you see are fully functioning.
Andrea cloaked. When she reappeared, she was standing outside of the armory, gesturing for the rest of us to join her. When I stepped out in the hallway, I saw three of our proxies standing silently next to four dead androids.
Andrea sent out another message. I need an update, Thomas.
A fraction of our security proxies were compromised by the electronic attack. I’ve forced all proxies into network isolation to stop it.