already put out. Corporate Johnsons weren't well known for paying for incomplete or failed shadowruns. Hammer rested a hand on the back of Val's seat and looked out at the Mandala facility. "Hit the LZ," he said. "We're going in."

On February 8, 2029, computer systems across the world were attacked, apparently at random, by a virus program of unprecedented power. Systems crashed, their data wiped clean and even their hardware burned out by the effects of the virus. As the killer program spread, governments toppled and the world economy neared collapse. Only the Echo Mirage Project sponsored by the United States government was able to produce data-processing specialists able to directly engage the virus in cyberspace. By 2031, the last known concentrations of the virus code were purged from the world telecommunications system and only seven of the original thirty-two members of Echo Mirage lived to tell of it. -From How It Came to Pass: Events That Shaped the Sixth World, by Armand D'Angelo, Virtual Press, Seattle, 2044 Hammer had the door of the chopper open even before Val put the bird on the ground. As soon as the helicopter settled onto the ferrocrete of the Mandala parking area with a gentle bump, Hammer and the rest of his team were hitting the ground and moving low away from the backwash of the rotors as they kicked up dirt and leaves from the immaculate black surface. The facility was too small to have a helipad of its own, but the empty parking lot made a perfect landing zone for a pilot of Val's skill. The five men loped across the open ground of the parking area, senses alert for any signs of a trap or that their

approach was noticed in any way by someone in the darkened building. There was nothing, no sign of movement or light from the windows, no chatter from hidden sentry guns or hunting cries from any magical beasts that might be guarding the facility. The place seemed to be as Hammer's connections had described, a low-key facility relying heavily on being too small and unknown to be of much interest to anyone. Any security the Hammermen had to worry about would have to be inside. The Hammermen reached the side door of the place in short order. Tojo took a maglock passkey from one of the pouches on his web belt and slashed it through the card-reader posted next to the door. The electronics in the key-card sent out a pulse to scramble the lock's systems and override the magnetic mechanism. It was a brute-force solution to overcoming the lock, but time was of the essence. If what Ariel said was true, the facility's systems were already on alert. Hopefully the maglock tampering would go unnoticed in the midst of all of the other commotion. Hammer still wished he could get some kind of response from the decker. There had been nothing since Ariel's last transmission, but he didn't dare try to raise her. If she was in the middle of fighting some of the security counter-measures in the system, any distraction could be fatal. In the Matrix every microsecond counted. He pushed the concern out of his mind. If Ariel did okay, she would make contact. If she didn't, there was nothing he could do about it. The door popped open with a clack and the lights on the lock went to flashing red. Hammer waved to the other members of the team. Sloane and Tojo took the doorway high and low, covering left and right. Then they moved through the door, followed by Tootall and Geist, with Hammer bringing up the rear. He left the door open behind him, since they would likely be heading out of the place in a hurry. The corridor on the other side of the door stretched away for about six meters to meet another at a right angle. "Trouble says the target is on the lower level," he said to the team. "Geist, can you find him?"

The mage nodded and sank into a lotus position on the floor with practiced ease. His breathing slowed and he gave a deep sigh. Hammer imagined he could see Geist's spirit leaving his body with his breath as the mage descended into a deep trance. His astral form would be able to recon the place more quickly than any flesh and blood person and report back. The rest of the team would keep an eye on Geist's meat body while he was "away." Hammer glanced up from the still form of the mage just as a pair of security guards appeared around the corner. There was a split-second where the guards were surprised at the sight of the runners. In that fraction of a second the Hammermen were already moving. Tootall stepped in front of Geist's body to protect the mage from stray rounds. In his trance-state, Geist was helpless and any injury could drive his body into fatal shock. At the same instant, Sloane, Tojo, and Hammer moved into action. Tojo's hyped-up reflexes made him a blur of motion as he drew a bead on the first guard and fired a burst from his Crusader machine pistol. The guard's body armor soaked up much of the kinetic force of the rounds as the bullets stitched a line up his chest. None of the 9mm rounds penetrated the armor-weave, but the impact sent the guard stumbling back, off-balance. Sloane followed up Tojo's attack with a shot from his Ares Predator. The heavy pistol round caught the second guard full in the chest and bowled him over, packing far more stopping power than Tojo's light machine pistol. The guard went down to the floor, probably with a few broken ribs, at least. Hammer leveled his Manhunter at the first guard, who was trying to bring his own weapon to bear on the runners. To the ork's enhanced nervous system, the guard seemed to be moving in slow-motion-time compressed itself into an eternity between aiming and firing. The targeting systems in the pistol interfaced with Hammer's built-in smartgun circuitry and he fired. The high-caliber rounds from the Manhunter made even Sloane's Predator look like a cap-gun. The shot caught the guard in the high collar of his

armored uniform. The armor absorbed most of the impact, but there was still more than enough force to crush the man's trachea and send him flopping onto the floor, dropping his gun and clutching at his neck before he passed out. The other guard tried weakly to get back to his feet, but Tojo was on top of him before he had the chance. A snap-kick to the guard's head and he was down for the count. Two guards down in just seconds. The shadowrunners stopped and surveyed the area around them, weapons at the ready, but no further threats materialized. Tojo and Sloane checked down the corridor either way the guards had come from and gave the all-clear signal back. Tootall turned to Hammer. "You chummers coulda saved some for me," he said with one of his tusky grins. The troll didn't have the speed the rest of the team could call on, but his massive body was strong enough to tear a human in two and his tough hide usually gave him protection to make up for the speed he lacked. "Don't worry, chummer," Hammer said grimly. "Looks like there could be plenty more where those came from." "There are," Geist said as he roused from his trance and stood up. Tootall helped him up, and the pale mage turned to Hammer. "There are at least another dozen guards in the facility. Our target is in a room one level down. There are elevators and stairwell access, but security is between us and them. We've got to clear through them to get to the lab. The good news is I didn't detect any of my associates with them. No significant magical defenses." Hammer nodded and motioned to Tojo and Sloane. "All right, then. Let's get through security, grab our boy, and blow this firetrap." Lanier reacted immediately to the sounding of the security alarm in the complex. He turned away from Babel and Dr. Ferrera and crossed over to the intercom panel on the wall of the interrogation room. He pressed his fingertips against the panel to activate it. "Security, report." Nothing but static came from the speaker. Lanier turned back to the young man strapped into the chair in the center of the room. "Are you responsible for this?" he said with a dangerous edge to his voice. Babel shook his head. "I was only trying to break your illusions," he said with a slight smile. "Perhaps I broke more than that." Lanier turned to Ferrera. "Doctor?" She was still working on the terminal near Babel's head. "I don't know. It could be some kind of malfunction of the security grid because of the computer failure, but I don't think so. The system is on alert, which could mean an intrusion. Of course, that could be the computer's way of interpreting what our young friend did when he crashed the datastore." She shook her head in frustration. "I just can't tell from here." Lanier turned toward the smoked transpex panel in the wall and touched another control on the comm panel. The window shifted to translucent, and he could see the technical crew inside the control room. "Get the copies of our data together," he ordered, "and get in here. Saunders, go and get some security down here. Move!" The technicians jumped to follow Lanier's orders even as he moved back toward Ferrera and Babel. He reached under his tailored suit jacket and withdrew a slim 9mm pistol from its concealed shoulder holster. Ferrera spotted the gun and paled slightly beneath her tan complexion. "Mr. Lanier!" she started to say, but he silenced her with a wave of his hand. "Now is not the time to become squeamish, Doctor." He pressed the barrel of the gun under Babel's chin and spoke in an even, icy tone. "All right, my friend, we're going to be leaving now. If you're wise, you won't give me any reason to use this. One wrong move, one attempt at escape, and I'll kill you. Understand?" Babel met Lanier's eyes and nodded slightly, as much as he could against the pressure of the gun barrel. Lanier jerked his head toward Dr. Ferrera. "Release him."