They kept a brutal pace, sliding through the jungle at top speed. By the time they reached the base of the perimeter wall, he felt certain he had lost ten pounds in sweat alone. Keeping back to the shelter of the forest, they eyed the wall. It stood approximately ten meters high, and the plasma wire continued up for three additional meters, its fatal beams crackling with red energy.

“We move quickly.” She nodded toward the sky, where the PRAXIS clipper hovered above the compound. Its thrusters rotated in preparation for landing. “Now.”

She and Nils slipped to the base of the wall. He stuck a palm-sized device on the barricade, and punched in a numeric sequence. Tiny lights within blinked. A low hum sounded. And then a narrow section of the plasma wire directly above sputtered out.

They didn’t have time to linger. The PRAXIS thrusters roared, kicking up dust, as the ship slowly lowered for landing.

She shot a grappling hook from a handheld apparatus. Her aim was good, and the hook lodged itself at the top of the wall. She tugged on the attached line, ensuring its security. Satisfied, she grabbed hold of the rope.

Fluid and lethal, she began to climb. He took a breath, rubbed his palms on his thighs to dry his hands, and then he, too, began his ascent.

Celene knew herself in battle. She’d been on enough missions, in the midst of danger. Readiness settled over her like cation armor, protecting her, allowing her to see precisely what she must, directing her thoughts. It wasn’t autopilot, for she controlled herself, but she saw the flight plan laid out before her. Following that plan was the only thing required.

She pulled herself up, hand over hand, her legs doing most of the work by pushing her higher. Tugs on the rope below her revealed that Nils kept pace. She didn’t slow to check on him. In order for this objective to succeed, she had to trust that he’d keep up.

Reaching the top of the wall, she quickly surveyed the interior of the compound. The PRAXIS ship was landing, but no one stood by the landing pad to greet the visitors. If Marek was as paranoid as Nils claimed, he wouldn’t come out into the open and leave himself vulnerable. His PRAXIS clients would have to come to him.

In the cover of the dust kicked up by the landing ship, she slid through the narrow gap in the plasma wire atop the wall. Its heat vibrated over her body, and she slowed her breathing to ensure she didn’t come in contact with the fatal energy. She heard Nils coming up the wall, close behind, but there wouldn’t be room for both of them at the top, so she took another grappling hook from her pack and secured it for the descent.

“Not yet,” she whispered to him as he neared the top of the wall. “Have to time it going down so we don’t run into the sentries.”

“Give the signal when you think it’s best.”

A sentry rolled just below, precisely where she’d be when she descended. She kept the rope attached to the hook in her hands, lest the robotic guard’s sensors detected it and was alerted to their presence. Finally, the sentry rolled away, and she let the line fall.

“Going down now,” she whispered over her shoulder. Gripping the line, she slid down, landing in an easy crouch. Her weapon was already in her hand.

Nils followed moments later. Once he was on the ground, she disengaged the grappling hook on the interior of the wall. She stowed the hook and rope in her pack. They gave each other hand signs to indicate that they were both ready to move forward.

The main building in the compound was a single-story structure, its walls appearing to be reinforced and very thick. Only a single entryway. No windows. This, too, fit the pattern of extreme paranoia. In there, somewhere, was the disruptor. And Marek.

She and Nils ducked behind a generator outbuilding to observe the PRAXIS contingent being escorted from the landing pad by one of the sentries. The brilliant white uniforms of the enemy stood out against the dull concrete gray of the compound. A senior officer and three regulars comprised the delegation, and, judging by the scowl on the officer’s face, he didn’t appreciate being treated with such hostile suspicion.

The PRAXIS representative and his guards followed the sentry to the lone entryway. Before she could grab her silmät scope, Nils already had done so, and had it trained on the control panel by the entrance. He watched as the sentry entered in some kind of code, and the door slid open.

He swore under his breath. “It’s a continuously altering system. The code is never the same.”

“But you can hack it.”

“Of course I can. It’ll just take a little longer than I’d like.”

PRAXIS entered the main building, and the door slid shut behind them with a ringing clang. With its duty discharged, the robotic guard returned to its patrol. Thirty meters stood between where she and Nils hid and the entrance to the main structure. Thirty meters with no source of cover.

“A run and gun is going to be tight,” she said. “Three armed robots against two humans. Not good odds. They’ll reduce us to vapor while you hack the door.”

He frowned, deep in thought. “Might be able to equalize the odds. Turn them to our favor.”

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

He rifled through his pack until he produced a hand-held device. “This will hack into their wireless command net and override it.”

“And have three robot sentries on our side.” She grinned. “Excellent plan.”

“Same principles of Nifalian chess. Transform the opponent’s pawns into your own, surround the king, take the crown.”

“Why’s it always chess with you?” But she smiled as she asked this.

He shrugged. “Before this mission, it was my sole referent for excitement.”

“And now…?”

His raffish grin charmed her, even in the midst of danger. “I’m going to have some good stories when we get back to base.”

A thought flared—when they returned, would he brag to his Engineering pals about getting into Stainless Jur’s flight suit?

She pushed that troubling thought from her mind. It would only distract her. “Let’s get these robots off our backs.”

He got to work on the device, swiftly manipulating its controls. “The command codes are constantly rewriting themselves,” he muttered. “I’ll only be able to control one of the sentries.”

“Do whatever you can.”

A moment later, he said, “It’s done. I’ve sent the guard a new command stream.”

One of the robot sentries stopped in its patrol. As another sentry passed, it turned its devastating weapon on one of the approaching sentries. Destroying the gun turret. The fired-upon guard was now a smoldering collection of metal.

The remaining sentry began to fire on their robot ally.

“The sensors will read this as a system malfunction.” Nils pocketed the hacking device. “Not an attack.”

“Then we take advantage of the distraction.” She jumped to her feet and ran toward the main building. He was fast at her side.

They reached the entryway to the main building, and she kept watch as Nils worked furiously to hack the system.

Finally, the entry door opened, but only wide enough for a person to slide in sideways.

“Now where?” she muttered once they were inside. She glared at the maze of metal panel-lined hallways that stretched on all sides. The building certainly hadn’t looked so large or complex from the outside.

He consulted the tracking device he’d taken from the Phantom. It continued to trace the location of the disruptor. “This way.”

He jogged down one of the corridors, with her trailing after him, her eyes and weapon in constant motion as she scanned for threats.

They rounded a corner, and another, then flattened back as a hail of plasma fire erupted. Carefully peering around the corner, she saw the PRAXIS guards had taken up position outside an interior chamber. The door behind them closed quickly, its locks engaging with a loud hiss. The PRAXIS officer was nowhere to be seen.