She didn't have time for sorries or mourning. She'd worry about that if they survived.

"All of you, grab weapons and finish off any of these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who are still moving."

More than half her team had been wiped out. The only favor Anubis did was block the hallways at her back. At least they'd only have to worry about what was in front.

Moving forward was always easier.

Fuyuko took the lead, taking the a.s.sault rifle she'd used from the first soldier she'd killed. The body had collapsed, pinning the rifle's strap beneath. Fuyuko used her knife to cut it free and searched the soldier for more rounds. She liked this rifle. It was heavier than the ones used by the guards in front of Jason's holding room. And it punched through armor like it was cloth.

"You should hang back," Jason said.

"I won't send any more of my people to die in my place. I'll face the danger ahead first."

Jason shook his head.

"Don't be foolish. You're too important to risk. I'll go first."

She shoved her forearm against his throat, forcing him back, pinning him to the wall.

"I don't need you walking into my life after seven years and treating me like a fragile doll. I haven't needed you to survive to this point, and I don't need you to survive longer."

Jason held up his hands in surrender.

He fell into coughing fits as she released him.

When he'd caught his breath, he said, "I wasn't trying to insult you. It's just you're right, none of your team wants me at their backs. It'd be easier for you, and them, if I go first. Maybe I can earn a little trust before this is over."

Her grip tightened on the rifle. She'd spent too many nights thinking life would be better if Jason were still alive. Now that he was here, she realized things were simpler when he was dead.

"Fine," she said. "Take point. But my rifle and I are right behind you."

His grin said, I wouldn't have it any other way. Thankfully, he kept his mouth shut.

At a bend in the hall, Jason crouched down and peered around the corner.

"All clear," he said.

It was the second corner they'd turned unopposed.

"Could you have overestimated the number of men Anubis had stationed here?" Jason asked.

"Anything is possible," Fuyuko said. "The members of the Pantheon are no different than when they ran Suture-they act like they're on the same side, but they keep their secrets. There's no intelligence reports I would trust completely."

Jason's mouth set in a grim line.

"So either he's out of troops, he's sick of the casualties or..."

"Or his troops are busy with something ahead of us. I sent a team to secure the vans several hours ago."

Jason nodded his approval.

"I just hope they were smart enough to not rely entirely on their powers."

"Sparx is a smart kid-he'll have known about the Prometheus Ring."

Jason rounded the corner, staying close to the wall. The others followed his lead, dispersing to either side of the hall, guns at the ready.

"Through those doors." Fuyuko motioned with her chin. "That's the garage area."

"I don't hear anything," Jason said. "I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not."

"You wouldn't. The building above us is a Pantheon sh.e.l.l company. It employs hundreds who have no idea it's an Anunnaki business. A camouflaged door with sound dampening technology hides the entrance to this facility. The idea is to keep the sound of this place from reaching out there."

Jason approached the door and pressed his ear against its surface.

He shrugged.

"Either nothing's going on or it's the best tech I've ever seen-I can't hear a thing."

He looked to either side of the door.

"How the h.e.l.l do we open it?"

Fuyuko ran her hands down either side of the door. She turned, looking for any doors they might have missed. It was conceivable doors in the hall used the same techniques that hid the entry outside. Not a single seam along the wall presented itself.

"Camera," she said after a moment, pointing out the blackened dome hanging from the ceiling behind them.

"So there's a separate room where they control the door?" Jason asked.

"I guess."

"I didn't see anything on the way here. So either it's hidden..."

"Or it's on the other side of the rubble back by the interrogation room."

"I was going to say it could be somewhere outside of here," Jason said, "but yeah, it could be back that way too. Do we have any explosives?"

"Just some grenades we took off the soldiers. But there's no way to shape the charge-it would just be a wide spread explosion. We might trap ourselves worse than we are right now."

Fuyuko walked from one side of the hall to the next, taking in the walls, the floors, and the ceiling. She experimentally smacked the stock of her rifle against the wall-no give. She clicked on the safety, ejected the ammunition cartridge, and, holding the barrel end, smacked the stock against the ceiling, producing a satisfying dent and crack.

"Stand back," she said, locking the clip back in place and releasing the safety.

She fired a number of rounds into the ceiling, cutting the shape of a rough hole.

"Give me a boost."

Jason crouched down, cupping his hands together. She stepped up, and he pushed her toward the scarred ceiling. She pulled one of her knives and carved at a few places where the drywall still clung on and punched her way through.

"Does anyone have a flashlight?" she asked.

One of the team came forward, offering a flashlight and a questioning look.

They're wondering why I'm so trusting and familiar with this "terrorist."

Explaining it would be one more task to do if they survived.

"There's a support beam I can grab. Hold on..."

She gripped the flashlight in her teeth and grabbed hold of the beam. Her feet scrabbled against the smooth walls as she tried to give herself a bit more leverage.

Jason's hand pushed against her bottom, giving her the extra boost she needed.

Several gun safeties clicked open.

"Don't be such a bunch of prudes," she called down, "he was just helping me up. If it bothers me, I am capable of shooting him myself."

Sitting atop the beam, the hidden workings in the ceiling revealed themselves. The blank cavity above the ceiling extended another six feet above the drywall. She could make out the waffled foam baffles that acted as part of the sound dampening to prevent noise going to the upper levels. With this height and however much more s.p.a.ce of sound proofing, it was possible the floors above could remain ignorant of the blast that had killed so many of her team.

She trained the flashlight's beam in the direction of the camera. From here, she could see the guts of the thing and wires running back the direction they'd come.

Dammit. Can't do this the easy way.

She shimmied along the beam toward the doors.

Maybe if I can cut the power supply, we could force them open.

A solid cement brick wall halted her progress just above the doors. No cables or junction boxes had presented themselves. She shone the flashlight down either side of the door. It was solid, a single piece that rolled horizontally from the right to the left. She could just make out the hydraulics to the right that controlled the movement of the door.

Back at the hole, she reached down.

"Hand me up a couple grenades," she said, "and then get back from the door."

With four in hand, she moved back to the door. She popped the safety pins from each, keeping a firm grip on the clips. She aimed toward the open crevice where the hydraulics pushed the door shut. As soon as she started lobbing them, she started counting.

One, one-thousand, two, one-thousand.

With her hands empty, she rolled off the beam, pulling her knees in tight and driving her entire weight against, and through, the drywall of the ceiling.

Three, one thousand. Four, one thousand.

She landed awkwardly on the floor.

Five, one-thousand.

She scrambled on all fours away from the door.

Six, one-thousand. Seven- Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam!

The walls shook and buckled to her left. Drywall dust rained down, making the hall look like a light fog had rolled in.

Fuyuko coughed on the dust, spitting some out of her mouth.

"That was stupid," Jason said, extending his hand to help her up.

She didn't take it, rising to her feet on her own and brushing the worst of the dust away from her face and torso-she didn't feel like eating any more of it.

"Maybe," she said, "but if it works, you'll think I'm brilliant."

Jason shook his head.

"No. Courageous. Determined even. But it was too dangerous to be brilliant."

She punched his shoulder, hard. He winced. She'd probably hit him in a bruise he hadn't been able to heal-she didn't feel even a hint of guilt.

"Who has their knives?" she asked.

Three came forward. They moved to the door and drove the knives into the steel.

"Graphene combat knives," Fuyuko answered Jason's bewildered look. "It's too much to explain. But the knives are not only incredibly sharp and strong, they also have a battery in the hilt that supplies heat to the blade. The graphene is amazing at conducting heat, so it makes cutting anything like going through hot b.u.t.ter. Even steel doors."

"Now," she said to the others, "pull!"

The door shifted. Inch by agonizing inch, they pulled it back.

"Holy s.h.i.t," Jason said.

"Stop."

Fuyuko moved away from the handle of her knife and looked out the six inch gap they'd made.

"Oh no."

Popping and sizzling wires jumped across the floor, trying to leap back to their home in the shattered ceiling.

Concrete projectiles had chipped away at every surface. In the center of the chaos, several vehicles still burned and smoked.

"Sparx," Fuyuko called.

"Get down!"

Jason tackled her away from the opening, groaning as he did so. Marks and Toms crowded into the s.p.a.ce, squeezing off short bursts from their rifles.

Fuyuko rolled Jason away from her. He clutched at his shoulder, where blood seeped between his fingers. She looked back to the entrance and saw a splay of blood across the wall.

She pulled her knife and cut away his shirt.

"The bullet went through," she said.