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The first shot came from Shadow's gun, a quick burst aimed somewhere off to her left, accompanied by a shrill yelp. I jumped and looked over my shoulder. She was staring into the bushes lining the yard.

"Something moved!" she squeaked.

"Try not to waste your ammo; don't shoot unless you actually see one of 'em--then shoot his ass whether he's pointing a gun at you or not."

We crossed the back yard, turning one way and then another, trying to cover the whole yard. The mech clanked and thumped through the house, heading for the back door. My ears also picked up more footsteps charging through the house--and others coming around either side.

Oh, hell.

I nudged Shadow and hissed, "Run!"

She dropped the man she'd been dragging and sprinted away from me. I kept facing the cabin, covering her as more of Theron's men burst through the door and took aim. I blazed away at them, missing half of my shots because the gun was too damned small for my hand, but I managed to take out four of them before I ran out of ammo. They held their fire at first because I was using their buddy as a shield--but when I dropped those four, the rest decided to cut their losses and blasted chunks out of my shield in an attempt to get to me.

I threw the empty gun at the nearest goon, slamming it into his forehead hard enough to knock him off his feet. The sharp crack of the impact was music to my fuckin' ears.

I flung the body at the rest of them, turned and shifted into my combat state. My heartbeat revved up, adrenalin surged, and the world appeared to go into slow motion--and I ran like hell. The sound of gunfire was drawn out, distorted by my enhanced perception, and in the corners of my eyes the bullets streaked past me, shredding leaves and chipping bits off the tree trunks.

I slowed once I'd left the pool of light near the cabin. I was surrounded by night, but had to assume that my pursuers had night-vision goggles, so I couldn't let my guard down just yet.

I caught up with Shadow and let my body return to normal. She leaned against one of the trees, gasping and staring wide-eyed at me.

"Go," I whispered. "Run as fast as you can and don't look back."

"But what about you?"

"I'll keep 'em busy until you get away."

"But--"

"Besides, I gotta get my clothes back. And my gun. Gotta have my gun."

She gave me a "WTF?" look. I shrugged.

"I like that gun." Besides, its armor-piercing rounds were the only things short of an anti-tank cannon that could deal with Hans and his mech suit. I headed off to the right. "Just go. I'll catch up after I take care of these bastards."

She shook her head. "Forget it. I'm not going anywhere alone."

"Fuckin' hell." I sighed and gave up. We didn't have time to stand there and argue.

"Okay," she whispered, "what do we do now?"

I held a hand up and she stopped talking. I paused long enough for my ears to pick up the footsteps of the approaching thugs and determine where they were. "Stay here. Keep your head down. I'll be right back."

I headed for the nearest pair.

Payback time, bitches.

They never knew what hit 'em. I slipped up behind them while they crept through the trees, probably hoping to put a bullet in my head without having to get anywhere near me. By the time they heard my footsteps, it was too late. Three seconds and two broken necks later, I walked away with a machine gun in each hand.

Shadow stared at me as I crouched beside her and handed her one of the guns. "Whoa..."

The whirring and thumping of Hans's mech reached us and I stretched out on the ground, trying to hide behind a tree. Not easy, given my size, but it was the only cover I had.

Shadow crouched behind another tree about four feet away. She held her guns ready, but her hands shook so much that she might not even be able to hit anything.

I peeked around the trunk, wishing I had a pair of sunglasses to hide the red glow of my eyes, but there was nothing to be done about that, either.

Shadow made an odd noise, sounding like she'd just barely suppressed a squeak. Frowning, I turned my head toward her and mouthed, "What?"

She pointed at something behind me. I turned and found nothing there. Shadow kept pointing frantically.

Something brushed the inside of my right thigh. Finally I realized that was what she'd been pointing at. I moved my leg away from whatever it was, then took a closer look and nearly shat myself.

Centipede. A huge centipede was skittering up between my legs. The fuckin' thing was over a foot long.

"Shit!" I scrambled to my feet and punted centipede into a tree. It hit the trunk with a rather sickening crunch. "Shit!" I shuddered and felt as if horrible crawly things were scampering all over my body. "Shit! Shit!" If we managed to get out of this in one piece, I'd probably have nightmares about centipedes crawling into my orifices.

Sudden sounds of feet crashing through the bushes, pounding the ground and snapping twigs--coming straight toward us--made me freeze and hold my breath. Great. Marvelous. Fantastic. I'd freaked out over a little bug, and now those pricks had changed course toward the noise I'd been making. Son of a bitch.

"Hide!" I whispered to Shadow, and bolted away from her, spreading my wings to whip them through the foliage and make extra noise, hoping to draw them away from her.

I stopped about half a minute later, crouching behind a tree--taking a good look at the ground and not laying down like I did before. Then I waited.

Footsteps approached, then stopped. I peeked out from behind the tree and did a quick visual sweep. What I saw put an evil little smile on my face.

One pair of the goons was ten or twelve feet away from me, and another pair about a half-dozen yards past them. All four faced away from me, sweeping the area with their goggles, unsure of exactly where the sound of my frantic motion through the trees had stopped. Perfect.

I popped up and fired a quick burst, aiming at the more distant pair. Holding the little gun was awkward as hell, but I managed to hit one of the guys before the other could turn around. I ducked back behind the tree as he whipped around and hosed down the area in front of him, perforating the two men between us.

He stopped firing and stared, horrified at what he'd done. He pulled himself together and rushed over to the bodies, skidded to a stop and looked around frantically.

"Shit," he gasped.

I sprang from my cover and emptied my gun into him, starting with his chest and putting the rest of the slugs straight into his face. I tossed the gun aside and picked up two others dropped by the ex-thugs. I paused for a few seconds, listening; the rest of them crashed through the woods toward me, and the sound of the mech changed as Hans altered course and headed for me as well.

Right on. I was pretty deep into the forest at the moment, far enough to be unable to see the house. But I knew which direction to run. So I did just that--I launched through the trees, pushing myself into my enhanced state for a few more seconds in case they were close enough to get a few shots off.

All I had to do was get back to my gun and I'd have a whole lot less to worry about, at least from the goons.

Hans was a whole different matter, though. Even if I'd been wearing my armor vest, one shot from his cannon would probably be enough to rip through it and leave a hole in me big enough to shove a basketball through, and the bullets in these pussy nine-millimeter rifles wouldn't do more than scratch his paint job. But if I could get to my Glock and load the armor-piercing rounds into it, I'd have a chance.

I cleared the trees, crossed the back yard, and burst into the house to keep something solid between me and the hail of bullets that would come at any moment. When I got to the front room, I found two of the guys Shadow had knocked out, now back on their feet.

The nearer one yelped and jumped back when I slammed the kitchen door open. He brought his gun up, but not nearly fast enough. I swatted it away, clamped onto the side of his head and rammed him into the wall. Instead of letting him fall, I yanked him back and flung him at his partner, knocking him down. I crossed the room, stomping on his chest on the way to the front door, ensuring that he wouldn't get up again.

Out the door, taking the stairs in a single leap--and landed on my injured leg. Next thing I knew, I was once again eating dirt. I clenched my teeth, trying to ignore the sudden burning pain, and looked around. Found my clothes and pistol a few yards away, and scrambled toward them.

"Okay," I snarled as I grabbed the gun and scooped up the clips, "now you're in deep shit."

I didn't wait for Hans to come find me. I loaded the armor-piercers into my gun, chambered the first round, and darted back into the house, carrying my clothes in my free hand.

The guy I'd stomped on the way out was still where I'd left him, as was the one Shadow had pounded into a bloody pulp a few minutes ago, but the third was gone. Uh-oh; surely I'd slammed him into the wall hard enough to crack his skull wide open? Maybe he had some cybernetic augmentations, like an alloy braincase. Terrific.

Oh, well. I had to deal with the rest of these guys. You run away from people like them, they'll just shoot you in the back.

I limped back through the house, and was approaching the back door when it suddenly burst into the room, propelled by a kick from a huge metal foot. The door flew at me. I lunged out of the way, but my left leg almost buckled again. I regained my balance, pointed my gun into the doorway--and there was the mech, aiming its cannon straight at me.

I pulled the trigger rather than try to dodge again, figuring this would be my only chance to end it. At this range, he could blow me into so many chunks of wet meat no matter how fast I moved.

So I blasted away, putting several rounds dead-center through his faceplate and emptying the rest of the clip into his torso. The first few bullets punched through his head and out the back of his helmet. The rest drilled through the mech's chest, but didn't exit from the back. I couldn't be sure if they'd reached his body, but it didn't matter; the first shots had done what I needed 'em to do.

The mech tipped back, lost its balance, toppled over and nearly crashed through the floor. I popped the spent magazine out and inserted a clip of explosive rounds, and waited for the last of Theron's men to flow through the door.

The first three stopped in their tracks when they saw the mech. Then they looked up and found me aiming at them.

They snapped their guns up--but I didn't give them a chance to pull the trigger. One shot was all it took for each one, right through the neck, avoiding any armor they might have had under their shirts and jackets. The explosive rounds took their heads clean off, and I waited for more to arrive. When they emerged from the trees, I picked them off one by one. Then I waited a solid five minutes to see if another wave would come. When it didn't, I stepped over the mech and the stiffs, crossed the back yard and counted the bodies.

More than I'd guessed when I arrived here. I'd obviously nailed a few that I hadn't spotted on the way in.

I entered the wooded area cautiously, just in case any of Theron's goons weren't stupid enough to go charging in with so many others getting blown away in front of them. "Shadow? Can you hear me? I think I got 'em all."

Faintly: "B...Boiler? Are you okay?"

I glanced over my shoulder at all the bodies. What I'd had to do, what had almost happened to Shadow and me--it all started to hit me at that moment. My heart pounded and my whole body trembled. I took a few breaths and said, "Well, I'm still in one piece. You okay?"

"I guess I will be. Eventually." Her voice was louder now, coming from the right, accompanied by hesitant footsteps. She appeared a few moments later, looking around with wide eyes, holding her rifle ready. She relaxed when she saw me, leaned against a tree and let a breath rush out. "What now?"

I nodded over my shoulder and put my clothes on. "We go back to my van and get the fuck outta here." I sighed as she joined me. "Then I should tell my parents what happened. I'm not looking forward to it, but they'll find out sooner or later, and I'd prefer they hear it from me rather than some random cop."

"Okay." Shadow glanced around and shuddered. "Yeah, let's get outta here."

#

I was right about the conversation with my parents. As soon as I told them what had happened to me and Shadow, they flipped out. Understandably, of course, but that didn't make it any easier to hear. And, of course, when they called to check on me the next morning, it started up all over again.

"Well," I sighed, thankful that I was speaking to them on the phone rather than in person, "what the hell was I supposed to do? Stay there and finish dinner while that bastard murdered my friend?"

"You should've called us," Dad repeated for the fifteenth time. "It's our job to take care of stuff like this."

"And if you'd shown up there instead of me, Shadow would be dead now--like I've said a fucking dozen times already."

"We could've gotten to him and his boners without any of 'em seeing us. That kind of shit is what we do."

"Jack," Mom-T cut in, "give her a break. There really wasn't anything else she could do. Any of us would've done the same, and you know it."

Silence. I could easily picture Dad gnashing his teeth, knowing that she had a point but reluctant to admit it.

"What matters is that Boiler's okay," Mom-C added.

"Of course." Dad exhaled sharply. "I'm sorry, honey, I don't mean to chew you out like this. It's just that if something had gone wrong--if you hadn't gotten out of there alive and we never found out what happened..."

"I know, Dad. I would've felt the same way if it'd been my kid out there." I rubbed my hand over my face and took a deep breath. "But it worked out. We're both fine." I glanced at Shadow; she was on my couch with her feet tucked under her, holding her kitten, Caboose, against her chest and stroking him slowly. I'd taken her back to her apartment to pick up a few things, including a change of clothes and her cat, then we'd come back to my place. She didn't want to be alone, and I wanted to keep an eye on her for a while, just in case Theron tried to take another shot at her. She'd spent the night on the couch, and looked like she hadn't gotten much sleep.

Judging by the look on her face, "fine" was a word that couldn't be applied to her at the moment. In fact, she was pretty fuckin' far from fine. But at least Caboose's purring had calmed her down considerably.

"Alright," Dad said, "you've all got a point. You did what you had to do, kid. But we're gonna handle this from now on. You're gonna stay off your leg and give it a chance to heal completely. Is that clear?"

"Dad, I can't sit on my ass while this guy--"

"Don't argue with me. You need to recover, and we need you to keep an eye on Sledge. Otto and Shakira are dropping him off at your place. If Theron sends any of his people after him, the three of you will be able to protect him and you'll have a shot at a few more bad guys. Will that be good enough for you?"

"I guess it'll have to be. But--"

"No buts, kiddo," Mom-C said. "This is our op now."

"Fine. Just be careful."

"We will." She chuckled. "I could tell you not to worry, but it won't stop you, will it?"

"Of course not."

"Well, now you know how we feel about you facing all those people alone."

"Yeah. Way to pound the point in with a pile driver."

"Ha-ha. Seriously, though, we have our whole team on this--the Spunks, our mech support, the works. And Machiko will be covering us with her sniper rifle. We'll be fine."

"I hope so."

"Otto and Shakira should be there in a few minutes. We've got a lead on Theron's whereabouts, so we need to get on it right away. We'll see you when it's over."

"Alright. Be careful, you guys. I love you."

"I love you, too," all three of them said before signing off. I locked my phone around my wrist, selected a glowing turquoise diamond pattern for its bracelet mode, and lowered myself carefully onto the couch. "That was pretty much what I expected it to be."

"Heh," Shadow said softly, still cuddling her kitten. "I could hear your dad yelling from across the room when you first told him what was going on."

"Yeah, he's always had a bit of a temper. But so have I." I shrugged. "Like I said to 'em, I'd freak out just as much if I had a kid who went through the same thing."

"You're lucky to have parents like them." She smiled ever so slightly. "I wonder all the time what it might be like to have that."

"Both of my moms wondered the same thing until Dad's parents accepted them and their relationship." I grinned and nudged Shadow's shoulder. "All you have to do is marry one of the guys in your harem and you won't have to wonder about it anymore."

She managed a brief laugh. "I don't think settling down with one or two guys is in my nature."

A knock at the door made both of us nearly jump out of our skin. My gun was in my hand before I even realized I was going to draw it. Shadow clutched Caboose to her chest and stood, staring at the door and backing away slowly.

I held my free hand up, motioning for her to remain calm, and crept up to the door.

Otto's head phased through it and grinned at me.

"Yeeeeeaaaaaahh!" I lurched backward and whacked the back of my head on the ceiling.

"Hi. It's only m--"

"You sawed-off little shit!" I snapped, rubbing my head and dislodging a handful of stucco from my hair. I glanced up and found a head-size dent in the ceiling.

Otto vanished, as if something had yanked him backward.

"Sorry about that," Shakira's voice came from the speaker beside the door. "He's in his forties, looks like a teenager, and often acts like a pre-pube."

Shadow let out a long moan and collapsed onto the couch.

Caboose continued purring away as if nothing had happened. He was one of the sweetest kitties I'd ever met, but he was also hopelessly stupid. He still had a tendency to fall asleep in his litter box, months after the point where he should've figured out that it wasn't a bed.

I unlocked the door and yanked it open. "Real fuckin' funny, Otto."

He grinned again. "Sometimes I just can't help myself. What can I say, I'm an adultolescent."

"I can think of a few less-flattering terms." I moved aside and waved my hand. "Come on in."

He walked past me, followed by Sledge, with Shakira bringing up the rear.

"Hey, I really am sorry about that," Otto said. "I didn't expect you to shove your head through the ceiling."

I grumbled and pointed at the couch. "Have a seat." I took the armchair on Shadow's left.

"How's it goin'?" Sledge said to Shadow.

"I almost died several times last night, but other than that, I guess I'm okay." She shivered and kept stroking Caboose. He purred loudly enough to be heard down the hall.

"Uh...whoa."

"Yeah." She shrugged. "I'll get over it, I guess." She looked at him and let out a small chuckle. "Nice shirt."

I leaned over to take a look at the front of Sledge's black T-shirt, which had the phrase, "I'D RATHER BE MASTURBATING" on the front. I shook my head. "Classy."

"It was a gift from Otto," he said with a sheepish grin.

"Never would've guessed." I rolled my eyes and turned my attention to the other new arrivals. "So, can you guys stick around a while?"

"Actually, yeah, if you wouldn't mind." Shakira smiled and shrugged one shoulder. "Your parents kinda asked us to hang around and help out if anyone busts in on you."

"Ah. They wanted you to babysit me, is that it?"

"They did want to make sure you stay put, yeah." Otto aimed one of his grins at Sledge. "It'll give me a chance to kick your ass at Halo again."

"Hey, that's not fair," Sledge said. "The games you're into are so damned old, how can you expect me to be any good at 'em right off the bat? It'll take me a while to descend to your skill level."

"Oh!" Shakira winced. "Let the pissing contest begin."

I couldn't help grinning--but then another knock at the door made me twitch.

"Don't get up," Shakira said, standing. "Remember, you need to stay off that leg." She went to the door and Otto joined her, raising his hands as if preparing to strike. He didn't appear to be armed, but I'd seen him do shit that made his passing-through-walls stuff look like nothing.

Shakira was no slouch, either. Her endoskeleton was rated for heavy combat and could stop armor-piercing rounds, and she was far stronger and more agile than her chunky figure led people to believe.

I kept my gun ready, just in case.

She opened the door.

There stood Seth and Marissa.

"Oh," Marissa said, sweeping her gaze over all of us, "are we interrupting something?"

"Nah, come on in." I grinned and returned my gun to my holster. "What brings you here, though?"

"Well, your parents thought you could use some company, and we wanted to see if you were okay." Seth walked over to me and held out a media card. "And I wanted to give you this. It's the file I didn't quite have a chance to send to your phone last night. Plus a few other things."

"Oh, thank you." I smiled and accepted the card, got up and waved at the chair and couch. "Feel free to squeeze in there."

"Sit back down," Shakira said, taking one end of the couch and leaving room for them between her and Sledge. "Remember what your parents said about giving your leg a chance to heal."

"Yeah, yeah." I sat on the floor and leaned against the chair. "See? I'm keeping my weight off it."

Seth took the chair and Marissa sat between Shakira and Sledge. "You sure you're comfortable there?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah. My first night in this place, I had to sleep on the floor because the bed broke when I tried to lay on it. So I'm just fine here."

"Could be worse," Otto said, wiggling his eyebrows. "At least it didn't happen while you were having sex."

"Yeah, that would've put a damper on things."

"Well," Shadow said, "if you can do it with three people in the back of your van, you can do it anywhere."

I almost flipped her off, but I didn't want to ruin it now that she'd pulled herself together enough to joke around.

Marissa burst out laughing. "So it is true!"

I sighed. "Yeah. What can I say, I was in high school. Young and foolish, and all that crap. And it was the result of a chain of events that'd never happen again in a million years."

Seth tossed me a lopsided grin. "Note to self--buy a mattress for the back of Boiler's van."

I whipped my wings over my face to cover my blush.

"Please," Sledge said, "the last image I need in my mind is my sister humping it out with some guy."

"How about with some girl?" Marissa said.

"Eh, no. I don't need that in my head, either."

I parted my wings so I could see everyone. "Okay, burger boy, we'll keep it in the van, then."

"Hey," Otto said with another ear-to-ear grin, "feel free to get busy any time you want. Won't bother me at all."

Shakira snorted and slapped his shoulder. "Fuckin' pervert."

"It's part of my charm."

This struck me as a good time to change the subject. "Hey, Otto, Marissa didn't believe me when I told her about your ability to pass through objects. Too bad she wasn't here when you stuck your head through the door."

"Ah, want a demonstration?"

"I just want her to know that I'm not full of shit."

"Okay." Otto leaned past Shakira, stuck his arm out--and pushed his hand into Marissa's chest. She raised an eyebrow, then gasped when his arm went in all the way to his elbow.

"What...the fuck?" She tried to push herself into the back of the couch, staring at his arm as he pulled it out.

"Believe it now?" I said, smirking.

"What...how...?" She shook her head.

"You okay?" Shadow said.

"Yeah. It just...felt weird." Marissa stared at Otto. "How the hell did you do that?"

"Honestly, I'm still not really sure." He shrugged. "It just started happening one day, about thirty years ago. Sometimes I still can't quite get my brain around it."

She kept staring at him.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to freak you out. You okay?"

"Yeah. I just can't believe it."

"You think that's weird?" Shakira said. "Just imagine how I felt the first time he zapped through a wall and came out naked--right in front of me."

"Well, I didn't expect that to happen." Otto shrugged. "I just jumped out of the way of that speeding car and hoped for the best."

Shakira shook her head slowly. "If Otto hadn't gone through the wall, that car would've smeared him into jelly." She nudged Marissa's shoulder. "So I was freaking out about Otto almost getting run over by this whacked-out dipshit driving down the sidewalk, but then I saw him vanish through a wall. His body went through, but his clothes didn't; they just ended up in a pile on the pavement."

"That must've made you wonder if you were hallucinating," Seth said.

"It crossed my mind. But then Otto came back while I was running across the street. I'm not sure who looked more confused, him or me. But there he was, standing next to his clothes, with his dongle hanging out--"

"Well, I didn't hear you complaining at the time." Otto grinned. "You sure did stare at it, though."

"What was I supposed to do, stop looking straight ahead while running at full speed?"

"Yeah," I said, winking, "that would've been ill-advised."

"Besides, it took me a few seconds to comprehend what had just happened. Felt like my brain was trying to fold in on itself." She leaned forward and nodded at the TV screen on the wall. "And now it's time for a strategic change of subject matter. Your parents figured we wouldn't be able to keep you distracted for long, so they asked us to help set a little something up for you."

I raised a brow and waited for her to continue.

"They wanted you to see them in action so you won't worry about them. When their op starts, they'll send their encrypted internal comm chatter to me, along with streaming video from Jack's eyes. I'm the only one who can decrypt it. I can play it live on your screen."

Oh, boy. I'd know immediately if anything happened to them. If I saw them get through the whole thing in one piece, it'd be a massive relief that I wouldn't have to wait hours for...but if I had to watch something terrible happen to any of them and be unable to stop it...

I wasn't sure if I could handle that. But if anything went wrong, I wouldn't want to find out by getting a phone call long after it went down. If they got into trouble, this way I might have a chance to get there in time to help them.

I took a breath and let it out slowly. "Okay, hook it up."

#

After that, all I could do was wait.

Otto kept Sledge occupied with old video games on the wallscreen while the rest of us chatted and Caboose investigated all the new arrivals. Marissa, Seth and I managed to get caught up on what we'd been doing since high school--and, of course, I told them as much as I could about my first chaser gig. The fallout from that had led to me bailing out on them during dinner, so I owed them an explanation at the very least.

"Damn," Seth muttered after I finished. "That's fucked-up."

"Sure is." I leaned back and braced my hands on the floor, flicked my tail into a more comfortable position and crossed my ankles. "That kind of bad luck runs in my family. Don't think I've heard of things going all pear-shaped this quickly, though. At least Dad was on his pizza-delivery job a while before he got blinded by a mugger."

"That does seem to be one for the record books." Marissa reached over to pat my shoulder. "Hopefully things will go a lot smoother now that you've got this out of the way."

"I sure hope so." I doubted it, but I kept that to myself.

"You sure you're gonna be okay, though? I mean, having to kill all those people..."

"Yeah. I'd never killed anyone before a few nights ago. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it. For now, I keep telling myself that they had it coming because they were trying to kill me and Sledge."

Shakira looked over at Otto and Sledge. "The transmission's coming in. You guys are gonna have to give up the screen."

My pulse began racing as they paused their game and backed away from the screen. Shakira linked the signal to the screen and the wait ended.

The image from Dad's eyes appeared, showing us a downward view of a nightclub from a rooftop across the street. My moms stood at either edge of the screen, clad in black and charcoal armor from head to foot.

"Nice outfits," Seth commented.

"They're lined with spider silk and a layer of non-Newtonian fluid," I said. "They're more flexible than standard armor, but it'd take a lot to punch through those. I've got several layers of spider silk in a couple of my vests that I use for work."

"And they do a good job of showing off their figures." Seth tossed me another grin. "Now I see where you got your sexy body."

I blushed again. I don't hear my body described that way very often.

<I'm in position,> Rocky Spunkmeyer said through her comlink implant.

The image shifted as Dad looked around. Rocky glided overhead, wearing the same armor, and touched down on the club's rooftop.

<Ditto,> her husband Ralphie said, and the view moved down and to the right, zooming in on him crouching behind a truck parked in the lot beside the club.

"How about you keep it on Rocky?" Sledge chuckled. "Zoom in those massive tits."

"You've been hanging around Otto too much," Shakira said.

"Just trying to break the tension."

Several other agents, whose voices I didn't recognize, reported their readiness, followed by four of their AI support units.

<In position,> their boss, Machiko Ericson, said after everyone else had sounded off. <Okay, Jack, girls, this op's all yours. You call the shots.>

<Understood,> Dad replied.

I didn't realize I was clenching my fists until Marissa gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. I managed a shaky smile, but couldn't take my eyes off the screen.

<I've hacked into the club's security system,> Mom-T reported. <I've got Theron on the cameras on the main floor.> She shook her head. <He's just sitting there in a corner booth, surrounded by his bodyguards and three strumpets. I'm sending you the feed.>

"So that's where Theron's hiding out," I mumbled. "Like son, like father."

<I know the guy on Theron's left,> Mom-C said. <His name's McHugh. He's a hired killer. Not too bright, from what I've heard, but still dangerous.>

<Terrific. Three guesses who he's hiring McHugh to kill, and the first two don't count.>

I suppressed a groan and raked my talons through my hair.

"They don't mean you, do they?" Seth said. Some of the color drained from his face.

"Probably." Well, fuck me sideways.

<Like that's gonna happen,> Dad snarled, turning away and heading for the nearby fire escape. <Let's put this asshole under the prison.>