A truncated whoff came from the animal as de Vries snapped the animal’s neck with ease.

Dropping the still-twitching carcass to the ground. de Vries looked up at her and smiled slightly. Then he beckoned her with one hand.

Sinunu thought about de Vries saying he was more powerful than any of them could imagine. Somehow, this display of that power made her feel less comfortable, not more.

She swung over the top of the fence, then gently lowered herself to the ground. Checking her one-eighty as far as she could see, Sinunu detected no movement. She knew that there were all sorts of nasty surprises dotting the extent of this no man’s land, but hopefully the animal guard was the only one Sandman hadn’t been able to counteract.

Satisfied that everything was as calm as it could be under the circumstances, she approached the wire mesh section of the fence, and waved Flak forward.

Slinging the Vindicator over his shoulder, the big troll hunkered down at the fence and began quickly cutting. Within a second he had a hole big enough for him to squeeze through and plenty large enough for everybody else.

Everybody moved through, Truxa giving Sinunu an anxious wink as she stepped lightly through.

As Sinunu turned to look at de Vries again, her tacticom crackled. “Okay, kiddies,” came Sandman’s soft voice. “Now that we’ve paid admission to the circus, it’s time for the obstacle course.”

Flak’s voice cut in. “Any more guard dogs?”

“They’re everywhere, boss. Everywhere except here. This is the only section not on hot alert. I guess de Vries’ contact has a bit of pull. That dog seemed to be more for show than anything else.”

With hand gestures, Flak lined everybody up. Sinunu in the lead, followed by Rachel. Then Truxa and Flak. Sinunu smiled a little to see that Flak didn’t even bother with de Vries. Evidently, he thought as she did. The vamp didn’t need any of them, and therefore, they didn’t need to bother themselves about him.

“Sin Sister,” said Sandman, “you got to be precise about this, or you’re going to wind up dead, you scan? I’ve shut down everything I could, but I found a schematic for mods on this place, and not everything is hooked up to the system. So just do everything I say, and I should be able to lead you through this mess just fine. If something goes wrong, you’ll hear a small whine of trap doors opening. After that, you’re hosed.”

Sinunu smiled inside her hood. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Sandy.”

“Any time, Sin. All right, if the girl scoot troop is ready to roll, take eight steps forward from where you are right now.”

Sinunu turned to Rachel, and leaned close. “Just do what I do, and step where I step, and keep as quiet as a mouse. Comprende?”

Rachel looked back at her, those blue eyes wide with excitement, but she nodded.

Sinunu turned back to the no man’s land, took a deep breath and started forward.

For the next six minutes, the group tracked a convoluted course across the ground toward the second barrier. At one point, their meandering trek took them within just a few meters of the dead dog. Sinunu took one look at it, then turned away. Whoever had modified that dog deserved to die slowly and painfully.

After what seemed like hours of being exposed and vulnerable, the group finally reached the opposite wall.

“Now that was fun, wasn’t it, kids?”

“All right, Sandman” came Flak’s voice. “Everybody’s a bit tense out here, so just get on with it.”

“Gotcha. Well, the obstacle course is over. Now it’s time for the fun house. Flak, you’ll want to handle this. The fence is electrified, and its power source is in a closed circuit operated from a generator up near the front gate, so go with plan bravo.”

Sinunu dug into the pack at her waist, and pulled out the thin cables with wire jaws at each end. As Flak moved past her, she tossed him the cables, which he snagged over his shoulder without looking.

Sinunu immediately took up position watching their six o’clock. Truxa came up beside her. “Something’s very wrong here,” Truxa said.

Sinunu didn’t take her eyes off their rear, but asked, “You mean aside from the obvious?”

“Yes. This place is protected from magic just as heavily as it is from things mundane, but for all my effort, I’ve only been able to detect minimal life here. It looks more like a tomb than a research facility. The astral is so incredibly cloudy and polluted.”

Sinunu felt the hackles on her neck stand high. “Toxics?”

Truxa shook her head. “This would be a perfect place for them, but someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to keep anything like that out of here. There’s magical energy of incredible proportions being used here. Someone with phenomenal talent and a very refined style has been doing things I can’t even begin to guess at. This place is giving me the heebie-jeebies.”

“What you sense,” came de Vries’ low whisper, startling both, of them, “is the process for creating a new breed of infected. From what I’ve been able to determine, it’s a process so complicated, and containing such a mixture of magic and technology, that there are only about five people in the entire world who could do it. And only two of them who could carry it out single-handedly. The man behind this place could easily be the most dangerous person on the entire planet.”

Then he was gone again, leaving Sinunu to wonder how de Vries could possibly have heard their whispered conversation.

“All right.” said Flak, “I’m in. Let’s roll.”

“Okay. Loading bay number three is located fifty meters to your right. Everything is green, but time’s running out. So let’s hump it up.”

Flak took point, as they had planned, and the team fanned out in an arrowhead formation. Sinunu on the left, Rachel just behind and to her right, and Truxa taking the far wing. De Vries shadowed Truxa, and somehow, Sinonu found his placement comforting.

Moving in set stages, they covered the ground quickly, taking cover as best they could, until they reached the loading bay.

The building was a low-stung dome, longer than it was wide, and stretched off into the darkness. The loading bays were at the end of a short paved road that circled around to the front of the building.

The bay was empty and they swung up the short stairway, noting the dead cameras at the entrance. The double doors at the end of the bay were locked as Flak stepped up to them.

“All right, this part is tricky,” came Sandman’s voice over the taccicom. “if I unlock it, an auto alarm will sound. It’s retinal ID only, along with an eight-digit code.”

“Damn,” said Flak. “Why didn’t you say something before?”

“Take it easy, big guy. Just put your eye to the scanner. I couldn’t open it myself, but that didn’t stop me from changing the codes.”

Flak grunted, and lowered his face to the scanner. There was a small beep, and a tiny panel near the door slid out to reveal a numbered keypad.

“It’s coded for your birthday, then five-five.”

Using his thumb nail, Flak entered the code, and for a moment nothing happened. Then the lock clicked as the panel slid back into place.

“Like taking candy from a baby,” came Sandman’s voice.

The team stepped into a long, dimly lit hallway. “All right,” Sandman said, “our target is three floors down. The elevator is out of the question. No way for me to reroute the programming without letting the whole place know we’re here. But the emergency stairs are just peachy.”

They were just starting to move when de Vries appeared at Sinunu’s side. “I’ve got a bit of business to finish before we get there,” he told her. “I’ll meet you at the target.”

Before she could say anything, de Vries dissolved into a cloud of mist that floated softly down a small vent.

17