“What the hell?” Juliet gasped, her surprise at Lemur’s sudden brutality getting the better of her. She found herself groping for a gun or her knife, her hand awkwardly rubbing against her jumper. “You couldn’t have warned me? Subvocalized into the comms, maybe?”

He pointed at the data cube he’d set up. “My jammer isn’t so discerning. Come now. I told you we’d have to deal with the personnel in this room. I even suggested you take care of it, but you indicated you were busy with the data retrieval. I took matters into my own hands. Regardless, I couldn’t have warned you.”

“What do you mean?”

Lemur frowned, his usual, emotionless expression giving a rare hint to his mood. “I . . . have a certain kind of training, Lucky. You’ve heard of compartmentalization?” When Juliet nodded, he continued, “I’ve taken that to a bit of an extreme. You see, when you want to surprise someone, take them unawares, it’s rather easier to do if you, yourself, are surprised by your actions. Certain parts of my consciousness aren’t aware of what other parts are planning.” He nodded his head at the dead men. “This took me by surprise, as well.”

Juliet stared at him, unsure if he was messing with her, bullshitting her, or telling her the truth. Was that really possible? “Well, tell your other half that he’s a sloppy asshole. Couldn’t we have subdued them? We talked about keeping the body count down! You specifically asked if I wanted your cover dead or not!” Juliet held her sleeve to her nose, bile rising in her throat at the horrible stenches filling the small, sealed room.

Lemur wrinkled his nose and said, “A pity, that stench. It seems Albert, here, hadn’t been to the toilet in a while. Anyhow, there was no way any fast-acting sedatives would make it through their screening. I thought it was clear we’d need to eliminate some of the security personnel in the villa. My apologies if you thought otherwise.”

“Kind of put a time limit on our activities.”

“Oh, yes, I suppose. Nevertheless, I have the root password now, and we can arm ourselves with these pistols,” he gestured to the guns on the belts of his victims. “We can control the security apparatus from here, and we have the element of surprise. I’d say things are looking up.”

“I already gained access to the cameras. I have eyes on Honey and Lilia.” Juliet turned away as she spoke, trying to move past the topic of Lemur’s joyful embrace of the murders.

“Oh?” Lemur frowned. “So, we’re dropping our roleplay?”

“Are you kidding me?” Juliet looked at him like he’d gone mad. “Were you listening just now? We just had a conversation about your murder of the security personnel! I’d say you burned that bridge when you did that!” Juliet gestured to the bloody corpses. “Get their PAIs out. We need to disable them before you turn off your jammer.”

“Naturally.” Lemur tilted the nearest dead security officer’s head forward and dug around at his data port. “I was making a joke, by the way. People don’t always understand my humor. I know our roleplay time is past.”

Juliet turned away, her stomach still churning. She really hadn’t wanted to kill those men and silently determined that this would be the last time she’d work with the weird, unassuming man. She remembered his veiled threats about what would happen if she double-crossed him, and a chill ran down her spine as she thought about him slipping up behind her with a vibroblade, unnoticed because he was so damn forgettable. Was part of him planning to kill her while the one she spoke to didn’t even know? It made her wonder if her ability to spy on his thoughts was even worth anything. “Angel, can you determine where those rooms are, the ones where Honey’s being held?”

“Yes. I’m putting together a map. Also, once Lemur disables his jammer, I’ll be able to give myself wireless access to the camera system.”

“A pity they didn’t have suppressors on these,” Lemur said. Juliet turned to see him wiping down his hands, her knife, and the pistols he’d removed from the dead men with disposable sanitary wipes.

“Did you pack those wipes?”

“Sure. They were in the tool kit—nothing odd about that. Security technicians might need to clean something, after all.” He walked over to Juliet and held out her knife and one of the pistols, still in its holster. “Just as they might need to cut something. I don’t believe either of the men’s belts will fit you. Just use the oversized pockets on that jumper.”

“Yeah.” Juliet glowered. She couldn’t pretend to be happy with the assassin. She’d decided that’s what he was; in retrospect, his SOA card made more sense that way. She took the gun, a compact nine-millimeter with a logo engraved on the barrel that read Georgia Arms. She racked the slide, made sure a round was in the chamber, then pulled the mag and ensured it was fully loaded. “Pretty simple guns for security personnel. They weren’t exactly wired up, either. I don’t see a single augment.”

“No, these men earned their bits behind terminal screens. The real danger will come from those others who patrol the estate. The men at the gate were quite lethally augmented, for instance. No insult intended, but I’m going to log in with that admin password and see if I can’t set up a communication lockdown. Something I can trigger remotely if we’re discovered with your friends before we leave. No sense letting the security call for backup.” He began tapping at the air above his deck, working with a virtual UI, and Juliet took a step back, leaning against the counter, and trying not to look at the two corpses, trying to keep from breathing too deeply.

“God,” she subvocalized, “I’ve seen people die before. I’ve done plenty of killing, sad as it is to say that, but this is just gross on another level. Is it the small space?”

“Perhaps. It might be the casual ease with which Lemur slaughtered those two men. You’re not used to people like him. You’ve certainly worked with killers, but there’s something different about this man.”

“Agreed.”

“I’ve made a map leading to the locked rooms where Honey is being held. There are several security officers between here and there, and you’ll need to access a secure elevator. Additionally, I noted several personnel down there dressed in lab coats and medical attire. I see a cafeteria-type room, an artificial garden, and another elevator leading up to a secure tunnel. The tunnel only has two cameras, one at this end and one at the other, so I’m not sure how long it is. An elevator leads up from that tunnel, though, and it seems to be the entrance and exit the medical personnel use.”

“There’s another entrance to this place. It’s underground.”

“Ah. Makes sense.” Lemur shrugged.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the villa is a front. Nobody lives in it. Levkin must bring his scientists and doctors in through another location, something like a clinic or lab.” He tapped his deck and shoved it back behind the server. “Okay, I’ve got this deck set to shut down comms for this entire location on my command. I'll lock down this room when we head out with the cases. It might buy us a few minutes. Do you know how to get to the location where you saw your friend?”

“Yeah, but it’s not going to be smooth sailing.”

“No, I imagine not.” Juliet was trying to think of a witty response when he started pulling tools, boxes, and electrical components out of the rolling tool cases. He tossed the objects on the industrial carpeting, heedless of the mess he was making. “Start on the other one, please. We’ll need them empty to accommodate our rescuees.”

“Oh, right.” Juliet sighed and got to work, emptying out the other case. When they were done, the room looked like a disaster had struck it; the two corpses, the blood sprays, and the scattering of tools and components had made the once tidy space into a horror scene.

“You can see the cameras?” Lemur asked her.

“Yes.”

“Is the hallway clear?”

“Hang on, let me talk to my PAI.” Juliet said, then to Angel, “Can you try to guide me and time things so we avoid the patrolling security personnel?”

“Yes, I was planning on it. Tell Lemur that you both should exit in precisely twenty-seven seconds.”

“Twenty-seven seconds.” Juliet gestured to the door and moved to her rolling cart, getting ready. Lemur nodded and gestured into the air before his face. A moment later, Angel removed the icon from her AUI that indicated a jammer was active. Lemur stepped up to the door and tapped in a code, then held up his hand and counted down from five with his fingers. When he tucked his thumb in, the door whooshed open, and he pushed his cart through. Juliet followed.

Lemur had paused near the right-hand wall, and he gestured for her to lead the way. Juliet trundled her case past him, following the dotted line on the mini-map Angel had made for her. She subvocalized, into the team channel Lemur had set up earlier, “You have codes for every door? How about elevators?”

“I added myself to the system for biometric door locks, but I had to use the same template as the men we killed. If they don’t have access, neither will I.”

“We killed?”

“Trust me, Mr. Levkin will consider us a team for all endeavors here, violent and not.”

“Yeah.” Juliet couldn’t banish the scowl creasing her brows, and she was glad Lemur couldn’t see her face.

When she came to the corner of another hallway running perpendicular to the one she and Lemur were traversing, Angel said, “Pause here for ten seconds and then turn left.” Helpfully, she put a big countdown in the upper left-hand corner of her AUI. Juliet started forward again when the timer read zero, and she could hear Lemur following her; their carts made plenty of noise as they rolled over the grout lines in the ceramic tile, making her wince every time she thought about it. Even so, no one challenged them as they proceeded past a small library with mostly empty bookshelves, a laundry, pristine in its disuse, and a branching corridor and stair leading up to the second floor.

“Juliet, the elevator you need to access is at the end of the right-hand T-junction ahead. Unfortunately, there is a security officer stationed there. I don’t see how you can avoid him.”

“The elevator we need is up ahead to the right, but a guard is there.” Juliet looked over her shoulder to see Lemur’s reaction. He nodded, smiling pleasantly at her.

“When you roll your cart toward him, act like you’re lost. Let me do the talking. Try to flank him, or better yet, get behind him. I hope you aren’t going to act the pacifist again.”

“What?” Juliet hissed, then switched to subvocalizations again, “I’m not a pacifist, but I don’t think a trail of bodies is going to help our cause!”

“Yes,” he nodded, still smiling that creepy, out-of-place smile you might expect from a coworker offering you a cup of coffee. Juliet turned and rolled her cart toward the junction, and when she turned right, she saw, not ten meters ahead, the stainless-steel elevator door and a gray-suited man standing before it. He held an SMG not unlike her MP5, though sleeker, with a narrower, longer barrel complete with a cylindrical suppressor. She caught herself wondering what brand it was, what caliber, and whether it had much recoil.

He lifted the gun and leveled it at Juliet. “Wrong way,” he growled.

“Oh? Um, excuse me, sir. We’re looking for . . .”

“We’re looking for the secondary server closet. Albert told us it was down this way.” Lemur stepped forward, leaving his cart behind.

The guard, still five meters or so away, shifted his barrel toward Lemur and said, “You got your directions wrong. This elevator is off limits.”

“Please don’t shoot us, sir. We’re here on legitimate business. Can you contact Albert? He seemed quite sure we needed to go down a level and directed us to this elevator.”

“Bullshit,” the guard said, but his eyes, bright, yellow-green implants that gleamed with backlit irises, shifted slightly as he studied something on his AUI. Lemur turned to get Juliet’s attention and winked at her. She had no idea what the wink meant, but she started to sweat again. “Goddammit,” the guard said. “He wants me to show you where the second-floor service elevator is. Second floor. Get it, pal? Not the basement. Jesus Christ.” He started toward them, lowering the barrel of his gun, and when he got to Juliet’s cart, stepping around it, Lemur turned and moved back toward the junction.

“I hope you know how to use that blade,” Lemur subvocalized into their comms the moment his back was turned.

“Follow me,” the guard said as he brushed past Juliet.

“Just a sec,” Lemur said, falling to all fours and peering at the front right caster on his tool cart. “This thing’s not turning.”

“Oh, goddammit!” The security officer groaned. “I’m gonna show you where to go, and you can fix it la . . .” His words were cut off as Juliet smashed her cybernetic fist into the back of his neck, her big middle knuckle impacting his data port with perfect precision. He fell to the ground, twitching, his hands grasping at the air in a weird series of misfiring neurons. She’d broken his PAI chip, his data port, or both. His eyes rolled wildly in their sockets for a few seconds, and then he lay still, twitching every couple of seconds, but out of commission.

“Creative,” Lemur said, looking at the unconscious but very much alive security officer. “I suppose that does the job and,” he said, turning to smile brightly at Juliet, “no mess left behind! Quick, help me stuff him into my case.”

“How’d you get him to walk away? I mean, to show us the stairs.”

“Oh, well, when you have root access, it’s easy to spoof a message on the network. Our friend Albert sent him a note from the grave, as it were.” Juliet hated how Lemur was so flippant about the man he’d murdered. It would be one thing if he’d been some kind of one-dimensional villain, or at least come off that way, but the guy had offered them coffee. Scowling at the thought, she grabbed the guard’s feet and helped Lemur tuck him into a fetal position inside his tool case. He thrashed a little but settled as they stopped moving him. Juliet had no idea if she’d permanently damaged him with the destruction of the PAI chip, but she figured he had a better chance at recovery than if she’d used her vibroblade.

“We can dump him in the cell where they’re holding Honey,” Juliet said, stooping to pick up the guard’s SMG. It was heavier than her MP5, but she liked the weight of it.

“That’s the plan.” Lemur winked at her and started pushing the cart toward the elevator. Juliet followed with her cart, waiting behind him as he bent to the control panel, pressing his hand to it, and tapping the screen.

“I’ll need to break the encryption on that gun before you can use it,” Angel said. “It has a biometric lock on the grip, and the wireless port is locked and encrypted.”

“How long will that take?”

“Potentially several minutes, and you’ll have to plug your cable in.”

Juliet was thinking about pulling her cable out and letting Angel work on the gun when Lemur turned back to her. “Hmm. Seems the clearance I was able to appropriate isn’t sufficient to call this elevator. Any ideas?”

“Let me see.” Juliet pulled her data cable out of the housing in her arm and, brushing past him, plugged it into the data terminal. “Angel?”

“This security panel is well-updated. Unfortunately for the owner of this residence, I’ve been working on gaining further access to their server and have decoded the biometric data of all the security personnel. I’m mapping the chief of security’s print to your cybernetic palm. Additionally, the camera observing this door has recorded people entering a passcode on several occasions. I’m glad you plugged me in, though,” when Angel said the last, her voice lowered, whispering as though other people might hear her, which Juliet knew was impossible.

“Why are you whispering?” she subvocalized.

“Oh,” Angel replied, her voice still hushed. “I felt like I should—Lemur makes me nervous. Tell him you opened the door panel because of a known exploit to its firmware. I don’t think you should let on how much of the closed network I’ve managed to breach. Your palm print should be ready. Type in the code 0167993.”

“They were sloppy with their firmware updates.” Juliet slapped her palm to the panel, and when it flashed green, she typed in the code Angel had given her. The stainless doors slid open noiselessly.

“Nice work.” Lemur trundled his cart into the open elevator. Juliet pushed her cart in behind him, and he pressed the down button.

“There is a woman in a lab coat in the hallway outside the elevator, and a man dressed in gray, similar to the security personnel we’ve seen, is walking this way from around the corner.”

“There are people out there,” Juliet said.

Lemur nodded and reached for the panel, but he frowned. “Only two buttons. Up and down.” He pressed the up arrow rapidly, but it didn’t help—the doors started to slide open. Juliet quickly moved the SMG she had atop her cart, tucking it down in front of herself. A young woman with curly red hair and pretty, baby-blue glasses with wide, decorative frames paused mid-stride outside the elevator, looking up from a data pad she’d been studying.

“Oh, hello. Maintenance?” she asked, looking at the big tool carts they were pushing.

“That’s right, ma’am. Just a few upgrades to the infrastructure down here.” Lemur smiled pleasantly and began pushing his cart forward, crowding the woman so that she continued past the elevator door.

“Upgrades?” She slowed and began to turn, and then Lemur drew his gun from the big pocket on his overalls and smoothly lifted it toward her. Juliet was sure he was going to shoot her, to blow her brains out all over that pristine white hallway, but something happened that she couldn’t quite wrap her head around. As he lifted the gun and the tendons in his wrist began to tighten, his hand fell, still gripping the weapon, to clatter and bounce on the floor, leaving a red smudge.

Juliet’s eyes bugged out, the woman yelped, darting backward, and Lemur’s mouth opened almost comically as he turned his stump, only now starting to ooze blood, toward himself. “What the devil?” He seemed more confused than hurt or alarmed. Juliet couldn’t blame him. She was still in the elevator and could only see Lemur, his cart, and the horrified woman, but Lemur’s eyes focused on something else, something or someone to Juliet’s left, just outside her field of view. “A monobl . . .” he started, but then the light or a shadow flickered, and he grew quiet.

“Juliet, the security officer I saw is standing in the hallway. I think the camera is glitching—I’m not tracking all of his movements.” Angel’s words came to her as Lemur took a halting, jerky step backward and then collapsed like a felled tree straight back. When he hit the white, engineered tiles, his head rolled away from his body. Juliet was trying to make sense of the sudden turn of events when the door began to close.

“Holy shit,” was the only thing her stunned brain could formulate for her vocal cords. She stood, dumbstruck, watching the doors close, blocking off her view of Lemur’s rolling head. She managed to get over her shock enough to be glad the elevator was closing, enough for her mind to start racing, trying to formulate a plan of action. What would she do? Run for it? Try to ambush whoever had killed Lemur? She couldn’t abandon Honey, could she? Not when she’d gotten so close . . .

“Shit,” she said again as her spiraling thoughts were brought to a screeching halt. A black-gloved hand had inserted itself into the crack between the two doors, halting their movement as the sensors recognized the obstruction. They paused for a fraction of a second and then began to open again.