Age of X01 - Gameboard of the Gods (58 page)

“You want to get dinner once the luggage is settled?” They lingered out in the hall by their rooms, which were next door to each other. “Still a couple of hours before Leo and Dominic show up.”

Mae deliberated for a long time. “Okay.”

Later, she wished she’d refused. She couldn’t muster any of the easy banter they used to share, not after what had passed, and Justin’s constant attempts at conversation grated on her. All she kept thinking about was that Nordic hotel room.
Once I’ve been with a woman, there’s no mystery. No novelty. There’s no reason to go back once I know what it’s like. And
….
I know what it’s like with you.

It was a relief when Leo and Dominic showed up. After checking in, the two left for their room, promising they’d be right back down. Justin looked forlorn.

“Do you see how tired Leo is? No one can get any real sleep in a car.”

“Dominic looks okay.”

“Yeah, but we don’t need
his
technical genius sharp and alert.”

The foursome ended up taking Leo and Dominic’s rented car out to the grant and used Mae’s credentials to get them in. As a fellow patrician, she had short-term access for herself and up to four guests. Justin could’ve obviously gotten them in as well, but he was afraid identifying himself as a servitor would attract too much attention—not that an armed prætorian was exactly low-profile either.

Once they were finally inside the borders, they ended up at another bar and simply waited for the clock to tick down. Leo had some of the satellite images of the warehouse that he went over with Mae, pointing out the most likely surveillance areas. Although she had more respect for his skills now, the “most likely” part unnerved her a little.

The appointed departure time came just before the bar closed, when most people were winding down and going to bed. Mae and the others drove to the warehouse, which was situated outside of town, and parked in a spot that kept the building in sight but was too far away to show up on any cameras. The thick trees and lack of lights on the road also kept their car well concealed.

“I should come with you,” growled Dominic.

“I’ll keep pinging you.” Leo, sitting beside him in the front seat, rested his hand on Dominic’s. “The fewer people here, the better. If we’re caught, I don’t want you taken out with the rest of us.”

“You won’t be caught,” said Justin in what Mae recognized as his
I’ve got your back
voice. “As long as you don’t get picked up on surveillance, you’re good. Get in, get our evidence, and get out.”

Mae looked at him and saw that although his words were glib, his face was drawn and tense. Noticing her scrutiny, he started to automatically smile but then faltered.

“Be careful,” he told her. “I wish you didn’t have to do my work for me.”

“It’s what I’m here for. We don’t want to get you dirty.” When he didn’t smile, she added, “It’ll be okay.” She wasn’t sure it would be okay but needed him to think it would. Seeing Leo and Dominic engaged in
their good-byes, she lowered her voice. “Maybe you can get to know Dom better.”

The look of distaste on his face was far more in line with the Justin she knew. “Don’t count on it,” he said. “And, Mae…” He started to reach out his hand to her and then stopped. After several moments of contemplation, he astonished her by snaking forward and kissing her on the cheek.

She had no chance to be outraged. She was too awestruck by the kiss itself. It had been light, but her skin literally burned where he’d touched her—and not with desire. There’d been actual heat in his lips. A fiery image flashed into her mind of a strange symbol, like a
Y
with an extra vertical line running through the top. Even after that flash, the afterimage of the symbol occasionally appeared in her vision as she blinked. She stared at him, aghast.

“What did you just do?” she exclaimed.

He had no time to answer because Leo was already getting out of the car. “You coming?”

Mae gave Justin one last questioning look and then opened the door. Her cheek was still warm, and that symbol kept popping in and out of her mind.
What did he do?
she wondered frantically. There’d been power in that kiss, but she didn’t understand it. When had he started using supernatural means instead of just documenting them? That unsolicited show of power was just as unwelcome as the Morrigan.

The almost-full moon peeked through the clouds as Mae and Leo trekked across the field. She saw no signs of life anywhere, and all the building’s windows were dark. One light shone near the entrance, lighting up the door. She’d worn all black tonight as the obvious camouflage choice, though it made her feel strange, like she had on a parody of her uniform.

“How does it feel to be a soldier of the Republic who’s breaking its laws?” Leo whispered. He shifted a bag on his shoulder. Allegedly, he had a whole technological arsenal with him.

“Bigger laws say murder and runaway cults are worse,” she replied. She didn’t give voice to her fears about Justin. Her whole purpose in
suggesting this break-in, aside from the obvious, was to help him. Cornelia’s threats still hung heavy in Mae’s mind, though she never would admit it.

Leo laughed softly. “Picking and choosing what you follow, huh?”

“Is your problem that I’m a prætorian, or is there just something about me you don’t like?”

“I like you just fine,” he said, growing sober. “I’ve just been around a lot of prætorians in my life. They’re unpredictable, that’s all. Stop.”

They had nearly reached the back of the building. Here, the wall was shorter than the other sides and had no windows. He pointed at it.

“There’s going to be minimal coverage there. You sure you can get up it?”

Mae assessed the wall, noting the corners and building’s texture. A window would’ve made a better handhold, but that would’ve defeated the purpose of choosing this side. “Of course.”

“Of course,” he repeated. She suspected he was rolling his eyes. “Here.” He showed her a square metal object that fit in the palm of her hand. “Once you’re on the roof, see if you can get a view of the security panel above the door. It’ll probably have five red lights on it—that’s the most common system for a building like this. Hold this out and push the silver button here. It’ll send a signal to switch the system into daytime mode. The cameras will still be on, but they won’t trigger an alarm. We’ll wipe them once we’re in.”

“Wouldn’t an unauthorized religion that’s involved with sacrificial murders use something a little more serious than a common system?”

He laughed again. “Theoretically, but a grain warehouse wouldn’t. Having something ‘serious’ would attract attention.”

“You have some pretty serious security on your house.”

He handed over the device. “Because I know stuff like this exists. If you don’t see five red lights, come back to me. It’ll make this harder but probably not impossible.”

“‘Probably’?”

“I can’t work miracles. Good luck.”

She went to the short side of the building and hoped she could make good on her claim that she could get up it. The implant responded to her
tension, and she felt all her abilities intensify. She could do this. With a running start, she leapt up toward the wall, propelling herself higher when her foot made contact. One hand caught the corner of the building, giving her a brief moment of stabilization that let her other hand reach toward the roof. Her fingers nearly didn’t make it, and she braced herself for a fall. But she soon got enough of a grip to grasp higher with the other hand, and one more swing allowed her to catapult onto the roof.

She landed gracefully on all fours, her heart racing. The roof was large, with triangular peaks, but balance was no problem after what she’d just done. She hurried across to the opposite side, settled onto her stomach, and peered over the edge. Five red lights shone up at her. Reaching her arm down, she lowered the device Leo had given her and pushed the button. The lights turned green, and a click sounded.

As she jumped back to the ground, she tried not to think too hard about the kind of technology required to trip a system like this. This wasn’t off-the-rack stuff, and Leo had most likely carried it off from his time in Internal Security, either physically or mentally. The laws and rules being violated on this trip were already numerous enough without her adding on more. The front door opened for her without resistance, and she ran back to retrieve Leo.

“Did you even break a sweat?” he asked.

“Did you want me to?”

They entered the warehouse, and Leo paused to send a signal back to Dominic on his ego. Mae uneasily surveyed her surroundings, not liking the lack of visibility. The high, narrow windows offered faint lighting, but most of the space was swathed in pitch-darkness. Even the small high-powered flashlights they’d brought wouldn’t be able to light up the whole place, and that provided too many opportunities for attackers to hide.

She barely made out Leo pointing toward another panel near the inside of the door. “I’m going to cut the cameras and blank out some of their footage.”

Meanwhile, Mae began a search of the facility. Justin had given them a wide range of evidence to look for, from obvious signs like silver daggers
to more difficult ones like screens. Mostly all she found were neatly stacked and organized bags of grain. If there really was a cult hiding out here, it was an efficient one when it came to storage. A small office off to the side looked promising, but getting into the desk computer was beyond her abilities. Another light joined hers as she searched the room, and Leo stepped inside. He turned on the screen and looked disappointed.

“More basic security. Probably means there isn’t anything groundbreaking in it.” Still, he sat down at the desk and began working whatever magic he had to look into the system. “See if there’s anything on the catwalk.”

There wasn’t. The only thing it provided was a good vantage to shine her light down on the main room. Nothing of consequence presented itself, but at least it reassured her they truly were alone. When she returned to the main floor, Leo was just walking out of the office.

“Nothing except fascinating records on corn hybrids,” he said.

The final examination turned up nothing, and she didn’t realize how many hopes she’d pinned on this trip until failure looked her in the eye. With a heavy heart, she joined Leo at the entrance and made one last desperate scan of the room. As she did, a strange feeling welled up in her. Some memory tickled her brain, nearly within her grasp—but not quite. It kept slipping through. There was something here she should recognize, but she didn’t know what it was. Images flashed briefly through her mind, but they were only indistinct shadows.

“What’s wrong?” Leo asked her.

“This isn’t the kind of place a death goddess would have her temple in.”

He snorted. “A warehouse with bags of grain? Yeah, I can see how that would detract from some of her magnificence. Justin’s guy may have played him.”

Mae still couldn’t shake the sensation that she should know more. “Her temple would be darker…no windows.” An idea clicked. “Is there a basement here?”

That got Leo’s interest. “There could be.”

“That would be a better fit than this place. More secrecy too. Plus, a death goddess would have more power within the earth.”

In the dim light, she could see him staring. “How much time have you spent with Justin? Is he teaching religious-symbolism classes again?”

“It just feels right, that’s all.”

“If it’s true, then that’s where we’ll find our real security system.” He’d switched into problem-solving mode and actually sounded excited. “I know the kind of hardware I’d use to hide my deadly underground temple, and something like that’ll have a strong electromagnetic field around it. We can find that.”

He took out another device from his bag of tricks and plunged back into the warehouse without another word. Mae again recognized her limitations at this stage of the search and simply followed him around. Fifteen minutes later, he came to a halt in front of a large machine that appeared to be some kind of grain sorter.

“Here we are.” He knelt down. “Help me move it.”

The machine was heavy, but casters aided in getting it out of the way. Below it, Mae saw neither a security system nor an underground lair. “Shine the light down,” he ordered. He ran his hands over the floor several times and then made a grunt of approval. “Nicely laid. I don’t suppose you have a knife, do you?”

Mae handed him the one from her boot and heard him mutter, “Goddamned prætorians.” But after a little prying with the blade, he lifted up a large section of the floor that had blended seamlessly with the concrete. A metal door showed itself, glowing with all sorts of lights. “Oh, baby,” he breathed. Mae had a feeling that as far as he was concerned, this was a brush with divinity. He handed her his ego. “Send something to Dom, and make yourself comfortable.”

One look at the tools he produced from his bag, and Mae was quick to comply. She sat cross-legged nearby and took out her own ego, once she’d sent Leo’s message. To Justin, she tapped out:
Leo really is a genius.

When no response came, she asked Leo, “Do you think they’re all right? Justin isn’t taking advantage of a chance to flout his superiority.”

“Dom’ll look after him,” said Leo, eyes on the panel. “They’re not the ones in danger of tripping an alarm.”

She jerked her head around, nearly expecting attackers to come swooping in. “What happened to your amazing prowess?”

“I told you, I’m not a miracle worker.” He sat back with a frown. “But I think we’re okay.” He took hold of two handles on the door and lifted it up. Both of them froze. No wailing sounded; no one rushed at them. “If I set it off, it’d be silent,” he said, which didn’t reassure her. He shined his light downward, illuminating a chute with a narrow, spiraling staircase. “How quaint. Let’s make this fast.”

Mae took the lead, gun out, trying her best to see ahead of her. Her fight-or-flight mode continued ramping up, burning nearly as strongly as it would have in active combat. The implant could sustain this state for a long time, but that just meant she’d experience a big crash later. She reached the ground unharmed, and after a quick survey with the light, she allowed Leo to join her.