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Jia’s jaw clenched. Emma might be a sophisticated and unique AI, but that didn’t mean she was omniscient. There wasn’t any point in complaining.

  Another quick run brought them into a narrow alley between two storage buildings away from the main hotel structure. There were no doors in the alley and no obvious way up.

  “And are there cameras covering both exits?” Erik asked.

  “Yes,” Emma replied.

  Erik holstered his gun. “Crap. We lost the slippery bastard.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Jia frowned and looked around. “There are only so many ways out of this resort. Emma can keep an eye out at the docks.”

  “For now, you need to move away from that building.” Emma sounded worried. “Malcolm is setting up a distraction to cover my security system intrusion so I can maintain camera, door, and drone access, but right now, we run the risk of them regaining full control of the system. I’m placing emphasis on drones and cameras covering the docks and emergency access, but at a minimum, he won’t be able to leave until they regain control of the system.”

  “Let’s get back to the room,” Jia suggested. “We need to be more prepared the next time we run into shooting.”

  What should have been a quick and easy jog back to their hotel building became complicated when black-uniformed security guards flanked by bots with stun rifles advanced toward them. One of the guards leaned over to murmur to the other before nodding at Erik and Jia.

  “Excuse me, sir, ma’am,” one of the security guards called.

  The guards’ stun rifles remained slung over their shoulders, but the pack of four decent-sized bots with them provided more than sufficient firepower to down two unarmored people.

  Erik frowned. “Can we help you?”

  “There was an incident, and a concerned guest called in a complaint. Two people matching your descriptions were spotted near the location of that incident.”

  “We were?” she asked.

  So much for Emma having camera control. That didn’t do them any good against eyewitnesses. Reality always found a way to challenge them.

  “Repeat the following to them,” Emma ordered. “Alpha-two-nine-eight-four-six, gamma epsilon sixty-two.”

  Jia hesitated for a moment before spewing out the bizarre sequence. Emma might play the occasional prank, but never when they were in danger.

  “Excuse me?” the guard replied. He furrowed his brow in confusion and backed away before tapping his PNIU. His eyes widened. “You’re Parliamentary Security Detail? Oh, please don’t tell me we have a dead MP in our resort.” He groaned. “No, no, no.”

  Jia nodded at Erik. She was pleased with Emma’s quick thinking and system manipulation, but Erik remained better at lying to someone’s face.

  “You’re okay. Our boss left yesterday.” Erik grunted with disapproval. “We had received intel he might be targeted but had no reason to believe it would be a threat to the greater guest population, so we didn’t choose to coordinate with the locals.”

  The security guard nodded, a look of weary resignation on his face. “And we’ve got two bodies. Did you kill them?”

  Erik shook his head. “We didn’t, but we’re not at liberty to discuss that at this time. For now, please secure the scene for the CID or Japanese authorities. We’re still pursuing a dangerous suspect who goes by the alias Hans Konig. If you spot him, you should lock down the facility immediately and contact us. Keep the subs from going out, but I wouldn’t recommend a major alarm. No reason to let him know we’re onto him.”

  “Okay, uh, I’ll pass this along to my superior, Agent…”

  “You’ll have to rely on our identification code for now,” Jia interjected. She gestured at their building. “We need to check on some things, but I would strongly suggest keeping this quiet. We don’t want an unnecessary panic, and there’s no reason to damage the reputation of this fine facility because of the actions of a single criminal.”

  “Of course.” The guard looked relieved. “We’ll try to find him and contact you.”

  “I wouldn’t recommend engaging him without us. He’s very dangerous.”

  The security guards stepped out of Erik’s and Jia’s way, trading concerned looks. Dealing with terrorists went far beyond their standard issue of dealing with rowdy drunks.

  After stepping back into their hotel room, Jia scrubbed a hand down her face. Her heart had stopped its drum solo impression.

  “Pretending to be members of the Parliamentary Security Detail is going to cause more trouble in the long run,” Jia commented. “It’s going to be a lot harder for Alina to clean up.”

  “It was the most efficient way of gaining aid without blowing your cover, and it had a certain synergy with the distraction Malcolm provided.” Emma appeared in the resort’s security guard uniform. “They’ll ask questions during the follow-up, and I’m sure the CID, DD, and PSD will all be annoyed, but Alina can clean it up. If anything, since we’ve contained the scope of who you’re supposed to be, I suspect it’ll be easier. For now, I believe it’s far more important to capture Konig.”

  Jia dropped her dress and headed toward her suitcases in the closet.

  “Is this really the time to get naked?” Erik raised an eyebrow. “As nice as that naked body is.”

  “Yes.”

  Jia opened a suitcase. A tight-fitting tactical suit stood out under normal circumstances, but next time they ran into Konig or bots, she would be ready.

  “Oh. Good call.” Erik walked to the closet. “Find Konig, Emma, and we’ll do the rest.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  After putting on his tactical suit and vest, Erik stuffed his pockets and pouches with fresh magazines. He might not be able to use his TR-7, but assuming he wasn’t having to take on exos or yaoguai, a pistol would be fine.

  Konig’s little bots were more a nuisance than a serious threat, and it was clear the man hadn’t shown up expecting serious opposition like two ex-cops looking for trouble.

  Jia put her stun pistol and slugthrower into her belt holsters. She’d gotten into her tactical suit in record time.

  “I don’t think sitting around here and waiting is a good plan.” Jia clipped her gun flap. “I’m regretting not smuggling in grenades.”

  “We might get lucky, and hotel security will tag him for us.” Erik was finishing his own change of clothes. “Based on the situation and what we told them, they’re not going to let any of the subs leave. I say we head down to the docks. Local security believes we’re Parliamentary Security, so they won’t think anything of us strolling down there ready for a fight.”

  “But he might not be going to the docks.” Jia shook her head. “This man isn’t a random syndicate thug. We don’t know what tech or devices he has on him. He might leave via an emergency hatch for all we know. That’s assuming he doesn’t have any strange genetic modifications that let him free-swim from the bottom of the ocean.”

  “I’m continuing my monitoring, including external cameras,” Emma reported. “Just in case our brave little fleshbag might have brought his own diving suit or vehicle or any of the other outlandish possibilities highlighted by Jia. Rest assured, we’ll know if he leaves.”

  Erik’s view of what constituted outlandish had shifted in recent months. After what happened on Venus, it was hard to think anything was too far or too insane for the conspiracy. He decided to start with something more practical.

  “Let’s go with the basics. What if he’s got some sort of optical camouflage?” he asked.

  “I am also checking in thermal bands, but even if he can beat that, it won’t matter,” Emma replied. “If any of the airlocks are opened, I’ll know. I might not be able to use the local drones or drone subs to defeat his optical camouflage, but we’ll at least know if he’s exiting. Keep in mind the man entered the facility through normal means. If he has unusual travel capabilities, one would think he might do that.”

  “I don’t know if we can be certain of that.” Jia tightened her be
lt. “We were sent here to investigate Gallegos and Sillen, and Konig took them out. We don’t know if he works for the conspiracy or someone else and what his true capabilities are. I don’t think we should make assumptions.”

  “You’re right.” Erik headed toward the door. “We should at least head toward the docks. That’s still our best bet for finding him during an escape. I get the feeling something went wrong with his plan, but that doesn’t mean he can’t get away.”

  “Wait.” Jia stopped Erik with a hand on his shoulder. “If he does run, we can’t risk chasing him and leaving Emma here.”

  “Indeed,” Emma replied. “Even if you don’t anticipate the destruction of the facility, there is a large chance of someone discovering and taking me if they search the room without you to guard me. I’d hate to have to hijack a vessel and start a major incident, as amusing as that would be.”

  Erik walked to the other side of the room and pushed the pillow aside, then removed Emma from the amplifier and tucked her snugly into a vest pocket. “You still going to be able to do everything you need to without being in the amplifier?”

  “Of course, especially now that I’m in the system and the locals have given me greater access. It’ll be trivial.”

  “Huh?” Erik glanced down at Emma’s core. “Since when?”

  “As far as they know, Technician Constantine and I are Parliamentary Security Detail specialists who are working with you remotely to deal with this dangerous terrorist,” Emma explained. “The falsified codes, legal orders, and identification won’t stand up to careful government scrutiny, but it’s enough that these rather suggestible fellows aren’t alarmed by my presence in their system.”

  “Then let’s go catch our killer and ask him some questions.” Jia followed Erik and quickly caught up after they stepped outside the door.

  An old woman from a room across the hall blinked several times before narrowing her eyes and staring at the tight-fitting tactical suits. She finally shook her head and wandered down the hall.

  “I never did understand why people need VR sex when they could be having perfectly good normal sex,” she muttered under her breath.

  “These aren’t…” Erik sighed. A red-faced Jia nodded the opposite direction. “Let’s go that way.”

  Erik smirked.

  “Impressive,” Emma declared when they were almost to the docks. A crowd blocked the tunnel leading to the docking bay. The burgeoning mass of angry-looking guests shouted at a line of staff and security guards. They were waving people through the tunnel from the docks but blocking anyone else from moving forward.

  “What’s impressive?” Erik asked.

  “I’m fairly certain I’ve detected Konig,” Emma replied. “But I see how he was able to escape previously. A maintenance drone spotted a man in the docks who isn’t showing up in the guest registry. This man’s appearance and gait don’t match our boisterous bomber, but there was a brief visual distortion that suggests some sort of high-end holographic camouflage. He’s lingering near the back of the departing crowd with a briefcase. He just ducked behind a support pillar.”

  “Distortion?” Erik scoffed. “He’s getting nervous and moved too fast. But I don’t get it. Since they’re already stopping everyone, it’s not like he’s going to be able to leave. They’ll clear the sub shuttles after they’ve finished unloading. It would have made more sense to mingle with the crowd.”

  “Unless he steals a sub.” Jia inclined her head toward the tunnel. “If he’s got fancy optical camouflage and could sneak in here and kill two people with smuggled bots, he’s probably got a method of stealing a sub.”

  “Yeah. Damn it. Let’s go get him.”

  People in the crowd turned their way, staring with open curiosity or fear. The security guard from earlier jogged toward them with a frown.

  “I thought we agreed to keep this quiet.” He gestured to their tactical suits and vests. “You look like there are two hundred Grayheads coming to sacrifice us to the Leems.”

  “There’s a problem,” Emma announced. “And in answer to your previous questions, external sensors have picked up a fast-moving incoming sub. It doesn’t match any shuttle profile, nor is one on the schedule. They are not answering my attempts at communications, and the resort staff seems perplexed. I suggest you take control of the situation.”

  “Here comes the escape crew,” Erik muttered. He frowned at the guard. “We have a terrorist sub coming in.”

  “What?” The guard blinked. “Terrorist sub?”

  “Yes,” Jia snapped and gestured at the crowd. “So get these people out of here. Now!”

  The guard tapped his PNIU and murmured something quietly. A moment later, a pleasant woman’s voice sounded from everyone’s PNIU, delivering the same message in Mandarin, English, and Japanese.

  “Attention valued guests, an emergency situation has arisen. We need anyone near the docks to please leave your luggage and proceed to a shelter for your protection. We at Mizuchi Undersea Resort place guest safety above all other considerations.”

  Staff and security lined up to gesture people toward doors opening in the ground in the distance.

  Huge blinking holographic arrows highlighted them. The crowd reacted better than Erik expected, but not by much. Only a fourth of them screamed, and only half of them rushed forward like a panicked herd.

  Most of the guards and staff managed through sheer presence and refusal to move to funnel the crowd toward the now-open shelters. At least no one was crushing anyone else.

  Erik and Jia pushed into the crowd, trying to force their way toward the main docks. Emma supplied them a target indicator for their possible conspiracy assassin, but the panicked piles of men and women made it impossible to see much of anything.

  “There is an external override gate being activated,” Emma reported. “Our suspect reached into his pocket before it occurred, and there was an unusual systems access. The outer tunnel door is opening.”

  Jia helped pick up an old man who fell in front of her. “Can’t you cancel the override?”

  “In this case, because of the nature of the activation, doing that would require a full system reset,” Emma explained. “I can’t be sure they haven’t previously inserted malignant code, and we would have potential issues with critical system failure during a full system reset.”

  “They were willing to sink an entire city before.” Jia shook her head as the old man stared at her, having an odd discussion with no one in particular. “We can’t take the chance. I’d rather let that bastard escape than risk thousands of innocent people.”

  Erik and Jia made it to the main tunnel.

  The bulk of the panicked guests continued streaming to the shelters in the hub. Security guards moved away from the crowd toward the tunnels and lowered their stun rifles from their shoulders. The guards nodded and fell in behind the newly arrived pair, acknowledging their natural confidence and authority.

  The remaining guests hurrying through the tunnel stared at the show of force, some murmuring quiet prayers under their breath.

  “Damn it.” Erik ran forward, weaving around guests. He made it to the end of the tunnel and the main dock, surprised there were still guests standing around, including some arguing with the security guards.

  “Didn’t you hear the announcement?” Jia shouted, drawing her slugthrower. “Get to the shelters before you end up getting shot in a firefight, you idiots!”

  Her rebuke motivated the remaining holdouts to listen to the security guards and run toward the tunnel.

  Erik drew his gun and followed Emma’s target marker to the support pillar hiding the suspect. He ducked behind a bench. “Konig! I don’t care what you look like. I know you’re there.”

  Jia took a position behind a different bench. “If you surrender immediately, no one else has to get hurt. You just were unlucky to commit a crime when there were two Parliamentary Security Detail agents here.”

  Erik wasn’t sure Alina would be able to clean
this up as easily as they’d been assuming, but there was no reason to let an agent of the conspiracy know who they were.

  Their previous experiences with those types of tactics had led to more violence, not cooperation.

  The security guards spread out in the mouth of the tunnel and along benches and behind other support pillars, all aiming in the same direction as Erik and Jia. He wasn’t sure if Emma had supplied them with targeting information.

  “The intruder sub is entering the docking tunnel,” Emma reported.

  “We’re running out of time,” Erik muttered through gritted teeth.

  “Konig!” Jia yelled. “We know about your friends coming. Militia units are on the way. You’re not escaping.”

  “Get someone here, Emma,” Erik ordered under his breath. “I’d rather have to explain later than let this guy get away.”

  A harsh laugh sounded from behind the support beam. “If you know I’m here, then you know I’m carrying a briefcase.”

  “We know,” Erik called back. “So what?”

  “What do you think is in the briefcase?”

  “Your balls?” Erik suggested. “I don’t know, and I don’t care. We’ll crack it open and take a peek after you surrender.”

  Konig snorted, the sound echoing in the cavernous dock. “It’s a controller for a series of bombs I’ve planted, Mr. Parliamentary Security Detail. You two idiots have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

  Jia’s eyes flicked over to Erik and back. “I think that’s our line,” she complained.

  “If I blow the bombs, there’s no way the backup fields will be able to hold back the water.” Konig waved the briefcase from behind the pillar. “This will become a giant underwater tomb.”

  Emma scoffed. “I’m currently searching through many of the key structural points of the resort and not finding any evidence of unusual cargo or bombs,” she transmitted.

  “Yeah, I’m not feeling it either,” Erik murmured. He raised his voice. “You’re bluffing, Konig, and we both know it.”