Page 35 of Mastermind

Lilith turns to Jessica. “Your call.”

“Theo will stay behind me and duck when I tell him to. Right?”

“Ducking is what I do best. But we should hurry. If I’m right, the evidence is gonna vanish.”

“All right,” says Lilith, still unsure about having a civilian along for the forced entry.

Ray has his jacket on and is checking his pockets. If I had to guess, his government job probably involves working with one of the intelligence agencies in an active capacity. He seems familiar with all the weapons and tools.

He grabs my shoulder. “If I see something, I shoot, yes?”

“Shoot,” I reply. “I’ll keep back in case.”

“In case boom.” He nods knowingly.

We put on gas masks before exiting the vehicle. Lilith’s out first, followed by Ray, then Jessica. While Ray and Lilith have their guns drawn, Jessica keeps hers in her back holster, her hand close by. I suspect she could draw and fire before the average person could think to pull the trigger.

“Be careful,” Jessica whispers to everyone. “Our suspects will probably be disguised as police or first responders. They won’t look like bad guys.”

That’s an excellent point that I should have thought to mention. Lilith translates it for Ray, who nods curtly.

The lights of the vehicle still focus straight ahead on a glass building in an industrial park. The mist is too thick for me to tell how tall it is, but the name is clearly visible in metal letters above the entrance: Southern Star Systems KMP.

In this age of conglomerates and subsidiaries, there could be a robot factory in there or a warehouse filled with toilet paper. I have the iPad in my hand, but it’s about to reach the limit of the armored personnel carrier’s satellite internet.

Lilith and Ray reach the front door. Jessica waves me to the side by a huge metal column. I’m pretty sure my body count is higher than the rest of the group’s combined, but now’s not the time to tell a group of cops that I might be the best person at the vanguard. Plus, all three are no doubt better shots than I.

Lilith aims a light into the lobby. There’s a security guard sitting behind a desk, looking confused. She taps the glass while Ray yells at the man to come to the door.

The guard walks up to the glass and stops. Lilith shows him a badge. The guard raises his hands and steps back, saying something in Korean.

Perhaps heeding Jessica’s advice that anyone could be a bad guy, Ray doesn’t waste a moment. He uses the butt of his pistol to smash the glass door, reach through, and open it before the guard can figure out what just happened.

Lilith bursts through, puts her gun to the man’s head, and tells him to lie facedown. He starts to comply, then makes a quick grab for something under his vest.

Whack. Lilith pistol-whips the man so hard blood splatters across the floor, and I could swear I hear the sound of a tooth bouncing off the tiles. Ray shouts behind us, and one of the drivers from the vehicle comes running in and handcuffs the guard.

“This way,” says Ray, hurrying down the hall toward the elevators.

We follow after, but I’m not sure where we’re headed. “How do you know where to go?” I call out.

Ray comes running back toward me and points to the directory next to my shoulder. His finger taps on a row of Korean characters. “Da-ta cen-ter,” he says slowly enough for me to understand.

Of course. The people behind the Void aren’t stealing a physical thing . . . they’re after data.

Jessica and Lilith are already up the stairs by the time I reach the door to the stairwell.

At the top a door has been pried open and the keypad lock ripped off the wall. Jessica takes one side of the door; Lilith takes the other.

Ray enters, and the two other cops follow him in a precision formation. Jessica gives me a hand signal to stay back while they inspect the long rows of servers that make up the bulk of the facility.

I wait by the door, keeping watch. After they step out of view behind a wall lined with cables, there’s not a single sound in the entire facility.

Several minutes go by, and I stay put. Partially out of fear of getting shot by one of my teammates. Footsteps approach, and I pull back into the stairwell. Jessica walks around the corner. She’s shaking her head.

“Nobody,” she says. “Maybe the door guy can tell us something, but I’m not optimistic.”

“Ray and Lilith?”