Page 67 of Hollow State

"You know I'm going, too." She rested her hand on his shoulder. "If I take Darwin's drug, the adrenaline push alone will basically disable the pain receptors. I won't even know I'm injured for hours. Kind of the entire point. Not to mention, training me on all the biometrics and scans is a little more complicated than me patching all of you up in the field. And that brings me to my area of expertise. I'm a damn good combat medic. I'm not saying Darwin couldn't do it. He could. But I'm better."

"I won't disagree with that statement." Darwin folded his arms.

Wynn turned to Gideon and Zadie. "Can you two get that app working in the next few days?"

"We're better than halfway," Zadie said. "The handshake's done. It's the pairing sequence that's fighting us, and only because we're being careful. It'll work."

"When we turn on a mini-HELIOS, we don't want to trigger any satellite system or app that Finch has been using," Gideon said. "So, we need to make sure that the new one will grab our connection and deny any others."

"Hold on a second." Coulter rested his arms on the table and drummed his fingers. "No one has agreed to this mission. We're barely even three minutes into this idea. We need more time with it before we jump into planning mode."

"Agreed," Neve said. "But I will admit that it has promise."

"I'd like the opportunity to finish my original thought," Darwin said. "I still think it should be me. I understand the biology. Whatever the compound does, I'll know it's happening while it's happening, and none of you will."

Wynn crossed to the head of the table and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "You don't know that," she said. "You've never taken the drug. None of us have."

"I've been through all the scientific research. The clinical trials. And while I don't know the exact formula Emma used, I understand the end result," Darwin said. "I can get from her research to what's in the field today."

"Then you should know better than anyone you'd be the last person in that building to knew you were in trouble if you went in alone."

Darwin lowered his head.

"That would be a suicide mission," Wynn said. "What I'm suggesting is that we send in everyone except Darwin. He’ll monitor the biometrics and help run mission control along with one other person."

Coulter dropped back in his chair. "You're talking about all of us going in enhanced."

"I hate that Wynn's right." Darwin smacked his open hand on the table. "We've beaten those men each time we've faced them, but it's been fucking luck every time. One of these days, our luck is gonna run out." He planted his hands on his hips. "We go in with a controlled dose. Small. Nothing close to what Finch is running. And we’ll have the advantage, because his people won't be on anything. Finch would have to dose them once he knows we're in the building, and dosing takes time."

"I love that idea, and I hate it at the same time," Neve said.

Gideon opened the laptop. "A physical breach makes a digital one easier. It pulls both human and AI resources elsewhere. If we can get Zadie into a control room, we can hack ORACLE and finally get what we need."

"Does that mean Gideon's the second man out with Darwin?" Coulter asked.

"No. I'm thinking it has to be Quinn." Wynn shifted her weight. "We need him with his RCMP unit. We need him out there listening and telling us what's coming. And Darwin needs to be close to Hyperion headquarters. Close enough to run scans and close enough to get to us if necessary."

"If Quinn is with his unit, that leaves Darwin alone, and that's not a good plan," Neve said.

"I can breach from the outside," Gideon said. "As long as Zadie gets to that control room, she and I can still work together."

"Then Gideon stays back, too," Neve said. "But he's a backup. He only goes in if we need him."

"I'll do whatever's needed," Gideon said. "We're still blueprinting."

"Yeah, we need that go-to shit plan," Scout said. "Gideon and Quinn can be used for that. And then Darwin saves our lives. Which, historically, he has."

Darwin leaned forward and rubbed his temples with both hands.

Wynn moved to the corner of the table. She got a hand on the back of his chair and lowered herself until she was down at his level, doing her best to ignore the biting pain.

"Hey," she said.

He lifted his head.

"It's a good plan," she said. "It's the right one. It's the first thing anybody's come up with in months that isn't a reaction to something Finch had done."

"My plan wasn't to put this team in the field again." His voice came out rough and thick.