Tania went to the dresser and opened the drawer. “Oh, darling,” she muttered, holding up a pair of cloth boxer pants and a shirt. “How’s a girl supposed to get laid wearing this?”
Kinji picked at it.
“Well, you could tie it up at the waist and maybe fray the pants.”
“High fashion at the psych ward.”
“It’s a pharmaceutical center.”
“Oh, pish.” Tania sighed and got to work shimmying out of her clothes. She gave Kinji a hungry leer. “Ever done it in a, uh, pharmaceutical center, love?”
“No time, Tania.”
“You, ma’am, are the definition of a drag.” Tania pulled the pants on, then rolled the top over her head and straightened it. She glanced at Kinji and struck a pose.
“Well?”
Kinji stepped to her and planted a kiss on her lips.
“You’re always lovely, honey.”
Tania gave a satisfied groan. “Worth every minute.”
Kinji rolled her eyes.
“Time for a diversion, right?” Tania said.
“Yes, I believe it is.”
Tania shook her arms out, letting her own nerves settle. She was as nervous as Kinji but was hiding it behind her dope-addled sheen. The two of them went to the door.
“All right,” Tania said. “You’ll come get me, right?”
“Eh.” Kinji shrugged. “I’ll see if I can fit it into my schedule.”
“Now, you joke?”
“Sorry.”
Tania nodded. “I go left, correct?”
“Yes. Left, then down the hall, then right.” Kinji put her hand on Tania’s arm. “Good luck. Make a right-fine Tania Brae of a ruckus.”
“Oh, baby doll, you know that’s what I do.”
Then Tania passed her hand over the security scan. The door opened, and she stepped out. Kinji slipped out behind her as the door slid shut, then headed right to Tania’s left.
She needed to get around the loop and back to the security desk before Tania made her way from the other direction. She stepped quickly but tried not to appear hurried. She’d left her Think Space closed but knew that was no guarantee she was in the clear.
The pharmaceutical wing had a very different feel to it than what she’d seen while visiting Bexie Montgomery. Whereas the rooms she had been in with Montgomery had been open and invigorating places designed for comfort and learning, compartments here were spaced closely. The doors were simple and unadorned.
She turned a corner and just barely managed to avoid running into a nurse who was walking beside a patient.
“We are in a great place today,” the nurse was saying.
The patient spoke the words back in a hushed tone.
He was gone, Kinji realized. His brain ravaged. Was it from an actual addiction, or — thinking about Bexie — had he been cut?
Ten paces from the security desk she slowed her pace.
Almost simultaneously a metallic crash came from the open area.
“Stop it!” Tania’s voice rose in a shrill wail. “Stop it! I can’t do this! I don’t want to be here.”
Sounds of a scuffle grew louder.
A security mech moved in, and the nurse staff went to their rooms. Kinji didn’t hesitate. She pushed her way through the doorway into the nurses’ center, then ducked down to slink past the open space.
There would be an access elevator in the next hall.
She saw three doors, two with full control panels and a third with a scanner lock.
She went to the lock and paused to jump into her private Think Space, where she dumped a piece of code into the processor. It was the inspector’s sequence, and once it was running, she plugged it into her public node, then opened herself to the system.
This was her huge gamble.
For the next few seconds the system would see her as an inspector bot, but if she was still in this persona by the time the system registered duplicate sequences, the CIO would probably freeze her.
Kinji requested access, and the door slid open.
She stepped into the tube, and toggled the system to take her to Bexie’s floor, dumping the inspector’s persona as soon as the lift moved.