Six knocked on the door of Kyntak’s office.
“Go away, I’m busy,” came a voice from inside.
Six pushed open the door. Kyntak had his feet up on his desk and was throwing peanuts into the wastepaper basket.
“You don’t look busy,” said Six.
“No,” Kyntak admitted, “but an initial warning is usually enough to get rid of people who want to harass me with trivialities.”
“Having an office has gone to your head,” Six observed. He kicked a crumpled potato-chip packet away from his foot, and it rejoined the others in a corner. The clock on the wall said 9:15:00.
“That sounds like insubordination to me, Agent Six of Hearts,” Kyntak warned. “State your business or get out of here.”
“You heard about Methryn Crexe.”
“Yeah—I thought you were taking care of it. Need a hand?”
“I’ve given a blood sample of one of the intruders to Ace of Diamonds; she’s going to analyze it and pass it over to King of Diamonds, who’ll compare it to those in the ChaoSonic database and get the address of the suspect. When we have that, King of Hearts’ll send in a team—and I’ll be doing recon.” He paused. “But there are too many variables for my peace of mind—I’d appreciate you watching my back.”
Kyntak smiled. “Only if you’ll watch mine.”
“Deal,” Six said. “I’ll let you know when we have the address.”
His phone buzzed in his pocket.
“Let’s go,” said Kyntak.
“Sorry,” Jack said as he zipped up the back of Six’s combat suit, “but I won’t have much time to chat with you today.”
“That’s a shame,” Six replied flatly.
Jack was probably the most talkative person he knew—he seemed to be able to ramble for hours without caring if his victim was listening. Six tried not to be too rude to him; Jack had suffered more of his blunt coldness than anyone else at the Deck. But Six didn’t know how to apologize for years of poor social skills. So he just tried his best to keep his mouth shut. And Jack seemed capable of handling the conversation on his own.
“I’ve got seven other agents to suit up, you see,” Jack continued, picking up equipment from a nearby table. “Busy busy busy. Lucky none of you need makeovers or I’d be here all day. And time’s a factor, as I understand it. Is it true that someone managed to break out of one of the cells? I always thought it couldn’t be done!”
“So did I,” Six growled. “They had outside help. Lots of it.”
“Well, if anyone can bring in the culprits, it’s you. Good luck, Six. Here’s your radio earpiece, your PDA, Owl 5525, and your ski mask.”
Six clipped the radio and the gun onto his belt and pulled the ski mask over his head.
“Oh, and the grenades,” Jack added, picking them up from his desk. “They’re OT-78s, so they explode on impact after the pin is pulled rather than on a timer. Don’t rely on rebound, don’t squeeze them too hard, and don’t drop them once they’re armed.”
Six pocketed the four grenades.
“Ready?” Jack asked.
Six nodded. And left without a word.
“The blood recovered from the cell belonged to a man named Vidar Dehayt,” King said to the eight agents standing before him. “Our only information on him comes from his confidential ChaoSonic file. He worked in security for the Lab last year. And you all know what that means.”
They did. King was telling them that this may have something to do with the history of Six, or Kyntak. Tread carefully.
“By necessity, this is a top secret case,” King said. “Need to know, classified, etcetera. So you report to no one but the following people: me, Queen, Six, or Kyntak. Except in the event of an emergency, you are not to share details of this case with anyone outside the Hearts department, and if you’ll take my advice, you won’t discuss them with one another either. If you need assistance from another suit, contact me or Queen first. Clear?”
“Yes, sir!” the agents said in unison.
“Good. According to the ChaoSonic database, Dehayt lives in a semi-abandoned apartment block about thirty klicks west of here. The method used to rescue Crexe suggests that he is dangerous and will be armed. While your first mission priority is to recapture Methryn Crexe before he does any harm, it’s probable that he won’t be on-site. So it’s also important to bring Dehayt in. We need him alive to find out what’s going on.
“Each floor will be searched by Six and Kyntak first. If the floor is clear, they’ll call the rest of you up. If not, they’ll come back down with a recon report. You can then use their info and the maps in your PDAs to make a game plan and move in. Standard protocol applies—if shots are fired, move in immediately.
“We’re running blind in this case. We don’t know who arranged for the rescue of Crexe, or what he plans to do on the outside. You’re all highly skilled agents, but this mission is an intelligence nightmare. So until Crexe and Dehayt are arrested, don’t let your guard down. Any questions?”
There were none.
“All right,” King said. “Good luck. Let’s load up the trucks.”