Chapter 30

Gear wasn’t a problem. I was in charge of training stealth infiltrators, which gave me access to cutting-edge gear. I had the latest stealth suits in female sizes and shaped for the female form. I had suppressed firearms like the sweet little .300 ACC Blackout carbine that she had already fired at the range where I taught her, plus all the best ammo for it that Uncle Sam could provide.

 

What I didn’t have was clearance for her to go in. That part was my job—getting her clearance and gear. Harper was working on a hundred other details that we had come up with when we brainstormed our plan and its consequences. And there would be consequences even if we failed, but especially if we didn’t. So I had to get Harper into the Zone. But I knew someone who could get her clearance… or at least fudge it.

 

“Hey Maya, how’s it going?”

 

“Oh, Ajaya,” she said, caught off guard in the lab, bent over the metal body of an infiltrator. “It’s, ah, been, ah, a bit crazy actually. Studying these things, trying to figure out where else they might be, how many of them there could be, things like that.”

 

“Oh? Isn’t finding them up to that Weber guy?”

 

“Well, ostensibly. The NSA is supposed to be the lead on finding them, but frankly they’re using our algorithms to do it, so… you know.”

 

“Don’t be modest—they’re using your algorithms, aren’t they? The ones you personally wrote?” I asked.

 

“Yeah, true. But, hey… what’s up with you? Aren’t you supposed to be figuring out how to hunt the Spiders?”

 

“Actually, I kind of have… figured it out,” I said. “It’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

 

A suspicious look replaced the slight bewilderment she’d worn a moment ago. “Why don’t I think I’m going to like whatever you’ve come up with?”

 

“Whoa, nothing bad, really. It’s just I need to go back in and hunt them. Me and Rikki… and one other.”

 

She frowned. “One other what? Person? Just one? Who?”

 

“Well, you don’t know this person. And that’s kind of the thing. See, I need to get access on the system for this person and, well, aren’t you the administrator for Zone access network?”

 

Maya might be shy and a little awkward, but she wasn’t anyone’s dummy. Alarm flared in her eyes. “The major doesn’t know this person, does he? Have they ever even been in the Zone before?”

 

“Yeah. More than me. Listen, Major Yoshida told me that my mission is to find and kill the Spiders. That’s what I’m going to do. Sneak in and snipe the bastards. But with those new sensor remotes, I need a way to get by them. My… partner can do that. Has done that. But she doesn’t have current access.”

 

“She?” Maya asked, really alarmed.

 

Shit. I’d been so careful to not use feminine pronouns right up until I did.

 

“Yeah. You don’t know her. No one here does.”

 

“Astrid?” she guessed.

 

“No, not Astrid. She knows everything there is to know about running an LTV into the Zone, but not this.”

 

“Wait… you hooked up the Zone War people with someone who could harden their camera drones against hacking and interference, didn’t you?”

 

“How’d you know about that?”

 

“Please. You introduced us to Ms. Flottercot a while ago, remember? She’s been trying to hire any one or all three of us ever since. But we can’t break our government contracts. However, the last time I spoke to her, she said not to worry about it. Said she could wait till our contracts were up because you’d introduced a drone expert to her who could work wonders. A female expert.”

 

I was really tempted to lie my way out of it. In fact, my mouth was opening to do just that, but suddenly, different words came out. “Yes. She’s really good with drones, better than me, and if she goes in with me, I think we can nail a Spider CThree. But it’s dangerous for her to come to the attention of… certain people. So I need a blank access for her. And really, Maya, it is within my directive to bring outside experts in with me if I need them.”

 

“But the major doesn’t know her. Oh! You don’t want him to know her, do you? You think he’d what? Hurt her?”

 

“I don’t know. It’s like how we all had to be careful when Agents Black and White came in and took Lotus. Like the major said… there are different factions within the government and even within the military. I know for a fact that some of them would be dangerous to her. I wouldn’t even bring her in, but she’s insisting and frankly, Maya, I need her if I’m going to live through this one. Would you at least think about it? And not say a word to anyone no matter what you decide?”

 

“Because if I say anything, I could put this girl in danger. Thanks a lot, Ajaya, for putting me in this position!”

 

“Yeah, I didn’t want you to know who she was, but you figured it out. But I wouldn’t have even approached you if it wasn’t super important and if I couldn’t trust you.”

 

She frowned at me, clearly unhappy. But Maya was the best of the three and she was always nice to me. Eric was the major’s bitch and Aaron would throw anyone under a bus to get ahead. I was pretty sure she wouldn’t endanger Harper, but I was really unhappy that I’d messed up and let the cat out of the bag.

 

She studied me for a bit. Then nodded. “I’ll think about it. And I won’t say anything. But I’m still not happy about how you went about that.”