“Aaand done,” Emma tapped the side of her head beneath the infiltration suit. “We have ninety minutes of plausible deniability before we need to hit the road, and that’s only if there isn’t much traffic. We should try and get in and out in sixty minutes if possible.”

“Chiffon?” Kat whispered, nodding toward Whip. “Do you think you can handle that?

Emma held out both of her hands, opening her fingers to reveal a square about the size of a closed fist. With a quiet purr, the drone lifted itself into the air, wobbling slightly to compensate for a gust of wind. It buzzed back and forth, spinning in a tight circle before leveling off as it hovered just above Whip’s shoulder.

“I can disable the security in twenty,” she replied. “I’m not as confident as Emma that the decoys will buy us a couple of hours and I would prefer not to find out that I’m right the hard way.”

“No need to get all pessimistic,” Emma said with a sniff. “Only Heather and a couple of the higher ups in the 3445 know what’s going on. Our flash cloning isn’t anywhere near as good as what the stallesp have been doing, but our scientists have managed to make some pretty convincing short lived cybernetic hybrids. They can only recite a couple pre-programmed phrases, and if you make them do anything involving coordination they’ll fall right on their faces, but right now your doubles are having a picnic in a park with a distant security cordon. No one should get close enough to figure out that they are repeating the same conversation two to three times over the course of three hours.”

“But what about moles in my security?” Kat asked. “We’ve already run into that issue once, and the data we retrieved from the last run made it pretty apparent that the other shareholders had slipped their own agents into the infrastructure that GroCorp ‘gifted’ me with when I was invested as a shareholder. I’d bet every credit I own that there is at least one spy on my security team right now.”

Whip’s drone took off, its dark surface rippling and becoming translucent as the thousands of tiny LEDs built into its underside began displaying images of the slightly cloudy sky.

“I’m counting on leaks,” Emma responded. “Heather is rotating the guards every twenty minutes or so. That means everyone in your detail will be near enough the decoys to hear them talking a bit at a time. If there is a spy, they will come close enough to ‘confirm’ that the two of you are safely in the greater Chiwaukee area. You’ll have the perfect alibi.”

Kat opened her mouth to correct Emma only to cock her head slightly to the right as the words sunk in and shrug.

“That might actually work. So long as no one blabs, they will ‘confirm’ our presence with their own spies. I doubt that they will even bother with a formal follow up inquiry when they already ‘know’ that we aren’t anywhere near Blake Daneil’s estate.”

“Just make sure not to kill anyone this time,” Emma agreed. “It will be hard to cover up your presence if you start damaging company employees with your rather signature style. I doubt anyone will believe our denials if there is a pile of dead bodies covered in knife wounds and the signs of water and gravity magic.”

“I managed Northstar without killing anyone,” Kat replied defensively. “From the entry to extraction, no one even knew we were there.”

Whippoorwill shifted next to her, the padded material of her infiltration suit silent despite her furtive movements.

“I think that was mostly me, Erinyes. That’s a large part of the reason why I’m on this mission with you right now. You’re very good at killing things, but Emma and I are here to try and stop that from happening.”

“Still,” Kat mumbled unconvincingly, “I’m getting better. Maybe this time I would only knock people out? We did bring gas this time and you have batons?”

Emma just put her hands on her hips and stared at Kat. Somehow, Kat could feel her judgemental gaze even through the opaque mesh of the infiltration suit mask. It felt like her childhood all over again, her mother scolding her for climbing somewhere she wouldn’t or knocking something over while running wildly through the streets of the arcology.

“Really?” Emma questioned. “You really think that if Chiffon and I let you run off on your own that you wouldn’t somehow end up stabbing a bunch of soldiers that were just trying to drink their coffee and slack off in a break room in peace? Honestly, I’m not even sure it’s your fault at this point. Your missions fall apart regularly enough that it feels like there’s some element of cosmic chance that’s coming into-”

“Shush,” Whippoorwill cut in. “I’m in the middle of-”

She trailed off, her focus on whatever the drone was doing. Emma and Kat slipped into silence, letting Whip do her work. After about five seconds, Whippoorwill let out her indrawn breath.

“I’ve sliced a window for us, but we need to go now. The security system will be deactivating sector by sector for about 90 seconds. After that, it is going to pop back on so that anyone observing it won’t realize that there are one or two sets of falsified data in their sensor’s loops”

“Wait here,” Kat said to Emma, grabbing hold of Whippoorwill and activating Flight. A second later the two of them took to the air, flying up and over the glossy black wall that marked the edge of the Daniels estate.

“How bad is the security?” She whispered as she lowered Whip to the ground. “Do you think we’ll be able to manage?”

“It’s pretty serious,” Whip replied quietly. “Seismic sensors, lidar, cameras that pick up the ultraviolet and infrared spectrums as well. Roving patrols of humans and drones. I think he upgraded things heavily after I turned on his fire alarm mid-meeting. Three months ago, we would have been cooked. Our only option would have been you carving your way in atop a pile of bodies. Right now? I think both of us underestimated how strong the new electronic infiltration gear we’ve salvaged from the stallesp is. The drone can connect remotely with systems that should be manual only, and its onboard computer can cut through the thickest security in seconds.”

“Honestly?” Whippoorwill continued with a shrug. “It feels unsporting. All we need to do is avoid the security guards, and I have a real time map of their locations and routes.”

“I’ll make sure to find us a challenge next time,” Kat said with a chuckle. “Maybe we can find another secret stallesp base so you can deal with alien security. I’m sure that would be an appropriate challenge for someone of your skill.”

She turned around and took flight as Whippoorwill shuddered theatrically behind her. The second she touched down next to Emma, the other woman leaned close whispering excitedly.

“What took so long? Did you kiss? That was it wasn’t it? Both of you were so wrapped up in the emotions and passion of the mission that you made out on another shareholder’s lawn. Oh God, that means this is like a date and that I’m a third wheel-”

Kat tuned her out, grabbing Emma’s babbling form about the waist and carrying her over the wall as well. They landed, Emma still rambling, and Whip gave the two of them a thumbs up.

“Security on the wall has been reactivated,” she said quietly. “Come on, we need to move.”

Kat activated Shadow as they jogged across the well manicured lawn toward a hedge maze. The spell wasn’t nearly as effective in the early afternoon daylight, but it would serve to blur their edges and hopefully protect them from a casual glance.

“To the left,” Whippoorwill said tightly, some strain evident in her voice as she made a sharp turn. “Patrol coming in at an angle ahead.”

Whip accelerated, speeding from a jog into a trot. Kat and Emma kept pace, covering ground in loping strides as they hurried toward the protective embrace of the shrubbery and the mansion behind it.

“Back to the right,” Whip hissed urgently. “And run, another patrol”

She broke into a sprint. Part of Kat wanted to use the combination of Shadow and Shadow Step to close the gap between their group and the hedge maze in a matter of seconds, but she could hear Emma struggling to her left. Even if Kat was able to grab Whip and carry her with, it would mean leaving her other friend behind.

Instead she clenched her jaw. Trusting in Whipporwill’s guidance as the three of them ran for the maze at a worryingly pedestrian rate.

Seconds ticked by. Sweat that had nothing to do with the heat of the infiltration suit began to pool in the small of Kat’s back as the ground rushed past them and the hedges loomed large. Her ears strained for a shout or the crack of gunfire that would signal that their group had been spotted.

It never came, the three of them burst through one of the maze’s entrances, hiding themselves just inside its shadowy depths. Whippoorwill held up a hand for them to stop, sucking in deep but even breaths.

Emma had it a lot worse. She was bent over, hands on her knees as she struggled to suck in oxygen. Kat looked around worriedly, trying to spot any guards or hidden security cameras that might betray their presence.

If there were any, they weren’t readily visible. The maze was quiet, the heavy foliage hushing the noise of birds and wind that made the rest of the estate so lively. It was like they had stepped into a twilight world of hushed sounds and muted hues.

“We should be good for a minute,” Whip said in between breaths. “I had to simulate an ocular malfunction on one of the canine drones that Daniels uses to guard the place in order to force its human partner to stop and do a field repair. That bought us a couple of seconds. They’re moving again, but not anywhere near us.”

“Canine drones?” Kat asked, raising an eyebrow under her mask.

“I guess Daniels likes dogs?” Whippoorwill replied. “Most of the patrols are one human, two faux dogs and some sort of flying drone that is kept on the human’s person. Usually a hawk. I haven’t really seen any of them use their flying drones yet, but I’d suspect that would change if any of them became alerted as to our presence.”

“That’s beyond strange,” Kat responded, eyes still scanning the mute shrubbery. “Do the dogs at least have guns? I can understand if it's just an aesthetic choice, but if he’s actively impeding his security as part of some sort of theming-”

“Their specs say that they are Hellhounds Mark 2.07,” Whip interjected. “Looks like a pair of thirty caliber carbines built into their shoulders and a short ranged flamethrower in their jaws. I’d put them somewhere between an effective fighting machine and aesthetic. Either way, I wouldn’t want to bring them down with small arms. These things are expensive, and their armor is going to shrug off anything you can carry in one hand.”

“Don’t pet the puppies,” Kat replied. “Got it.”

To her side, Emma wrenched herself back into a stand position, breath coming in long labored gasps that terminated in an asthmatic wheeze. When she spoke, her voice was ragged, and gravelly.

“Sorry about that. I thought I had recovered after my stay in the hospital, but it appears that I should have been doing a little more cardio. Something to keep in mind if we have to engage in another round of ‘sprint or die.”

“I’m pretty sure Heather could have told us that,” Kat said dryly. “I’ve caught her clicking her tongue to herself as she’s looked over your physical therapy and obstacle course times at least twice now.”

“You can’t see it,” Emma replied haughtily, “but I’m sticking my tongue out at you right now. It’s not my fault. The new drugs we derived from the stallesp archives fixed the physical wounds fairly quickly, but apparently they didn’t patch up the rest of my system. Another note for the docs I guess.”If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

“We need to move into the maze,” Whippoorwill cut both of them off. “Another pair of patrols are coming by, and I doubt that we’ll be able to make it past them without the cover of the hedges.”

She set off at a quick walk, Kat and Emma rushing after her to catch up. The three of them slipped into silence, following Whippoorwill’s lead as the woman moved decisively through the greenery. Periodically, Whip would change course decisively, taking a left or ignoring a turn without any further comment. Evidently, whatever access she’d gained to the security system included the monitoring systems embedded within the maze itself.

Barely a minute later, the three of them stepped into the light once more, the four story Daniels mansion just in front of them. Whip stepped out onto a marble walkway leading to a large pair of glass doors that opened as she approached.

Kat followed, watching warily for any guards or nearby servants that might suddenly appear around a corner, but Whippoorwill had the situation completely under control, smoothly leading them through twisting corridors and toward stairwells. At one point she grabbed Kat by the shoulder and pulled her into what looked like a staff room. Emma ducked in after them a bare second behind the pattering of feet and high pitched voices of children running down the hallway.

Something in Kat’s chest sunk as she thought of how things would have turned out if she had tried to do the mission on her own. Whip was a phantom, quietly and efficiently guiding the three of them through a security system that was crafted by a paranoid madman. Without her help, there was no doubt in Kat’s mind that she would have been found by now, and that would have meant resorting to violence.

One of the children screamed something, and the others sprinted away, chased by the shouter in some youthful game that Kat couldn’t quite make out. She looked down at the knife on her hip. It hadn’t come free yet in their mission, but this could have easily been it. Kat had killed a lot of people in her time as a samurai, but no children. She would do what the mission needed, but that didn’t make it feel any better.

“Coast is clear,” Whippoorwill whispered, “We’re only one floor from the HVAC system, make sure that the two of you have your canisters and filtration systems ready.”

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Emma asked while Kat checked the internal systems of her suit on her smartpanel. “Even if the gas does knock everyone out, someone is going to find the casings. They’ll be able to analyze them and trace them back to us.”

Whip took off at a brisk walk, leading them toward a nearby set of stairs that led up to the mansion’s rooftop as Kat replied.

“They’re made of an organic compound, some kind of keratin I think-”

“You mean like nails or hair,” Emma cut in, “ew “Something like nails or hair. Anyway, it will break down into dust about an hour after usage. An inspector might be able to find traces of the dust, but it will be so degraded that they can’t do anything with it.”

“Fancy,” Emma said appreciatively.

“It’s as expensive as hell,” Kat replied with a quiet snort. “The six canisters we’re carrying cost about as much as the payout for most mid-range missions. Samurai don’t use it often because it turns even a successful job into a financial loss.”

“Of course.” She shrugged theatrically. “We’re rich so it doesn’t matter.”

“It’s good to be rich,” Emma agreed, faux-seriousness dripping from her voice.

“Enough banter,” Whippoorwill cut in. “I have the security door open and the cameras off. Once we get through, the HVAC system will be to our right. The air intake is pretty readily visible, but if you’ve spontaneously developed blindness in the past ten minutes, just follow my lead.”

They passed through a metal, heavily reinforced door and out onto the sun dappled concrete of the roof. Unlike the lower floors, there wasn’t any effort to make the top of the mansion look nice. Other than the waist barrier running around the edge of the roof that would let defenders set up defensive positions, everything was stark and utilitarian. Even the pair of automated anti aircraft turrets mounted at the north and south ends of the building looked blocky and built strictly for efficiency.

Kat whistled as she looked the entire setup over.

“Fifty people could defend this place from an entire army if they knew it was coming,” she said quietly. “I know our defenses are better than this, but we are protecting the entire R&D facility. It seems absurd to spend this much time and money on defending only one man.”

“Could those guns shoot down a missile?” Emma asked incredulously, pointing at one of the anti aircraft emplacements. “I don’t know a whole lot about their model, but it sure looks like they could put enough lead in the air to shoot down a missile.”

“Theoretically,” Whippoorwill replied, her voice distant as she accessed the weapon system’s files. “They do have a close in weapons system capability designed for light aircraft and drones, but I would be more worried about the sprinter missiles that have been added after mark-”

“Hold on.” Whip held up a hand, and Kat could practically see the frown on her girlfriend’s face through the opaque mask. “There’s a transmission coming in and Daniels is taking it himself.”

Kat stopped, a canister of sleeping gas in her hand as she waited for the go ahead from Whippoorwill. On the other end of the roof a songbird touched down, gently cheeping to itself.

“You’re going to want to hear this,” Whippoorwill said, concern dragging at her words. “I think this entire trip has progressed beyond a simple not so good natured prank.”

The receiver in Kat’s ear crackled and suddenly she was listening to a cold, feminine voice.

“-Mr. Jackson will be sorry to hear that Daniels. Sorry indeed. We’ve had such fruitful cooperation in the past. It would be a shame for you to throw all of that away.”

“Fruitful?” Daniels harumphed back. “I paid you some credits to eliminate some problems. When it turned out you were working for some God blasted space aliens I had to keep it quiet, but sure, I kept working with you. I traded some intelligence in exchange for information and access to ‘top end’ samurai. As soon as those samurai came into contact with Katherine, she cut them to pieces. Literally. It was an embarrassment.”

“And we told you to be careful of her Blake,” the woman replied. “Erinyes has her own backers, and she is force to be reckoned with. That doesn’t mean that she’s invulnerable. If you had put together a better action plan, she would be dead right now and our assets wouldn’t have been wasted. Don’t pretend like that interaction was completely one sided. The combat team you got killed was one we were grooming for more important things. Mr. Jackson was thrilled about their fate.”

Kat’s eyes widened and she leaned over to Whippoorwill, whispering urgently.

“This is all being recorded right?”

“Recorded and I’m backtracking the communication right now,” Whip said back. “The signal is bouncing around a bit, but if they keep talking I should be able to nail it down.”

“All respect to Mr. Jackson,” Daniels ground out, ending Kat’s hurried conversation, “but I am not going to get him the specifications for the gas the stallesp research teams are using to ward off flash clones. First, I don’t trust him. Second, I don’t have ready access to that information. It would mean requesting it from Debs’ employees. If I don’t go through formal channels they’ll laugh at me. If I do go through formal channels, they will still probably laugh at me, but there’s a small chance that I will get a censored version of whatever they were using months ago. I’d bet half my shares that anything I could actually acquire would be a trap.”

“What are you,” the woman spat out, “a spoiled child begging his mother for a sweet? Don’t ask the upstart for anything. Take it from her and if she resists, you can pry it from her cold and unmoving fingers.”

“That would weaken the company,” Blake replied, his voice firm. “I’d kill Debs myself if she weren’t a shareholder, but despite what you might believe, I’m loyal to GroCorp. I’m going to isolate her and rob her blind, I’d be a fool not to, but I’m not going to take any actions that actually hurt the company itself.”

“So this is the tune you are singing now?” Cold anger burned in the unknown woman’s voice. “Your moral opposition now seems at odds with your role in the Glendale Audit, the Lake Superior Pipeline Sabotage, and the Haupt Affair. Three scandals that you came to us for assistance on, not the other way around.”

“But none of those involved shareholders,” Daniels barked back. “Haupt was an executive working for a rival, Glendale was a case of corruption used to weaken an opponent and the Superior Pipeline didn’t do damage to the company as a whole. After all, I had been secretly building my own pipeline from Lake Michigan. I profited and the company barely had any interruption in its water supply.”

“Barely any interruption?” The woman asked mockingly. “The drought and crop failures that resulted killed hundreds. We had thousands of recruits try to join our organization. Weak and sickly, nothing but skin and desperation draped over bony frames. They didn’t even ask us for credits. Only food.”

“See,” Blake replied. “Millennium benefitted as well. My rival was financially ruined, I received accolades and more credits than I can count, and you had an influx of human capital. Everyone won.”

For a second, no one spoke. The radio connection hissed slightly, interference from the jamming field that Whippoorwill had broken through at the beginning of their run the only sound other than the bird chirping at the end of the roof.

“Fine,” the woman said, her voice glacially cold. “If that is how you’re going to handle our request after years of us performing favors for you, so be it. I will warn you, your sudden attack of conscious wasn’t contagious. There are plenty of individuals within GroCorp that were more than happy to work with us if it meant a chance to sell the stallesp research.”

“If you act fast,” she continued, “there is still a chance for you to be on the winning side of this issue. Get the formula for the gas used to detect the flash clones and Mr. Jackson will forget all about this conversation.”

“But I told you, Katherine-” Blake began only for the woman to cut him off.

“Katherine Debs is dead. She was having a picnic with her girlfriend when one of her ‘security’ guards used a target designator on the two of them. A smart mortar annihilated the entire hilltop including the guard who called it in, eliminating any loose ends.”

Kat jerked up, looking over at Whip. Both of them froze. In the distance, the songbird warbled cheerfully.

“She’s… dead?” Daniels asked. “Are you sure?”

“Check for yourself,” the woman replied. “I don’t have the time to waste it prattling with you. Give us the formula or don’t. Either way, just remember that we are watching and that it is in your best interest to pick the winning side.”

The line went dead.

“Oh God,” Emma whispered. “I’m not even fully recovered and they’re already trying to kill us again. I knew being an executive was dangerous, but this is-

“Unacceptable,” Kat finished for her. “Come on, let’s get the gas into the HVAC system while Whip ransacks the system’s records. It sure looks like our presence is going to be needed back in Schaumburg to quiet gossip as soon as possible.”

The other woman’s throat moved under her infiltration suit as she nodded hurriedly.

Kat grabbed the two gas canisters from Whippoorwill, letting her focus on invading Blake Daniels’ secure network and downloading everything of value or interest. She activated her suit’s filtration system and began cracking open the gas canisters one by one before tossing them into the rumbling HVAC machinery’s intake.

It took another minute or so for the potent sleeping gas to circulate through the mansion, plenty of time for Whippoorwill to finish her smash and grab operation on Daniel’s security. By the time the three of them were moving once again toward Blake’s third floor study, she had already begun erasing logs and records to cover their tracks.

Finally, with mixed emotions, Kat found herself standing over Blake Daniels. It was only the second time she’d seen him in person. Once at her investiture, and now, face down on the ground with slightly blue lips from the sleeping gas that was hanging heavy in the air.

She crouched down next to him, pulling a knife from her bandoleer that had been specially prepared for today. Kat paused, an idea striking her.

Standing up she walked over to Blake’s desk and pulled out a blank sheet of paper, scrawling a note on it before returning to his unconscious body. Out of an abundance of caution, she took a microfiber cloth out of her pouch, rubbing the knife blade down once so that no fingerprints or residue remained. The single word, etched with a laser on its side gleamed dully. “Touch.”

Kat placed the sheet of notebook paper by the side of Blake’s unconscious head before using Penetrate to jam the knife almost up to its hilt into the expensive hardwood of the floor.

Before Kat could stand up, Whippoorwill whispered to her.

“Grab his belt, the buckle appears to have a false compartment of some sort in it. I don’t know what’s in there, but if he’s hiding it from everyone, it has to be something valuable.”

She nodded once, using her other knife to slice through the belt’s leather and remove the buckle. A second later it was in her pouch and the three of them were ready to leave.

“What did you write anyway?” Emma asked from the doorway, nodding her head toward the note that Kat had left pinned to the ground.

Kat felt her lips part in a predatory smile as she replied.

“Don’t believe every rumor you hear. Check for yourself.”