“There’s no way to know for sure. We still use them in the winter. At least I do.”
“There is a way—you just put a little camera right under the manhole.”
“And how many cameras would that be to cover all exits?” Pain’s face scrunched up, incredulous.
“They didn’t need to cover all exits, because they weren’t just using the video.” Peter picked up a remote and switched on the big screen mounted on the wall. “Rooney, wake up.”
The hacker looked up at the sound of his name, saw the glowing screen, and tapped a few buttons on his laptop. The screen darkened, showing something like a 3D maze, red on black.
“What the hell am I looking at?” Pain asked.
“It’s a program that analyzes the data from the dozen cams they’ve installed in our tunnels and predicts our routes based on the direction and turns we take,” Peter said.
“And how am I seeing it?” she sounded distracted, her eyes still glued to the screen.
Peter shrugged. “We hacked their system.”
Marco reached out to slap Rooney’s palm. “Attaboy. I knew you’d be useful someday.”
Rooney’s lips twisted in a wry smile. Everyone stared at the screen, once again silent.
“But why?” Jane whispered, and cleared her throat. “Why go to all this trouble just to avoid us? Look at it, it’s insane.”
Peter held up a finger. “Not just to avoid us. I believe that’s how they got our men, too. They used it to ambush those who came out alone in deserted areas. It’s also the last place we’d look for them, especially if they were using the abandoned exits.”
“So, are you going to take it down or what?” Jane asked.
Peter smiled, and Pain shook her head. “No. He’s going to use it to find the Commandos.”
Dave perked up at that. “How exactly are you going to do that?”
“Well, for once, we’ll know where to expect them. We tried to get the drop on them before, but we were stretched too thin and never got close enough in time. All we have to do now is sit tight and wait for them to show up in the tunnels. We’ll have a few teams in wait, follow them, and ’poon them straight to the lab.”
Dave blinked, locking his gaze with Rooney’s, and the hacker produced a matchbox-sized device from his pocket and dropped it onto the table. “A simple harpoon. GPS and magnet, sticks to a passing car if triggered in time.”
Peter nodded, perching on his desk with his arms crossed. “Any questions?”
“Are we bringing the allies with us once we’ve found the place?” Pain asked.
“Only some of them if we need help. They’ve provided really helpful intel at the start, but now, I don’t want anyone screwing this up. We’ll have one chance to shut this down once and for all.”
“Who’s the target, and what about the civilians and officers?”
“Only their leader. Those civilians don’t know what they’re doing. Our goal is to shut this down, not slaughter humans.”
Dave dropped his gaze, his insides slowly twisting into a knot. After everything they’d done, after Elena, they still got a free pass just because they were human.
He was the first to leave the office once everyone was done asking questions, and headed straight to his room. With the door locked and his laptop in hand, he sprawled on the bed and took a minute to remember where he could find the location of the second warehouse. He did have the list he needed, it turned out. It only took a few seconds to find the very same address in the Recorp Holdings file.
Dave put the laptop on the bed and stared out the window. Both warehouses—the one where Marco got tased, and the one where they nearly killed him and Pain—belonged to Recorp Holdings. It couldn’t be a coincidence. One of the three shareholders had to be funding the Commandos, with their labs and jeeps and dangerous tech.
Now, he just had to figure out which one.
Chapter 38
“And don’t forget your pills.”
“Got it.”
“And swing by tomorrow before breakfast. I’ll need to take more blood.”
“Before breakfast, okay.”
“And stop scratching your back.” Doc swatted at her arm, and Pain stared at him.
“Why so angry? It’s not your back I’m scratching.”
He glowered at her, sharp nostrils flaring. “If anything, anything feels strange, come down here and wake me up. Got it?”
She nodded, suppressing the desire to roll her eyes for the tenth time, and glanced at Chad. The corner of his mouth curled up in a tiny smile.
“And no funny business, you two,” Doc snapped, making her flinch. “Don’t go at it like there’s no tomorrow—take it easy.”
“Gee, could you say that three more times? Because the first three weren’t embarrassing enough.”
Doc held out a bottle of pills, his index finger pointed at her. “One more word, and you’ll spend the night here in the infirmary, cuffed to the bed.”
She took the bottle with a sharp, fake smile. “Thanks, but that’s something I only do in his room.”
Before anyone had a chance to recover, she grabbed the red-faced Chad by the arm and ran out of the infirmary, mingling with the crowd that was trickling out of the canteen.
“What—”
“Look, there’s Jane,” she cut him off. Ryan’s head stuck out of the crowd next to her sister, and Pain darted after her, only to be yanked back by Chad.
“Let her go,” he said, arm wrapping around her waist.
“What? Why? I need to talk to her.” She tried to pull away, but Chad’s grip only tightened as he pulled her to the other elevator.
“I saw you two in the office. Something happen between you earlier?”
“No,” she drawled with a grimace but gave up when she saw his disbelieving stare. “She just was
