She frowned, staring at the medical device, then instinctively set the convergence depth, beam width, and intensity via the dials. She held the tip to his head, pressing it into his skull at a very specific location.
“Don’t move,” she said.
Her finger hesitated on the trigger.
What if I’m wrong?
A robot dropped into the room via the opening beside her.
Rhea activated the scalpel.
The mayor stiffened, then collapsed.
“Hands up!” the robot ordered.
Rhea dropped the scalpel and raised her hands in surrender. She was surprised the robot hadn’t mowed her down where she stood. No doubt the mayor had told the machines to come inside, but he must have specifically ordered them not to harm her. That would make sense, considering he had no idea what she had been trying to do.
The machine stepped forward, making room for another to land inside.
A third dropped behind that one.
While the others kept Rhea covered with their rifles, the first robot rushed forward. It knelt and scanned the mayor by moving one hand across his head and torso. The machine looked at her. “What did you do to him?”
“Nothing,” she lied. “He just fainted.”
The robot glanced at the scalpel she had dropped, then announced: “Take her away.”
They disarmed her and forced her to climb from the chamber. She glanced at the mayor one last time before she left, wondering if she had succeeded.
Well, either way, she supposed she’d have a lot of time to think about it.
21
Rhea saw Will, Horatio, Miles and Brinks waiting for her in the confinement area in the basement of city hall.
Will stood up as she approached the glass door. When it opened, for a moment she thought Will was going to hurl himself past, but then the robots shoved her inside and the door sealed behind her.
“What are you doing here?” Rhea asked.
“We were trying to rescue you,” Will explained.
“Good job,” she said. “Now we’re all going to prison.”
Will shrugged. “At least you won’t lack for company.”
Miles shook his head. “They’re not going to put us in the same cells.”
“Well, we’ll hang out in the yard then,” Will said.
“You obviously have some outdated notions of what prison life is like,” Miles told him.
Rhea took a seat between Miles and Brinks. “I’d thank you for coming. Except I specifically said not to.”
Miles crossed his arms. “You’re our Warden. We weren’t going to abandon you.”
“I’m surprised Renaldo didn’t try to come with you,” she said.
“He wanted to, but I insisted he stay behind,” Miles said. “I told him he’d already risked his life enough when he accompanied you the first time, and that someone needed to stay behind to keep the demonstrators under control. He protested weakly, but I could tell he was relieved.”
Rhea nodded. “Anything that involves fighting or confrontation, well, let’s just say it isn’t his strong suit. Although, he can certainly bite, when you back him into a corner.” She studied the cell. “Where do you humans relieve yourselves?”
Brinks pointed at the partition in the corner of the big cell. “There’s a toilet behind that.”
“Why do you ask?” Will taunted. “Have you picked up an attachment we don’t know about?”
“Curiosity,” Rhea replied.
“How did you escape after the robots captured you?” Will asked.
“Well, first they took me to see the mayor,” she said. “Did I tell you he was mind jacked?”
“What?” Horatio said. “By who?”
“Veil,” Rhea replied.
“No way!” Brinks said. “Though I guess that explains a lot.”
“Yes,” Rhea agreed.
“Why did he want to see you?” Miles asked.
“Mostly to brag, I think,” Rhea replied. “Or Veil did, anyway.”
“I don’t suppose you managed to convince him to restore the water?” Miles pressed.
“No,” she told the albino.
“So how did you escape?” Will said again.
“Well, I have DragonHunter to thank for that,” she said. “You see, Veil sent me to the basement to get chipped. If DragonHunter hadn’t opened my binds, and then delivered a pistol to me, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
“DragonHunter opened your binds during the fight?” Will said, seeming confused. “And gave you a pistol?”
“That’s right,” Rhea said. “He opened the binds remotely, of course. And when I was scrambling up the elevator shaft that runs along the exterior of the pyramid, DragonHunter sent a drone to drill a hole through the glass. It delivered a pistol.”
“But that’s impossible,” Will countered.
She stared at him uncertainly. “How do you know?”
“He was giving me minute by minute updates,” Will said. “He lost all access to the cameras shortly after you were captured. He didn’t open your cuffs. And he didn’t send a drone. Believe me.”
“But if it wasn’t DragonHunter, then who helped me?” Rhea said.
“That, I have no idea,” Will replied.
Rhea couldn’t help the eerie tingling sensation she felt then, which crawled up her spine. Who else had been watching her, then? And was that person watching even now?
Her gaze drifted to the camera dome embedded in the ceiling just outside the cell.
A security robot approached the glass door.
“Get ready to rush it,” Will said under his breath.
But the machine stepped aside as the door slid open.
“You’re all free,” the robot announced.
“Free?” Will said, his brow furrowed. “On who’s orders?”
“By order of the mayor,” the robot replied. It turned toward Rhea. “He wants to see you.”
“What did you do to him?” Will asked.
“I removed his mind hijacking chip,” she replied casually.
“You’re just a bundle of surprises, aren’t you?” Will said.
She shrugged, shooting him a wry smile, then stepped out. She still had the eerie sensation that someone was watching her, and her eyes instinctively darted to the camera dome.
“Well, I’m going with you,” Will told her. “I want to hear what Grandas has to say for himself. Besides, someone has to watch your back.”
“I’m coming, too,” Miles said.
“We all are,” Brinks agreed.
“I guess I’ll be joining you as well,” Horatio added.
“His office is crowded…” Rhea warned.
Will grinned. “Guess we’ll all be getting up close and personal with each other.”
Soon, Rhea found herself in a
