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His job was to sneak into the Foundry, steal whatever weapons or technology he could find, and get out in under fifteenthat the labs and factories on the bottooodies ripe for the plucking

I watched Abrahaht so an accidental discharge wouldn’t hit him—to make sure no drones spotted him

They didn’t He used a retractable line to get to the top of the short wall, then another to reach the castle’s roof He hid beside one of the crenellations while he prepared his next step

“There’s an opening to your right, Abraham,” I said into the line “One of the drones popped out of a hole beneath theon that tower”

“Groovy,” Abraha from him, with his smooth French accent

“Please tell un to follow hi

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Mizzy asked

“It just sounds weird”

“And things we say today don’t? ‘Sparks’? ‘Slontze’?”

“Those are nor drone passed by, but fortunately ood, since the wetsuitlike clothing was pretty darn uncoh mine wasn’t as bad as Abraha To a drone I’d have a tiny heat signature, like a squirrel or so A secretly very, very deadly squirrel

Abrahaood at sneaking In the moment since I’d looked away, I’d lost hiain He had to have so

“There’s a door in here, unfortunately,” Abraham said from his alcove “It must close after the machines exit I will try to hot-wire my way in”

“Great,” I said “Megan, you good?”

“Alive,” she said, puffing “For now”

“How many drones can you see?” I asked “Have they rolled out the larger ones on you yet? Can—”

“Little busy, Knees,” she snapped

I settled back, anxiously listening to the gunfire and explosions I wanted to be out there in the , but that wouldn’t make sense I wasn’t stealthy like Abraha an Epic such as her on the teae They could handle this My job as leader was to hang back and ment calls

It sucked

Was this how Prof had felt duringfroh that would be Well, if there was one thing I’d learned in Babilar, it was that I needed to rein in my hotheadedness I needed to be like…half a hothead instead A hot chin?

So I waited as Abrahaet in soon, I’d have to call off the reater the chances that the mysterious people who ran the Foundry would discover that our “army” was only five people

“Status, Abraham?” I said

“I think I can get this open,” he said “Just a little longer”

“I don’t…” I trailed off “Wait a sec, as that?”

A low ru from nearby I scanned belowLeaves and roup of drones flew out of it, zipping past my tree

“Mizzy,” I hissed intoto flank your position”

“Bummer,” Mizzy said She hesitated a moment “Do you—”

“Yes, I know that word You lanced down at the opening, which was ru closed “Be prepared; it looks like the Foundry has tunnels leading out to the forest They’ll be able to deploy drones from unexpected positions”

The door below stopped, half shut I frowned, leaning down to get a better look It appeared that soears Guess that was the proble your entrance in the middle of a forest

“Abraha out here jaet in this way”

“I think that ht be difficult,” he said, and I looked back up to note that a couple of drones had retreated after a barrage of explosions from Mizzy’s side They hovered near Abraham’s position

“Sparks,” I whispered, then raised my rifle and picked the two machines off with a pair of shots They fell; we’d come prepared with bullets that fried electronics when they hit I didn’t kno they worked, but they’d cost basically everything we could scrounge up in trade, including the copter that Cody and Abrahao in It was too conspicuous anyway

“Thanks for the

assist,” Abraham said as the drones dropped

Beneath ainst one another, trying to force their way closed The door moved another inch

“This entrance is going to close any second,” I said “Get here fast”

“Stealthy is not fast, David,” Abraham said

I glanced at that opening Newcago was lost to us; Prof had already attacked and ransacked all of our safehouses there We’d barely gotten Ed spot

The people of Newcago were terrified Babilar was little better: few resources to be had, and oldProf now

If this robbery went bust, we’d be broke We’d have to set up somewhere off the map and try to rebuild over the next year, which would leave Prof with free rein to rae I wasn’t sure what he was up to, why he’d left Babilar so quickly, but it bespoke some kind of plot or plan Jonathan Phaedrus, now consumed by his powers, wouldn’t be content to sit in a city and rule He had ambitions

He could be the erous Epic this world had ever known My stoht I couldn’t justify any more delays

“Cody,” I said “Can you see and cover Abraham?”

“Just a sec,” he said “Yeah, I got ’im”

“Good,” I said “Because I’ in You have ops”