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"I will And you, stay out of trouble Do what Manny and Pansy tell you" Bryn kissed her cheek and hugged her again "I love you, brat"
"Love you, too" Annie forced a sh tears shone in her eyes "Some reunion we’ve had, huh?"
"I don’t know We’ve had worse Remember that time at Cousin Bernard’s, and the stories about the aunt with four thumbs?"
"And the roadkill stew," Annie said "Oh yeah, I reht This doesn’t really even make the top five"
Patrick tapped Bryn on the shoulder, and it was definitely ti, and Annie stepped back, crossing her arested she wanted to hold that last hug very, very close
The elevator doors opened, and Bryn stepped in, followed by the others They arranged themselves at equal distances, the way people did in elevators, and so Bryn had a clear view of Annie standing there in her disheveled, just-out-of-bed glory one more time
Annie raised her hand and waved
Bryn waved back, and then the doors shut, and they left the security of what ht have passed for normal life
"Before we hit the surface, let’s make sure we all understand procedure," Patrick said "Pansy’s given us a hardened SUV froistered to a shell coet on the road, and Pansy’s going to feed us intel as we drive Within a few hours, she says she will break down the firewalls on their servers and start feeding us names and locations of people in the top ranks of the Fountain Group, or near it We take out as many as we can, as fast as we can If we run into trouble while we’re out of the vehicle, we run and stay in contact Burner phones are in your packs Do not engage in a firefight unless you’ve got no choice, understand?"
"Yep," Bryn said "And stay off the police radar"
"They’ll probably have some kind of alerts out for us, and we can’t always avoid facial recognition; too many street cameras But we should try to stay out ofelse?"
Riley said, "I’ve got a friend who can help us His name is Jonas He’s retired Bureau--honest as they co contract work in war zones"
"I’ve heard of him," Joe said "Good man, by all accounts"
"No," Patrick said "Nobody else unless we get in over our heads We’ve dragged down enough good people"
He wasn’t wrong, Bryn thought, but neither was Riley; it was good to have options, and there would inevitably come a tied Maybe Patrick was thinking it, too, but the expression on his face said that there wouldn’t be any discussion on the subject
Riley shrugged and let it go as the doors opened on the ground floor level This exit had four security stops, and they passed through theht flashed red and Manny’s voice came over an invisible intercom
"As of now, your security creds are burned here," he said "Try to get in, and you’ll trigger the countermeasures Trust me--you won’t like the countermeasures, and you won’t survive theht out the door Understand me?"
"Manny--"
"Don’t, Patrick You screwed irlfriend I want the Zombie Apocalypse outside, not in here Get it? So don’t come back Ever"
"What about my sister?" Bryn asked "What about Liam?"
Silence, and then finally Manny said, "I’ll look out for theht now, the store’s closed"
The thick blast-proof outer door buzzed and winched itself open, and strobe lights flashed yellow A recorded voice ca them that they had thirty seconds to exit the rooot out, and watched the blast door swing shut Then, with a heavy crunch of gears, it locked
"Right," Patrick said He sounded resigned, and a little bit bleak "Let’s get "