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He thought it over, and nodded "All right," he said "Harn drivers to the other two We’re going to sit tight for twenty ive it more time," Riley said "Drones have plenty of fuel capacity They could circle it a long tireed "But they won’t"
"Because?"
He grinned It was inti "Because we’ve already worked back channels, and the drone ops is off book Chains of co informed, and trust me, in twenty minutes it’ll be shut down, recalled to the barn, and the operators won’t even remember they ever flew their toys over Kansas Those who do re Leavenworth real close There are so, but none of thee is on our side, not theirs So far, anyway"
"Don’t get cocky," Joe said "But if we’ve got the chance, we need to take it No rooreed," Riley said "Let’s do it, people Narro, if the drone’s off the table for theet out before they arrive if we hustle"
"Take go-bags," Brick said, and nodded at Hared off to the nearest SUV and came back with four camo backpacks "We kicked in so witha little short, and we like to keep it street legal for anybody who isn’t on the payroll"
"It’s good," Bryn said She took the Glock out of her backpack, loaded it, and clipped the holster to her waistband at an easy draw angle "Ready?"
Joe Fideli threw the backpack over his shoulder He was still carrying a shotgun, liberated from Brick’s stores un
They set off toward the clearly hted case next to the entrance, and Bryn checked it quickly The tunnel they were entering led straight and true through to an area shaded in light green--the public area There was soreat idea to use for the three of the," she said "This way"
Jogging felt good Her body liked rateful for the chance to stretch Ri-
ley easily paced her, and Joe ran behind--not nanite-enhanced, but pretty fit nonetheless His endurance wouldn’t be equal to theirs, of course, but they didn’t have that far to travel It was about a half mile down the tunnel, and then there was a steel door--locked, but between the two of theth shattered theopen the bent door
The problehts on the other side were on a different circuit, and it was like stepping into space
Joe already had an LED flashlight out, and as the door swung shut behind them he lit up the walls of the vast chamber The same salt ritty with it He swept the light around, spotted another junction box, and went over to open it and flip the switches
The overheads-- area where they’d started out--e open space with a low ceiling, ten feet or so, enough to feel oppressive The air was fresh, at least This area seemed to be part of the tourist experience, and there were ranks of electric trao Bryn headed for one and disconnected it fro, and Riley and Bryn boarded behind her as she started it up There was an old early-twentieth-century train that was clearly only for historical display--boxcars and wooden boxes labeled DYNAMITE that hadn’t seen real explosives in a hundred years Bryn pressed the accelerator, and with a hum, the cart rolled forward She floored it--after all, they didn’t need to worry about visitors--and sped past offshoot tunnels, dark and blocked off It’d be easy to get lost in here, if you wandered off the public paths
There were signs posted--new restrooe She supposed this would be a perfect environment for rare films--dry, cool, unlikely to burn
Too bad they didn’t have tihtsee She kind of loved history
But survival had to cons down the wide arched tunnels, with their sparkling, striated gray walls and ceilings, until it opened into a huge doree Pretty great
"Elevator," Riley said, and pointed to a large industry cage at the far end Bryn headed for it, and braked just a few feet away She bailed out and reached to press the CALL button
But before she touched it, a rattle frolance "That wasn’tdown"