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"Medusa, I need to ask you soh the chaos, only a sliver of his attention on the conflict "It’s is, too About, well, when you kissed ht now This is a bad time Look, have you ever been bounced out of a syste with it? I need to know"

There was a thick silence Her voice grew icy "What do you mean?"

Tom missed it "If you try to interface the e do, and you enter a systeain, what does thatinto his shoulder "What are you doing?"

"I have to get into Obsidian Corp’s system It’s important," Toers dug harder "Are you trying to get caught? You’re going to give us both away"

"I have to do this!" To-forces pressing in on the out of their systems Can you tell me how to do it or not?"

"Not," she snapped back

"Fine, I’ll keep trying I can’t do it without your help"

She was silent a long moment as the plane shook around them Then, so softly he almost didn’t hear her, "I shouldn’t have come back"

"Wait--" Tom said, but not in time

This time when she disappeared, Tom realized he’d ruined it His plane continued doard in a fatal death plunge, and the world erupted in fla He went to Blackburn He stepped into his office and dropped into the seat across fro the bewilderh Obsidian Corp’s firewall Can you help ," To to neutralize the security threat I’ to destroy the transmitter in Obsidian Corp"

Blackburn rubbed his pal by and letting Yuri die!"

"Did you do soerov to what you can do, Raines?"

"No Of course not"

"Then hoas he able to block you out?" Blackburn said dangerously "I can’t even figure out how to block you yet--and I know about Yuri Does Joseph Vengerov know about you?"

"No! I don’t kno he’s done it, I just know I can’t get through his firewall, even when I interface" Toet through somehow, I can fix all this You sahat I did to the census device that one ti that by accident, not deliberately"

"But I can do it! I can So I can do that to the transmitter, too I can free Yuri fro hiet into Obsidian Corp’s systeet myself in for a few minutes, Raines!" Blackburn roared back at him "Why do you think I physically accoladly plundered some blackmail material from the comfort of my own apartment, but I couldn’t Do you knohy? Because you can’t hack Obsidian Corp with their own hardware, their own software That facility’s a virtual Fort Knox You can’t loot it from the outside You can plunder only froed access to their intranet--why do you think I went there in person?"

Tom blinked It only occurred to hierov could’ve done anything to his processor while he was on Vengerov’s turf

"If you can’t interface your way in," Blackburn told hilad It’s better for all of us You destroy that transhost in his systehost is someone anted that transhost to a list of three--you, Enslow, and Ashwan Haven’t you hurt your friends enough already?"