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“Shit,” Holden said Then, “Go, go, go,” as he rushed toward the now open door

Just before he got to the hatch, he heard Prax say, “Nobody h into the rooh just behind hie black handgun looking i hand The area itself looked a lot like the one they’d just left, except that this one had a small crowd of people in it Ar that could be used as cover A half dozen large gray packing crates with scientific equipment in various states of disassembly in them squatted around the room So dance music On one of the crates sat several open boxes of pizza with , several of which were still clutched in people’s hands He tried to count theht An even dozen, all of the about what to do

It looked to Holden verya short lunch break Except that the people in this room all had holsters at their sides, and they had left the corpse of a small child to rot in the next room over

“Nobody! Move!” Prax repeated, this time withthe barrel of his assault rifle in a slow scan across the room To drive the point home, Amos sidled up to the nearest worker and casually slaun into theof wet sand Holden heard the tra into the roo up cover positions

“Wendell,” Holden said, not lowering his rifle “Please disarm these people for me”

“No,” said a stern-faced woman with a slice of pizza in her hand “No, I don’t think so”

“Excuseanother bite of her pizza Around a mouthful of food, she said, “There are only seven of you There are twelve of us just in this room alone And there are a lot unshot So, no, you don’t get to disarreasy smile at Holden, then took another bite Holden could sood pizza over the top of Ganymede’s ever-present odor of ice and the scent of his oeat It ive an ill-tih his hand was now shaking so badly that she probably didn’t feel particularly threatened

Alance as if to ask, What now, chief?

In Holden’s mind, the room shifted into a tactical problem with an almost physical click The eleven potential co were in three clusters None of the visible arroup of four to the far left of the rooun Holden was pretty sure he could take down the three directly in front of him That left four for the Pinkwater people to handle Best not to count on Prax for any of it

He finished the split-second tally of potential casualties, and almost of its own volition, his thumb clicked the assault rifle to full auto

This is not you

Shit

“We don’t have to do this,” he said, instead of opening fire “No one has to die here today We’re looking for a little girl Help us find her, and everyone walks away froance and bravado in the woman’s face for the hed the casualties her tea where that went Holden gave her a smile and a nod to help her decide Talk to me We’re all rational people here