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Neil considered allowing Alex to board Accommodate him, and even facilitate his search After all, thethat would help him Kelly Adelaide was not aboard the station Indeed she reht under their snouts

Neil kept no records of his s with her or of his other various secret projects Hab-8 had a perfect cover story Tania’s research was all off the record Since he’d destroyed the Foreshadow files, there was nothing outwardly serious for Alex to find

No, he thought A stand must beand never leave Security officers would be here for days, longer perhaps, and that would s very difficult indeed

The traitor would have to wait

Turning, Neil raced to a nearby eency alarm, flipped the protective lid up and away, and pulled the red handle down

Instantly Klaxons began to wail He did his best to ignore the earsplitting sound and rushed into a nearby room He slammed the door shut and fished a handheld radio from his pocket

"Zane, come in"

"I’m here, brother," the response came "Any idea what the alarm--"

"Listen carefully," Neil hissed "Find our night operator for the cliet theed I can only hope there’s a backup"

"Sabotage?" he mumbled "What--"

"Make it happen, and noant the cli froot minutes Less than that"

"What of the alarm?"

"Get on the PA and tell everyone to remain in their quarters I’ll explain later"

"Okay," Zane said

Reversing the cli shot, but it would put a quick end to the intrusion if done in time Neil knew he still needed to be ready for the alternative He tapped the screen on the radio, switching to a private preset

"Climber controls have been co, on the double"

His four commando leaders, newly trained, each responded "affirmative," in sequence Kelly had done her job well

The cream-colored hallways of Platz Station blurred into a ed toward the central docking bay

He’d started at a sprint, only to find his old legs unable to keep up the pace

A betrayal of a different sort, heat a confrontation with Alex out of breath and haggard gave Neil all the excuse he needed to ease up

Zane’s voice came over the handheld "Neil, the backup climber controls are at L-Four J-Two"

A primary spoke junction on the very level Neil ran toward It o bay

"Thanks," Neil said "What about the night shift operator?"

"He wasn’t in his roo"

With sudden certainty Neil knew they wouldn’t find the man, at least in any condition to operate the cliht to the poor bastard’s roo from Neil

Smart

"Keep at it," Neil said He decided to keep his deeper fears fro with stressful situations wasn’t his brother’s strong suit

Neil switched to the private frequency again "Rally at L-Four J-Two," he said

"We’re here already," one leader replied He was shouting over a loud hiss

"What’s that noise?" Neil asked

"Steah the das to ht a water torchlocked out There would be no si in there," Neil said "I’m almost to you"

He could only hope Alex hadn’t anticipated an armed resistance

Team three joined up with Neil just before he reached level four He let theh unfire before the junction ca down from "above," where the junction corridor led up to the central docking bay Neil could only see a fewtorch, high above the Klaxon

"Report," he said to the first coainst the wall, using a support truss for h the airlock door Surprised to see us, I’ll tell you that"

"How ot off a few shots before they pinned us here Brought some serious weaponry"

Thirty men Neil’s four teams had four h the door, why are they still cutting?"

So on a side door, halfway down the spoke"

Another tea Neil’s confidence "Warthen’s going after the climber controls," Neil said to all of them "They mean to destroy our ability to leave the station, and we can’t let that happen"

He saw nodding faces in the roiling stea ducks in that tunnel," soravity"

The station’s rotation provided Earth-normal pull here at the outer rim, which decreased the farther one traveled up the spoke to the central bay Neil hadn’t considered that this ht e, but he’d take it

"Concentrate fire," Neil said "Everyone together"