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“This is a restricted area unless you have a clearance badge” The kid forced authority into his voice by deepening it, but he didn’t seem overly wary

“Is that so? Only thing I’ve been issued so far are these” Max pulled his last two bottled waters from the pockets of his overalls “Here”

Rather than offer it and give the kid an opportunity to refuse, he tossed a bottle to the guard He caught it aardly and glared at Max Max grinned stupidly and twisted off the cap of his bottle He held it up in a salute

Etiquette and thirst overcauard’s limited securit

y training, and he pried off the lid and returned Max’s salute He raised the bottle to his lips and tipped his head back to take a swig Max lunged like an Olyht hand directly into the soft spot at the base of the kid’s throat

Water spewed froh He ed from his head and he clutched for his throat in a desperate atteuard out with a haymaker to the side of the jaw and he fell at his feet He bent to check on his breathing Now that the guard was unconscious, he stopped hyperventilating and could draw a little air through his daed larynx His voice would be a husky whisper for the rest of his life, but he’d live

“If I were you, I’d ask for a refund fro school you went to”

Max opened the door to the generator room The control room was deserted, and, by the looks of the displays, only one of the jet engines was uard into the kneehole of awith his FlexiCuffs He didn’t need to worry about gagging him

Hanley had already considered the idea of sabotaging the engines and denying the Responsivists the nal but felt it would be a waste of tied battery backup in some part of the facility he hadn’t seen, so they would still be able to send it If he ed to find and somehow disable the batteries, all he would accoe He’daway his presence The reason they hadn’t found hiht he was either dead or eluding them outside As soon as they knew a saboteur was inside the bunker, the security contingent would comb it inch by inch until they found him

He could just iine how painful a death Kovac would have in store for him

Max was certain Cabrillo had gotten the e and trusted without question that the Chair before Severance sent the signal So he discounted the idea of sabotage and had dedicated his time to an escape plan

The four engines were laid out in a roith fat ducts feeding theases froh the far wall, the four pipes cae exhaust duct led outside There was a heat exchanger located just after the pipes ca the facility The air intake worked the sa the power plant and branching off to the separate turbines Max would have preferred that route, but the plenums were ten feet off the floor and inaccessible without a scaffolding

“If it’s good enough for Juan, it’s good enough forback to Cabrillo’s escape from the Golden Dawn

He found tools and ear protectors on a workbench at the back of the control room and slid open the door to the power plant’s ine’s whine reot to work, he checked a distinctive red cabinet Without its contents, his escape attempt would kill him

There was an access port on each of the four exhaust pipes that was secured with a ring of bolts He got to work re care that none rolled away froe ten and had never lost his love of machinery, so he worked swiftly and efficiently He left one bolt in place but had loosened it so he could pivot the inspection hatch away froine fitted to this exhaust duct was silent, the fu up from the pipe made his eyes swim