AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m not.”
Granted, the stations Garin had infiltrated before were much shoddier than anything owned by the Wate Group and with security measures to match. But he also hadn’t been using a spoofing algorithm developed by Dominic Turner and running on a Turner ship then, either, and those were both best-in-class.
Specifics aside, the idea was the same. The station had minimal security. It was masquerading as a simple relay server, meaning it shouldn’t need much security, and clearly the Wate Group hadn’t wanted to bring extra attention to it by contradicting that assumption.
But the station still needed workers and supplies. Instead of manually checking every ship that came in and out of the docking bay, the security system scanned the ships for the correct private transponder codes.
So Garin had spun up the spoofing algorithm and sailed on in.
“This is insane,” Dom hissed, not for the first time, even as the console beeped its success. “Our ship looks nothing like a worker’s ship. Someone is going to realize who we are.”
“Of course they will, but not before we get inside.” Garin steered them to the nearest open slot. “And if we’re lucky, not before we destroy that data you’re after. And if we’re really lucky, not before we’re on our way out of here.”
“We’ll be lucky if we dock before they realize it,” Dominic muttered, tearing apart the crumpled sheet of paper he’d been worrying at for the whole short flight.
“Well then, we are off to a great start, because we’re in.” Garin powered down the ship’s engines and hit the button to release the airlocks. “I hope you know where to go.”
“I have an idea.” Dom unstrapped himself and headed for the exit, fingers tapping wildly against his thighs.
Garin hoped he had something a little more concrete than an idea, but he kept that to himself. Dom was used to sitting behind a computer screen. This was all more action than he’d seen in his life and if he functioned even passably well, Garin would be impressed.
“They’d store the data in a climate-controlled room under heavy security, probably in the center of the station. That’s what we do in our secret server stations, at least.” Dom let Garin precede him out of the ship, then pointed to the exit on their left.
“What kind of security are we talking about?” Garin pulled his sidearm as they hurried to the door, head on a swivel. There were probably cameras watching every inch of this place, but the only live people he saw were a cluster of workmen on the far side of the bay.
“Keycards. Retina scanners. That sort of thing.” Dom stuck to Garin’s heels, almost too close, threatening to trip them up.
“What about passwords?” Garin gently pushed Dom back a step so he wouldn’t tangle their feet together as they reached the exit and ducked into the hallway.
“Maybe. Why? Would that be bad?” Dom gave Garin the required space for all of five seconds, before suctioning himself to Garin’s side again.
Garin pressed his shoulder to a corner and peered around it. Finding the long hallway empty, he grabbed Dom’s wrist, and they booked it. Sneaking was too slow for the time pressure they were under. “Passwords are a lot harder to take by force than keycards or retinas.”
Dom stumbled at Garin’s words. “Wait, what?”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Garin dragged Dom forward until he found his feet again. “Let’s go. We’ve got a mile of hallways before we get to the center of this place.”
Dom obediently shut his mouth and ran along by Garin’s side. Any other laboratory scientist and Garin would worry he wouldn’t be able to keep up. But generations of careful breeding and the best nutritionists and personal trainers money could buy had blessed Dom with an athletic build and decent cardio, even if he’d never had occasion to put his physical prowess to the practical test.
Well, Garin would worry about any scientist other than Sazahk.
Garin had felt the muscles of Sazahk’s body under his own hands, but he was still certain the man ran on pure insatiable curiosity. He wondered if?—
A human form appeared before them and Garin lifted his gun and fired on ingrained muscle memory.
Fuck, he needed to not be thinking about Sazahk right now.
The heavily armed guard—thank god it had been a guard and not a civilian—fell dead before the gunshot finished echoing down the metal corridor. Behind him stood a wide-eyed, red-haired slip of a scientist, her mouth open in a perfect O.
“Don’t move.” Garin pinned his gun sights on her when she swayed back, twitching to run. “What’s your clearance?”
“A-a-a-a-A!” the woman managed, answering too quickly and with too many tears welling up in her eyes for Garin to think she was lying.
“That sound high enough to you?” Garin asked Dom, shoving down the part of himself that didn’t like making people cry or fear for their lives.
“Yeah, that sounds right.” Dom’s voice sounded strangled and Garin glanced at him to see his blue eyes darting between the dead man on the ground and the trembling scientist. Luckily, he’d already found his conscience, so Garin wouldn’t have to deal with him having an existential crisis as he realized how terrible death and terror were and that he’d built his life and career peddling them.
“Take us to your data center.” Garin jerked his chin down the hall in the direction he was pretty sure they were supposed to go.
