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It’s legal now, you know.”
    “Liar.” Repeth kicked him in the stones, her
heel crunching down on his groin.
    “Top!” cried Grusky as the man choked and
gagged in pain.
    “Shut up, David. He’s healing, but he’s not
an Eden. He doesn’t deserve your sympathy. I told you, what’s in
here is evil . Even if he is just a paper-pusher, he’s part
of it. If you don’t want to watch this, go keep an eye on the
corridor, make sure no one is creeping up on us.”
    “Come on, Donovan,” Grusky said with a
sickened expression, grabbing the younger man’s sleeve and pulling
him to the office door to watch for enemy.
    Repeth continued. “Now, Bill, I know you can
heal from that, and you know I can make it happen over and over. Or
I can just pop you in the head right now and goodnight whatever you
are. You’re either a Psycho or a Nano and either way you’re only
staying alive if you give me information. What is this place?”
    The man raised his head to look into Repeth’s
eyes and all resistance died. She could see self-preservation
overrule any qualms he had about betraying his employer. “Look,
I’ll tell you everything, just let me live. Once I’ve talked
they’ll want me dead so you gotta get me out of here.”
    She nodded. “My word on it.”
    He took a shuddering breath. “Septagon
Shadow. It’s a black cyberware program. Cyberware, implants,
enhancements, human augmentations. It’s Triumvir Jenkins’
alternative to Tiny Fortress.”
    “Winthrop Jenkins survived?”
    “Yeah, from what I hear, in some kind of
bunker for the Unie leadership. Scary guy, I met him once. Always
going on about how he was going to pay Daniel Markis back for
killing his brother Jervis in that first West Virginia nuke.”
    “Yeah, he ran the internment camps for a
while on his climb toward the top. So…this Septagon Shadow.
Cyborgs. Bionic man stuff. Terminators.”
    He nodded. “Yeah, kind of. Not machines made
into people, but people made into machines.”
    “How far along are they?”
    A prolonged burst of Vixen fire overrode the
conversation, and through the squadcomm Repeth heard Butler say,
“Back up, back up. Top, I got some light weapons fire coming from
the jail. Returning fire…these people are getting over their
surprise.”
    “Bill!” Repeth snapped. “Are there prisoners
in that jail? And are they above ground?”
    “Some are. There are three levels underneath
both of these buildings. Listen, we got to get out of here. If they
let the Shadows loose, we’re all dead.” She could see the fear in
his eyes.
    “Cyborgs?”
    “Yeah. But they’re hard to control, hard to
stop. Listen, I’ll tell you all about it but we have to get out
of here . If we leave soon enough maybe they won’t have time to
let them loose. They’re normally locked down pretty tight.”
    Repeth grabbed Bill by his throat. “There’s a
man I’m looking for. His name is Rick Johnstone. Ring any
bells?”
    “Yeah, he tried to claim diplomatic immunity
when they brought him in here. Said he wasn’t a US citizen anymore.
You don’t know these people. That was the wrong move. Now he’s up
at Pax River.”
    “Where?”
    “Patuxent River, Solomons Island. Naval
facility. That’s where the main labs are. This is just an auxiliary
facility. Dammit, I can tell you all about it but we have to go now .” Another burst of Vixen fire punctuated his words.
    “Top, we got company working their way into
the back of this building,” called Grusky. He fired off a burst
with his PW10.
    Repeth made the easy decision. “All right,
exfil now. Lock, pull up here close. Butler, put some more
penetrators into the building off to the side of us or over our
heads. You, Bill, on your feet, now.” She sliced the lamp cord
holding his feet with her knife, then grabbed him by one bound arm
and shoved him toward the opening.
    The Beast pulled up next to the broken window
and she pushed Bill inside. “Donovan, secure this guy. Search him
for