They crept across the sand under the cover of night, the quarter moon partially hidden by cloud. They dodged between shadows, moving swiftly until they approached a collection of tents on the northern side of the compound. The area was mostly quiet except for a few watchmen.

  Kass paused for a moment, then she suddenly grabbed Cat and yanked her down. They hid behind a rise in the land as a torchlight swept their way.

  “Come on.” She nodded off toward the right once it had passed by. Then she led Cat on one giant loop around toward the back of the facility.

  They sat there for awhile, just watching from behind a large rock. The guards were more spaced out this side, with one walking the perimeter every few minutes. It would be hard to find a gap, but maybe if they were quick?

  “We’ll go in over there.” Kass nodded toward a spot not far from one corner of what looked like a giant tent that covered what used to be the main building.

  “How are we going to get past the fence?”

  Kass handed her a pair of wire cutters. “That’s your job. Wait for my cue. Aim for that spot down there just in front of the truck, then duck under the the front cab and wait there once you’re through.”

  Cat nodded. She had no idea what the rest of the plan was but it didn’t matter. She only needed to know a few steps ahead and the general direction. Her skin prickled with the excitement of the night. There was a thrill in sneaking about. The necessitation of high alertness was an adrenaline rush in itself.

  Beside her Kass raised her rifle. A sleek, dark grey, barrel of death pointed down at the next soldier to round the corner, as the old one, the lucky one, disappeared around the far end of the fence line.

  Cat frowned at her. Surely she didn’t mean to...

  Kass tracked him with her rifle. He got five or six metres along the fence line, right behind a smaller secondary tent.

  Cat saw the recoil knock Kass back a little but she heard no sound, not even a suppressed pop, as the soldier fell to the ground with a tiny hole in his head. That gun was infused with proper silencing magic.

  “Quick! Go!” Kass commanded in a whisper. “Before the next guard comes.”

  Cat took off running toward the fence, wire cutters at the ready. She didn’t bother ducking low, optimising for speed was more important than any extra stealth a few less inches would give. Her mind mulling over what Kass had just done. Had that really been necessary? Did they really need to get in here that bad? Cat didn’t mind killing soldiers that were shooting at her but from a distance like that, it just felt a little unfair. Like fishing in a barrel. What was done was done though. Better not to waste the opportunity.

  She cut through the fence in a matter of seconds. A quick glance to the side showed Kass telekinetically lifting up a bunch of sand, moving the soldier’s body into the recess it left, and then placing the sand back on top. Body hidden, she sprinted toward the hole in the fence. A moment later, they were both lying side by side underneath the belly of a large truck.

  “Was killing him really necessary?” Cat asked in a whisper.

  Kass gave her a confused frown. “We wouldn’t have found a gap otherwise.”

  “I’m not really sure what we’re doing here, Kass.”

  “Then why did you come?” More confused eyebrow furrowing.

  Cat shrugged. “I wasn’t really expecting an entire army. And it seemed wasteful to come all this way just to look at them.”

  “Right,” Kass agreed. “Exactly, we don’t know enough about them or who’s really in charge here, and whether or not we can trust them with what’s down there.”

  “I’m pretty sure they’re Mercy government soldiers.”

  “Sure, that’s probably true, but which Mercy government? Because I don’t think the guys who were running experiments in this place are the same ones who organised the necromancy ritual if the notes Indi found were anything to go by. And this group may be a different one entirely again. Or maybe they’re all run by the same guy. I don’t know.”

  “Indi already got all the files down there. What more are we going to find?”

  “What we left behind, how they’re handling it, maybe some evidence for why the necromancy went wrong. They’ve probably got their own documentation somewhere in this camp too.”

  “Not sure I’m keen on going back in that place with those things.”

  “Don’t necessarily need to. We can just see what’s out here first. Here hold this.” Kass handed her the end of a fishing line.

  Cat looked at it in confusion. “What’s that for?”

  “I’m going to eavesdrop by the side of that tent, maybe sneak in. I’ll time it for the biggest gap but I might be in there longer. If you see a soldier while I’m exposed, give it two tugs. And if I tug once on it, give it one tug for the all clear, two tugs for wait. Got it?”

  “Got it.” Cat sighed. “I’m not sure information was worth shooting a guy over though.”

  Kass shook her head. “Information is the most valuable thing one can have in a war.”

  “Didn’t realised we were in a war.” Cat narrowed her eyes.

  “We’re always in a war,” Kass replied, then seeing a gap, she scrambled out from under the truck and ran to the edge of the tent, uncoiling the line as she went. Quietly she crouched by the edge and listened. Her gaze twitched every now and again toward the fence line.

  Cat did the same, her eyes more on the fence than Kass, keeping an eye out for when the next soldier would round the corner. When she did finally glance back toward the tent, Kass was gone, and she could only barely make out the fishing line trailing over the sand and under the edge of the tent. Cat kept her hand on the other end of it and focused on the perimeter. The soldiers seemed none the wiser that one of their number was missing. Cat wondered how often then did a radio check in.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  It wasn’t too long before she felt a tug on the string though.

  The guard was right at their side of the fence so Cat gave two tugs back. Once he’d moved far enough along she gave one more tug. Kass was back at her side a moment later.

  “Find anything?” Cat asked.

  Kass nodded. “They’re a different branch of government. They’re trying to figure out what happened here but they also don’t want it getting back to the rest of Mercy.”

  “As in the citizens or the government?”

  “Both. And they mentioned monsters, not mimics, but they do know what mimics are which leads me to think there’s something very wrong with these ones.”

  “Well, we knew that already.”

  “Yes, but it does tell us that they’ve been inside. Reclaimed some of the first floor in fact.” Kass pointed to the other smaller tent. “The rear access shaft is in there. It leads to another part of the facility, one that wasn’t as destroyed in the explosion. Someone actually managed to climb out through the rubble apparently.”

  “You got all of that in the time you were gone?”

  “I got more than that but I’ll save it for later. We need to get down there.”

  “Why?”

  “Because that’s where all the juicy documents are. The head honcho has an office down there and right now it should be reasonably empty. They also mentioned some experiments. The bottom of the shaft is guarded but it’s a pillow post.”

  “A what?”

  “Sandbag shift.” And Cat’s confused expression she added, “They don’t expect much to happen so they’ll be easy to surprise. It sounded like they’re a bit short on quality soldiers too. The post is to the right of the door going in.”

  “Okay, how did you get all this information in such a short amount of time. What, are you a mindwalker now?”

  Kass shook her head. “I eavesdropped on a couple of guards for a bit. They bitched about their employees and mentioned that Derek was on pillow duty. Then I grabbed a different guy and I asked him some questions.”

  “And he just told you? Didn’t think to scream for help or try to fight?”

  “Well, I didn’t grab a soldier. I got lucky. He was carrying a clipboard, looking at financial numbers and mumbling about the cost of a few cubic metres of sand. Pencil pusher’s always talk when you put a rifle in their face. Plus, I didn’t let him physically speak. I asked him yes no questions.”

  “You got all of that information from yes no questions?”

  “I’m very good at charades. Are you ready?”

  “Sure.” Cat didn’t ask what Kass had done to the guy she’d captured. Although she had her suspicions, it would make little difference now.

  They waited for a gap and then they sprinted for the other tent. They made it inside without being noticed. At their feet a concrete pad lay embedded in the ground. In the centre of it was a heavy steel hatch.

  “What about his powers? You didn’t know what they were.”

  Kass held up a finger to indicate she should be quiet, but then she sighed and rolled her eyes. In a whisper she explained, “He was telekinetic, I watched him use his powers after he tripped over an extension cord.”

  “That was lucky.”

  “It wasn’t so much luck.” Kass squatted down and placed her hands on the access hatch, ready to lift.

  “What about this guy?” Cat nodded toward the shaft.

  “I guess we’ll find out.” Kass met her eyes. Blue looked directly at green, no fear in either’s expression. This was an element Kass evidently felt very comfortable in and Cat understood that on a primitive level. Physical danger was familiar to the both of them. They knew how to deal with it.

  Cat itched to get down there, to fight. It was what she was good at. She might be questioning Kass a lot tonight but it was more of a test than anything. She wasn’t about to follow someone who didn’t know what they were doing. So far Kass was passing with flying colours. For once, Cat wasn’t too worried about magic either. There weren’t many powers that could best Kass and her over powered, if a little imprecise, telekinesis. Cat just had to make sure she kept out of the line of fire.

  “But given the boys back in the tent mentioned budget cuts, I like our chances,” Kass added as she lifted up the hatch.

  “I’ll go first,” Cat volunteered.

  Kass looked briefly surprised but then she gestured at the ladder.

  The shaft was completely vertical. Cat wasn’t sure how far it went down. The only light came from the entrance and Kass closed that over them once they were both on the ladder, sealing them in complete blackness. They had to feel for the rungs as they descended. Each step had to be made in complete silence, for a tunnel like this had the tendency to amplify any sound. Neither of them spoke as they descended.

  After what felt like several minutes of down-climbing Cat’s boot touched something solid, the floor. She stepped off the ladder and cautiously reached out with her foot, then with her hands. She guessed from the nearby walls that they were in a very small room. The shaft had kept it’s size all the way to the bottom. There would likely be a door in the wall somewhere here.

  She waited for Kass to reach the bottom before she looked for it. Better they were both ready. She stood by the ladder and listened. She felt more than heard Kass start to move down past her. A subtle change in the air and the temperature. She reached out and grabbed her wrist, guessing where it was with expert precision.

  She felt Kass freeze, tense up a little, and then relax. She made not one sound but Cat knew her message had gotten across. They were here.

  A moment later she sensed Kass turn and the woman tapped Cat’s wrist several times. Cat recognised the patterns as morse code but for the life of her, she had no idea what Kass was saying. She lay one finger against Kass’s wrist, the universal sign for wait. Then she turned and started looking for the door.

  She found a handle and then she hesitated. If she tried to turn it and it was locked then it might alert the guy inside. There was also the question of which way the door moved. If it swung in, that meant the guard would be effectively behind the door. It would make it difficult to get the drop on him before he yelled out. She could try and fling the door open, but that definitely wasn’t subtle either.

  Cat didn’t think the door opened toward them. There wasn’t much room in this shaft so it probably opened into the next room or hallway. And it probably wasn’t locked. She couldn’t feel a keyhole on this side. Maybe people gained entry via a password or something but given the thing Kass had said about ‘pillow duty’ she didn’t think they were likely to be that strict about it. If she was wrong about the lock they could try and run for it, but they’d never get up the shaft above them fast enough to avoid gunfire. They would be the fish in the barrel then. The alternative would be to wait, and that was probably an even worse option. Still, it was a small risk so the real question was, did she open the door slowly or quickly?

  She knew the guy’s name was Derek. Maybe that would help. How well did these soldiers really know one another? She stood up straight and yanked the front of her black singlet down a few inches so her cleavage would be more visible.

  She decided on slowly, well, not too slowly. She swung it like a normal person might open a door they had every right to be going through. She stepped through, gaze quickly sweeping the room. She was entering a slightly larger box of a room. This one had concrete walls and was lit by a single bulb in the ceiling. It was empty except for an occupied chair behind the door, which she quickly turned to face. He looked young and surprised.

  “Derek!” she exclaimed with her most excitable, dumb bitch smile, as if she knew him. It was friendly and alluring. Sweet enough to make him hesitate long enough so she conk him on the head hard enough to knock him out.

  He crumpled to the floor.

  Kass stepped around the door then and gave a satisfied nod. She quietly closed the door behind them. Then she pointed her rifle at the Derek’s head.

  Cat frowned. "What are you doing? He's already unconscious, no need to kill him."

  Without removing her eyes from the soldier on the floor, Kass replied. "If he wakes up he'll alert people to where we are."

  "He's just a guy doing his job."

  "He knew the risks." Kass pulled the trigger.