The Gender Plan (The Gender Game #6)(101)

I could hear the concern in the woman’s voice even through her professional attitude, and my stomach sank. Jay was running around the plant by himself? He and Tim had done this running-off thing before, but now of all times…

“I’ll keep an eye out for him,” I promised Ms. Dale, aware that that was probably the most I would be able to do under the circumstances. She answered in the affirmative and signed off, sounding resigned. As much as that worry churned my insides, I couldn’t afford to think too hard about Jay now. I refocused on my surroundings.

The catwalk was suspended over a massive vat of water, the drop to the surface a healthy thirty feet. Below, the water churned, a long blade cutting across the surface, displacing the water and making it look as if some large aquatic beast were swimming just below the surface.

Six guards patrolled the ground around the vat, guns in their hands, and their body language and demeanor were extremely confident. It didn’t look like they’d drunk any of the water yet. I heard my comm link beep on the team channel, and switched over. “Where exactly is the objective?” asked Mags.

I pointed to the small door posted opposite us on the floor below, a concrete block with stairs on either side elevating the room to a position at the same level as the water tank. My guess was that it had been designed that way in case something in the system malfunctioned and began flooding the room, so the higher position would keep whatever electrical systems were inside safe. Initially.

“Croft, those women on the floor—we should shoot them, no? We have the advantage of elevated positioning.”

I frowned, considering Cruz’s question, and looked up at the bolts securing the catwalk to the ceiling. “It’s not a good idea,” I finally said. “The catwalk isn’t that secure, and the ricochet alone could tear us to pieces.”

I continued to study the room. The catwalk ran across its length, probably less than a hundred feet across, culminating in another rung ladder of the same design as the one before it, cleverly hidden behind rows of pipes. The ladder ended forty to fifty feet away from the door. The lid of the vat was higher up, but it was hard to gauge how much higher up from the angle I sat at.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” I announced softly into the microphone, looking back down at my team. “The control box is our goal, so make sure you have the copy of the code Thomas gave us ready to use. First one there inputs the code, the rest of us cover them. Ms. Dale’s team will be coming through the door on the other side, but don’t expect her to be the only one to come through that door—it needs to be covered as well.” I swallowed. “There’s no way to know we will make it out of this, but I will try my hardest to make sure that we all get back to safety and our loved ones. You have all fought more bravely than I could ever hope, and I am honored that you let me lead you this far. Now trust me for just a little longer.”

The faces that had been so filled with nervous energy at the beginning of the night were grim. Soot made an appearance on every person, and everyone had their fair share of injuries, from bumps, bruises, and scrapes, to Cruz’s bandaged shoulder, the white gauze already stained with blood.

I didn’t need to see the expressions on their faces to understand how they felt, because I felt it. I had been through it all with them. They were tired and already on the verge of breaking, in spite of the battles we had won. Still, it didn’t hide the determination in their eyes, and I felt proud to have them standing beside me in this fight.

“Let’s go,” I said, and I turned and began creeping across the catwalk. The suctioning sound of the water as it was moved by the massive blade covered up any telltale echoes caused by our boots, but I still took care to move as quietly as possible.

I was halfway across when the catwalk shuddered violently, and I froze. Everyone who had followed me did too. I looked down to see if our presence had been noticed by the wardens down below, expelling a slow breath when I saw that it had not.

“There’s too much weight,” Mags whispered through the link. “We need to spread out.”

I nodded and moved to one side of the path, waving Tim through. Behind him were Alejandro and Janice, followed by Gregory, then April. I waved them past slowly, wanting to build up a bit of distance. I could see Cruz waving people back into the tunnel, trying to relieve some of the weight from that direction.

Harry slipped past me, and I looked over to see Tim arriving at the other side. I raised a hand for him to hold up, and then followed Harry, not wanting the young man to be the first to put boots to the ground. The first one into a room filled with hostile enemies was more likely to get shot, and even with Tim’s advanced reflexes, it was my job to lead.

Mags materialized next to me. “I got this,” she whispered, indicating my post midway through the catwalk, and I nodded, moving toward Tim.

I was a good twenty-five feet away from him when I heard a surprised shout go up over the rush of the water, and I ducked down as bullets began to ping off the metallic grated flooring of the catwalk. “Return fire,” I shouted, pulling my rifle around and shooting down through the railings at the floor below.

A Matrian woman standing by the lip of the pool ducked down behind it as I fired on her, disappearing from sight. I climbed back to my feet, intent on making my way to the other side, when I heard a primitive scream go up. I looked back to where the woman I had been firing at disappeared, and saw her olive-clad form emerge at a dead run, heading toward a wall. I hip-fired at her, but she was unfazed, running headlong through the sparks flying around her.