DO IT! She sent, aimed at Varun Verma.

The rumbling grew louder. Kade could feel it in his feet now, feel it sub-sonically.

Varun scrambled to tap keys on his console, moved over, flicked a row of physical switches.

Kade felt something vast touch his mind. Su-Yong Shu, in the state he’d only perceived her a few times. He felt her enfold Feng in the same contact.

I have very little time, Su-Yong sent them both. And there’s so much you need to know.

Data squeezed into him, a high speed, highly compressed stream. Impressions struck him. Plans, locations, codes. Tools. Weapons.

Save Ling, she sent. Save my little girl. Please. And save the world.

Now, she sent, from the woman’s brain. We have to get you out of here.

Kade turned at her mental direction, to leave the control room.

Behind him, General Singh said. “I can’t let her escape.”

Kade turned, looked at the man.

Singh was pointing his finger at Kade and the woman he was propping up. Pointing it like a weapon. Kade felt Feng’s mind fill with solutions. With the two soldiers on the ground, apart, his guns pointed at the two of them, the next set of solutions would be lethal.

Su-Yong spoke into Kade’s mind, and he relayed it out loud.

“Su-Yong is about to die,” he said. “But this woman, Jyotika, escapes with us. Jyotika’s brain is healing. If Jyotika dies, Su-Yong says you die. Now, she says we have to run. All of us. Feng, Varun, come on!”

They ran, as fast as they could. Kade was relieved that no one shot him in the back. Varun helped Kade haul Jyotika. She weighed hardly anything at all.

Data kept flowing into his brain, blurring fast impressions of knowledge crowding into his head.

Behind them, a giant crash came.

And came. And came. And kept coming.

“To the elevator!” Kade said.

“It’ll be locked down!” Varun replied.

There was water below their feet as they ran through the halls now.

Other staff members crossed their path, panicking in the emergency lights and the alarms, the sound of a waterfall crashing into their subterranean facility, and the evidence of water rising from the floor.

“Follow us!” Varun yelled. Then more quietly, to Kade, “I hope you have a plan.”

He could barely speak past the influx of bandwidth from Su-Yong. He could feel Feng staggering under it too.

There were more staff members at the elevator. The water was up to their ankles now. It was colder than Kade would have imagined.

“We’ve called it and called it!” A woman yelled, next to a metal panel with a single button. “It won’t come! The doors won’t open!”