The notebook is his personal schedule and diary. It’s all in a code of scribbled acronyms, and I can only hope I can find a way to decipher it. When I finish, I pick up the datapod dangling from the bookmark. I set it to my ear, but, of course, it’s locked, and I don’t have time to even attempt to break the encryption. I set everything back in his pocket and arrange his jacket just as I found it.

I leave the room, peeking out into the darkened hallway. All the sounds of the melee are from the ground floor, the ballroom. I grit my teeth against the screams of pain and fear.

My mind spins. Who can it be? Is it the police? Is this why Nazarin snuck off? Was I actually the distraction against Ensi? I swear, if that man has lied to me yet again, I’ll harness my new penchant for violence and use this gun to shoot him in the leg. Or between the legs. I’ll decide when the time comes.

If he’s not responsible for this, then that means Nazarin is in just as much danger as I am. More, if he’s still down there in the ballroom.

I reach the top of the staircase. Bits of the banister are riddled with bullets. I peek over the edge. The guests are rounded up in one corner. The grand, green chandelier has been shot down, leaves and emeralds strewn along the floor. There are a few casualties scattered on the floor, sprawled out with legs akimbo, red mixing with the green. I swallow hard, memories of the vision of Ensi’s Test fresh in my mind. Of seeing Mia killed in the hologram. The death in Mia’s dream world. The crime scene in Zenith. Death and blood is following my every move.

Focus, Taema. Focus or death will catch you, too.

A bullet whizzes by my ear and I duck down. At least the other side doesn’t have lasers, or we wouldn’t stand a chance. I look over the banister again, taking the safety off the gun. There are about twenty people in dark blue Kalar suits, holding weapons. Enough to overwhelm the guards, though dismantling the security must have been a bitch. I see security people and droids scattered on the floor, the droids spilling wires, the people spilling blood. I try reaching out through my implants to contact the police, but that signal’s still blocked. We have two members of our team just outside. Did they hear the shots? If so, is there anything they can actually do?

A suited figure fires another warning shot to gain people’s attention. He has a rapt audience.