Bellisia couldn’t wait any longer. She couldn’t be caught there in the water closet either. Very carefully she removed the long wig and lifelike skin of her mask and rolled them into her white lab coat. She slipped off the laboratory uniform, revealing the skintight one-piece bodysuit she wore under it—the one that reflected the background around her. Her shoes were crepe soled and easy to move fast in. She removed them and shoved them in one of the pockets. Her pale blonde hair was braided in a tight weave. She was as ready as she’d ever be. She slipped out of the water closet, back into the narrow hallway the moment she knew it was empty. Her acute hearing ensured she knew exactly where most of the technicians were on the floor. She knew the exact location of every camera and just how to avoid them.

Once in the hall, she went up the wall to the ceiling, blending in with the dingy, off-white color that had seen better days. As she transitioned from the hallway of the laboratory to the offices, the color changed to a muted blue, fresh and crisp. She changed color until she perfectly blended in and then slowed her pace. Movement drew the eye and there were far more people in the offices. Most of them were in small open cubicles, but as she continued through to the next large bank of offices, the walls changed to a muted green in the one large office that mattered to her.

She could see the woman seated, facing away from her, looking at the man behind the desk. Bernard Lee Cheng. She was very tempted to kill him, take the opportunity of being so close and just get the job done. It would rid the world of a very evil man, but it wasn’t her mission, no matter how much she wished it were. The woman, Senator Violet Smythe-Freeman—now just Smythe—was her mission, specifically to see if the senator was selling out her country and her fellow GhostWalkers, the teams of soldiers few even knew existed.

There was no way into the office, but that didn’t matter. She moved slowly across the ceiling, hiding in plain sight. Even if one of the men or women on the floor happened to look up, they would have a difficult time spotting her as long as she was careful to move like a sloth, inching her way to her destination. She positioned herself outside the office over the door. Muting out the sounds around her, she concentrated on the voices coming from inside the office.