“It’s nothing. We’re at the movies.”

“We?”

She hesitated. “Vince asked me out. I know he’s a little young for me, but—”

“You can date Smudge for all I care. I’m sorry for interrupting, but I really need to get into this system. Given what we’ve seen in the past twelve hours, it’s probably protected with firewalls and magic both.”

“What kind of operating system?”

I twisted around and glanced at one of the monitors. “Um . . . it’s a split screen. Graphic interface on the right, command text on the left.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“The text is green.”

She sighed loudly.

“Isn’t there something I could just stick to the keyboard to take control?”

“The keyboard?” Talulah laughed. “Do you know how computers work?”

“Can you help me or not?”

“That depends on what they’ve set up. Charles Stross’ work might have something, or maybe Kelly McCullough. They’ve both written about magic-infused computing. There’s a bookstore in the mall. Let me see what they’ve got on the shelves. It would be easier if you could get to the servers.”

“That I can probably do. I’ll call you back shortly.” I hung up and checked the map again. Both wings of the building were lined with small, regularly sized rooms I assumed were individual cells. A larger enclosure could have been a cafeteria.

I turned to the guard. “Where are your network servers?”

She pointed to a nearby room on the map. “You’ll never get to them. They’re the most secure part of the whole facility.”

“Ten bucks says you’re wrong.”

Deb had pulled a packet of thick plastic zip ties from one of the guards’ belts, and was securing their ankles and wrists. “Hon, are you seriously making bets here?”

I stepped back and studied my hand. The guards’ badges had eroded a bit of the ring’s power. I was visible, but faint enough it would be almost impossible for anyone to identify me. “Can you do your brain whammy thing to make them forget about us?”

“I’ll give it a shot.”

I checked the camera screens again, but saw no sign of Lena. Several teams of guards were running down the hallways, but I couldn’t tell whether they were coming after us or trying to capture Lena.

Given the nature of Lena’s powers, I had a sick feeling I knew what she’d sensed. I grabbed one of the pistols we’d taken from the guards and handed it to Deb. “Would you care to unlock the door?”

She finished whispering to the guards, took the gun, and emptied it into the door by the handle. A quick kick finished the job, busting the door open.