The tactical squad deployed in the same fashion as they had at Fedress Meadows, their vehicles encircling the building and coming to a halt. This time, when the paramilitaries climbed out, they were accompanied by a group of combat support drones: thick, dark disks with squat muzzles protruding from their rim, flying nimbly above the squad.

Yuri followed Lucius outside. Warm rain hit him full on, immediately soaking around the edge of his armor jacket. A thick unbroken layer of black clouds had closed off the sky, obscuring Thestias and its halo of golden sunlight.

“I guess God isn’t going to be watching over us,” Yuri muttered. He pulled down the enhanced vision visor. The squad’s tactical grid sprayed across it, highlighting the locations of individual team members in green. The interior of the building was laid out for him, with the ground floor divided into three large spaces and the upper two floors split into a maze of rooms.

“Are you in the network?” he asked Boris as they walked behind eight paramilitaries who closed on the front door.

“The G7Turing has acquired limited access.” A smattering of purple stars appeared, most of them on the first floor. “These are the heavy processing cores.” Yellow circles materialized. “And these are the main power drains.”

“Three overlaps,” Yuri said. “Okay, Lucius, those three are our primary targets. Take them first, lock them down. You are authorized to use appropriate force.”

“You heard the man,” Lucius said. He snapped out orders to individual four-man squads and assigned each a target.

The combat drones shot forward. A camera on one showed Yuri somebody racing away from the entrance lobby, sprinting deeper into the building.

“Take the doors out,” Lucius ordered.

A drone fired its scattergun at the glass doors, sending crystalline splinters slamming into the lobby. Twelve drones swooped in, followed by the paramilitaries.

“Yuri,” Poi Li said quietly. “Stay safe.”

“Working on that.”

Yuri had decided on checking the biggest power drain point first. Whatever creepy procedure Baptiste was performing on his snatched victims, it would need power. He pulled out his semiautomatic pistol and headed up the stairs behind Lucius. His visor was showing him an array of images as the rest of the team smashed their way into the building. Drones zoomed along corridors, scanning for gang members.