We need to get out of here, he thought to them, cold with dread. We need to go now. I think Vengerov knows we’re here.

And then the first alarm split the air.

Something triggered in their Praetorian. Its metal neck began to retract into its body. Tom heard Wyatt gasp as the metal slid between their fingers, less and less of it there to grip. Then Tom heard her pounding frantically at her forearm keyboard, and her command sent it springing back to its full height.

Even that action proved dangerous. The deviation from programmed behavior must have registered in the system, must’ve blared their location to every machine in the building, because another Praetorian swung around from the next room, heading straight for them. Tom realized what was about to happen, and reached out to wrench Vik and Wyatt to a crouch as the new Praetorian spliced a laser through the air where they’d been. Their Praetorian fought back, spliced its own laser through the air, razing the other machine into smoking pieces.

Wyatt! Knock out the floors! Tom thought to her.

Then she jammed her neural wire into the access port, jabbed the other end into her neck, and unleashed her virus into Obsidian Corp.’s wireless systems to knock out the electric floors and disable their surveillance system. It was their emergency program—in case this disastrous scenario happened.

Tom’s heart careened against his rib cage as he wondered whether it was working yet, whether the floors were out or not. But the next Praetorian swung into the hallway with them, and their Praetorian shrank automatically into a battle stance before Wyatt could stop it, minimizing itself as a target, jarring all of them, sending them hurtling off.

Vik shrieked, Wyatt yelped, and Tom squeezed his eyes shut as his back hit the floor. They barely noticed their Praetorian destroying the other

For a moment, they all lay there, locked in place, waiting.

Program worked, Wyatt thought.

Tom muffled his automatic laughter.

Quiet! I don’t know if I knocked out surveillance! Wyatt thought. Air shimmered as she moved back over to the access port and hooked into it again. And then a split second later, “Okay, surveillance is out, after all.”

Tom and Vik lay there, heaving for breath.

“More are coming,” Vik said.

“Probably hundreds,” Wyatt agreed.

“Run to the Interstice?” Tom suggested.

“Sprint!” Vik gasped.

They all scrambled to their feet and dashed back the way they’d come, running so fast, they almost tripped over themselves. Their Praetorian rolled alongside them.

Another Praetorian swerved around the corner, and they dove as their Praetorian lashed out with its laser, but the other Praetorian shrank in time to dodge, and its answering laser flared out, slicing off the weaponry of their protector. For a moment, Tom, Vik, and Wyatt stood there, paralyzed, realizing they were defenseless—but their Praetorian whipped forward, an electrical surge building in its base.