Tom willed on his net-send thought interface. He had no trouble focusing. Medusa, is the drone still intact? Tom messaged her. Here is Obsidian Corp.’s external defense grid, and here is the supercomputer we need destroyed. . . . He sent her the coordinates he’d found in Obsidian Corp.’s systems, the transmitter they hadn’t managed to get themselves.

Got it.

And the last thing they saw before they jolted up into the atmosphere was a series of warehouses blasting apart.

Done, she sent back.

Antarctica’s icy expanse and Obsidian Corp.’s burning, black mass receded beneath them until they became mere pinpricks.

Tom realized his breath was fogging up the window where he was pressed against it, trying to see. He grew aware of Wyatt’s fingers digging into his arm, Vik’s tense form against his other side. Tom maneuvered around in the tiny space, his legs bundled up against him. Wyatt and Vik’s eyes enormous in the dimness.

“Thank y-you,” Tom said reverently to the air. “You s-saved our lives.”

“W-who are you talking to?” Vik managed.

“I d-don’t understand this,” Wyatt said, shivering.

“C-can I tell?” Tom said. “They can be t-trusted.”

For a long moment, they all three shivered in the thick silence as Tom awaited an answer.

If you’re sure, Medusa replied.

Tom felt almost like he could laugh and cry with the sheer relief of this, another secret sliding off him. He waited until his teeth stopped chattering, just so he could figure out the right words. “Guys, meet Medusa. Sort of. She’s controlling this ship, and that was her drone, too. Medusa, meet Vik and Wyatt. Sort of. They’re my best friends.”

In response, the ship dipped briefly toward the dark waters below them like a salute.

Vik and Wyatt stared at Tom, wide-eyed. They said nothing for so long, Tom began to grow alarmed.

Finally, Wyatt said, “Thank you, uh, Medusa?”

And then Vik said, “This is your secret life again, isn’t it?”

Tom leaned his head back against the glass enclosure with a sheepish smile. “Sort of.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

MEDUSA DROPPED THEM off as close to the Pentagon as she dared approach, and Tom, Vik, and Wyatt hitched a very awkward ride into Arlington. The Pentagon City Mall was closed for the night, so they conducted their second stealth operation of the evening. Breaking into Obsidian Corp. had been a tense, life-threatening experience. Breaking into Toddery’s Chicken Barn to access the Pentagon City Mall was another matter.