Iris nodded to me and we stripped of our gear, pulling on our regular shoes and black gloves before running over to the only exit, a single steel door that jutted out from the middle of the empty rooftop. A blue touch pad glowed beside it. Victor had sent a small cambot flying over the building to scout it before our mission. But the winds had been strong, and although we were certain of the webwork sensors, the images of the door and touch pad had been blurry.

“It looks exactly the same as the ones at Jin Corp,” I confirmed. “I’ll try Daiyu’s access code.”

Whether Daiyu’s code would work in the off-site building was a crapshoot. I punched in her eight-digit code, heart pounding. For five long seconds, nothing. Then a loud whir emitted from the steel door and it thunked, swinging open inwardly.

“Yes,” I said and exchanged high fives with Iris. “We’re in, boss.”

“Good,” Lingyi replied. “You want the ninth floor.”

Inside, there was no touch pad, which indicated that the door was designed only to keep people out. I shut it behind us, hoping security hadn’t noticed that the rooftop door had been accessed. It was our way in, but also our only way back out. Iris led the way down the narrow stairway, lit by dim blue lights.

I followed her along the concrete steps, which descended at a steep angle. She slunk as silent as a panther, and every scrape of my foot sounded too loud in my own ears. The stairs terminated on the ninth floor; our only exit was the steel door that opened with a push bar. Iris pulled her motion-sensing goggles on, and their green rays sliced through the thick concrete walls. “Clear as far as I can see,” she said.

She pushed the bar without hesitation and stepped through, looking both ways, then beckoned with one hand. I was still high on adrenaline, hyperaware of my surroundings, feeling like I could smash through a door or jump between buildings if I had to. The hallway was long and disappeared on both sides in sharp turns due to the five-sided shape of the building. A double steel door stood before us, with the same blue touch pad for security. Iris and I exchanged glances.

I waited while Iris walked the circumference of the floor, scanning for movement beyond the thick data-center walls. Her goggles were able to detect even the slightest twitch—the rise and fall of the chest as a person breathed, when a throat worked as someone swallowed. After a few minutes, which seemed too long, she jogged back into sight and nodded to me. Holding my breath, I punched in Daiyu’s access code again. This time, the machine flashed in red: WELCOME JIN DAIYU.

Crap.