Page 102 of Enthraller

“I don’t think anyone’s in there,” he said when they reached the door, and he pulled the scanner over his head, shook out his shoulders.

Wren touched the lock and her nanos went to work, opening it in seconds.

They slipped inside and as the door snicked shut behind them, she became aware of the smell.

“Ugh.” She stopped, not wanting to put herself any nearer the source of it.

Ed grimaced. “Someone died here.”

Her nanos tickled her face, and suddenly there was a silver mask covering her nose and mouth. Ed glanced over at her, gave a nod.

“Good idea.” He shrugged out of his jacket, wrapped it around the lower half of his face.

They moved again, walking down a central aisle, where boxes that looked similar to those they’d found in the other warehouse were stacked on either side.

At the back, neatly sorted into short rows, were large, sealed bags that looked like they contained rocks.

“The trivolun.” Wren barely glanced at the stockpile, turning in a slow circle instead to find the source of the decomposition.

She spotted a boot sticking out from the end of an aisle, and moved over to it.

She gagged a little at the sight of the body. At least her nanos ensured she couldn’t smell it any more, but the sight alone . . .

She turned away, breathing deeply.

“Don’t look,” she told Ed, who was crouched beside the ore. “It’s bad.”

“Who is it?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Maybe the missing Salisas that Pontia and Linao were arguing about when we first found them in that house?”

“You think Pontia killed him?” Ed straightened up.

“Who else? He said he’d reported him missing, but he was in charge of this warehouse. Maybe Salisas found out Pontia was hiding the warehouse’s location?” Wren wondered what had been going through Pontia’s mind. He’d clearly felt abandoned,and maybe resentful at getting sick in the course of working for the Cores, and then unable to access help because of where he’d picked up his bacteria.

This was his revenge, and she wasn’t going to complain. It suited her perfectly.

“So what now?” Ed asked, resting a foot on one of the ore bags.

“Now we find an explosive in here we can put in these bags.”

They had draggedOpek off the street and back into the recessed area by the building’s loading bay after Wren had felled him.

Wren didn’t know how long he’d be out of it, but she said the nanos thought he would probably be awake by now.

Awake and unhappy, Ed had no doubt.

“I really don’t like this.” Ed crouched down and peered around the corner, but the outside lights were off, and there was no sign of the man or anyone else.

“They want this so badly, even if they’re suspicious, I don’t think they’ll turn our offer down.” Wren shoved one of the bags of ore that was slipping off a hover pallet back in place. They had taken three of the warehouse hover pallets and loaded them with all the trivolun. Then they had piloted them down the streets to the house where Ed had been taken earlier.

She was probably right, but Ed was not used to standing back, and this plan meant he’d have to do just that.

“I’m coming after you if something happens,” he said. He hefted the massive laz he’d taken out of the warehouse off his shoulder and held it one-handed.

“I’ll let you know if I need help.” She put a hand on his arm. “I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve.”

He blew out a breath, gave a nod. “You do.”

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