Page 62 of Static/Cling

“He’s an excellent coder. He speaks fluent computer in many different languages. I speak… spy.”

“How’s that, then?”

“I think if you try that storage room, you’ll find it has a trap door leading to a tunnel that will get you inside.”

“Won’t a secret tunnel be more likely to be guarded than the main entrance? Due to it being a secret and all that?”

“How secret would it be if they posted guards?”

“Point.”

“They’ll be at the other end, so be careful. Bjorn can handle the electronic issues. Leif, you can handle the human?—”

“Yeah,” Leif cut them off. “I got this.”

Bjorn shot him a startled look.

He shook his head. “Come on.”

Sal was right on the money about the storeroom. Bjorn made short work of the lock, snapping the padlock off in his hand, which had Leif doing a double take.

“Kassian is not the only strong guy here,” he said, voice flat.

“Yeah, but that’s tempered steel.”

“So’m I.”

Roger groaned softly and Sal snorted.

“Remind me to stay on your good side,” Leif said.

“Baby, you are my good side.” Bjorn grinned at him, and his knees gave a little wobble because fuck. That grin.

“Are you in?” Sal’s question brought his mind out of the gutter.

“Yeah. We’re in.”

“There.” Bjorn pointed to a partial square of metal peeking from under a metal box.

“Let me.” Leif eased Bjorn away from the box.

It was heavy. Almost too heavy for him to move, but he’d be damned if he’d let Bjorn do it and risk a massive discharge that might black out half the base. Besides which, it would probably give him second-degree burns on his palms.

He got it shoved against a wall finally, to reveal the trap door Sal had predicted. A metal grate covered a set of stairs leading down.

“You’re scary, Sal. How the hell did you know this was here?”

“Does it look well used?”

“No. It’s rusty as hell, and dark down there. Are you sure about this?”

“Positive.”

“Okay.” He glanced up at Bjorn, who was staring at the grate covering the opening with a frown. “Sal? Can you give us a sec?”

“One minute.”

“Two.”

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