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.Just a reconnaissance trip; otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered with the subterfuge.It was really a role for Ellen or Griese, but he hadn’t told them what had happened yet.They would just warn him to stay hidden.And, fabulous new disguise aside, he had no interest in remaining hidden.At a measured pace, he walked along the street, across from the front door of the security office.He held his terminal in front of him, tilted slightly towards the door of the security office with his head firmly fixed forward, pointedly not looking across the street.He rotated the terminal around as he walked, keeping the sensor pointed at the front door.Rounding the corner at the end of the street, he continued a few more steps until he was out of sight, then stopped and replayed the recording he had just made.The doors were transparent, and he paused the playback at the point where he was directly across the street from them.Here, he had gotten a clear shot inside the office and could see a short entry hallway and a large central room just beyond.Inside, two or three officers could be seen.From the ship’s drawings, he knew the holding cells would be on the far side of that room.The layout was problematic — with only one way in, they would see him coming.A frontal assault would be both ballsy and stupid, though Bruce was reasonably well–stocked with both of those commodities.He resumed the playback, watching as the image panned past the entryway to less useful angles.Just as he was about to stop the replay, the front doors opened, three officers stepping outside.Bruce nearly choked when he saw they were leading Stein out the door, her hands behind her back.He dashed back around the corner, catching a glimpse of them entering the escalator at the other end of the block.He walked as quickly as he dared towards the escalator, not wanting to prematurely draw any attention to himself.When he reached the escalator, he took the steps two at a time, stopping on the third floor, dashing into the street, spinning around.Not seeing them, he circled around to the escalator down to the second floor, panicking slightly as he finally guessed at their destination.They were taking her to the first floor.Where a security van would be waiting.He withdrew his pistol and sprinted down the escalator.He caught a glimpse of the gray wall of the security van driving away as he leapt off the end of the escalator, nearly colliding with a pair of security officers as he did so.“Easy, lady,” one of them said, his smile fading as he recognized Bruce and the object in Bruce’s hand.Bruce faintly recognized him too, and, for the second time that day, knocked him unconscious with a shot to the face.The other officer reacted, not quickly enough.Bruce stepped over their bodies and stared down the street, watching the back of the security van retreat to the south.“Assey shit!” he yelled, knowing it was going to the main security headquarters.Behind the barricades and bulkhead doors, completely out of reach.Furious, he shot both officers in the crotch.“It’ll be more of the same if you don’t let her go!” he yelled at their comatose bodies before tossing his wig to the ground.§Hogg pulled the van to a halt in front of the plastic barricade.Through the windshield, he waved at the helmeted officers on the other side.“Come on, guys,” he said to himself, knowing they couldn’t hear him.“Move that thing.” He waved again.One of the officers waved back.“What are they doing?” he asked.“Dunno,” Linze said from the passenger seat.She opened the door and stepped out of the van.One of the less regrettable officers under Hogg’s command, he had let Linze stick around for the delivery.Linze walked up to the barricade where she proceeded to get in an animated discussion with one of the officers standing there.Hogg turned to look through the interior door to the passenger compartment, checking that Stein was still there.She was, head bowed, looking defeated.Satisfied, Hogg opened his door and stepped out of the van.“What’s up, guys?” he said, approaching the barricade.“Move that piece of junk.Thorias is expecting us.” He stopped beside Linze, facing off from the morons on the other side of said piece of junk.The head moron turned to him, looking him up and down carefully.Hogg didn’t recognize the man’s face.Which was unusual, doubly so in this case.He thought he had met all the on–duty officers, or at least seen their faces around.And this particular face was ugly enough to remember.The moron held his terminal up to his ear, a finger raised to silence Hogg.That was a gesture Hogg let few people get away with, and he started to consider simply driving over the buffoon.Finally, the pig–faced officer lowered his terminal.“You’ve been ordered to hand over the prisoner and the van to us and to continue hunting for the remaining terrorists.”“Have I?” Hogg asked.“You’d think that if I’d been ordered that, someone other than you would be telling me about it.” The smile that was spreading across his face stopped, interrupted by a beep from his own terminal, no doubt telling him exactly that.He ignored the message and set his jaw.“Get out of my way.This is my damned prisoner, which my damned team got shot in their damned faces for.I’m handing her over to Thorias myself.”The ugly officer sneered at him.“No, you’re not, Sergeant.Turn around.”“No
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