Crack in the Kill Code (AmpCore #2)

21 - Off the Bench

Nothing.

Besides his amplifier, none of them turned up any trace of Grennick Lanson. Piper dragged herself wearily out of the dark, dank tunnel system and into the relative glow of Hadrian's twilight, feeling angry, sore, and downright gross. She wanted a shower, to wash off the stink of the city, and to wash away the oily feeling of the corporate schemes that had gotten them here.

She grabbed Odiye's outstretched hand and let him haul her back up to street level. They'd been out for most of the night, searching multiple passages along the path the vent took. After crawled and scrabbling through rusting abandoned tunnels for hundreds of yards in all directions, they had nothing to show for it.

"You alright?" Odiye asked, his hand falling away and leaving the electric tingle of his touch behind.

"Just peachy." Sighing, she slid her amplifier back into its sheathe, and tossed Lanson's gold-plated weapon to Vinder who was standing nearby, his face cold with frustration. He snatched the wand out of the air, glowering at her.

"Oh, don't look at me like that. I didn't kill him," Piper muttered, turning away.

"This isn't over," he hissed back.

"Enough, Vinder." Odiye turned an icy glare on the Wayfinder agent. "There'll be time for you to settle your scores another day."

"For now, I'd be worrying about Lanson's dad," Arrow interjected, rubbing their eyes wearily. "Who knows how the top Western representative from Real-Raid Pharmaceuticals will react when he founds out his son got killed on your watch?"

Vinder bared his teeth, his implants simmering, but Lenor Karga grabbed his arm.

"Another time," she hissed into his ear. "C'mon."

Reluctantly, he allowed himself to be turned away. The other AmpCore operatives melted away into the shadows, leaving the trio alone on the edge of the Caxton yards. Piper checked the holowatch built into the cuff of her jacket.

3.56 A.M.

"Now what?" she murmured.

"There's nothing more we can do tonight," Odiye said.

"There's an Ardenne safehouse not too far from here," Arrow suggested. "We can head there and sleep this mess off before we head back to AmpCore."

"We're going back? Tonight?" Piper looked at them sharply. "But what about that thing out there? Whatever took Lanson, it's still on the loose."

"Yes, something is." Odiye put a restraining hand on her shoulder. "We will find it, Piper, but right now we do not even know what we are hunting. If we run blind into the dark, we'll be no better than Lanson."

Arrow nodded. "He's right, Piper. We need to report to Mattise. Tell him what happened to Mattellus and the others. Maybe he can do something to keep Vinder off our backs next time."

"I think it's pretty clear Mattise can't stop Vinder from doing shit. You think they'd be out pulling this kind of crap if they had anything to be scared of back at AmpCore?" Piper shook her head grimly. "I don't think so."

"All the more reason to head somewhere safe and figure out our next move."

Piper planted her hands on her hips, scuffing a boot against the ground in frustration. They were right. She knew they were right. But somehow, something in the back of her mind said that she'd failed – that the thing out here had won this round.

Rubbing one hand over her eyes, she let out a weary sigh of exasperation and nodded, unable to even scrape the words together.

"Follow me," Arrow said, their amplifier letting out a faint pulse of light as they started walking. "I'll have someone meet us at the edge of the cordon. Then we can figure out how we want to explain all of this to Mattise."