AMBUSH ON THE FRONT LINE

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Morgan's packet arrived in eleven fragments.

Leo pieced together nine.

The tenth contained only three letters: PRE.

The last carried a request for a return connection to Acheron-Alpha, attached to the legitimate alert. Leo cut off the return path before accepting the attachment. Unit 04 stayed isolated from the data he was reading.

A repeat transmission completed the message without reopening the return path. On the isolated screen, Leo read:

ISOLATOR SECURED. ACTIVATE BLOCK AT REPEATER. PRESERVE

PUMPS AND EMERGENCY SYSTEMS. WILL SEND CONFIRMATION.

The connector number had arrived intact. Leo checked it against the plans for the coastal station: it matched the repeater beneath the crane at Pier 14. He sent confirmation over the separate maintenance channel without reopening the compromised module.

"The cable junction box is at Pier 14," Leo said. "Same route the MIT repeater used. Remote access is shut down. The module has to plug into the repeater's maintenance connector. We can't reach that point from here."

Leo tried to zip his backpack shut with one hand and caught the fabric in the zipper. He stopped, let go of the strap, and started again. Maya waited until he'd checked the module. Morgan's yellow warning remained on the monitor: she was still conscious, but her withdrawal route was blocked.

Once Leo confirmed the module was ready, Maya headed for the cab.

"The van."

"Roxxon deployed teams to the port."

"Then the truck stays hidden, and we take the van."

Maya opened the map saved on the console. Three private vehicles had left Roxxon's warehouse and were converging on Pier 14. The platform's system had probably sent a sabotage alert to the corporation's coastal security without revealing that it no longer obeyed the company.

"O.B.I.S. is using humans as an automated response," Leo said.

"Then we need to talk to them before they follow the order," Maya replied.

She opened the rear compartment. The support van rolled down the ramp onto the warehouse floor. It had no heavy armor or hidden weapons. It had an electric motor, a short-range thermal deflector, and the mechanical modifications Maya had added since MIT.

Leo climbed in with his laptop, the signal-hold module, and two coils of cable. T.O.N.Y. was with Morgan; the van's dashboard would receive only what the platform let through. Maya loaded the route and checked the two towing clamps.

"The window hasn't started yet," Leo said. "But she's keeping the isolator open."

"I know. Make sure we have a way out from the crane. I don't want to get there and find we've parked in a dead end."

The side gate opened. The van drove out into the rain.

As they rounded the warehouse, Morgan's shoulder indicator stopped updating.

Maya avoided the main road and turned into a narrow lane between shipping containers. The thermal deflector reduced the vehicle's contrast, but it didn't erase its tires, sound, or mass. A Roxxon jeep crossed the road ahead. Maya braked behind an abandoned forklift and shut everything off.

The jeep passed slowly. A sensor rotated on its roof, scanning for emissions.

Leo held his breath.

"They're not looking for us," Maya whispered. "They're following the platform's alert."

"That doesn't help when the alert leads to the same box we need to open."

The jeep disappeared around the bend. Maya started the van again.

The crane came into view between two stacks of containers.

The junction box sat beneath the crane's base, surrounded by a low fence and two distribution cabinets. The main cable plunged into the sea inside an armored conduit. Three channels ran side by side: orbital command, pump control, and emergency communications.

Leo went pale as he looked at the plans.

"If I cut everything, I open the window for Morgan, but I shut off the pumps and cut off the workers' radio."

"She said to preserve emergency systems," Maya reminded him.

"I know. But the colors don't match the plans. I'm not picking a cable based on that."

Maya switched off the deflector to save battery power and parked between the crane and the access road, keeping a lane clear for withdrawal. A delayed status signal from Morgan arrived on the dashboard: water in the core. It came with no request to ignore the pumps and no authorization to cut everything. Leo checked the connector number again.

The first Roxxon vehicle appeared at the far end of the lane.

"Figure it out. I'll hold them off."

"You don't have a gun."

"I've got a van, two magnetic clamps, and a really bad mood."

Leo jumped out into the rain. Four industrial bolts and an electronic seal held the box shut. Instead of hacking it, he used a torque wrench and cut the seal with a ceramic blade. The metal resisted. His fingers slipped.

The sound of the first vehicle drew closer along the loading lane.

"I need to compare the connectors to the plans," Leo said.

Maya read off the numbers on the outside while he used the diagnostic ports. The readings came through the service ports, without opening the main fiber-optic line.

The first diagnostic showed orbital data. The second showed pump control. On the third, the response to a marine radio call matched the voice Maya was hearing on the independent radio. Leo repeated the comparison before attaching a label to each port.

"Identified. Emergency communications stay outside the module."

He plugged the signal-hold module into only the orbital maintenance port. He still needed to enable the local coupling for the packets to reach the repeater.

The box's cover remained attached to its hinge; Leo supported it with his knee.

The first jeep accelerated. Maya attached a clamp to the movable maintenance barrier and pulled it slowly with the van. The barrier moved across the lane. The driver braked in front of it and honked, not noticing Leo by the crane.

Four agents got out.

"Step away from the infrastructure!" one of them shouted. "This area is under Roxxon lockdown!"

Maya opened the door just enough to answer.

"Your platform is trapping workers and trying to take over an orbital system. Call your boss before you shoot."

"Keep your hands where I can see them!"

Maya kept her hands in view for a moment.

Leo started the test. The screen showed the sequence prepared to hold new commands while the platform's reader remained isolated. But the transmit light didn't come on.

"Morgan, I'm going in," he said, though he didn't know whether she could hear him.

The agent fired at the van. The pulse hit its side and knocked out half the dashboard. Maya ducked. Another shot struck the crane above Leo, scattering sparks.

The transmit indicator stayed gray.

Nothing had crossed the coupling.

"It didn't go through," Leo said. "The module is preparing the packets, but the coupling is still blocked."

"What's missing?"

"Maintenance needs to be enabled. The local mechanism is open. That's as far as the module can get."

"How?"

Leo looked at the mechanical distribution unit beside the box. A lever protected the repeater's maintenance coupling. To reach it, he would have to cross three meters of open ground in the agents' line of fire.

Maya shifted into gear.

"When I move the van, run."

"That leaves you without cover."

"It also gives them a bigger target than you."

Before Leo could answer, a second vehicle appeared behind the first. The exit route was starting to close.

Maya drove the van forward. She didn't hit anyone; she pushed the rubber barrier and forced the agents back. Two shots hit the windshield, tracing white cracks across it.

Leo ran.

The rain was blinding. A pulse passed close to his shoulder and scorched his jacket sleeve. He reached the lever, gripped it with both hands, and pulled.

The repeater resisted.

"It's jammed!"

Maya activated the second clamp. The cable shot out, caught the lever, and pulled taut as the van reversed.

"Now, Moretti!"

Leo put his weight into it.

The lever gave way.

The coupling closed. The module held new commands in the identified segment, requiring fresh validation instead of letting them pass through the platform's isolator. The block affected neither power to the pumps nor the emergency radio.

On Leo's screen, the successive requests moved into the queue. The window's countdown started at that instant: an estimated six minutes, not a guarantee.

"It went through!"

An agent raised his weapon. Maya moved the van between him and Leo, retracting the clamp from the lever as soon as the latch held. The shot struck the side window frame. A fragment grazed Leo's eyebrow; he ducked his head and kept hold of the laptop.

"Fall back!" Maya shouted.

Leo left the module plugged in and removed only the configuration cable. The remote shutdown command had been tested on the bench; if the channel dropped, the local limit would end the hold. He wouldn't have to run back to the box for every adjustment. The pump channel remained intact. The emergency voice channel was still active.

As he climbed into the van, its onboard system picked up a packet from Acheron:

EXTERNAL LOOP CONFIRMED.

It was Morgan.

Maya accelerated between the containers. The agents returned to their vehicles, but the barrier still separated the first jeep from the crane, and the second had to go around it.

Hard braking threw Maya's knee against the dashboard. She swore, slowed down, and took the turn wider. Leo offered to take over the radio, keeping a compress against his eyebrow with his other hand.

"The box is marked now," he said. "They'll know it was us."

"Better than having them think the pumps shut themselves off."

Maya told port coordination where the module was, what it did, and how to stop it. She didn't ask them to trust the students on the strength of their names. She sent the identification number they'd just checked at the crane.

"How long is the window open?" Maya asked.

Leo watched the code.

"Just under six minutes. That's the module's time limit. If the temperature rises, we lose it sooner."

Another packet appeared. This time, it wasn't from Morgan.

LIFEBOAT EVACUATION INITIATED. CORE UNDERGOING THERMAL

PURGE.

"Vance?" Maya asked.

"Roxxon's internal channel."

Leo checked the message against the maintenance channel and the latest recording of Elena. There was movement at the winches, but that didn't prove who had issued the alert. He forwarded the data separately, without writing "Vance confirmed."

"Morgan needs to verify it from her end," he said.

He looked at the platform map.

The external window was open.

The two of them had done the part Morgan had entrusted to them without silencing the voices on the emergency channel.

Now she had to defeat a system that knew her choices, while the ocean began to flow into the room.

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