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That sounded a whole lot easier said than done. I dragged in a breath and glanced at the others. They all nodded.
“I’ll stay in the lead,” I murmured, and darted to the door.
I edged it open just a smidge, enough to spot a row of machines on the other side that stretched to the high ceiling and flickered with a multitude of tiny lights—and two guards waiting in the hall just a foot from where I was standing. I held up two fingers to the men and then leapt forward.
I threw myself at the man farther away so the guys could tackle the closer one. One hand clamped around his mouth. The other dug into his flesh where I would find just the right nerve.
I squeezed hard, flinging a leg around his to bring him to the ground so he couldn’t buck me off him. A second later, he slumped over.
Talon was already on the second guard with a needle, and Julius gave mine the same treatment, since the effect I’d produced would be short-lived on its own. After a moment’s silent debate, we dragged them into the corner of the stairwell, figuring that was the safest place for them.
“There’s a pattern marked on the floor farther down the hall,” Garrison murmured, and eased a little closer to describe it to Blaze in more detail.
The hacker hummed. “That’ll be one of those touch-sensitive alarms. That’s got to be the way to the control center. But you’ll have to disable it to get past it.”
“And how do we do that?” I asked.
“Look around. There should be a small utility room to your left. The wiring will probably run through there.”
I spotted a discreet doorway past another row of humming, flickering computer units and hustled over. “I found it.”
“Good, go inside, and I’ll direct you. We have to be careful not to cut the wires for the wrong devices, or it’ll trigger an alarm. We can’t afford that.”
No kidding. I reached the utility room, unlocked it with some jabs and twists of my lock picks, and slipped inside. The others crammed into the small space after me to avoid being seen. Garrison glanced around.
“We could chuck a few bodies in here too,” he remarked.
“Not right now,” I muttered, and stared at the mess of cables that covered the wall in front of me. “Blaze, I’m going to need some serious guidance.”
“Okay. You want to find a cable labeled 4J. A place on this level, they’ve got to be up to code. Do you see it?”
I scanned the cables in the thin light and caught sight of it partway down the wall. “Here. I cut that one?”
“Not so fast! There’ll be a dual trigger. If either of them shuts down without the other, we’re screwed.”
My heart started thumping faster again. “What’s the other one?”
“Usually it’d be a switch… They like to use blue ones for this type of system. Do you see any blue switches?”
I did, but there was a slight problem. “Five of them.”
Blaze muttered a curse under his breath. “Okay… They would have it lower than the cable’s entry point, and to the left—no, no, to the right. Lower and to the right.”
There was only one blue switch that met that description. I rested my fingers on it. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Cut the wire and flick the switch at the exact same time.”
I pulled a knife from my belt and braced it against the cable. My fingers curled around the switch. Then, in unison, I jerked both hands into action.
The cable split. The switch dropped. My jaw clenched, but no blare of alarms filled the building.
“Did it work?” Blaze asked in my ear.
I exhaled shakily. “I don’t like that you’re asking me that. It seems like it. Let’s check the hall.”
I’d just said that when Julius and Talon leapt out ahead of us. I understood why a few seconds later when they dragged two more unconscious guards past me into the stairwell. We were certainly leaving a trail of bodies behind us, if not in the typical way.
“The pattern on the floor has vanished,” Garrison reported.
