Qauri brought them to a secured storeroom filled with tactical gear, clothing, and weapons. She walked over to a metal cabinet and pulled out cutting-edge communications gear for each of them. "I have to get back to my station. If you need anything, use the intercom and give me a holler."

"How are we going to pull off this hat trick?" Vince stood with his hands on his hips. "Free Sinclair's buddy Lear, get the second ICARUS chip, and then make a clean getaway." His eyes flicked to a monitor where Satoshi was talking to Raymond. "I don't like that woman. She reminds me of my ex-wife. A temptress in bed, but a real ball buster the rest of the time."

"I wonder what Ray saw in her?" Evelyn selected a pair of sleek, black combat boots from the shelves. "Do you think he really loved her?"

Vincent rubbed his grizzled chin. "I know what he saw in her—a mirror image of himself. A high-tech vigilante with nerves of ice." His face softened. "He must have been in love with her when they were together. He has an insurmountable wall of arrogance around him to prevent getting hurt again." He looked at Evelyn, opened his mouth to say something else, then shook his head. "Never mind."

Why he would be attracted to someone cerebral and cold puzzled her. How had the two of them had been together in bed? Wild and animalistic, or controlled and robotic. Maybe their lovemaking had been transactional. Looking at Satoshi's perfect figure, she doubted it.

She blushed. Imagining him in bed with Satoshi had aroused her. "We should go in tonight after the regular staff has left for the day." Evelyn tried to purge the images of Satoshi and Raymond naked together from her mind. "I know a lot of the guards on the night shift. I used to go in and work on projects during the evening."

"I agree," Vincent said. He picked a pump action shot gun. "Didn't know they used these anymore. You can't miss with one of these."

Evelyn picked out a tight fitting neoprene top with matching pants. "I hope this breathes. We'll know more once we get there."

"There's a custodial staff, security, and whatever Jamison and Casper have blocked off for their headquarters." Vincent perused the Ak-47s as he spoke.

Deedee caressed a rocket launcher. "Purrrrfect. You two go ahead, I'm going to stay here and do some tactical shopping. Christmas came early in my opinion."

Vincent selected a pair of extra-large charcoal overalls. "I'll play housekeeping. Nobody pays attention menial workers." He slung an assault rifle over his shoulder, then grabbed some ammo.

They took the elevator back downstairs and rejoined Satoshi and Raymond.

"Here, the fiftieth floor." Satoshi walked over and pulled up the CENTIEN's building schematics. "That's where they're probably holding Lear." She pointed to her computer screens with a lacquered nail. As if she could read Evelyn's sexual fantasy, she smiled at her conspiratorially. A 3D grid of the building in glowing green showed the floor plan.

"How do you know that's where we'll find Mr. Lear?" Evelyn asked.

"They've restricted the area. There's no access for janitorial or security services on that floor. All the elevators are locked." Satoshi rapidly tapped computer keys, her long fingernails clacking as she brought up a running log of who had last accessed the fiftieth floor. She turned to Raymond. "Can you override the security firewall and get Evelyn and Vincent onto that floor?"

He made a look of contempt. "That's my building—I can get them in from the stairwell."

Satoshi, tapped a few keys, double checking the data she was viewing. "That's strange. There's only three heat signatures in that zone. There should be more guards."

"We'll get to that problem in its turn. For the moment, our concern is securing Lear and the app," Vincent said.

"All right, let's get them briefed. Once they're in," Satoshi thrust her finger at Raymond like a spear, "their lives are going to be in your hands,"

"That's the way I like it," Evelyn said. "I trust Ray." A small part of her wondered. Should she?

"Me too." Vincent added. He handed CENTIEN's surprised CEO a slice of pizza. "Let's go kick some Deep State butt and take back CENTIEN."