Levin waited until the forces were fully committed before signaling to the other two to follow. They ran down the length of the wall, taking wrist beam blasts until they reached the double doors. Levin held the shield up for Moyer and Hameel to pass through. He looked back at the desperate battle raging throughout the room.

Rowe was battling three chronmen and half a dozen monitors at the same time. One of the monitors had an exo-chain attached to him. Julia was locked in combat with another auditor. Even Jan, who looked like he hadn't held a rifle in years, was exchanging fire with two monitors. One thing that stuck out to him was that some of the monitors had changed sides, or at least it seemed that way.

Levin couldn't help but feel as if he was abandoning his friends and comrades. He gave the room one last look, and with a snarl, created a dozen coils and latched them to the nearest ship, then pulled it violently toward him as he went through the door, blocking the exit. "Let's make their sacrifice worth it," he said to Moyer and Hameel as they raced down the corridor. They avoided the main halls as much as possible, only crossing them when absolutely necessary, and using Moyer's access to use the maintenance passageways. It was still the middle of the night, so traffic at Earth Central was light, save for the squads of monitors converging on the battle in the south wing.

Levin, taking point, walked out of a stairwell into the Hops Wing and was immediately hit with an exo-chain. A wrist beam struck the shield near his face, knocking him down. Out of pure reflex, he kicked out with his leg and swept his attacker. Both of them picked themselves off the ground and squared up. Levin was a beat faster. Unable to create new coils, he launched himself at the man before he could stand and hit him in the face, knocking him down again. A second later, he was surrounded by six monitors.

"That's Auditor Levin!" one of them gasped.

"Be careful. The director wants him alive," another said.

"I called for backup," a third replied. "A chronman should be here any minute."

Levin prepared to engage them with his fists and feet. Six on one wasn't the world's worst odds for an auditor, but he doubted he would come out of this unscathed. He motioned with his fingers for the monitors to approach. "Let's see if you remembered some of the lessons I taught you, Meara. Doogs, you'd better keep that left guard up, because I know you like to drop it. Palh, you might want to sit this one out. You're, what, a couple months from retirement?"

The group of monitors suddenly looked very uncomfortable. They exchanged glances and all but one lowered their wrist beams.

"What are you guys waiting for?" the youngest-looking auditor-one that Levin did not recognize-said. "Get him!"

"Look, Auditor," the one named Doogs said. "This isn't personal, just duty."

"Screw this," Meara spat and took a step back. "The High Auditor saved my life against that Valta bitch. I'm not taking him down in their name."

The others murmured their agreement. All except for the youngest. He wavered, his head swiveling back and forth between Levin and his more experienced peers. Levin almost felt bad for the kid, except he was pointing a beam weapon at him. He was probably a few months out of the Academy. It was an impossible choice, really, for someone with so little experience. He prepared to do the merciful thing and take the decision out of the kid's hands without killing him.

"Release the auditor now, monitors," Moyer commanded as he walked out of the stairwell directly into the center of the standoff. He looked them all over as if he were dressing them down in his office. To Levin's surprise, the exo-chain slid off. Moyer stared down the youngest monitor, who was still aiming his wrist beam. "Monitor Seth."

"Lead Moyer!" The one named Seth gave a start at the mention of his name. For a second, he nearly saluted the lead monitor, remembering at the last second that he had been ordered to capture him. He shifted his wrist beam to Moyer.

Moyer stepped up to Seth and wrapped a hand around his wrist. "Are you prepared to shoot me with that, son?" Seth's arms trembled so badly his teeth nearly rattled. Moyer swatted the arm away. "Then don't point it at me." He turned to the other monitors. "You all know the High Auditor. You sure as abyss know me. Who do you follow?"

"What the hell is going on?" a new voice shouted. A Tier-3 named Shvet hurried into the room. "Why are you all standing around? Apprehend those traitors!"

Before he could say another word, an exo-chain struck Shvet in the side and wrapped him up, causing him to fall to the ground. Two of the monitors were on him in an instant, incapacitating him.

Moyer smirked at Levin. "What did I say? These are my people." He turned to the monitors. "Can you escort us to the Hops?"

"Yes, Lead Monitor," Meara said.

"Good," Moyer said. "Let's see who else we can round up."

Moyer and Hameel, now guarded by Levin and six monitors, walked confidently through the main hallways. Several other monitor squads ran up to meet them, but none dared to fire. Moyer would hold his hands up and ask them the same questions he asked the ones now protecting him. What did they believe? Who did they follow? Why were they following these orders? The older man had taught Levin at one point in their training. Levin might have been respected by everyone within the agency on Earth, but Moyer was beloved. He was the leader of the monitors and had taught every living chronman and auditor at some point in their career.

More often than not, the monitors they encountered ended up joining the group. Their numbers swelled to twenty. Then over forty. However, for every monitor that joined them, two refused and fled. By the time they neared the Hops, there was little doubt that Young knew where they were heading. As they rounded the hallway to the Hops's entrance, they were blocked by a larger group of monitors.

Cole stood at their front.

Levin growled. This final betrayal had burned him deeply. During their walk up to the Hops from the supply hangar, a hundred scenarios had run through his mind for why his nephew would do this. Maybe he had been captured by Young and forced to betray him. Maybe they had threatened his mother. Maybe there was more to this than Levin knew.

In the end, Levin came to the conclusion that Cole had just received a better offer. He most likely played Levin in order to get to Chicago and was just waiting for the right time. Used the information he had about what Levin was doing to trade for a pardon. What could he have offered them? Of course. Cole betrayed everyone. That boy had run out of chances. Levin had already decided that the next time they met would be the last for one of them. As Levin looked across the room at Cole, he realized that the next time had come sooner than he had thought.

"What did they offer you, Cole?" he asked. "A pardon? A job? Passport to Europa?"

Cole laughed. "All of the above, Uncle." The white of a Valta exo bloomed around him. "It's Securitate Cole to you, fugitive."

"All right, boys," Moyer said. "Make me proud. Get us into the Hops."

Both sides lined up to attack, but Levin knew the real fight would come down to Cole and him. His nephew had more powerful bands; Levin's experience with Kuo had already taught him that lesson. However, bands were complex tools that required skill. One couldn't slap on new bands without experience and wield them effectively.

The two sides charged, coils extended and wrist beams flashing, as if they were in a medieval battle of old. Monitor armor was particularly ineffective against beam weaponry, so the contest would have to be decided up close. Levin and Cole were on opposite ends of the battle and would have to wade through opposing monitors to reach each other.

Cole took to the air and created a large white coil, half again as tall as he was. He swung it like a staff in wide sweeping motions, bludgeoning Levin's people in threes and fours. Levin, on the other hand, created a dozen coils at once, using them to move over the battle like a giant kraken, plucking enemy monitors up into the air and tossing them across the room.

They met in the center, Cole wielding the trunk awkwardly, Levin dancing agilely in his auditor exo. It had been too long since he had used one of these. He missed the smooth responsiveness and extended reach. He juked to the left as Cole brought the trunk down, smashing the ground and taking out three monitors at the same time, one of them Cole's. Not that Cole cared about that.

Levin, however, did care, and was hampered. There wasn't a lot of room for an exo built for maneuverability in a hallway only six meters tall and ten meters wide. He jabbed Cole several times with his coils, only to have Cole's more powerful shield rebuff them.

Levin could see the strain on Cole's face as he concentrated on the trunk. The boy was out of practice after his stint in prison, and wielding an unfamiliar exo so unlike a chronman's was taxing. Wearing Cole down was going to be Levin's best tactic. He continued to pepper Cole with longer coils, staying just out of range of the Valta exo's lumbering trunk.

In frustration, Cole launched into the air after him, which was a mistake. Space exos needed anchors in gravity to ground the band wearer. When he swung his trunk, the centrifugal force caused him to crash into a side wall, taking out another five of his own men. Levin moved in for the kill and stung him half a dozen times with his coils, cracking and draining Cole's exo of its levels, then pulled back just as Cole got to his feet.

"You're going to hurt someone with that if you're not careful," Levin said.

Cole roared and lashed out, regenerating his trunk and punching Levin. It hit Levin flush and sent him careening into the wall, knocking him right through it. Disoriented, Levin checked his levels. They were already down to 28 percent. The bands were only at half when Julia had handed them to him. That meant he might be able to sustain one or two more hits.

Levin surveyed the battlefield. Outside of his fight with Cole, Moyer had made little progress toward the Hops entrance. Levin saw why a moment later. Reinforcements had been filtering into the hallway the entire time. Levin's people were getting overwhelmed.

He focused his attention just in time as Cole barreled toward him, Levin was just able to dive underneath as the Valta exo sailed overhead and smashed into the opposite wall, taking out two more enemy monitors in the process. This gave Levin an idea.

Much to the annoyance of the monitors trying to protect his flank, Levin shot himself into the thick of the enemy, using his dozen coils to sow terror. It required all of his concentration to control his extensions as if they were a part of his body. He was focusing so hard that he nearly missed Cole charging at him again like the untamed bull that he was.

This time, Levin almost got out of the way. Cole clipped him on the way in and Levin crashed into a group of enemy monitors. His levels were precariously low now; the fight had already lasted too long.

"I told you to be careful," Levin said. "You're hurting your own people more than I am."

That fact wasn't lost on Cole's monitors, as those around him seemed more concerned about him than they were about Levin and his forces. Cole ignored them, though, as he re-created the trunk and tried to batter Levin once more. Again and again he missed, each of his swings getting slower and slower, but still hurting those standing nearby.

Finally, it seemed Cole's men had had enough. His latest clumsy attack took out an entire squad of Young's loyalists. One of the lead monitors turned on Cole, latching an exo-chain onto him and ordering him pulled back. Cole screamed and threatened the squad leader, demanding how the man dared touch a Valta securitate. He then attacked the lead monitor, which only exacerbated the situation.

Levin had returned to safety behind his monitor line. His bands had depleted, so he armed himself with a baton he found on the ground. By now, it seemed both sides had had their fill of fighting. Levin caught sight of Moyer speaking with that same squad leader, and then a few moments later, both sides ordered their people to stand down.

Moyer walked up to Levin and leaned in. "Drop that baton. Monitor Lo only agreed to the cease-fire because he thinks your exo still has juice." Levin dropped the baton and settled into a pose as if he were about to launch into the air with his bands. Moyer grinned. "I told him what I intended to do, and that if he disagreed with the results, we would all surrender after I broadcast the message and the information."

"Surrender?" Levin frowned.

Moyer shrugged. "There's another hundred monitors next door. The only reason we didn't get our asses kicked earlier was because there's not enough room in this hallway and that crazy shithead nephew of yours was causing too much damage to his own side."

"All right then," Levin said. "Get the message out. I hope you're convincing, because frankly, Nereid sucks."

Moyer smiled. "Come on. Let's see if we're both as popular as we think we are." He signaled for Hameel to come up from the rear. The head handler looked nervous as they approached the Hops entrance.

"You can handle the handlers?" Levin asked.

Hameel shrugged. "A little less than half of them hate my guts. Fortunately, that means more than half of them like me."

"I guess that'll have to do." Levin grinned.

The three, along with their escort of monitors, stormed into the Hops. Spooked handlers froze, some standing and putting their hands up.

"Back to your positions, handlers," Hameel said. "You all know who I am, and who these two men are. Trust me when I say this is for the good of the agency. Prepare a system-wide broadcast to all units, tiers, chains, and ranks."

One of the handlers raised his hand. "Including the comm silent operation out east?"

"What operation is that?" Levin asked.

"The joint one with Valta," the handler replied. "They're about to destroy that new wastelander nation."

FIFTY-SIX.

PROJECT CLOSE.

Senior Securitate Kuo watched the battle unfold as the savages made yet another pitiful counterattack to take back the floor. The enemy had repeatedly tried to establish a foothold at all four stairwells and were rebuffed every time. In fact, her forces had not only kept the savages bottled up in the stairwells, they were outright pushing them back to the higher levels. The most recent report from Pod Captain Howser was that the eastern stairwell had been routed. Kuo expected to regain control of the infirmary shortly.

The savages were somehow able to coordinate a simultaneous attack from the surrounding bridges. She wasn't sure how they managed to accomplish this, but those weak attacks had been easily handled as well. The best the wastelander tribes could do was cause a minor distraction before her shockers pushed them back into the fog.

Yet victory wasn't within her grasp; she had thought she'd already firmly clenched it in her hand, but was uneasy. The reports from the other buildings had been late, delinquently so. What little information she had received so far had been scattered and unactionable. Mostly, the updates were that the enemy was more entrenched than expected, "still securing zone," "need to recalibrate critical path," and other bullshit excuses for not hitting mission milestones. And it wasn't just a few of the pods; it was the majority of them.

She watched as more of her troopers entered the stairwell. It was only a matter of time before this fight was over. A collie flew through a hole in the wall and landed next to a row of other collies on the south side of the building where the monitors had set up a base of operations. For the past hour, Co-op ships had been flying in and out, unloading supplies, generators, and tents. This floor was her command center until the mission was over. Optimally, that would be within a few days, but Kuo wasn't going to leave anything to chance this time. After months of constant harassment, she had finally found the savages' home and intended to grind the source of her annoyance into the ground.

Ewa appeared a few minutes later. "The mark has been acquired and is currently loaded onto a waiting collie. She is unharmed and incapacitated via a cryo module. Once the collie is finished with unloading, it has orders to return directly to Earth Central."

"Get a security shocker pod guarding that ship and a squadron to escort it back to Chicago," Kuo instructed. "I want to leave nothing to chance."

A Valkyrie flew in through the opening and came to a hover just inside the building. The cockpit opened and the pilot dropped to the ground. Kuo frowned. What was the problem? She recognized the pilot; Blackmoore headed the squadron of Valkyries supporting her project.

"Why is your ship blocking the entryway, Wing Captain?" she asked as he approached.

"There's something going on with the collie fleet, Senior," he said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"All of their communications went dead and they dropped out of position into the Mist Isle. I pinged Wolfe, my ChronoCom counterpart, for an explanation, and he went comm dark, so I followed him. When he came in here, I decided to block the opening until we get an answer."

Kuo looked over at the collie pilot speaking with the lead monitor. "Let's see what the problem is." She strolled to where Wolfe and the lead monitor were huddled in an intense discussion. The two of them saw her approach and seemed to come to an agreement. The lead monitor walked away before she reached them and began issuing orders to his people.

"Is there a problem, Captain?" she asked.

He bowed. "None, Securitate. I do not know what you speak of."

"I'm told all the collies have abandoned their assignments. Explain yourself."

"We've received new orders from Earth Central," he replied. "All agency personnel are to abort this mission immediately."

"What is the meaning of this? Who authorized the recall?"

"I am not authorized to relay my orders to a foreign entity."

"We'll see about..." She glanced over at the group of monitors whose area had suddenly become a hive of activity. She scowled. They were breaking camp before they had even finished setting it up. "Stand down, monitors. You will all remain at your posts."

To her dismay, the nonprofits ignored her. The lead monitor, the one she had strung up by a trunk earlier, said a few words to his men and then approached. His face was stern and neutral, but there was something else behind it that hadn't been there before. Something in his eyes or possibly a slight twitch to the curve of his lips. That's what it was. He was smug.

"Apologies, Securitate," he said, not sounding apologetic at all. "Your command over ChronoCom personnel has been rescinded. All our collies at this moment are communicating those orders to our forces on the ground."

Kuo felt that assured victory slipping from her grasp. "Director Young will have-"

"Pardon, Securitate," Captain Wolfe interrupted. "Young is no longer in command of Earth Central. In fact, I have been sent here to inform you that all Valta presence has been expelled from the planet. You are to cease operations and withdraw immediately."

Kuo studied the two ChronoCom lackeys trying to stand up to her. It wasn't a coincidence that Wolfe had his hand on the handle of his holstered pistol and the lead monitor had his wrist beam at the ready. What had just happened at Earth Central became very clear. Well, the timing wasn't perfect, but Valta had already accomplished its core objective on Earth. Destroying these savages would have been a nice bonus, but hardly necessary. If anything, she'd have been doing these nonprofits a favor.

"Once word of your little coup reaches Europa," she smirked, "Director Jerome will have all your heads."

"That is a ChronoCom matter and no concern of yours," the lead monitor replied. This time, he had the audacity to raise his wrist beam and point it at her.

"Very well," she replied. "Securitate Ewa, remove the temporal anomaly from the collie and load her onto the Valkyrie. Wing Captain, take her to orbit and rendezvous with the Proliferent. Tell the admiral the project is concluding and to expect a full retrieval of resources."

"Actually," Wolfe said, "I have orders to return Elise Kim back to Earth Central. Her status, displaced out of time, is a ChronoCom matter."

Before he could say another word, Kuo created a trunk and punched his body, the blow most likely crushing several of his bones. She sidestepped the lead monitor's wrist beam shot and hit him with an open hand on the front of the throat. He rolled, clutching his neck, gasping for air. Kuo put the heel of her boot on it and pressed down. The lead monitor pawed at her ankle, trying desperately to push her off. Kuo put more weight on her leg until his twitching stopped.

She signaled to the wing captain. "Take the mark now."

Her actions, however, had not gone unnoticed. Before Blackmoore could take three steps, a dozen monitors blocked his path. More monitors appeared and took position next to them, forming a defensive line around their camp.

"Securitate Ewa," Kuo said, staring the rabble down. "Recall shocker pods six, nine, and twelve. Command delta imminent." She took a step toward the line of monitors, daring any of them to fire the first shot. "Regrettably, ChronoCom has broken their contract with Valta. We will take this grievance to the true command of your nonprofit agency. You do not need to be involved. This is far above all your pay grades. Stand down or face the consequences."

One of the older monitors at the front had his eyes fixed on the lead monitor's body at her feet. He looked up and snarled, "Fuck you, bitch! I was at the hangar that day you killed nine monitors. Today's payback."

He raised his right arm to fire at her and was dropped by blaster fire square in the chest. Kuo heard the powered footsteps of a shocker approach from behind. It was soon followed by Ewa and more shockers until there were a dozen of the giant armored troopers on either side of her. She smirked and scanned the rest of the monitors. "Any more of you foolish nonprofits wish to question corporate authority? You should know that-"

Half a dozen beams struck her shield as the monitors opened up on her and the shockers. The rear of the floor, which was supposed to be the safest defensive point of her operations, suddenly became a new battlefront. Kuo leaped behind cover while her forces engaged these traitors. She checked her levels: 30 percent. She hadn't had time to recharge her exo modules since the fighting had begun. It would have to wait; she should have enough to take care of this distraction.

Wing Captain Blackmoore took several beams to the body as he scrambled for cover. He fell onto all fours and tried to crawl behind the shocker line. One of the shockers left the firing line to cover him, but that only brought more attention to them. Both fell to the enemy's concentrated fire.