The chemical fire-suppressant fog in the hallway was beginning to settle, coating the tiled floor in a fine, powdery white layer. I stepped back into the maintenance conduit, my movements fluid and devoid of adrenaline. The six tactical operators lay in a tangled heap, breathing in deep, steady rhythms of induced unconsciousness.
I didn't linger. I scaled the ladder back toward the twenty-fourth floor, the structural vibrations of the tower telling me that the rest of Kain’s incursion team had already retreated the moment they lost contact with their leader.
When I emerged from the maintenance shaft behind the laboratory server racks, the room was a hive of frantic, high-intensity activity.
Dalton and his team were sealing the physical breaches in the server room, their hands shaking as
