Chapter 21
Twenty-One
Out on the street, Wyatt was waiting for her in an idling beat-up Pontiac, looking like he was ready to deliver some pizza.
The only modern thing about the car was the hover charms that had replaced its wheels, like the ones Kass had on his Subaru.
But it was nowhere near as nice as Kass’s car; as Dani slid into the passenger seat, she wrinkled her nose. “What’s that smell?”
“Mildew,” Wyatt said, and she caught his note of irritation. “Cars aren’t cheap, okay? This was the best I could do on short notice.”
“Silva asked you to buy this?”
“Well, no,” Wyatt said, sounding even more annoyed. “But the point is, we have a car. Can’t you be happy with that?”
“Happiness is not something I’m capable of right now,” Dani said. “Let’s just go, okay?”
Wyatt shifted the car into drive, and they started forward. In the rearview mirror, the van’s headlights came on, and slowly the vehicle followed them.
“Don’t worry, they’re not going to tail us the whole time. Too obvious,” Wyatt explained. “They’re going to post up in an alley around the corner from OneiroLabs.”
He was right; after a few blocks, the van peeled off in another direction.
Dani had a sudden pang of nervousness as she watched it go, realizing how easy it would be for Silva and the rest of the crew to bail on them.
But she remembered that look on the professor’s face—the woman was committed to this, whatever the outcome.
Besides, McKenna would never let that happen.
Then they were turning, and the OneiroLabs service entrance was in front of them, its gate luminous, a man in uniform stepping out of the guardhouse. This is it, Dani thought. No turning back.
You’ve got this, Oliver answered in her head.
Oops, sorry. I forgot we’re linked. It was comforting, though, to know that the others were just a thought away.
Wyatt rolled down the window to greet the guard, who was brandishing a quartzpad. “Evening, sir,” he said jovially. “We’re here for the sleep study.”
“Last names?” the guard said, obviously already bored with this exchange.
“Shredup and, ah, Albuquerque.”
The guard bent his head to his quartzpad for such a long moment that Dani was convinced the jig was already up, that he was silently summoning the police to cart them off to jail—but then he nodded, saying, “Yep, got you right here. One sec.”
He disappeared into the guardhouse, then returned a minute later holding two badges on lanyards, which he handed to Wyatt. “Here you go. Park on level three and check in at the front desk in the lobby. Sleep well.”
Wyatt obliged him with a chuckle. “Thanks,” he said. “Night.”
“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit,” Dani said as Wyatt rolled up his window, and the guard stepped back into the guardhouse. “I can’t believe this is actually working.”
“Don’t be such a doubter,” Wyatt said, tossing her badge into her lap. Dani frowned down at the strange pattern of shapes and lines etched into the thin slice of quartz, then caught sight of the name above it.
“Darlene Albuquerque?” she said. “Who named me Darlene?”
“Don’t look at me,” Wyatt said. “I’m Garrett Shredup. If that’s not a dude who passes out in his office chair eating junk food, I don’t know who it is.”
As the gates creaked open in front of them, he coaxed the car forward, through the web of light.
Dani felt a tingle of power playing on her skin as it passed over the vehicle and their bodies.
She had a moment of panic, remembering Katya’s fingernail skeleton key in her pocket, but the girl must have been telling the truth about it being undetectable, because the Pontiac emerged unscathed on the other side, free to proceed farther onto the OneiroLabs campus.
The car wound its way down the curving drive and toward the back of the building, onto which was affixed a parking garage.
Dani’s gut tightened at the sight of the second guardhouse at the entrance—but this one was supervised only by a machine, which asked for a badge.
Wyatt scanned his dutifully and she breathed a small sigh of relief when the gate arm lifted, permitting the Pontiac into the garage.
They found a space on the third level, as instructed, and sat in silence for a minute, getting their bearings.
We’re parked, Wyatt said over the shell. Can you still hear us?
Loud and clear, Oliver replied. The network’s holding up so far.
Excellent, came Silva’s voice. All’s quiet out here. Proceed.
“Awesome,” Wyatt said, turning off the car. “Let’s do this.”
Dani was beginning to get the sense that Wyatt thought he was the star of his own spy movie. He led the charge to the elevator with far too much pep in his step. She was glad to see the elevator empty; still, her heartbeat rose as the car descended, taking them down to ground level.
Ding. The doors opened onto the lobby of OneiroLabs, and she half expected an army of security guards lying in wait to drag them to the police station.
But the only people on the other side of the doors were a few employees heading out for the night, and they didn’t give the pair a second look as they traded places, too involved in their own conversation or whatever was playing in their headphones.
The lobby was eerie at night, the heights of glass lashed with black rain, the mirror clouds dispersed and shimmering in a mist far above their heads.
They passed a few people as they crossed the floor to the front desk, some employees sitting and talking, others coming and going, but it wasn’t the same kind of bustle Dani and Oliver had seen on their afternoon tour two weeks ago.
Two people glanced up when they approached the front desk: a sleekly dressed concierge and a security guard lounging in the chair beside them. The desk was tall, chest-level for Dani, and she had to peer over it to see the array of screens and devices on the other side.
The concierge’s gaze swept across them with disinterest. “Here for the sleep study?” they said, already tapping away at a keyboard.
“Yep,” Wyatt said. “Two humble dreamers, reporting for duty.”
Where are you? Katya came over the shell. We can’t see you yet, so we’ll need you to keep updating us, like, every five seconds, okay?
Yeah, sorry, Dani thought back. We’re at the front desk. Wyatt’s talking to the people.
Great. Actually, Katya said, the spark of her idea audible even via telepathy, that would be a really great place to plant the device, if you can manage it.
“Here?” Dani said, then realized with extreme mortification that she’d spoken aloud. Wyatt and the two OneiroLabs employees turned to look at her, confusion squinching their faces. Oh shit.
“Um, here.” Improvising, Dani held out her badge. “Do you need this?”
“Yes, actually,” the concierge said. “Both of your badges, please.”
Dani? Katya said. Can you do it?
Dani felt Wyatt’s eyes on her, waiting for her reply.
Her hand slipped into her pocket, touching the cool metal of the nail.
She scanned the desk again, assessing—yes, if both the security guard and the concierge were distracted enough, she could probably drop the nail down into one of the ports on the closest device, a panel with various buttons and sliders.
“Your badges?” the concierge repeated.
We can do it, Wyatt answered for her. He lifted his badge from over his head and instead of gently handing it to the concierge, like a normal person would, he properly flung it at them. The badge fell to the floor, and both the concierge and the security guard went for it at the same time.
“Oh man, I’m so sorry,” Wyatt said, leaning over the desk, his body blocking Dani’s. “It just slipped out of my hand—”
Dani knew her moment when she saw it. Heart pummeling her sternum, she pulled the nail from her pocket and reached her arm down the other side of the desk. She couldn’t quite make it all the way to the panel, her hand dangling with the nail just a few inches away from an empty port.
“Got it,” the concierge said. In her panic, Dani dropped the nail. It took everything she had not to make a noise as the nail landed neatly in the port. She watched as the metal bubbled, liquefied, and slithered into the panel, disappearing without so much as a trace.
Shocked at her own success, Dani stepped back and busied herself with taking off her own badge—which, reliably, got stuck in her hair.
She fought with it for a minute, then passed it over, rocking back and forth on her heels as the concierge did something on the computer.
Wyatt touched her elbow, a surprisingly soft, grounding gesture, and Dani forced herself to still.
Nice, came Katya’s voice. I’ll have access to their power grid in just a sec.
Good work, Silva added. You’ve essentially already done what you came here to do. You’ll have to keep going through the motions, though—Miss Novak needs to make certain that we have what we need. If she does, we’ll get you out as soon as we can.
The concierge returned their badges and gave them directions to the lab.
Dani didn’t listen, only nodded and smiled, then followed Wyatt to the elevators.
She couldn’t believe they’d already done it.
She wanted to feel relieved, but she was still on edge, and suspected she would be until they were safely out of OneiroLabs’s jurisdiction.
Can’t we just go ahead and walk out? she thought to everyone over the shell. We could make some kind of excuse about an emergency or something, right?
I don’t see why not, Silva answered, and Wyatt took a sharp, frustrated inhale. As long as Miss Novak confirms that we’re all set, that would likely attract less attention than shutting things down. For now, head to the laboratory level as planned.