“She’s in trouble? Why?” Edam said, already on his feet. The room was dark, and he stubbed his toe against the bed as he tried to find his shirt.

“Her suit was deactivated seven minutes ago.” Aarav said gravely, “I have its location - it’s still in the warehouse where she was supposed to meet the Commissioner.”

“And Saavi?”

“I can’t tell. The tracking chip is in the suit.”

Silence.

“Saavi’s mentioned your hacking prowess. ” Aarav continued, speaking quickly now, “You need to make your way over there. Hack into the suit and use it to get her out of this mess. There’s still time.”

“Shit,” Edam said, and then he paused, foot halfway into his sock, “Wait, can’t you control the suit? That time I visited, I-”

“That’s only for testing purposes, the range doesn’t extend so far. From your address, if you catch the express train, it’s a fifteen minute journey. And then about five minutes from the station to the warehouse.”

“But what-”

“There’s no time, Edam. The next train leaves in four minutes. Can you get to the station in time?”

Edam sighed, fully dressed now. When he’d first agreed to help rob Dr Ebert, back on that rooftop, he’d known what he was signing up for. He had been afraid, yes, hesitant, definitely. Because that was his nature.

Saavi was the complete opposite, but they both wanted the same thing. To do something about this corrupt government. He had been there when it started and he would be there in the end, when this whole thing inevitably fell apart.

“Edam?” Aarav asked again, “I apologise about this, really, but you’re the only one who-”

“I get it,” he said, opening the front door, “I’m on my way.”

*

Edam closed his eyes, forehead against the train window. Music from his earphones blared in his ears, but he barely heard it. It had now been over twenty minutes since the suit had been deactivated. Saavi could have been captured, or… killed, even. If he showed up to the warehouse only to find it empty, he would…

Well, he wasn’t sure what he’d do.

As the train glided into the station he called Aarav, asking for directions. He shoved his earphones in the same pocket as his balaclava. The doors opened, and he started to sprint, away from the station, down a street, ducking into an alleyway for a shortcut. Climbing had left him in good shape, but he still needed to pause to catch his breath.

A few minutes later, and he could see it, around the edge of the building. A large metal warehouse, to the left of which was a group of men dressed in black. Except for two men, one of whom was wearing a tan overcoat.

Commissioner Lawson.

“You never mentioned anything about the police being here.” Edam said, pulling his mask from his pocket.

“Of course the police are there. The Commissioner betrayed her, after all.”

“Is that what happened?”

“Almost certainly.”

And I warned you, too, Edam thought bitterly. That conversation in his living room seemed more significant now. He should’ve tried to convince her not to go. She was tough to deter, but maybe...

“You’ll want to be in a position where you can see the suit. So you can see what you’re doing when you control it.”

“Wait, you guys didn’t think to install a camera?”

“It’s a work-in-progress.”

“Yeah, well, maybe she should’ve waited for it to be a work-is-shitting-complete before she did something like this.”

He looked over the warehouse again, sighing. No windows, but every building needed some light, so they would probably be on the roof. Which meant he had to get up there. Somehow.

The officers were gathered on the right side of the building. He had assumed they were standing guard over the street, but now that he examined them more closely, it looked like they were holding the Commissioner and that other man hostage. Perhaps he hadn’t betrayed her after all, but had instead been betrayed himself.

Either way, we’ll figure that out later.

He backtracked and crossed the street once he was out of their sight. He approached the building from behind, conscious of his footsteps, trying to remain as quiet as possible. In this case, the fact there were no windows was an advantage. Anyone inside would have seen him.

He looked up the back of the warehouse. It was maybe twelve feet high, made of corrugated iron. No obvious handholds, but there were a couple of black SWAT vans parked in a random fashion behind the warehouse. That was his way up.

Edam picked the one nearest the warehouse, climbing onto the hood and then the top. Looking up at the warehouse roof, it was still a pretty difficult jump to pull off, but nothing compared to the life-threatening stunts he’d pulled with Saavi.

He took a deep breath.

Then he jumped and stepped off the warehouse wall, pushing himself just high enough to grab hold of the roof with his padded gloves. He easily pulled himself up and over, smiling at the skylights running across the roof. His hunch had paid off.

He crawled up to the glass and took a peek inside.

The lights were on, and he could spot three police officers. The suit lay discarded on the ground. A few metres from it was… Saavi, handcuffed to a metal pillar. She still had her helmet on, but she seemed to be unharmed. Thank God. She spotted him immediately, wriggling her fingers slightly to give him a discrete wave. He gave her a smile before ducking out of view again. This would all be for nothing if they spotted him before he could get anything done.

One hand planted firmly on the side of the roof, he pulled the tablet from his pocket and set to work. The suit was emitting a very weak signal. Most of its systems were offline, meaning he would have to reboot it before anything else. And that would, most likely, alert the guards, but there was no helping that. He would have to work quickly.

The reboot took a few seconds, and he chanced a peek through the skylight once it was done. No one had noticed anything yet, but the suit was online now, and it was probably making the same purring noise most machines did.

“Now, let’s see…” he muttered, as he scrolled through the suit’s functions. Some of them were locked behind some sort of voice command that only Saavi could give. As for the others...

Edam crawled onto the skylight, laying on his stomach, holding himself steady with an elbow. Controlling the suit through his tablet would be no easy task, and certainly not one he could do one-handed.

He typed a few commands into the tablet, and the suit responded by moving its arms and legs like a baby on its back. He’d been trying to make it stand up.

One of the officers shouted in surprise, then looked towards Saavi, who shrugged. He fired at the suit a few times. Edam managed to get it to its feet, and aimed a punch in his direction, sending him flying.

That’s more like it.

Another officer took aim at the suit. Edam gave him a battery-powered kick in the balls. He collapsed, losing his weapon and his ability to procreate. Edam moved the suit back towards Saavi, breaking her handcuffs with a karate chop.

She got to her feet, rubbing her wrist. And then she froze. She pointed at something and screamed. It was faint through the glass, but he caught it: “Edam, move!”

As he started to roll down the skylight, a rifle fired, and the glass beneath him shattered. He covered his head with his hands as he smashed into the mezzanine, his arm taking the brunt of the force. Something popped in his shoulder. And then it burned like hell. He screamed, wondering, briefly, if he’d been shot. He could hear gunfire outside.

The man who’d shot at the window was further along the mezzanine, still aiming at him. He felt around for his tablet, but it had bounced off the railing and landed on the floor below. The screen was cracked. It would cost a fortune to replace.

Can you stop thinking about your stupid electronics for one second?

As he watched, Saavi picked up a gun and fired at the man, but she missed badly. He shot a few times in her direction. She cursed and took cover. It was no use. He could see the look in the officer’s eyes - sorry, kid, but this is classified business. Wrong place, wrong time. I’ll make it quick.

Edam closed his eyes and waited for the bullet to put an end to his thoughts.

Outside, the gunfire stopped.