“Holy—! Wow!” Jack reactively ducks when he sees the explosion on the screens of the surveillance array. He turns to Slim. “Did you see that?”

Slim leans in. He’d given up fiddling at his workbench to watch the fight unfold on the screens. “Yeah. Saw it. Not as elegant as nanobots, but it looks like they had the same basic idea. I’m guessing each of those bugs carried some kind of incendiary payload.”

“Incendiary?” Jack scrunches his nose, tasting the word for the first time.

“Flammable.”

Jack’s eyes widen. “They can do that?”

“Sure thing. Probably something similar to those fuel sacs in that flamethrower chick you told me about. But with the bugs, they probably engineered them in, rather than doin’ surgery on each one.”

“Badass.” Jack watches a dark form fall toward Bule from the smokey fireball in the sky. “You think they killed him?”

Slim squints, as if that would somehow let him see the screen in front of him more clearly. “Kill the last of the Four? Not likely. They’re here to capture. ’Sides—” He taps on the screen where they saw Thegn falling. The old man’s wings, still on fire, spread open just in time to allow him to land with at least a modicum of grace on an empty rooftop in Lower Bule. “Looks like that guy’s a pretty tough old bird.”

“Damn. Was hopin’ he bit it.” Jack scans the other screens in front of him. “We got any eyes on that spot Corva landed?”

Slim is already turned back to his workbench, assembling some other gadget. “Sorry, man. She kicked up quite a mean puff of dirt. I think anyone we had hiding near there has long since bugged out.”

Jack doesn’t respond. He just keeps looking from one screen to another, hoping to catch any sight, any sign of Zeke or Corva.

Slim clears his throat. “Yeah, but, um, the good news is that she dropped back in just two buildings away. It’s just on the other side of where you guys faced off with those grunts on the way here.”

That’s all Jack needs to hear. He steps away from the surveillance array and heads back into the main room. Snagging his go-bag, he notices the disapproving scowl from Lyia, still standing vigil at the heavy entrance door.

“Fine.” He turns away from Lyia and looks at Slim. “You got a way to get in touch with Harris an’ his crew?”

Slim raises his head from his work and swivels to face Jack. “Maybe. I got a line to his private comm. So long as his gear is still active, I should be able to reach him. But why—”

Jack strides into the workshop and drops his go-bag on Slim’s workbench.

“Good. Do that. Then load me up. I don’t care how ready you aren’t.”