Winter Halo (Outcast 2)

Chapter 8

One of the guards stepped forward and held up a hand. “Present for ID confirmation immediately.”

The second guard produced a scanner. I stopped, pulled up my left sleeve, and ran the RFID chip across it. She studied the screen for several seconds, then nodded and stepped out of my way.

One barrier down. A ton to go.

I continued on. The doors swished and light swept my length as I stepped through them. No alarms went off, so I obviously passed the bioscan.

The foyer was a vast space that was all metal, glass, and polished concrete. There were another half a dozen guards in here, and all of them armed. Despite the current penchant for recruiting orange-haired cat shifters to be guards, four of the six here were male and, from the scents I was picking up, human. Maybe on the ground floor, they actually deferred to experience and capability rather than looks.

I threw my pack into one of the plastic tubs, then stepped through a second scanner. This one, I knew from Sharran’s memories, checked for any sort of weapons, be they metal or glass. Once my pack had been scanned, I slung it over my shoulder and headed for the elevators. I didn’t look anyone in the eye; didn’t even glance around, as much as I wanted to. I had to keep in character, and Sharran was, unfortunately, a bit of a loner.

“Floor,” a metallic voice said as I stepped into the elevator.

“Three.”

The doors closed and within seconds I was on the third floor. I paused in the bright hallway, looking right and left. This level held the changing rooms, the security monitoring section, and the personnel department. The entire floor, aside from the changing rooms that were situated in the right corner of the building, was a maze of glass partitions. There was no privacy here; not only could everyone see you, but there were security cams mounted with movement sensors on every glass corner.

I spun on my heel and made my way through the glass corridors to the changing room. No one appeared to pay me any attention, but the cameras tracked my progress—I could hear the electronic buzz of their movements.

No one here looks happy, Bear commented.

No, they didn’t. But then, if the bits and pieces I’d been getting from Charles were any indication, early starts and late nights were the norm in this place. I had no idea if it was the same elsewhere in Central, but it would certainly explain the general air of malaise so evident on this floor. Long hours were not only tiring, but meant fewer chances of seeing your lover, or family, or even of having a life. It made me wonder yet again how Sal had stood living in this city. He and I might have been bred to obey, but we’d also been given the luxury of thought and emotion, as well as a love of life, even if the latter had been unintentional by our creators. The longer I spent in Central, the more it seemed to me that its people had forsaken freedom in exchange for security. And while I could un

derstand both humans and shifters making that choice, given the triple threats of vampires, Others, and rifts, Sal had been an assassin with salamander in his blood—a creature of forest and shadows. He had no need for any of this.

But again, the choice might not have been his to make. And while I certainly had no regrets about killing him, a glimmer of sadness resurfaced. Maybe being forced to live in a city of endless light and little freedom had changed him as much as that rift.

There were three others in the women’s changing room. Two ignored me, and the third—a tall, thin woman with a mane of black and orange hair—looked decidedly unhappy to see me.

“You just lost me five credits.” Her voice was as tart as her expression. “I was betting you wouldn’t be back.”

I half shrugged as I frantically searched Sharran’s memories for her name. Rae . . . no, Raedella. She and Sharran had worked together on numerous occasions, but weren’t exactly friends. The taller woman was something of a prankster . . . and Sharran’s nervous nature tended to make her the ideal target.

I let my gaze skitter away from hers and mumbled, “Can’t afford to lose the job.”

Raedella snorted. “That’s not what you were saying last night.”

I had no idea what Sharran had said last night; it wasn’t in any of the memories I’d plucked from her. So I simply shrugged again and walked over to Sharran’s locker. It was a couple down from the other two women, but they didn’t even look around. And I was fine with that. The fewer people I interacted with, the less chance there was of someone sensing something out of kilter.

I stripped, then grabbed a guard’s uniform hanging from the hook inside the locker. Not only did the almost overpowering scent of flowery musk cling to the material, but the undertones of sweat and fear did as well. Sharran had obviously changed and run last night, and had forgotten to dump the uniform in the laundry chute. My nose wrinkled in distaste at the thought of wearing it, but I had no other choice. Fresh uniforms were only provided if one was returned.

Once I was dressed, I grabbed the weapon—some sort of Taser by the look of it—and strapped it on, then closed the locker and walked across to the allocations board to see where Sharran had been positioned for the night. Not unexpectedly, she was back on the tenth floor.

“Well, well,” Raedella said, stopping so close behind me her breath stirred the ends of my hair. Had I been myself rather than Sharran, I would have elbowed her. Hard. “Looks like you got lucky again.”

I grunted and ducked away from her. She laughed, a quick sound that held a hint of callousness. “But perhaps the ghost will decide you’re really not worth the effort of biting.”

And perhaps she needs a little ghostly interaction herself, Cat mused. Shall we cause a little mischief?

I barely managed to contain my smile. Oh, most definitely.

I walked out and left them to it. I’d almost reached the elevators when there was a high-pitched screech that was both fury and fear. People looked up from their glass boxes, but the only ones who went to investigate were two women from the security center.

Cat and Bear joined me in the elevator, their laughter filling the air and making me smile again. They didn’t exactly provide full details of what they’d done, but it involved various items in the changing rooms suddenly gaining flight and a lot of white talc.

“Floor,” a metallic voice demanded as the doors closed.