Nika was halfway between her surveillance position and the airshaft that was her goal when the god damned sprinkler system activated. With her employer's threat ringing in the back of her mind that she wouldn't be getting another assignment if she screwed this up like the last two, she poured on more speed, but there was no outrunning the damned water--which intelligence had failed to mention! Who the hell watered their god damned lawn in this day and time, Nika thought furiously, just before she stubbed her toe on one of the damned sprinkler-heads and flew headlong toward the ground?

The air was punched from her lungs with a grunt as she hit the ground. There was already enough water puddled on the grass to send her skidding another several yards. Fortunately, the next sprinkler-head slammed into her shoulder and stopped her hydroplane. Leaping to her feet, she dashed the last few yards to the side of the building and plastered herself against the wall behind the air ventilation unit just as the sprinkler system shut off and the night patrol rounded the building.

Sucking in a breath, she ducked and checked her watch. Right on time! At least that much of the data the Bio-H Tech agents had collected was right!

She hoped to hell they hadn't neglected to note anything else that might be important when they were gathering the intelligence she needed for the job!

Not that they'd been gathering it for her, specifically, she thought irritably. Whitaker had made that clear--that he wouldn't have called her in at all if he could've gotten somebody else for the job--the dick!

She'd be the first to admit she wasn't perfect, but she usually managed to complete her damned mission and get out in one piece, and there were plenty of agents in the morgue who couldn't say the same!

Not that now was a good time to be thinking about that! In fact, she generally made it a point not to think about that aspect of the job at all and wouldn't now if that dick-wad, Whitaker, hadn't put it in her head!

Bad karma!

Releasing a relieved breath when the guards and their hounds had moved around the side of the building and disappeared, she checked her utility belt to make sure she hadn't lost anything important in the minor accident. Relieved that everything seemed to be there, she opened the pocket flap on the lower section of her suit and removed her scanner.

It hadn't actually been designed to be waterproof. She punched the power button twice and glared at the black screen when it remained black. The pocket had kept it relatively dry, but her hands were so wet she could hardly hold on to it and, unfortunately, she was soaked to the skin. There wasn't a dry patch on the damned suit she wearing.

Unless..."

Discovering the crotch of her suit was still relatively dry, she wiped the excess water off of her hands and ran the scanner back and forth between her legs a couple of times. When she checked it again, it came on.

Hallelujah! She was in luck! No motion detector!

Shoving the scanner back into her pants leg pocket, she took a laser cuter from her utility belt and cut a hole in the ventilation shaft big enough to climb into it. The damned thing was still hot when she climbed through. She heard a sizzle as she shoved her head and shoulders through the opening. The smell of burned hair wafted to her.

Ignoring it for the moment, she focused on getting her ass through, but it had snagged on the edge of the shaft.

"Shit!" she mouthed, reaching behind her and feeling around until she found what it was that had caught.

The utility belt! Damn it! Hell! Shit!

Ducking out again, she checked her watch and quickly unfastened the belt. After a brief debate, she shoved it into the shaft and climbed in behind it. That time it was definitely her ass that snagged, but after a little wiggling and grunting, she managed to get through. There wasn't enough room in the shaft to turn around and grab the piece she'd cut out, although she'd planned to do just that and try to hide her escape route.

Abandoning that part of the plan immediately, knowing she was running out of time if she was going to get to the control room between security checks, she began to crawl along the shaft. Actually, crawling wasn't really the word for it. She had to undulate along it more like an inchworm. It seemed a hell of a lot smaller than the damned schematics had indicated and she wondered with a touch of panic if she'd gotten the wrong shaft.

But how many fucking ventilation shafts could they have?