Negasi and Ogedai stared at the screen in the medical lab, watching the attack on the League of Concerned Archaeologists' research center.

Ogedai touched the screen to bring up various cameras to see different scenes of the unfolding drama. They watched as the two armored cars covered the entrance, quickly reinforced by a pair of police vans that disgorged two platoons of men who fanned out inside the compound.

The main force burst into the party and held everyone at gunpoint.

Before that happened, the noise outside had made several staff members flee further into the building. The soldiers must have realized this and headed after them. Ogedai switched to several internal cameras to follow their progress.

Other than firing some shots in the air, they hadn't used their weapons.

They hadn't needed to. The researchers were all unarmed.

"I should have known there were hidden cameras here," Negasi said. "We got to do something. You got any weapons stowed away anywhere?"

Ogedai grinned, showing incisors filed to points. Negasi cringed.

"That would be against royal decree."

"So that's a yes."

His canine grin widened until Negasi felt sure he was going to swallow him whole.

"Let's go get them."

He rushed out of the room, Negasi at his heels. They ran down a corridor, then into a side room that turned out to be a small gym. Ogedai could have probably lifted every weight in the place all at the same time. Negasi guessed this was more for the scientists than him.

Ogedai led him through a door marked "Men's locker room."

"I don't really feel like working out right now," Negasi said.

"Har har."

"Lockers look less likely to liquidate legionnaires. Ow!"

Ogedai had punched him the shoulder.

"Now's not the time for alliteration!"

"Sorry. Stupid smarminess. Ow!"

Negasi rubbed his arm. He really needed to stop, and yet he couldn't help himself. Perhaps it was a stress response.

Radical response resulting …

OK, that's enough.

Ogedai punched a code into one of the lockers and opened it. Inside hung a pair of smelly shorts and an old t-shirt.

More to the point, there was also a modern slug rifle and a flechette pistol. The locker's top shelf had stacks of magazines for both.

"The League lets you have these?"

"They know, but they don't know, get it?"

"Oh, I get it all right. I've been flying around with Nova for months now."

"We got to stop the Rimscourge, whatever it takes." The Mongol paused, then turned to him. "To a point."

Negasi clapped him on the shoulder. "To a point."

A distant bang a door slamming or furniture being overturned, followed by a muffled shout. Ogedai handed him the pistol and took the rifle for himself. They both stuffed their pockets with magazines.

"I don't suppose you have any silencers for these. If we start any gunplay, it's going to bring in a whole platoon."

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Ogedai grimaced, making his face even uglier than usual. "You're right. We'll have to be sneaky and subtle."

Negasi cocked his head. "Sneaky and subtle?"

Ogedai smacked himself on the forehead. "Cack! Now you got me doing it!"

A distant shout and the slam of another door got them acting more seriously.

Ogedai led the way back into the gym. He fussed with a wrist screen on his left arm for a moment and brought up the security camera feed. A holoprojection enlarged it so it floated above his wrist with an image the size of a tablet.

For some reason that reminded Negasi of the kids doing their homework. They were out there somewhere, in danger.

He gripped his flechette pistol and looked nervously at the door while Ogedai brought up several different cameras.

"We can flank these two," he said, pointing to an image of a pair of soldiers moving down a hallway, cautiously checking every corner and office.

"Let's go."

Ogedai moved to the door, opened it, and sprinted down a side passage. They went through another door leading to a small kitchen and breakroom, then hurried to a door on the opposite wall. There Ogedai paused, bringing his finger to his lips.

The Mongol checked the wrist screen again. It showed the pair still working their way down a hallway Negasi didn't recognize. They turned a corner.

Ogedai eased the door open onto an empty hallway.

Then Negasi understood. They were in the same hallway that the soldiers had just passed down. They must have checked the break room only half a minute before he and Ogedai had entered and then went around the nearest corner. Ogedai and Negasi tiptoed to it.

The security chief showed him his wrist screen. The two soldiers had made it to a dead end and were retracing their steps. That would take them around this corner again.

Ogedai got into position right next to the corner. Negasi eased a little back, aiming his pistol.

They heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

The two Royal guards came around the corner at the same time. The one nearest the corner came around it correctly, moving quick and low and leading with his gun. His friend was less careful. He had his gun leveled but was a bit behind the first one and not aiming.

Ogedai smacked the first man's hand, knocking it away from the trigger guard, then landed a vicious uppercut with the butt of his rifle that cracked his jaw and sent him flying backwards.

In the meantime, Negasi had drilled a neat hole in the second man's forehead with a flechette. He winced at the sound it made but saw no alternative.

Ogedai checked his wrist screen as Negasi checked the soldiers. The man he had shot had died instantly. The other fellow was out cold.

"Looks like no one heard that," Ogedai whispered, then crushed the survivor's windpipe with the butt of his rifle.

"You didn't have to do that!"

"Yes, I did. Help me drag these two out of sight."

Negasi grumbled and did as he was told. They dumped them in the breakroom behind a couple of chairs and some boxes of canned goods. Not the best hiding place, but they had no better one.

Ogedai checked his wrist screen and swore.

Negasi looked at the image and saw a pair of soldiers right outside the breakroom door on the hallway opposite of the one where they ambushed the other two.

The soldiers stood where they were, looking around. One said something on a communicator. Negasi could hear his muffled voice but couldn't make out the words.

That's because he's whispering. He senses someone's close. Maybe he even heard us in here.

Ogedai switched to another view and they saw one of the scientists, an older man with a fringe of gray hair around a bald pate, sneaking through the gym.

He headed for the locker room.

That's who they're hunting. Dumbass has probably never been in the gym before and doesn't know it's a dead end!

The dumbass in question was so busy looking nervously behind him at the door he had just entered that he didn't see the rack of weights until he bumped into it.

Negasi couldn't hear the sound of the metal disks rattling, but the soldiers sure did. They hurried in that direction. Ogedai stepped to the door, opened it, and they followed.

They were just in time to see the back foot of the rear soldier as he stepped into the gym.

There was no shout. The scientist must have already made it into the locker room.

Ogedai gestured for Negasi to take the lead. His flechette pistol was a lot quieter than the slug rifle and they didn't have time to take them out in a more silent fashion.

Negasi took a deep breath and got into position at the doorway. He had to do this just right.

He peeked around, exposing as little of himself as he could, and saw the backs of the two soldiers. One was reaching for the locker room door while the other stood a couple of paces back, covering him.

"Freeze! I got you covered."

Negasi had hoped to resolve this without bloodshed. He had hoped to resolve this without noise.

Wrong on both counts.

Both soldiers swung around. Negasi put his first flechette right between the closer man's eyes, then kept the trigger pulled as he swept the room with a scythe of ultrasharp darts.

They cut right through the second soldier's midsection, making him stagger and cough, his gun sagging to aim at the floor.

As he convulsed, he pulled the trigger. The shot was deafening in the small room and echoed through the corridors beyond.

"Cack! I thought you'd be quiet," Ogedai growled.

"Easier said than done."

Ogedai checked his wrist screen, flipping through several views in rapid succession.

"We got to go," he said.

"You in the locker room," Negasi called. "Stay where you are. If someone comes, surrender."

The scientist didn't answer.

Negasi grabbed one of the rifles and they hurried out of the room.

Ogedai led them back toward the medical lab. A door at the end of the hallway led to a room adjacent to it.

They didn't get to it before a door on the opposite end of the hallway opened up and soldiers poured through.

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