The Girl Who Dared to Endure (The Girl Who Dared #6)

I waited while the other teams reported in as they reached their entry points. Tension radiated through me as Maddox ordered, Masks and thermal goggles on. I pulled out the respirator mask Strum and Lacey had given me during the briefing and slipped the rubbery material over my nose and mouth, and under my chin, using my other hand to twist the hard plastic circle at the front so that it suctioned to my face. I tugged it a few times to make sure it was seated properly, and then twisted around to make sure Leo had his fitted on his face properly, as well.

He pulled at mine while I returned the favor, and we both nodded, confirming the masks were in place, before quickly donning the rose-tinted thermal goggles. I tapped the corner and my entire field of vision changed as the lenses lit up, blossoming into a white blob rimmed in red and orange to my left, where Leo was, and a dark blue and black to my left, where the vent and the room were. The goggles couldn’t penetrate walls, but the fog generated by the gas would be so thick that we’d need them in order to see anything. I tilted my head toward the vent and scanned the room to make sure it was free of people, and the lenses only reflected more blue and black. The room was cold and empty—not even a residual trail of heat.

All right, last reminder, people. Do not enter the room until the vapor cloud is obscuring your entry. We do not need them sounding the alarm because someone jumped the gun. Now, on my mark, the gas teams will blow their canisters. Starting on three.

I licked my lips and looked at the vent, mentally preparing myself for what I had to do: kick the grate out, climb down, and clear the next three rooms on our side of the hall, securing any legacies and planting neural scramblers on them in case they had nets. We couldn’t afford for them to call anyone. Another team would be working opposite us, so it was important to keep an eye out for them, and not attack them in the process.

Three. Two. One. Mark.

My muscles screamed at me to move, but I held back, knowing that it wasn’t time yet. Instead, I focused on the breeze that was increasing behind me, and the voices reporting in my ear.

Air flow has increased by 50 percent, Lacey reported. Canisters are mixing. Expect vapor cloud soon.

Sure enough, a white smoke began flooding the room from the vent above, the thermal goggles reflecting the edges and contours of the vapor cloud as it streamed through the slats. It plumed outward, immediately drawn to our vent. I pressed on the slats before it got to us, sealing them up so none of the vapor could get in, and then held up my hand, counting down from five.

Leo’s hand brushed my shin in acknowledgement as I hit three, and then, two heartbeats later, my shoulder was pressed against the duct covering and I was shoving. Hard. It popped off on one side first, and a quick push with the palm of my hand on the other side sent it clattering across the small room. I heard it hit something before smacking into the ground, and it must’ve knocked a few of the MREs off, because they hit the floor with a fluttery metallic sound that I knew from experience.

I was already pushing my way through before they stopped falling, slipping my torso out and planting a hand on a shelf, which showed on my display as a dark outline against the blue. Using it as a brace, I continued to pull myself until my butt was on the shelf and my legs were free. I quickly reached across the narrow aisle for the opposite shelf, to give myself some leverage, and then dropped to the floor and headed for the door.

Leo dropped lightly onto his feet behind me, and within moments I was pressed in the corner, my hand hovering over the control pad, baton in my other hand. Team 2 at door leading into the hallway, I reported, trying not to let my nervousness come through. Entering now.

Copy that, Maddox replied.

I hit the button, and the door slid up. The vapor, which showed up almost as an afterimage behind the thermal display, poured through the open portal like a wall being shoved through, holding its shape for several seconds before starting to disperse. I supposed it was beautiful, but I was focused on finding any thermal signatures beyond it.

There were none, and I held back as Leo stepped through first. I counted off a beat so he could clear the space, then slipped through the door after him, using the cloud for cover.

A wash of red caught my eye in the hallway, and I angled down toward it and found my first legacy—a male—lying on the floor. Relief poured through me when I saw him there, as it meant the gas was working. Our plan really did stand a chance.

One down in the hall, I reported, moving toward him, my hand on the restraints on my belt. I pulled them free and knelt down next to him. Taking his hands in my own, I quickly placed them behind his back, connected the two ends of the restraints around his wrists, then produced a scrambler and fitted it on the back of his neck. Secured, I transmitted.

Then I turned back toward Leo’s heat signature, pausing when I saw two other figures on the opposite end of the hall. The darkened areas over their mouths, noses, and eyes told me they were Team 11—the team that would clear the rooms on the opposite side of the hall—and I quickly dismissed them and turned toward where Leo was waiting by the first door we needed to clear.

I rapidly approached it and took the opposite side of the doorway. He gave me a nod as I swung into position, and I took a deep breath, and then hit the button. It slid up, the gap in the door revealing not one but five red blobs. My heart thumped in my chest as soon as I saw them, expecting movement or an attack, but it never came. All of them were asleep—three in hammocks strung across the room, two splayed out on crude mats on the floor, in conditions that echoed the house we had discovered in the Attic. I hesitated long enough to make sure no one was moving too much, and then set to work gathering them up, tying their hands together, and placing their neural scramblers, before transmitting an update to Maddox.

Leo helped, and in under a minute we were out and moving to the next door. The fog in the hall was going to start dissipating any second, as soon as the canisters were spent, and then we would only have two minutes to restrain them before they started to wake up. I put a little speed in my step, wanting to make sure that we didn’t miss opening any door, in case not all of the gas had encompassed the room while it was being piped through the vents.

I hit the button for the next door as soon as Leo signaled he was ready, this time prepared for the shot of red that appeared in the gap that formed as it opened. It was the outline of a hand against the floor, and it soon became an arm, shoulder, torso, and head of a human being, lying outstretched, as if she had been racing for the door when the gas overtook her.

I scanned the room and found six more thermal signatures with the goggles, all of them still in their sleeping positions. I wondered why the girl had been the only one to notice, but it didn’t matter, because she was out. Leo and I quickly tied them up, transmitting another status update in the process, and then proceeded to the last and final door.

Maybe it was because every door thus far had been relatively benign in terms of danger, or maybe it was because we’d had two rooms filled with sedated people, but when the third door opened and revealed a woman, alert and crouching over one of her fallen comrades, I froze for a second, surprised to see anyone awake.