Page 72 of The Sterling Acquisition

The second guard was already moving, recognizing that something was wrong. But he was too late—Dante was already rushing up behind him, one arm around his throat, the other hand relieving him of his weapons.

The first guard tried to raise his stun weapon, but Orion was already inside his reach, grabbing the front of his tactical vest and yanking him down while he was off balance. The guard went down hard, his head striking the pavement with a sound like breaking pottery.

Two down. No shots fired. No alarms triggered.

“Uniforms,” Dante said, already stripping the unconscious guards of their tactical gear. “Identification, weapons, communication devices.”

Orion nodded, fighting back another wave of heat-induced dizziness. His skin felt like it was on fire, his body producing slick at an alarming rate.

Control it. You’re not done yet.

The SVI uniform was too large on him, but it would pass casual inspection. The identification cards would get them through most checkpoints, and the weapons were better than what they started with.

“How long before they’re missed?” Dante asked, securing the last of the equipment.

“Twenty minutes, maybe thirty,” Orion said. “Long enough to reach the extraction point if we move fast.”

If you can move fast. If the heat doesn’t get worse.

Dante’s expression suggested he wasn’t convinced, but he nodded. “Stay close. If you needto stop—”

“I won’t need to stop.”

They moved through the industrial district with the purposeful stride of security personnel conducting routine patrols. The uniforms were working—other guards nodded as they passed, civilians stepped aside respectfully, and the general atmosphere of emergency made their presence seem natural rather than suspicious.

The factory district hummed with mechanical life around them—conveyor systems moving raw materials between buildings, pneumatic pistons driving massive presses that shaped metal with precise, deafening force. Steam vents released periodic clouds that provided momentary cover, while the scent of industrial lubricant and molten metal competed with Orion’s powerful pheromones.

Four more blocks. You’ve done this before. You can do it again.

That’s when he heard the sound that made him hesitate—the distinctive whine of SVI security vehicles moving in coordinated formation, coming from the direction of the checkpoint they’d just left.

“They found the guards,” Dante observed.

“Or they missed a scheduled check-in.” Orion pressed against the wall of a loading dock, trying to control his breathing. “Either way, we’re about to have company.”

The vehicles were getting closer, their engine sounds overlapping as they moved through the industrial district. Orion could hear voices over radio communication, coordinates being called out, search patterns being established.

They’re boxing us in.

“This way,” he said, pulling Dante into a narrow service alley between two factory buildings. “I know a place.”

The alley was barely wide enough for a single person, lined with pipes and electrical conduits that had been installed without regard for pedestrian access. But it connected to a maintenance tunnel thatran under the industrial district—part of the pre-Adjustment infrastructure that SVI had never bothered to map.

Your territory. Your rules.

They were halfway through the alley when the next temperature spike shot through him. Orion stumbled, his coordination failing, his vision going blurry at the edges.

“Orion,” Dante’s voice seemed to come from very far away. “Stay with me.”

Can’t. Too much. Too fast.

He was dimly aware of Dante catching him as he fell, of being pulled into the deeper shadows of the alley. The scent of black tea and cherries was everywhere, overwhelming his already compromised senses, making the heat-driven desperation to be touched even worse.

Control it. You’re not helpless.

“The t-tunnel,” he managed. “End of the alley. Access hatch.”

Dante’s hands were on him again, steadying him, guiding him toward the tunnel entrance. But the contact was overwhelming, exactly what his heat-addled body wanted more of.