Revelation

“You don’t want me here. You’re only doing this at the order of the Council. You take me to Edan’s hideout and give me a chance to rescue Kahlee, and I promise to stay out of your way for the rest of the

mission.”

“What do you mean by ‘a chance to rescue Kahlee’?” the turian asked suspiciously.

“If they know we’ve found them, they’ll probably kill her. So when we get to the refinery you let me go in first. Give me thirty minutes to find Kahlee before you go in after Qian and Edan.”

“What if somebody sees you?” the turian asked. “There’s security at the refinery. Not to mention Edan’s mercs. You set off the alarms, and they’ll all be on guard. That makes my job harder.”

“No,” Anderson argued. “It makes your job easier. I’ll be a distraction; I’ll draw them off. They’ll be so concerned with me they won’t even notice you sneaking in from the other side.”

“If you get into trouble, I won’t come to help you,” Saren warned. “I wouldn’t expect you to.”

Saren considered the offer for a full minute before nodding his head in agreement. “Thirty minutes. Not one second more.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Neither one of the men spoke during the long drive through the desert night. Saren was behind the wheel, staring straight ahead through the windshield of the rover while Anderson studied the blueprints of the refinery. He’d been hoping to see something that might give him some clue as to where Kahlee was being held, but there were simply too many places they could have converted into a makeshift prison for her. Instead, he focused on trying to memorize the general layout so he could find his way around quickly once he was inside.

After an hour they could see a dim glow in the distance; the refinery lights shining in the darkness. The facility ran two day shifts and two night shifts of nearly two hundred workers each; the eezo production continued around the clock. To accommodate such enormous labor requirements, the refineries offered free room and board to employees and their families in the surrounding work camps: prefab buildings assembled in an ever-widening circle around the chain-link fence protecting the refinery itself.

They were only a few hundred meters from the edges of the work camp when Saren stopped the rover. “We walk from here.”

Anderson made a mental note of where the vehicle was parked; he’d have to find his way back here through the dark after he found Kahlee. If he got lost, he doubted Saren would bother to come looking for him.

He grabbed his pistol, but hesitated before taking his assault rifle. The pistol had a silencer on it, but the assault rifle was loud — one burst from that and the whole place would know he was there. Plus, it was a lot easier to pick your targets carefully with a pistol than an automatic weapon.

“You’ll need that,” Saren advised him, noticing his indecision.

“Most of the people in that plant are just ordinary workers,” Anderson replied. “They won’t even be armed.”

“Edan’s working with the Blue Sun mercenaries. You’ll run into plenty of them in there, too.” “That’s not what I meant. I’m a little concerned about accidentally shooting i

Saren gave a harsh, bitter laugh. “You still don’t get it, do you, human?

“Most of the workers in these camps own firearms. This refinery represents their livelihood. They aren’t soldiers, but once the alarms go off they will try to protect it.”

“We’re not here to destroy the plant,” Anderson objected. “All we have to do is grab Qian, Edan, and

Kahlee and get out.”

“They don’t know that. When they hear sirens and bullets, they’ll think the plant is under some kind of terrorist attack. You won’t be able to pick and choose your targets when half of them are ru

“If you want to make it through this mission alive,” Saren added, “you better be willing to shoot civilians if they get in your way. Because they’ll be more than willing to shoot at you.”

“Necessity is one thing. But how can you be so cold about killing i

“Practice. Lots of practice.”

Anderson shook his head and took the assault rifle, though he promised himself he wouldn’t use it

unless absolutely necessary. He folded it down and snapped it into the armor slot on his back, just above the belt. Then he slapped the pistol into the slot on his hip, where he could easily grab it if necessary.

“We’ll split up,” Saren told him. “I’ll head east, you go around the other way.”

“You promised me a thirty-minute head start before you go in,” Anderson reminded him in a hard voice. “You’ll have your thirty minutes, human. But if you’re not here at the rover when I get back, I’m

leaving you behind.”

Anderson quickly made his way through the darkness to the edges of the work camp. Although it was the middle of the night, the place was buzzing with activity. Because of the staggered shifts at the refinery, there were always people who were recently getting off work or just about to start. The camp was like a small city. Over a thousand families made their homes here — husbands, wives, and even children were milling about the streets, nodding greetings to one another and going about their daily lives.

thrown on a long, loose-fitting overcoat to cover his body armor and conceal his weapons. And while most of the employees of the refinery were batarians, there were enough other species, including humans, in the crowd that he didn’t draw undue attention.

He hustled through the camp, pushing his way through the crowd, occasionally nodding a greeting as he passed some of his fellow humans. He walked with long, quick strides, maintaining a brisk pace as he worked his way toward the fence surrounding the secured grounds of the refinery. He knew time was slipping away, but breaking into a run was sure to attract notice.

After five minutes he had cleared the camp. The buildings housing the workers formed an evenly distributed ring around the entire refinery, but nobody wanted to live butted right up against the metal security fence. The i

Anderson kept his pace at a brisk walk until he was far enough away from the lights to avoid being seen. Anyone who had happened to spot him disappearing into the darkness would have assumed he was headed to the bathrooms, and not given him a second thought.

Safely out of sight, he slipped on a pair of night-vision goggles, then broke into a run until he reached the fence. Using a pair of wire clippers he cut a hole large enough for him to fit through. He ditched the long coat before crawling through — it would only get in the way. Once on the other side, he pulled out his pistol, hoping he wouldn’t have to use it.

From here on in the mission became more difficult. He was in a restricted area now. There were small security squads patrolling the grounds inside the perimeter of the fence; if they saw him they’d either shoot him or set off the alarm. Avoiding them wouldn’t be too difficult, however; he’d see the glow of their flashlights on the ground long before they were close enough to spot him.

Cautiously making his way across the grounds, he approached a corner of the refinery. The complex was enormous — a main central building nearly four stories high held the primary processing plant. A number of smaller two-story structures had been built on every side to house storage, shipping, administration, and maintenance — Anderson’s destination.

When he reached the maintenance a