Vessa worked in the Talori workshop most afternoons, inscribing preservation arrays onto shipping boxes. She had never once expected to get robbed while doing it.
But here she was, inching sideways along the bench with her hands up, trying to look harmless. The two big guys had spread out to cover the door, and Dario was still grinning at her like the whole thing was already over.
[Okay, stall. That's what Kat does. You can talk, so talk.]
"You really don't want to do this," she said. "These boxes are inscribed to a Montecardi signature lock. You crack one open without the key array and it just, poof, fries itself. You'd be carrying off a very expensive paperweight!"
That was a complete lie. There was no signature lock. But it was the best she could do right now.
Dario's grin didn't move.
"Then you'll come too. And you'll open it for me."
[Oh, that backfired spectacularly.]
