Alexandra pushed the datapad into Jessica’s hands. A fierce intensity burned off Alexandra like smoke billowing from a forest fire. Her mind seemed to be wrapped around distant thoughts.
“These are the coordinates. You enter them. No one else.”
Jessica was about to ask a question, but Alexandra nudged her toward the transfer room’s door before she could mouth the words. Jessica’s fingers danced over the access panel’s keypad and the door slid open. The two stepped into the transfer room.
Everyone inside turned in unison. Alexandra held the spider nuke in the palm of one hand and trained the pistol at Jessica’s back with the other. No one moved. They just stared in shocked silence. If the bounty hunter set the nuke off, the Subdivision was finished. Jessica’s eyes darted to the molecular teleportation chamber. Remnants of energy still crackled and hissed. Jack had just transferred out to the Exodus Project’s production facility. Falko fumed, Alexandra didn’t give him a chance to speak.
“One move and we’re all dead,” she said. Something in the words was clear—she was not afraid to die. Stepping up behind Jessica, she whispered, “Enter the coordinates.”
“No,” said Falko.
Alexandra stared at him. Then, without warning, she turned her pistol on him. An azure blast exploded from the barrel of the gun. Falko tumbled backward. His body writhed and twitched for a second, and then lay still.
“The next shot is lethal,” said the bounty hunter. To emphasize the point, she increased the pistol’s power setting.
The Union agents watched with growing concern. Jessica took several slow, purposeful steps toward one of the terminals. The station operative glanced at Taylor, who nodded for him to let Jessica take over the monitoring station.
“Nobody moves, except her,” Alexandra said before cautiously making her way down to the teleportation chamber. Tense seconds passed as she worked her way through the pre-transfer process and finally into the glass teleportation tube.
Taylor’s face appeared as though it were set in stone. “You sure about this?”
Jessica didn’t answer. She waited for Alexandra to enter the tube…and then she started the transfer process.
