Chapter 24

The dunes of the sandy beach threw up shadows all over the ground, but she finally saw it, hardly believing it possible—a gaping hole in the ground, and the rising tide spilling ocean water over the edge.

“What on Earth created that?” Kaede asked, frowning and squinting at the viewscreen.

Mari directed several of the external cameras to study the hole. It was wide enough that she had no doubt the enemy machines had come through it. She could see several of them trying to find a way around Hakusan, but while she’d been distracted by the tunnel, their own Level 3 machines had come up on either side of her to defend their position.

She pressed the spot at the corner of her jawbone, just below her ear and said into her comm unit, “Requesting communication patch-through with Level 3 machines.”

“Granted.”

“Hello, who’s out there?” she asked, tapping her jaw.