Chapter 173

  As the trio of bandits approached the HQ, Jake cast a quice at the regur two-story building. He immediately spotted several surveilnce cameras mounted on its walls, eagled in a different dire. One camera ecifically aimed directly at the entrao the HQ.

  Miller’s three closest subordinates, whose names were Dominic, Minh, and Patrick, had already reached the entrance. Dominic, who was in the lead, opehe door and disappeared into the building. Unfortunately, Jake couldn’t afford to move any faster for fear of beied by the mae gun turrets. Before he could catch up with the bandits, Dominic’s two panions quickly followed him inside, closing the door behind them.

  Jake slowed down. He had a feeling that the surveilnce cameras might be just as adept at deteg hidden threats as the turrets. Each camera sported a glowing alert light, aiced he was in the line of sight of some of them. Their green lights suggested that his careful movements were keeping him uhe radar. He could have tested the cameras’ sensitivity with a quient, but he opted to py it safe, not willing to waste any time.

  He stopped not far from the entrahe door was closed, but it robably not locked. However, he couldn’t risk opening it and going inside. So far, he had mao remain ued because he was moving slowly enough not to cause any distortions in the air. However, the camera aimed at the entrance would surely spot and record the door swinging open by itself, raising questions for anyone monit the camera feed.

  Jake cast a quice at the building once more. It had windows, but all were firmly closed. Gainiry without exposing himself or arousing any suspi from the bandits was turning out to be more difficult than he had expected.

  Suddenly, his sharp sense of smell detected something—a whiff of cigarette smoke. It drifted down from above. Jake looked up at the edge of the roof, and though he didn’t see anyone, he was vihere was a smoker up there. Quietly, he approached the building and pressed his fiips against the wall. Adhesive Secretion immediately kicked iing him stick firmly to the surface, and he began to climb.

  Since he had to move slowly to avoid attrag the cameras’ attention, it took him loo reach the roof than it normally would have. Once he climbed over the parapet and stood on the rooftop, he surveyed the area. Not far from him, a guard stood with a cigarette hanging loosely from his lips, a wisp of smoke curling upward from the glowing tip.

  For a sed, Jake wondered where the guard had gotten the cigarettes. Had he simply found them while sging? Or perhaps the bandits cultivated their own tobacd dried the leaves? The tter seemed more pusible, as the cigarette dangling from the guard’s lips appeared quite makeshift, almost half-finished, and without a filter.

  Behind the smoker, Jake spotted a door. The guard who had e up to the roof hadn’t bothered to close it, leaving it wide open and creating an inviting path. Although the guard was fag Jake, the calm look on his face suggested he was blissfully unaware of his presence. Jake stealthily maneuvered around the guard, making sure he moved slowly and cautiously to avoid causing any visible distortions in the air.

  He reached behind the guard’s bad slipped through the open door, finding himself on a staircase. After desding two flights, he arrived at another opening that led into a corridor. Jake gnced both ways, notig doors liniher side of the corridor. At both ends of the corridor, a couple of surveilnce cameras monitored the area. However, their alert lights remained green, indig they hadn’t detected him.

  One of the doors immediately caught his attention. It looked different from the rest: uhe others, it was an automatic sliding door equipped with a touch panel mounted on the wall beside it. o the door stood anuard eared bored. His gaze was directed at the entrance Jake had just e from, but, like the guard on the roof, he failed to notice him.

  Moving slowly, he crawled up the wall and then onto the ceiling. After seg himself in pce, he navigated along the ceiling toward the guard and the door he was watg. He was intrigued by what y beyond the door, but entering without drawing the guard’s attention wasn’t feasible. Taking the guard out was also off the table. He settled into a position just above the door and the guard, going pletely still as he waited.

  He could hear the quiet voices of several people ing from the side of the corridor he had just emerged from. Jake turned his head slightly to look in that dire and focused his gaze on the opening leading to the staircase. He could tell that the voices were ing from there, growing louder and apanied by the sound of approag footsteps.

  He reized the voices. They beloo Miller’s closest subordinates: Dominic, Minh, and Patrick. The three were asding the stairs to the sed floor, having apparently spent some time on the first floor instead of heading upstairs right away. Jake had to move slowly to avoid dete by both humans and maes, which was why it had taken him some time to reach the sed floor. Had the three of them gone directly to the sed floor after entering, they would undoubtedly have arrived before him.

  Jake waited, firmly ging to the ceiling. Unlike him, it took the guard below a little loo detect the voices ing from the staircase. As soon as he heard them and realized the approag people were the three sub-bosses, he immediately straightened his posture and quickly wiped the bored expression off his face.

  Finally, the three of them emerged from the staircase and turoward the guarded door. The guard greeted them and stepped aside to let them pass. The trio didn’t even g the guard, ign him pletely. Dominic, who was in the lead, entered a code into the touchpad, causing the door to slide open. The trio strode into the room beyond. Seizing the opportunity, Jake crawled down and slipped into the room over the upper edge of the door frame.

  Even though the three bandits were already ihe door remained open, likely sensing Jake’s presenone of the bandits noticed that the door stayed open lohan it should have. Once Jake was through, it slid shut behind him. He found himself in a cramped room with three of the base leader’s top subordinates. Crawling up to the ceiling, he went still, eager to learn what the trio to.