Zero by J. S. Collyer

loomed up behind, ten stories high, all concrete and glass. People milled about the motor pool or came and went through the doors, most of them in clean white lab coats or crisp business suits. Lights were on on every level and he could see the silhouettes of workers moving about inside.
    Glancing, Hugo took all this in and then they were coming up on the security booth. Webb confirm ed the door was locked with a quick rattle of the handle. They glanced about but nobody was looking their way and Webb crouched down to pick the lock. Hugo moved to stand where he could shield him from anyone that may glance their way. He heard a chair shifting and a muffled voice from inside the booth just as the lock gave and Webb pushed the door open.
    The guard was dead even before Hugo had shut the door behind them. Webb tucked his gun back inside his boiler suit and then sat himself at the controls. A bank of screens ran the length of the room, all showing different levels and corners of the command centre and motor pool as well as the area surrounding the boundary wall.
    “You wanna shove him out of sight, Captain?” Webb mumbled as his fingers flew over the keypad. Hugo looked down at the guard sprawled across the floor tiles, blank eyes staring up and blood pooling under his head. Hugo dragged the body under the far corner of the work desk, leaving a trail of blood across the floor. “That'll do.” Webb said with a glance. “Nearly there.”
    “ Already?” Hugo said, coming up behind the chair, watching as the feeds on the cameras flickered or changed direction and screens displaying sensor arrays and alarm grids shuddered and re-aligned.
    Webb shrugged. “Domestic system. Would have thought they'd have something more heavy-duty. Guess they rely on the fact that it's closed and grounded to protect it. That should do it. Come on.”
    They slipped out of the security booth and around the back then made their way towards the main building, keeping behind store houses and outbuildings where they could. They peeled away from the busier part of the grounds at the north west corner, and Hugo shivered as they passed into the shadow of the command building. The noise faded behind them. The rear of the building was separated from the boundary wall by a narrow strip of cracked tarmac. There were cameras on the wall but thanks to Webb's hack, they were all facing away. They paused when they reached a service door. There was no handle and no control panel.
    “ Are you sure this will work?” Hugo muttered.
    “ Trust me, Captain,” Webb smiled, pulling thumb-sized charges from his utility belt.
    Hugo glanced back up at the cameras one more time as Webb set the charges on the concrete jamb. Webb backed away and Hugo followed him until they were pressed against the wall. They crouched down and Webb covered his head with an arm then pressed the detonator. Hugo flung his own arms up just in time.
    The was an odd sound, a sucking pop and a cracking , then the pattering of peppered concrete falling to the ground. Hugo looked up and saw the door, twisted and scorched, hanging off its hinges, blackened gouges in the jambs on either side.
    “ My own recipe,” Webb said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “Never fails.”
    The remains of the metal door were hot even through their gloves. They managed to shoulder it aside and slip into the darkened corridor beyond. Hugo took the lead this time, using his wrist display to confirm the way. The corridor gradually lightened and he saw a door with a window up ahead. Hugo approached slowly then peered out into the busy corridor.
    “ Everything looks normal,” he said.
    “ Try not to sound so surprised, Captain,” Webb whispered. “I have done this before, you know.”
    They stood there in the dark for what seemed like an eternity before there was a break in the foot traffic . They ducked out and across the corridor with Hugo's heart hammering hard enough to shake his skull, and through a door on the