“TamLin! What the hell are you still doing here?!”

He and Kasy exchanged equally puzzled glances across the space that separated their respective desks, then turned to the doorway and the tertiary science analyst for their shift—Mishka, Moksa, something like that. He wasn’t enough of a bully or victim for TamLin to bother to remember.

Whatever his name was, it wasn’t like him to snap like that.

TamLin casually got up and put himself between Kasy and the angry male. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. Just got the paperwork from yesterday and haven’t heard anything else since I came in.”

Scientist M’s brow furrowed. “You didn’t get pinged?”

He double-checked his console, in case he’d missed something while making out with Second or while engaging in fisticuffs with Ribald. “No.”

The other man shook his head. “Damn politics. There was a class-five breach last night.”

Of course there was. “Warehouse over on Medallion?” Though that should’ve been a class two or four.

Scientist M gave him the side eye. “No. Do I need to check the warehouses over on Medallion?”

TamLin shrugged. “No.”

“…Okay,” M said reluctantly, then glanced uneasily between him and Kasy. Did he think TamLin was one of the ones who hurt her? Good on him, for noticing and bothering to watch. “This was in the Hot Zone.”

What was it about males? Didn’t matter if they were from the wrong government or the wrong somewhen—illegal immigrants were illegal immigrants, and male ones always went for the whores.

“Any witnesses?” Kasy prompted.

“No idea,” M answered. “Nobody’s checked it out yet.”

TamLin frowned. “A class-five breach—”

“Isn’t anything I’m going to send some greenie to look into. I may not know what, exactly, a class-five breach is, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to the fact that they shouldn’t be handled by someone unfamiliar with them.”

He considered Scientist M, but the man was either native to this universe or a merger to rival She-whom-he-wasn’t-going-to-think-about. “All right.”

M let out a huff of breath. “I’ll look into why you weren’t notified.”

“No, you won’t.”

M frowned at him. “What do you mean? You should have been notified. We need to report the lapse to—”

“Puce likes making me look bad. Case closed.” He looked to Kasy. “Coming?”

A trained sensate had a lot more employment options than an untrained one. Learning to use what she had would enable her to work with one of the gangs or even register with Shadow Corps. A grade-yellow sensate like her would get all the benefits of registration without being affected by the marriage restrictions or mandatory conscription.

If Puce had survived the napalm-echo—and without a clear body left behind, TamLin would be shocked if he hadn’t—she’d need those kinds of options. She had to get the fuck out of StretSec before their boss from hell ripped her down with him.

After a few seconds, she nodded.

TamLin couldn’t be the only coworker that Puce had pushed to rape Kasy—and from her mannerisms, he knew that more than one hadn’t refused. Forcing her to come with him alone would be cruel.

He looked to M, who wouldn’t have been among the rapists. And M…

M did a fantastic impression of bewilderment…before giving Kasy a serious glance and him a slight nod. “I—I—I—I’m not certified for the field.”

Even the pitch of the splutter was right for discomfort.

“Your choice,” TamLin tossed into the air, and he started off, Kasy in tow.

M wisely played hesitant for a few seconds before following.