The drained reservoir looked less like a trap than Caleb wanted it to.
That was the problem. From the rim, it looked like neglect: a concrete bowl the size of a stadium, cracked dry across the floor, stained black where water had once sat for years. The thing holding Owen Castell crouched in the center with its knees drawn up and its head bowed, small enough to be mistaken for grief if you ignored the wrongness of the stillness.
It had been waiting two days.
Hiro set up to Caleb's left with the rifle on its bipod. Iris stood at his right shoulder beside a folded survey projector the Hacker had sent with the warning file already loaded. The access road lay behind them. The overflow tunnel opened on the far wall below, a black mouth Caleb did not like looking at.
Marcus's voice came through the comm in Caleb's ear.
"You do not go down those stairs. I do not care what he says. Reyes bought himself one broken arm from us. Owen Castell does not get the rest of you."
