"Hamer's got tight security on the living compound, but there's one area he didn't think about protectin'."

Mona eased Artemis up toward the bottom of the spindle that jutted from the floating island.

"And that's the bottom."

Knuckles white on the shaking controls, Mona leaned over at a bank of indicators. "Miss Penn, Captain, you're go."

Rachel finished pulling on the harness as Daphne flicked the switches to begin disengaging the Longbow from its dock. "Roger that, Mona. We're on our way."

The shuttle shook as it disengaged, and Rachel was thrown bodily into her seat. "Careful!"

Daphne shot a quick glance over her shoulder and grinned. "You could always hold onto me for protection."

Rachel rolled her eyes.

"The power plant for each island is located in the middle of the spindle; we get to that, we can take out power to the alarms, the security, everything."

"With that thing you built?"

"That's right."

"But what about the hoverin'? Doesn't the island need power to not, you know, crash into the ocean?"

Saul pulled the goggles down tighter over his face, then looked over at Dex. The mechanic, swaddled in heavy clothing and an identical pair of eye wear, nodded.

"That's the beauty of this kinda EMP. It doesn't hit the generator, it hits the power distribution network that goes up into the residence. 'S like…fryin' all the connections. Won't short out the generator or nothin', so the island keeps flyin' and backup power won't come on line on its own."

Saul fingered the radio clipped to his jacket. "Mona, we're ready. We in position?"

"Just about!" The pilot spared a glance for the flashing proximity indicators that were trying to convince her what a bad idea this was. "All right, go!"

"We got however long it takes for them to realize somethin's goin' on. Might be a few minutes, maybe less, so we need to be in position."

Daphne banked the shuttle up to land nestled in the arched roofing of Hamer's estate. She nodded to Rachel, and the captain pressed a button on the