Chapter 246: Twelve Ways to Have a Bad Night

I had enough time to chase Renn or stop Lukas becoming a warning sign beneath the shelving, and I resented how little thought the choice needed. I turned towards the blocked aisle and activated Miniature Multitude before another crate could slide from the top rack.

My whole body split into twelve small snakes, scattering the view into boots, pallet corners and descending metal. I pulled the views into order and sent four bodies towards Lukas, four towards the worker and the rest beneath the lowest shelf to find a way out.

[System: Free their feet and get them crawling, mate; you aren’t lifting that rack, and I’m not explaining to the ambos why your mate’s wearing a fucking warehouse.]

I was planning to bill him for twelve rescuers, but let’s get his stupid feet out before the customer expires. Two copies pulled the loose cable sheath sideways while another climbed Lukas’s ankle to get his attention.

Lukas spotted the tiny heads and started asking whether all twelve were me, apparently hoping somebody had brought a spare idiot to this emergency. I bit his trouser cuff and pulled towards the gap while another body pushed at the loop trapping his boot.

Lukas lifted his foot enough for the cable to slip free, then caught the worker’s coat again before the man could roll beneath the lighting frame. Across the aisle, four more copies reached the bent nail through his trouser leg and pulled the cloth away without trying to drag his whole weight.

The shelving groaned above us while a strapped box slid towards the edge. Lukas fired a web at the opposite beam and caught it for a few seconds, but the effort pulled another sharp breath from him and made his grip shake.

[System: Send a couple through the clear gap so he can follow, champ. People don’t need a hero speech when the floor plan’s trying to kill them.]

I’ll provide the moving arrows if you stop reminding me how many parts of this building are above my head. I sent the route-finding copies beneath the lowest shelf in a line, giving the worker something simple to watch while he worked out where to crawl.

Bridget passed the extinguisher to a buyer and dropped beside the far end of the gap. She caught the worker’s wrists as he reached her, pulling him clear while her dress tore across one knee and he left a trail of dust over both of them.

Lukas released the web and ducked as the box struck the floor between my scattered bodies. A broken edge caught one copy across the scales, sending a sharp sting through every view while I counted the others and pulled them towards the exit.

The final copy slipped beneath the fallen frame just before the lowest shelf hit the ground. Outside, I brought all twelve together again, grateful to have one face and a much smaller number of directions in which the world could disappoint me.

[System: That’s the lot, mate, and Multitude’s off for three hours; please enjoy having one arse while your mate explains why he tried to break his own ribs twice.]

"You were supposed to stay with the vehicle, which was the part of the plan designed around keeping your insides inside," I told Lukas. He sat against the wall holding his ribs and admitted that the climb had stopped being funny halfway over the aisle.

I wanted to call him an idiot until the medic arrived, then request a second medical opinion confirming the diagnosis. Instead, I stayed close enough to see Lukas breathing while the worker thanked him, which was a deeply irritating use of my victory speech.

Rook’s vehicle entered behind the first emergency crew while buyers gathered beside the broken exit chain. Bridget checked people against the registration sheet from reception, and the worker helped her count staff until two guards came out of the loading bay with their hands visible.

The worker introduced himself as Tavi while a medic examined his leg. His yellow jacket had the same square repair near the cuff we’d noticed in the earlier photographs, and he said Renn had left through the rear yard in a grey refrigerated lorry.

Rook asked for the plate number, but Tavi couldn’t remember it without checking the dispatch board. An officer went inside while firefighters dealt with the remaining smoke, leaving the stolen cabinets in place with their serial plates and witnesses finally available together.

Lukas asked whether anyone had kept his phone safe, and a buyer handed it back with the cracked screen still working. He checked it, found the camera pointing at his own knee and decided that part of the rescue didn’t need posting.

"Keep that one for the doctor, because he’ll enjoy seeing how carefully you followed his instructions," I told him.

Bridget brushed icing from my jaw and asked why I’d let Renn run. "Lukas still owes me sixteen dollars, and dead friends are absolute bastards about repayment," I said, moving between him and the road when he tried standing before the medic allowed it.

Bridget kept her fingers beside my jaw while Old Mate muttered, [System: Let her fuss, champ; you saved two blokes, so try surviving one woman being nice.]

I’m managing beautifully, provided nobody notices I’ve forgotten how flirting works. The officer returned with a photograph of the dispatch board before I embarrassed myself.

Tavi looked at it and said the route sheet was wrong. Renn had replaced it after the cabinets arrived, keeping the real copy in the black case that had just left with him, which meant our best lead was standing beside us pointing towards yesterday’s journey.

Nessa’s call reached the phone inside my body before I could give that the language it deserved. She told me she had found a fuel-account sleeve in her glovebox, and the registration inside matched a grey lorry that had just appeared on the road camera outside Gate Nine.

She started reading the time beneath the picture while Rook passed the number to another officer. Renn had reached the weighing station, but the next departure lane led straight out of the city towards places where a stolen truck could disappear for good.