Kumiko pushed the manhole lid aside, climbed out and darted forward to where she could see along the street. She took in the scene quickly.
Several people passed on a nearby strip. They did not notice Kumiko. She waited until they passed where they could have seen into the cul-de-sac, then signaled the others up.
As Zolan came abreast of Kumiko he drew a pencil-thin tube from a pocket in his tunic. Holding it in one hand he twisted the knurled knob that formed one end, and returned it to his pocket. He winked at Brad who had come up beside him.
Brad saw the question in Ram's eyes.
"One of Zolan's home-grown gadgets," he said. "Sets up an omni-interference field for a couple of hundred meters. We'll be moving through comm-override chatter until he switches it off."
Then to Kumiko, "Which way?"
"Left. Air lock. Hundred meters." She crouched and darted away.
"Ram, stoop, bend, whatever it takes to shrink.
Stay close to the wall for as long as you can.
Everyone keep a few meters apart. Hodak, you stay
close to Ram and watch the rear. OK, let's do it."
Two burly men came around the end of a nearby structure, stopped, stared at Ram as he rose through the manhole, and then at each other. Zolan caught both in a conical burst as they backed away. They fell in silence.
Hodak and Zolan dashed forward. Each grasped a set of ankles, hauled the bodies into the cul-de-sac and dumped them down the utility hole.