Someone pounded on the door to the suite.
They stared at each other for several seconds. Kate’s heart was racing.
Graham lowered to sit on the bed, looking defeated. He pinched both temples with the fingers of one hand and nodded toward the door, the only way he could communicate that she was going to need to answer it.
She spun around and rushed to the door, looking through the peephole first. Two security guards she didn’t know stood outside. She opened the door. “What’s going on?” she shouted over the roar of the alarm.
“You need to come with me.” The taller bald man reached for her arm and pulled her into the hallway. The second man, shorter, stockier, with dark hair went into the suite.
“Is there a fire or something?” Kate shouted.
The blood drained from her face when she saw the guard’s expression. There was definitely no fire. He was nearly dragging her down the hallway. The alarm was sounding because of them. Because of what Kate and Graham had done. She could feel it in her bones. They’d been caught.
When people rushed past her, heading toward the entrance, Kate began to panic. The man was holding her arm too tight. He knew something. Who the fuck was he? When she glanced at him, his expression was serious, brows furrowed, lips pursed. He didn’t care a bit that the alarm was blaring.
He also wasn’t leading her out of the building. He was heading toward the medical wing and the hallway with the lab. What would he do with her?
She had to get away from him. She knew in her gut she would be doomed if she let him take her wherever he intended. Graham was also in serious trouble.
Two people from the cafeteria rushed past her. And then Shelby came out of the lab. Her gaze was wide as she spotted Kate and then glanced at the tall, bald man. “Is the alarm for real? I assumed it was an accident.”
The man scowled at Shelby. “Get out of the building, you stupid fool.”
Shelby’s eyes widened further. “Where are you going?” she shouted as the bald man attempted to drag Kate past Shelby, heading deeper into the bunker in direct opposition of his advice to Shelby.
Shelby stepped in front of Kate, blocking her from passing.
Kate took the opportunity to jerk free of the guard while he was struggling to maintain his grip. She needed to get out of the building.
The guard shouted at her, but she ignored him and Shelby as she turned around and ran toward the front door.
Even though the medical staff was operating on a skeleton crew after the relocation of most of the Project DEEP team, there were still dozens of other personnel. Guards, kitchen help, cleaning, and front desk staff.
The guards were the people Kate should have been paying closer attention to for the last several days. Even though Tushar had swept their suite looking for potential bugs, he could have missed something. Or perhaps Spencer had done this. Was it possible he wasn’t trustworthy after all? No, that made no sense. If his end goal had been to delete all the data, why go to all the trouble helping Graham and Kate download it first? Unless his plan had been to trap Kate and Graham all along.
As soon as Kate burst through the front doors into the afternoon sun, she glanced around, wondering what the hell to do next. She decided to rush toward the side of the building where she and Graham had intended to meet. Perhaps he would have somehow managed to get to that exit.
People were milling around outside, speculating about what the alarm was about. Kate noticed Mina talking to Trish, but she turned away quickly and raced for the south entrance.
As she turned the corner, nearly jogging, she ran straight into Temple Levenson, who grabbed her biceps with both hands as if to stop her or steady her. “Where are you going?” Temple asked.
“I didn’t see Graham out front. I thought he might have made it out the side door.”
Temple’s brow was furrowed. “He’s not going to exit from any door.”
Kate swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. “What do you mean? I need to go back in and help him.”
“It would seem you’ve helped him enough.”
“Pardon?” They were both shouting over the continuous loud blare of the alarm that was still sounding. Kate was going to have to think fast on her feet.
Temple gave her a shake. “I don’t know what you two have been doing, but security is questioning Graham now. I thought they were questioning you too.”
Kate tried to breathe. This was not good. “Temple, I have to get back in there.”
“Not a chance. If you want to be useful, you can start by telling me what the hell you’ve been doing and who you’re working for.”
How much did Temple know? How did she find out? And whose side is she on?
Kate searched her boss’s face. She’d known her for three years. Had worked for her closely all of that time. It was so hard for her to imagine Temple undermining the work being done by the team, but she couldn’t risk the very real possibility. She was going to have to ad-lib. “What has he done to cause such suspicion?” Kate decided it might be best if she answered questions with questions for now.
“We know he has a computer. We also know he’s been lying about the state of his health. So, you can stop the charade now and tell me what’s going on, or I can call the guards, tell them I’ve found you, and turn you over to the government.”
This was way past bad. It was awful. Did they have surveillance in the suite? That didn’t make much sense since they would have been caught days ago if that were the case.
Her thoughts returned to the possibility of Spencer. Had he set them up? All the blood drained from her face at the thought that the hacker had something to do with this.
Temple released Kate’s arm with one hand and reached behind toward her back pocket to pull out a phone.
“No,” Kate shouted. “Temple, you need to listen to me.”
Temple lifted one brow. “Start talking. I’ll give you about thirty seconds.” She palmed the phone, but didn’t put it away.
Kate was out of options. She had nothing to lose. If Temple was in on the ruse to undermine the team, it no longer mattered if Kate called her out on it. “Graham is not the bad guy here. He’s been trying to help. We need to get to him.” We need to get the hard drives out of the building. Though Kate imagined it was probably already too late for that.
“If Graham has done nothing wrong, then security will figure that out.”
“Who is holding him? What does security have to do with anything?” Something was missing here.
“Two people from the government are here. They arrived this morning when they got a tip that Graham was logging into the system and snooping around. They found out he’s been stealing data.”
Fuck. Goddammit. Kate’s mind raced around, trying to come up with the possibilities. Spencer was now her top pick. Had he sold them out? Had he been lying to Dade and Ryan and all of them the entire time? But why would he let them almost escape before sounding the alarm. He could have had them captured at any time.
It suddenly seemed less likely Temple was involved. She was as confused as Kate, plus she was convinced Kate and Graham were the moles.
“I see this doesn’t surprise you, which tells me I need to turn you in also.” Temple lifted her phone again.
Kate reached out and swiped it out of her hand. It went flying across the grass. Kate wasn’t a violent person, nor had she ever done anything this bold in her life. Especially not to her superior. But desperate times called for desperate measures.
Temple’s eyes flew open wider. She glanced at the phone and then at the grip she had on Kate’s arm, undoubtedly trying to decide if she should release Kate to retrieve the phone. Too bad it hadn’t landed on concrete and busted in half.
Kate turned the tables. She needed to shake sense into Temple. If Temple was on the right side of things, Kate would force her to see reason. If not…well, Kate didn’t know what the hell she might do if Temple proved to have fooled everyone for three decades.
&
nbsp; Kate shook herself free from Temple’s grasp—partly to prove she could and partly to gain the upper hand. She grabbed Temple’s elbows with both hands and shook her slightly. “You need to listen to me. I don’t know what the hell is going on, and I swear to God if I find out you’re involved, so many people will hunt you down that no corner of the universe will be far enough for you to hide.”
Temple’s eyes widened again. “Me? What the hell are you suggesting?”
“You heard me. Someone is undermining the entire project. You know that. So, yes, Graham and I snuck in here under false pretenses in attempt to salvage what we could. No, we didn’t tell you or anyone else because frankly we don’t know who to trust. Someone listens in on you or else they use information you provide them. You’re compromised, Temple.
“And, I’ve got to tell you, you’re at the top of nearly everyone’s list as the guilty party. So, it’s time for you to shut up and listen. If you’re the one who undermined three decades of work, then may God have mercy on your soul. But if not, then stop talking and hear me out.”
Temple’s mouth fell open. “I am most certainly not involved. Right now, you are, though. And so is Graham, and it doesn’t matter what you say or do, the two men inside the bunker who are questioning Graham will get to the bottom of his involvement.”
Kate was scared out of her mind about what might happen to Graham if the two men in question worked for Blue Cell and wanted to shut him up. Permanently. Not to mention the fact that they would come after Kate next.
“Who the hell are these two men, Temple? Talk fast. We don’t have much time.”
“How should I know? They showed up, briefed me, and set off the alarm.”
“Dammit. What did they say?”
“That’s none of your business,” Temple shouted. The roar of the alarm was still blaring annoyingly, making them shout louder to be heard anyway.
“Temple, this is serious. You have to trust me.”
“Like you trusted me?” she screamed.
“You’re in charge of this bunker. You have been for three decades. For more than ten years someone has been undermining the work you direct. Forgive me if I’m not inclined to give you a free pass while you disperse two teams of scientists all over the Midwest, causing years of work to halt and science to stall out.”
Temple gasped. “I’ve been doing everything in my power to protect all of you.”
“Why? Why do you think you’re protecting everyone by stopping the progress of scientific development and sending everyone away to hide for over a month?”
She pursed her lips and inhaled through her nose, and then she spoke again. “Just because your team has been dispersed doesn’t mean we’ve halted progress. Project DEEP continues to work on diseases. None of you could be doing that, even if you wanted. You’re too far behind on the latest scientific developments. Nothing is holding back science. I’m doing everything in my power to keep the bunker safe and protect all of you. I’ve guarded that data with my life. You each obviously have targets on your backs. My job is to protect my people and this bunker.”
“I sincerely hope that’s the case. I hope to God you have innocently been following the direction of your superiors, blindly though it seems. Even if you are innocent in this mess, I will always question why you would follow the directions of your superiors when time after time it would seem you should have questioned them.”
“You’re talking about jeopardizing my career for a hunch that you all have that no one bothered to tell me about.”
“Your career? Is that all you care about? Retirement?” Kate was screaming.
She noticed people had gathered behind her at a distance, but someone pushed through the crowd to approach. Tushar.
It probably killed her, but Trish stayed behind, holding everyone else back as her husband jogged toward Temple and Kate. “What’s going on?” he asked as soon as he reached them.
Kate caught him up without looking his direction, her gaze still pinned on Temple. “Two government officials are inside holding Graham. I don’t trust them, and I’m trying to shake some sense into Temple to get me back inside.” Kate knew Temple had access to enter the building. Kate did not. In fact, it wasn’t as simple as a key. Temple would need to use her thumbprint to get the door opened.
“Let’s calm down and discuss this rationally,” Tushar implored.
Kate jerked her gaze to him. “You think we have time to calm down here? Graham is probably in serious trouble as we speak. Every second is another one closer to his death. I have no doubt those motherfuckers will shoot him in the head and then make up a story about him going postal and trying to kill them.”
“She’s right,” Tushar said, his attention directed at Temple.
Temple jerked. “You too? What the hell is wrong with you people?”
“The entire project is compromised, Temple, and you know it,” Kate repeated. “Someone doesn’t want us alive. Someone doesn’t want us researching disease. That someone might be above you, but whoever it is, they’ve been using you as a puppet for years.”
Tushar stared at Temple, probably hoping she would see reason.
Temple’s shoulders fell. “What has Graham been doing? Are you sure he isn’t the mole?” she asked, her voice calmer.
Kate said a silent prayer that she could get Temple to see reason fast. “He’s been downloading all of the data and copying it to hard drives.”
“Why? It’s backed up. In triplicate. Nothing can ever happen to the data in any of the bunkers. Is he trying to steal it?”
“Fuck no. He was trying to save it. And it’s no longer backed up anywhere. Surely you’re aware of that. Someone wiped it all out about thirty minutes ago.”
“How the hell could you know that?”
“She’s right,” Tushar added. “I saw it myself moments before the alarm went off.”
Temple shuddered. “That’s impossible.”
“It’s true,” he added.
“Did you know about this? About Graham?”
Tushar nodded. “I gave him the computer and the hard drives.”
“Which we need to retrieve before they’re destroyed. Three decades of scientific research, Temple. Your entire legacy. It’s on three hard drives inside this bunker where two men with bad intentions are hoping to destroy it.”
Temple hesitated. “It’s very hard to imagine the world you two are painting.”
“You know we’re right,” Tushar said. “And you also know we’re running out of time. Open the door, Temple.”
She stared at him for a moment and then nodded. Seconds later she turned around and ran toward the side entrance.
Kate followed. As did Tushar.
Temple typed in a code on the door and then set her thumb on the pad. A moment later, the door snicked, indicating it was unlocked. She pulled it open and then reached toward her back and grabbed a weapon, which she handed to Tushar. “You better be right. My job is on the line. As is yours.”
Tushar grabbed the gun and stepped inside. Kate followed him. She could hear Trish screaming behind them and knew Tushar’s wife would be seriously pissed when they next saw her, but Tushar didn’t stop.
Temple grabbed Kate’s arm and tugged her back. “You guard the door. I’ll go with Tushar.”
Kate shook her head. “Not a chance in hell.” It was Graham they were after. No way was Kate going to stay back and wait. Temple was out of her mind.
Temple took a deep breath and nodded. “Be careful.” She held the door open while Kate rushed to catch up with Tushar.
The alarm was so much louder inside the bunker, and Kate cringed, hating the sound. Suddenly the shrill noise stopped.
“Where was he when you last saw him?” Tushar asked as he reached under his shirt and pulled out a second weapon from a holster strapped across his chest. He set Temple’s in Kate’s hand. Naturally. No way would Tushar have fled the building unprepared.
Kate kept her voice low. “Our suite. One man
grabbed me. The other went inside. I shook free and ran from the building. I assume that man returned to help the first. I’ve never seen either of them before. I thought they were with the bunker’s own security when I first saw them. Didn’t occur to me they had come from outside.”
“Did Graham get everything downloaded before it was erased?” He shot her a glance after peeking around the corner to the next hallway. The inside of the bunker was totally silent. No sign of anyone.
“Yes. We were just about to get out of here when the alarm went off.”
Tushar nodded and rounded the corner, gun raised. “When was the last time you shot a weapon?”
“Before.” She didn’t need to add to that. He would understand.
“Then let me lead. I got a lot of practice while we were in Montana.”
Tushar and his wife had been the leaders of their team. They had been with Project DEEP for twenty years when they succumbed to AP12 and had to be preserved. Kate would never forgive herself if anything happened to him. He was only forty-five. He’d just been reunited with his wife and son. He didn’t deserve this. He hadn’t asked for it.
She grabbed his arm. “No.” It wasn’t that she believed her life was more expendable than his, but in a way it was. She didn’t have a husband. Kids. She had been too pigheaded to let any of those things happen for her. If she didn’t make it through this, at least she wouldn’t be leaving behind people who counted on her. Her parents and sister would be devastated all over again, but they weren’t the same as a spouse or kids.
Holding the weapon in one hand, she reached into her pocket to pull out her keycard, praying she would find Graham and the two assholes in the suite. If not, she and Tushar would then need to scour the building.
In a quick motion, she swept the keycard over the pad above the handle and opened the door. Silence. Shit. She spun around and shook her head.
“Dammit,” Tushar muttered. He turned around, and she followed him away from the living quarters. If they weren’t in the suite, the two men had most likely taken Graham to the medical end of the building. That’s where they’d been heading with Kate.
Kate closed her eyes when they reached the hallway that led to Temple’s office and a few others. She heard voices. Good sign.
Reviving Graham Page 16
