The Project Eden Thrillers Box Set 1: Books 1 - 3 (Sick, Exit 9, & Pale Horse)

by Brett Battles

  “Just the pistol,” she said when she was done.

  “What’s inside?” Ash asked the man.

  “Lobby,” he replied.

  “Anyone there?”

  “No.”

  “You’re lying.”

  The man hesitated. “Not in the lobby. In the security office next to the lobby. One guy.”

  Ash shoved the man toward the reader on the wall, then pulled the guy’s security card from his belt and touched it to the pad.

  The latch clicked, and Ash pulled the door open.

  “Let’s go.”

  THE HEAD OF security activated the general alarm then jumped out of his chair. His hand was moving to the gun at his side as he pulled open the door to the lobby.

  “On your knees.”

  A woman with milk-chocolate skin and fire in her eyes stood just on the other side of the door, a pistol in her hand pointed straight at his chest.

  “Now,” she said.

  Beyond her, he could see Luke kneeling on the floor. Standing behind him was a man with a bandaged face, and a gun very much like the one the woman was holding.

  “This is private property,” the head of security said, buying time. NB7’s security force was small, but more than adequate to handle the man and the woman, even given the fact that twenty percent of his force was out on the road at the moment, looking for the lost car. “I’d advise you to put your guns down and lie on the floor.”

  “Your. Knees,” the woman said again.

  He moved his hands in front of him, holding them palms out. “Hold on. I don’t think you fully appreciate the situation you’re in. There’s more than just the two of us. It would be best if you’d—”

  “Chloe, switch,” the man holding the gun on Luke said. “I’ll deal with him.”

  “No,” the woman, Chloe, replied. “I got this.” Her gaze bore into the man’s eyes. “Knees.”

  He grinned and started to shake his head. “Now that’s not going to—”

  The bullet tore through his leg just above his knee. The pain was so intense he didn’t even realize he’d fallen to the ground.

  “That wasn’t so hard, was it?” she asked, as she removed the gun from his holster.

  DR. KARP HAD just started to drift off when the general alarm began to pulse. In his half-asleep state, it had at first confused him. He reached for the clock he assumed was on the nightstand to turn it off, but there was nothing there. That’s when his eyes popped open and he sat up.

  The alarm.

  NB7 had always been considered a safe location, its whereabouts known only to a handful of project members. The only reason Dr. Karp and his team were there was because the outbreak in California meant there was a microscope on the state, and the Directors had felt moving the assets—the Ash children—out of state was a good idea. NB7 was the closest and most logical location. Since the doctor had used the facility a few times in the past, he had no problems with the plan.

  But now the alarm was going off. Why?

  He grabbed the room phone and pushed the number for Security. After the fifth ring, he hung up. His confusion was now turning to concern. He hoped it was just a false alarm, but what if it wasn’t?

  He pulled his clothes on as quickly as he could. If this was real, and the facility had somehow been breached, then he knew exactly what he had to do.

  The children. He had to dispose of them.

  Now.

  “WELL, IF THEY didn’t know we were here before, they do now,” Ash said, as the low pulsating alarm droned through speakers in the lobby.

  “Here,” Chloe said.

  She tossed him a couple of long, plastic strips she’d taken out of a pouch on the wounded man’s belt. They were ties that could be used as handcuffs. As Ash bound his man’s wrists and ankles, Chloe did the same with her guy.

  “My leg,” the man pleaded. “I’m going to bleed to death.”

  “Yeah,” Chloe said. “You probably will.”

  Ash came over and looked at the man’s leg. It was a mess. “You want me to tie that off?” he asked.

  “Yes. Yes, please!”

  Ash crouched down. “Then tell me where the children are.”

  “The…the children?”

  Without hesitation, Ash placed the muzzle of his gun against the man’s other leg. “I’m not going to ask again.”

  “They’re inside. Bottom level.”

  “How many kids?”

  “Two,” the man said quickly. “A boy and a girl.”

  They’re here, Ash thought. We found them.

  He ground the muzzle into the man’s leg. “Where on the bottom level?”

  Behind them, a door that led into the rest of the building flew open, and several men poured out, opening fire. Ash was in a poor position with his back to them, so he dove through the doorway into the security office. Chloe had been better situated, and was able to get a couple of shots off before she joined him.

  “How many?” he asked her.

  “I counted four.”

  He was tucked right up against the doorjamb. “Hit any?”

  “One down for sure. Maybe two.”

  “You’re pretty good with that.”

  “Yeah. Bet you’re glad I came along now, aren’t you?”

  Instead of answering, he peeked around the edge, his gun ready. Apparently, the men who’d come rushing in hadn’t known exactly in which direction to fire. There was plenty of damage all over the room, not the least of which were the two now dead men Ash and Chloe had just tied up. Wherever the others were, though, they were staying out of sight.

  “Here,” Ash said, handing Chloe his gun.

  He retrieved the box of little bangs, pulled out four of the gray crackers, and checked their numbers. He then activated the controller.

  “You in the office,” a voice called out. “There’s only one way out of that room and we’ve got it covered. Toss your weapons out here, then step out with your hands where we can see them.”

  The man had asked for weapons to be tossed out, so that’s exactly what Ash did. He threw the four crackers into the room, trying to arc them around so that they wouldn’t all fall in the same place.

  “You have ten seconds to toss your guns out here,” the voice said.

  “We’re not going to wait that long,” Ash told him.

  He set off the little bangs, mentally crossing his fingers that they did what Pax had promised.

  They did, and then some.

  Even from behind the wall where he was, the bangs were so loud Ash immediately threw his hands up over his ears. Chloe tried to do the same, but was holding the two SIGs so was less than successful.

  “Gun,” he yelled.

  She didn’t seem to hear him, so he grabbed his pistol from her and raced through the door.

  While the lobby looked basically untouched, the four men who’d been there were all on the ground. Two were unconscious, while one looked like he wanted to be. The fourth guy still had enough wits about him to try to aim his weapon at Ash, but Ash’s bullet hit him in the forehead before the guy had a chance to pull his trigger.

  Chloe found some more ties and secured the other three men.

  “You all right?” Ash asked her.

  She touched her ear. “Ringing. But I can hear you now.”

  Ash grabbed a security card off the nearest man’s belt, then used it to open the door to the rest of the building.

  DR. KARP HAD just left his room when a loud explosion reverberated down from the ceiling.

  “What the hell was that?” someone said.

  Several of the doctor’s technicians were in the hallway because of the alarm. Now most looked truly scared. Although their jobs were ultimately concerned with death, they were not interested in putting their own lives on the line.

  Neither was the doctor, but he knew he couldn’t show that. There had always been the possibility his life might need to be sacrificed. It was something he understood from the very beginning. It was
also expected that in the face of sacrifice, a full project member would still keep the goals of the project in mind, and carry out whatever tasks were necessary to protect it.

  So, despite whatever the explosions on the floor above might mean, he knew he still had work to do.

  “Learner, Ramos, I need you to come with me.”

  Two of the technicians broke from the crowd and followed the doctor to the elevator.

  Forty-Six

  MOST EVERYONE AT Cryer’s Corner was asleep. The Flu Crew, as the segregated group had come to call themselves, was spread throughout the café. The only two who still seemed to be awake were Martina and Ben. They were lying on the floor next to the booth in the back corner.

  Understandably, blankets were in short supply. The residences of Cryer’s Corner had been able to scrounge enough so most of the girls had one, but the men had to sleep in jackets and whatever else they could find to wear.

  Thankfully, though, the heater in the café worked well enough that no one had to dress like they were spending the night in the Arctic.

  “Do you think this might be the last night we remember?” Martina asked.

  “God, I hope not. I’m supposed to go to Europe this summer. I hate to think of all those Italian girls I wouldn’t be able to meet.”

  “Ha ha. Funny. I’m serious. This flu is supposed to come on quick, and, and…that’s it.”

  “Paul’s still around,” Ben said.

  “Yeah, but he’s sick.”

  “I’ll bet you a glass of orange juice he’s still here in the morning.”

  She couldn’t help but smile. Ben had been optimistic since she’d watched him drive into the desert to get Paul. He was always trying to keep things light and put a good spin on what was happening. Too bad he was three years older than she was, and in college. Of course, she’d be in college in the fall…

  Well, not of course, she realized. She wasn’t likely to be anywhere in the fall.

  “What’s it like being on your own?” she asked.

  He glanced at her. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Tell me.”

  He looked back at the ceiling. “Well, I’m not as good a cook as my mom. And you get bills every month from all these people for water and electricity and your cell phone and your rent. I don’t like that part.”

  “Yeah, but you get to set your own schedule. Stay up as late as you want. Go wherever you’d like.”

  “True. That is nice. It’s a balance, like everything else, you know? You just hope the side with the good things is heavier than the side with the bad.”

  She snorted. “Seems like the bad side’s pretty heavy right now.”

  “It ain’t light, that’s for sure. But there are some good things.”

  “Doubtful.”

  “You learned how to use a CB. That’s a skill you never had before.”

  Despite herself, she laughed.

  “You got to climb up on top of a gas station.”

  “You saw me?”

  “Of course. You got to meet me. That’s gotta count for something.”

  She held her tongue, worried she’d say something stupid.

  “I promise,” he said. “Tomorrow won’t be the last morning you wake up.”

  She looked at him.

  “Second to last, maybe. But not the last,” he told her, then smiled.

  She knew he was just trying to make her laugh, but suddenly an image of her mom’s face appeared in her mind. Her mom who’d been so proud of her, such a big supporter of everything she did.

  Martina couldn’t help the tears that began to flow, nor could she stop them.

  Ben immediately moved over to her, putting his arms around her. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m sorry. It was a bad joke.”

  “No,” she said, her head tucked in his shoulder. “It was funny. I just…I just started thinking about…home.”

  She continued to cry as he stroked her hair, whispering, “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  Her strength drained way with her tears, and she could feel sleep taking hold. Maybe it would be all right. Maybe it would all be fine.

  She heard a noise right before she fell asleep. It didn’t completely register, but somewhere in the back of her mind she knew what it was.

  A cough.

  Forty-Seven

  ASH WAS UNDER no illusion that the six men they’d left in the lobby were the entire security contingent at NB7, but he also didn’t want to waste time tracking down the other ones. He’d deal with them as they showed up.

  The lower level was where he needed to get to, but how?

  The hallway on the other side of the lobby door seemed to run from one end of the building to the other. To the left there were four doors, and to the right, two.

  “This way,” he said to Chloe, heading left.

  Three of the four doors were on the same side the lobby was on. The first they came to was one of these. Ash tried the knob, expecting it to be locked, but it wasn’t. The space inside was dark. He reached around the jamb, located a light switch, and flipped it on. The room was about twice as wide as the lobby. Set throughout were rows of heavy wide shelves that went all the way to the ceiling, but were all empty.

  They checked the other two rooms on the same side and found identical spaces.

  They then went to the door on the right. It was locked, but clicked open as he touched the security badge to the pad on the wall.

  This time they didn’t find a storage room with empty shelves. They found a spacious warehouse that took up the entire back two-thirds of the building. It was clean and empty, with only half the lights on, probably so that security could walk through without running into anything.

  “My God,” Chloe said. “It’s a depot.”

  “A depot?” Ash asked.

  “Matt said they’re set up all over the place for, you know, after. To store whatever the others think they’re going to need. Probably a good thing it’s not full yet. Humanity’s got a little more time before the plug gets pulled, I guess.”

  Ash wasn’t sure what to make of the space, or what Chloe had said, but he’d save that for later. “Do you see a way down?” he asked.

  They both scanned the warehouse.

  “What’s that?” she asked, pointing across the room.

  There was another one of the security pads mounted on the wall, but there didn’t seem to be any doors in the vicinity.

  “I don’t know.”

  They ran over to it, then Ash touched the ID to the pad. Nothing happened. He touched it again. Still nothing.

  “Whatever it’s for, I don’t think it can help us,” he said. “There’s got to be a way down some—”

  The sound of an electronic motor caused Ash to whip his head around. The floor just to the right of the ID pad lifted into the air like a blast door. It was thick and heavy, and had fitted so seamlessly into the floor that neither Ash nor Chloe had noticed it.

  He stepped over, getting there before the door was halfway up, then smiled.

  Below it was a set of stairs.

  DR. KARP AND the two technicians, Learner and Ramos, took the elevator to level four, the lowest level of the facility.

  Since their arrival the previous afternoon, Dr. Karp had requested that two security guards be stationed on level four at all times. He really didn’t think there would be a problem, but with the escape of the children’s father from Barker Flats, and the earlier experience a colleague had had with Lauren Scott’s disappearance, he didn’t want to take any chances.

  The two security men were standing just outside the elevator, guns drawn, when the door opened. As soon as they recognized the doctor, they dropped their weapons to their side.

  “Do you know what’s going on?” the doctor asked as he stepped out of the elevator car.

  “No, sir,” one of the guards said. “No word from up top yet. They’re probably busy dealing with whatever the situation is.”

  “Did you hear the explosion?�
�

  The men glanced at each other.

  “What explosion, sir?”

  “Maybe three or four minutes ago, on the top floor.”

  “Do you think one of us should go up and check?” the second guard asked.

  “I’d rather you both stay here,” the doctor said, which made it an order.

  “Yes, sir.” The first guard paused for a moment, then said, “With your permission, sir?”

  “Yes?”

  “When the alarm went off, per procedure we stationed ourselves here. But if it’s okay with you, one of us could go to the substation down the hall, and bring up the security cameras so we can determine what’s going on.”

  The doctor thought for a moment, then nodded. “Good idea. Report to me as soon as you know. I’ll be with the subjects.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  THE STAIRS ENDED in a brightly lit room, approximately fifteen feet square. The only things there were an elevator door and a call button. As soon as Chloe joined him, Ash pushed the button.

  Almost immediately, the heavy door at the top of the stairs began swinging down again, closing them in.

  “I’m not sure I like that,” Chloe said.

  “They’re probably designed so both doors can’t be open at the same time,” he guessed.

  “I hope you’re right.”

  The door thudded shut.

  Chloe stared at the elevator, then glanced nervously at Ash. “I don’t think it’s coming.”

  “It’ll be here.”

  She began rocking slightly back and forth. “Are you sure? Maybe this is just a trap.”

  “Too elaborate for a trap.”

  She looked around, her gaze darting from one spot to another.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  She said nothing for a second, then, “I don’t like enclosed spaces.”

  “You were fine in those tunnels at the hospital.”

  “There was always a way in and out. We’re locked in here.” Her breathing began to increase.

  “Are you going to be okay?”