She gave him a single nod, but he could see it was an effort for her. Then, soundlessly, the elevator door opened. With a relieved gasp of breath, she raced in.
“This is an enclosed space, too,” Ash said as he entered.
“Yeah, but it’s going somewhere.”
There was a row of five buttons, and another security pad on the control panel. The top button was lit up. Ash touched the one on the bottom, figuring that would take them to the lowest level, but nothing happened. He tapped the security pad with the badge, then touched the button once more. This time the button flashed red, and the car remained stationary. He used the badge again, then tried the fourth button down. Flashing red, no movement. The third button down received the same response. He did it once more for the second button.
This time it lit up green, and the car began to move.
Great, he thought. He’d taken the badge of someone limited to only the first lower level. He hoped to God he’d find something there that would get him to the bottom.
As the car began to stop, he said, “Move to the side and get ready.”
She went left, and he went right, positioning himself so he could see out but duck quickly for cover if need be. He raised his gun, then tensed as the doors began to slide open.
There were half a dozen people just outside. None, though, was holding a weapon. They froze as a group. All, that was, except one in the back who started running down the hall away from them.
Ash stepped out quickly. “Stop!”
The man skidded to a halt.
“Don’t hurt us!” one of the others shouted.
“Walk back here now, and I won’t shoot you.”
The runner turned around, then began retracing his steps back to the group, his arms in the air.
“Who are you?” a man standing in the middle asked.
Ash moved his gaze quickly over them. “How many of you have access to the bottom level?”
No one moved.
He pointed his gun at the guy who ran. “How many?”
“We…we all do,” the man said.
“Good. You have your badge?”
The man nodded. “Yes.”
“Then you’re coming with us.”
The man’s eyes widened as Ash reached out and grabbed his arm.
“No,” Chloe said.
Everyone looked at her, including Ash.
“I want that one.” She pointed at the man in the middle who’d asked who they were.
“Why me?” he said, sounding frightened.
“Sorry, buddy,” Ash said. He moved over and grabbed Chloe’s choice. “You’re with us.”
DR. KARP STOOD in the entrance to the room, watching the children. The boy had fallen asleep beside his sister, his arm lying protectively over her shoulder.
Such a waste, the doctor thought.
In the morning, he had planned to take sections of their vital organs before their bodies were disposed of, but now there would be no time for that. They needed to disappear to prevent any potential connection to the project.
Like most of the project’s facilities that Dr. Karp used, this one had something that could handle just such a problem. There was a biosafe level-four laboratory on this very floor. It had three specialized chambers for the most delicate work. In the case of an emergency, a code could be entered into the system, and the chamber in question would go through a series of events designed to render whatever was in the room harmless. First, fire would be blasted into the room at temperatures exceeding 2,370º F. Though this would ensure nothing survived, the project Directors didn’t want to take any chances, so next a quick hardening polymer, stronger than most metals, would be pumped into the room, filling it to capacity and sealing away forever anything that was in the room.
The chambers were not meant to serve as tombs, but the doctor knew the Directors would approve of his improvisation.
In the hall outside the patients’ room, he heard two gurneys being rolled in his direction. He moved to the side just as Ramos brought the first one in. Learner followed right behind him with the second.
The doctor watched to make sure the children didn’t wake up while they were being transferred, then said, “I’ll meet you in the lab.”
He had to stop by the medical supply room first to pick up something that would let the children slip away before the first flame licked their skin.
Such a waste.
Forty-Eight
AS SOON AS the elevator doors closed, Ash said, “Take us all the way down.”
“No problem,” the man said.
He touched his card to the pad, then pressed the button for the bottom floor.
Ash shoved the man against the wall. “Where are the children?”
“Your kids are in one of the rooms in back. I can take you there.”
It took Ash a second to realize the man had not said “the kids,” but “your kids.”
“You know who I am?” he said, pressing his gun against the man’s stomach.
“You’re Daniel Ash, right?” The man shot a quick look at Chloe. “You got my note.”
Note? Ash took a step back.
“Yes,” Chloe said. “Thank you.”
Ash stared at the man. “You’re the guy who—”
“Why do you think I picked him?” Chloe said.
Ash dropped his gun to his side. “Sorry. I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay. I get it,” the man said.
“What’s your name?”
The man hesitated for a moment, then said, “Winger.”
“Thank you, Winger.”
Matt’s inside man nodded uncomfortably, then glanced over at Chloe. “They did a good job on you. But I still recognized you. It’s your eyes. They can’t change that.”
Chloe said nothing.
“Are my kids all right?” Ash asked.
“Last I saw them, yes. But Dr. Karp headed down here when the alarm went off. I don’t know what he’s planning on doing.”
Ash’s anxiety rose as he considered the possibility that he might still be too late.
But before anyone could say anything else, the elevator began to slow.
ON SUB-BASEMENT four, the arrival of the elevator was always preceded by the soft whoosh of air moving around the car as it reached its lowest point. Unlike when Dr. Karp arrived, there was only one of the security men standing in the elevator lobby, a guy by the name of Montrose. Wyle, his partner, hadn’t returned yet from checking the surveillance footage.
As soon as Montrose heard the whoosh, he drew his gun and tensed. From down the hall he thought he heard footsteps, but his attention was focused on the door, so he paid them little attention.
The elevator settled in place, then paused for half a second before the doors slid open.
Montrose let out a breath and relaxed a little. It was just one of Dr. Karp’s orderlies. He’d probably been called down to give the doctor a hand.
“They’re back with the subjects,” the guard started to say, but the only thing he got out of his mouth was, “They’re back—”
It seemed unnecessary to go on, given the two guns that appeared from either side of the open door, aimed directly at his chest.
“GUN ON THE ground,” Ash said softly.
The security guard dropped his pistol by his foot.
“Kick it over here.”
The man seemed reluctant, so Ash wagged the SIG’s barrel to remind the guy who was in charge. The gun skidded across the floor a moment later.
“Now on your knees.”
Again, there was a hesitation, but before Ash could repeat the command, the man complied.
Carefully, both Ash and Chloe came out from the protection of the elevator. Ash motioned for her to bind the man’s hands and legs while he stood back a few feet. Once she was done, he put a foot on the man’s chest and pushed him all the way to the ground.
“Where’s Dr. Karp?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” the man replied.
Ash put his foot on the man’s neck and pointed his gun at the guy’s head.
“I will kill you.”
“He…he said he was going in back. To the holding rooms.”
Ash glanced at Winger. The orderly nodded once, confirming that’s where his children were.
“You here alone?” Ash asked the guard.
“Yes,” the man said quickly.
Ash immediately knew he was lying. He leaned down and put the SIG’s muzzle against the man’s forehead. “Those kids your Dr. Karp has back there? They are my kids.”
The man’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Don’t think for a second I won’t pull this trigger,” Ash continued. “How many other guards are there?”
“One.”
Ash pressed the gun into the man’s skin.
“I swear! Only one.”
“Where is he?”
“He…went with the doctor.”
Ash stood, then looked at Winger. “Which way?”
MONTROSE’S PARTNER WYLE heard most of the conversation from just around the corner. Though only one person other than Montrose had done the talking, Wyle could tell there was another person with him.
“Where is he?” the voice said from the elevator lobby.
“He…went with the doctor,” Montrose said.
Wyle couldn’t help but smile. Montrose had held it together, and given him a chance to deal with the situation.
As quietly as possible, Wyle took several steps backward.
“Which way?” the voice said.
“Around and to the left.” This was a new voice, confirming that there was definitely more than one unfriendly.
Wyle raised his Beretta, his finger poised on the trigger.
ASH WALKED TO the edge of the lobby. Just beyond was a corridor that went left and right. He listened, but the only thing he could hear was a steady hum of the ventilation system.
“How far down?” he asked Winger.
“About thirty feet. Then we take the hall on the right. That’ll get us all the way back.”
“Okay. Stay close behind me.” He glanced at Chloe. “Ready?”
She nodded.
Leading with his gun, Ash ran into the hallway.
He saw the other guard a split second before he heard the double tap of the man’s gun. Just as Ash pulled the trigger of his SIG, searing pain flashed up his arm as a bullet pierced his skin. The hit caused him to twist to the side, sending the shot from his gun well to the left of its intended target.
Not missing a beat, though, Ash pulled his trigger again, moving his arm in an arc and sending five quick shots in the direction of the guard. Chloe, kneeling around the corner from the lobby, fired several rounds at the same time.
The guard was only able to get a single wild shot off before he was caught in the barrage and tumbled back onto the floor.
Ash rushed forward, his gun ready if the man even twitched. But it was unnecessary. The man wasn’t going to move, not now, and not ever again.
Ash allowed himself to look at the wound on his left arm. The bullet had grooved his skin a couple inches below his shoulder. It was painful, but not debilitating. He turned back to the others.
Chloe was helping Winger off the floor. There was blood on the man’s shirt, concentrated mainly on the right side of his abdomen. A gut shot.
“I’m okay,” the man said once he was on his feet. But he clearly wasn’t. His breathing was labored, and he was doing a lousy job of keeping the pain off his face. “Let’s keep moving.”
“Maybe you should stay here,” Chloe suggested.
He shook his head, then locked eyes with Ash. “We need to get to your children. Now.”
Ash moved up next to him, draped Winger’s arm over his shoulder, then put his own carefully around the guy’s waist.
“That hall?” he asked.
“Yes.”
A SERIES OF airtight rooms led into the biosafe level-four lab. Each had a greater and greater negative airflow from the room before it, meaning air would always move toward the lab, not away from it. This would ensure that any accidentally released airborne pathogen would be unable to escape the lab.
It also meant that each door not only sealed the atmosphere in, but it also greatly reduced any noise from the other side. Dr. Karp and his technicians were already two rooms in out of the three. Though there was no need to take the extra precautions they would have had to take if a level-four pathogen had been present in the lab, they still had to close each door before the system would allow them to open the next. So when the gunfight near the elevator took place, they heard nothing.
As they finally entered the lab, Dr. Karp said, “Put them in number three.”
Chamber three was in the corner, and the most logical one to turn unusable.
Ramos wheeled the gurney carrying the Ash girl into the lab first, then Learner tried to follow with the boy. Unfortunately, doing so pretty much clogged up most of the usable space.
“Roll those back into the airlock,” the doctor said impatiently. “Just carry them in.”
As they did this, the doctor set the supplies he’d picked up earlier on the counter. There were two sealed and empty hypodermics, and two small glass bottles, each with more than enough Beta-Somnol to put a grown adult into a final sleep. The children would pass peacefully. Given what would happen in the world soon enough, the doctor couldn’t help but feel he was doing the humane thing, something most would be denied.
He opened one of the hypo kits, stuck the needle into the bottle, then started drawing the drug out.
Yes. Very humane.
“THAT DOOR THERE,” Winger said, his voice weakening. “Those are the subject rooms. They’re in there.”
“I think it’s best if we leave you here,” Ash said. “Do you want to lean on the wall? Or sit on the ground?”
“I…don’t know if I can…stand on my own.”
“Okay, no problem.”
Ash tried to ease the man to the floor as gently as possible, but the orderly still sucked in his breath and winced.
“I’m sorry,” Ash said once the man was down.
“It’s okay.” Winger tried to smile. “Go get your kids.”
Ash gave him a pat on the shoulder, then he and Chloe moved down the hall to the door Winger had pointed out.
“What’s the plan?” she whispered.
“Play it by ear.”
“Oh, okay. So the same plan as before.”
Ash didn’t bother to respond.
He turned the knob until the latch was all the way out, then he inched the door open just enough so that he could see inside. The space appeared to be set up similarly to the wards back at the Palmer Psychiatric Hospital—central corridor and doors off to the sides.
He eased the door open some more. No shouts, no sounds of movement, nothing.
With a quick warning glance at Chloe, he pulled out the door wide enough to get through, then rushed inside. No one was there.
“Check the doors,” he whispered.
They worked from opposite sides, opening each door and looking in. Every room Ash checked had beds, but all the mattresses were bare and appeared unused.
“Ash!” Chloe called out.
She was standing in the doorway of a room near the back wall. He rushed over and looked in.
There were two beds inside. Both had blankets and sheets but were unmade. He moved in quickly, put a hand on one mattress, then the other. The bed on the left still had the warmth of a body.
He ran past Chloe out of the room, through the outer area and back into the hallway.
Winger’s eyes were closed as Ash reached him.
“They’re not there!”
“Wha…what?” Winger said, his eyelids barely peeling apart.
“They’re not there. No one is. Where are they?”
“Not there?” The orderly looked confused. “I don’t…” He stopped, then his eyes opened wider. “No. Oh, God, no.”
�
�What?”
“OKAY,” RAMOS SAID as he stepped out of chamber three, where he’d just laid Brandon Ash next to the girl on the floor.
At that very moment, the indicator for the door to the first airlock switched from closed to open on the lab’s computer screen.
Dr. Karp almost missed it. He had just finished activating the controls for chamber three, and had turned away to retrieve the hypos of Beta-Somnol when one of his oldest habits, his need to double-check everything, caused him to look back.
Not for one second did he think whoever had entered was one of the project members there to help him.
This was it. The end. Unless there was some kind of miracle—something he didn’t believe in—his own life would soon be sacrificed.
Before it had been just a possibility. Now, the harsh reality was numbing.
Five seconds passed without him moving at all. Then he remembered his oath, his promise to the project. The job he still had to do.
He grabbed the needles, and was halfway to chamber three before he realized there wouldn’t be enough time. He’d have to start the sequence without administering the drug. Hopefully, the children would remain asleep and feel no pain as the intense heat quickly took their lives. Not quite as humane as he’d hoped, but still better than nothing.
When he got back to the monitor, the indicator for the door between the second and third airlocks was already in the open position. As soon as it closed, the door to the lab would open.
He started punching in the code.
Forty-Nine
ASH PULLED THE door between the second and third airlocks shut, then jammed down the handle that created the final seal. Already having positioned herself at the door to the lab, Chloe began pulling up its handle the second he finished. Ash got there just in time to grab the edge of the door as it released and yank it open.
“No one move!” he yelled as he and Chloe rushed into the room.
There were three men inside. Two were standing next to a wide window that looked into what appeared to be another room, while the third was at a counter along the right wall in front of a computer. Ash knew this third man. He’d seen a picture of him at the ranch. He was the man responsible for the hell Ash’s family had gone through.
The Project Eden Thrillers Box Set 1: Books 1 - 3 (Sick, Exit 9, & Pale Horse) Page 27
