“Breathe slowly and evenly, Detective.”
The exhausted detective dropped into a rollaway. He did as she told him.
“I’m over here by the disposal unit,” she said.
“Your transparency is back.”
“Your arm’s bleeding. Can you breathe okay now?”
“Better, thanks. The laceration on my arm is minor.”
He placed the radio on the desk in front of him so they could both listen.
“Mr. Palmier, one of the suspects is trapped in the refuse room,” a security man said. “The fire is out of control. We have to evacuate, over.”
“Roger, I copy,” Palmier said. “Control room, this is Brad Palmier. Please activate the external lock for the refuse room. Reply ASAP.”
Laurel searched in her bag for medical supplies while Detective Halliday removed the remote control unit from inside his jacket. He studied it.
The detective poked a red button.
The digital read out responded with, “Proceed with INITIATE SYSTEM OVERRIDE?”
He pushed the green button.
Laurel applied antiseptic to his arm.
“Mr. Palmier, this is Rhodes in the control room. Be advised we’re unable to activate the external lock for the refuse room due to a system override. Do you have the remote override unit?”
Brad didn’t answer right away. Laurel knew he must be wondering who had the remote control unit since only a few personnel had access.
“Robert… Mr. Gartner… Are you in the building? This is Brad Palmier, over.”
No reply.
Detective Halliday reached for the radio with his good arm. “I’ve got the remote, over.”
“Halliday?” Brad said. “That’s impossible.”
“I’ve got your old ID, too.”
The detective didn’t see the great weight leave Laurel’s shoulders. She had always warned Brad that forgetfulness would be his undoing.
“A ghost named Laurel McKittrick gave it to me, Palmier,” the detective said. “Isn’t that a security violation? Losing your confidential ID?”
“Halliday… You… It’s… It’s my wife?”
“By the way, Palmier, your security sucks. You should be using retinal scan systems. Where did you find Altman? Did you pull him off a chain gang in Alabama?”
“This is Alpha Team Leader. How much time do we have Mr. Palmier?”
“EVACUATE THE BUILDING IMMEDIATELY. TWELVE MINUTES UNTIL IMPLOSION,” a loud speaker blared in a woman’s controlled voice.
The building had some type of self-destruction feature.
“Alpha Team Leader, this is Palmier. There’s an axe next to the fire hoses. Tear down the rear door.”
“Mr. Palmier, that’s impossible. Those walls are made of—”
“Tear down the door, dammit.”
The brief silence reminded Laurel of her childhood. She had been caught alone on thin ice on a remote lake in the High Sierras. Below the surface, a grinding noise produced a fissure that formed at her feet. The white kaleidoscope grew larger. Wek’-wek the falcon spirit told her she should widened her stance and splay her hands out. The falcon flew over her shoulder. He pointed out the direction she should take.
Her desperate lunge for the hard ice had been all that saved her.
“All personnel, this is Brad Palmier. Evacuate building C14 immediately. Use the first floor rear exit. We’re going to lose building C14. Be advised that at least two suspects will attempt to exit the building. Apprehend them. Take them to the security annex.”
“Roger, Mr. Palmier,” several voices echoed out of the speaker.
She felt dizzy and weak. The transparency was wearing off so soon after getting replenished.
“Detective Halliday, this is Palmier, listen up.”
Laurel had no hard ice to jump onto. The spirits were with her, though. “Kok’-kol the Raven,” her mother used to call her. Laurel gasped. For the first time she saw O-let’-te the Coyote, the creator. He stood on his haunches in the corner. She read his eyes.
Laurel understood.
“Laurel, you okay?” the detective said.
“Yes.”
“Detective Halliday, I know you are listening,” Palmier said. “Please answer up.”
He lifted the radio phone. “I’m here.”
“My fire chief says that you have three minutes to leave the building or you’ll be toast.”
“I heard you give the ‘shoot to kill’ order a minute ago.”
“You will sign a document stating that you unlawfully entered building C14, are responsible for the fires, and subsequent destruction of the building. You will hand over any documents that you have stolen.”
Laurel shook her head.
“You have thirty seconds to make up your mind,” Palmier said.
He lowered the radio phone. “You think we can trust the bastard?”
“Not on your life,” she said.
He cleared his throat while slowly lifted the radio phone. “This message is for the security men who work for Palmier. My name is John Halliday, a detective with the Santa Reina Police Department. I want to remind you of your obligation to tell the truth during your testimony before a grand jury. Audio and video recordings of what has happened here have been uploaded via a satellite phone to a safe location. It will be presented as evidence to expose perjury.”
“Bravo, detective,” Laurel said. “Where’s the satellite phone?”
He squinted and stared at the floor. “I made up that part.”
Laurel didn’t have to hide her disappointment. Brad had once mentioned that building C14’s walls were impenetrable. Axes would be useless. She and the detective weren’t going anywhere, either. It would all end here unless the detective deactivated the system override.
The detective’s unconvincing face looked up. “As long as Palmier’s men believe that I have a satellite phone. That’s all that matters.”
“Oh, I see.”
“All personnel: disregard the ex-detective’s statement,” Palmier said. “I received a call from Police Chief Brayden earlier stating that Halliday is no longer employed by the Santa Reina Police Department.”
The detective’s face told her that he had nothing else to say.
“I repeat: All personnel evacuate the building immediately,” Palmier advised over the radio phone. “You have five minutes to leave the building.”
The radio phone buzzed with activity.
“Alpha Team Leader, what’s the status of the rear entry door?”
“We’re working on it, sir.”
The Genevive security men must be scurrying to save their lives. For her and the detective the refuse room had become their fate.
“EVACUATE THE BUILDING IMMEDIATELY. ELEVEN MINUTES UNTIL IMPLOSION.”
“This is Palmier to all personnel: Once you are outside the building remove yourselves at least a hundred yards from the structure. Take cover.”
Someone had left their radio microphone keyed on. Just above the static, Laurel heard a disgruntled voice in the background lament, “We’re not getting out of here.”
Chapter Fifty Two
Halliday searched for answers. To navigate the flame-ravaged third floor unscathed would be a stretch. The whole place would blow in ten minutes. He was confident it would destroy all the transparency evidence. The scientists were all in another building, though.
“Mr. Palmier, can we halt the countdown?” A nervous voice emanated from the two-way.
“Negative,” Palmier said. “It’s not possible in a system lockdown.”
Another flaw in the grand Genevive security plan.
“There must be a way out,” Laurel said.
The fires surrounding the refuse room had not engulfed it. The refuse room owned a self-contained environment to eliminate the stench.
Halliday wanted to believe he and Laurel could escape, but saw few options. Giving himself up to Palmier meant a return visit to the torture chamber at the annex. Gene
vive’s scientists would continue the experiments. Not an option.
A siren sounded. “EVACUATE THE BUILDING IMMEDIATELY,” the heartless woman’s voice advised. “TEN MINUTES UNTIL IMPLOSION.”
“Laurel, you’ve regained your transparency. There’s still time for you to escape out the rear entrance.” He found her shoulder with his good arm. “Your chances of making it through the fires are better than staying here.”
“Brad once told me that building C14’s construction rivaled the Pentagon.”
“Oh.” That meant Palmier’s men wouldn’t be able to tear down the rear door. “He’s deceiving himself then?”
“That’s another weakness of the Brad Palmier persona.”
“Bravo Team Leader, this is Palmier. I’m told we have a supply of C-4 explosive in the basement. We’ll have to blow up the rear door.”
Another unnerving silence prevailed.
“This is Palmier. Bravo Team Leader, do you copy? Over.”
“Mr. Palmier, be advised that the basement door has been secured with the system lockdown.”
Halliday wrestled with the dilemma. He could open the rear door with a push of a button on the remote unit. “Laurel, you have to leave now with the evidence we’ve gathered,” he said. “We can devise a way to open the rear door temporarily. Otherwise, we’ll both be blown to… wherever. Save yourself so you can bring Palmier and Genevive down.”
“Detective, stop talking nonsense. There’s always a way.”
Laurel’s optimism reminded him of Jillian. Halliday had to admit the reality of the situation. On a grand scale Laurel’s transparency and building C14’s secrets threatened humanity. If she died when the building blew, then the secrets went with them. Halliday would be listed as collateral damage.
“Halliday, this is Palmier.”
He didn’t answer.
“Halliday, you win. Open the rear door. You’ll be a free man.”
He didn’t answer.
“Dammit, Halliday, you’re not going to let all these innocent people die.”
Halliday stared at the refuse unit. The idea hit him. “Laurel, remember Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth?”
“Oh, yes.”
“What if we venture down through our own extinct volcano?”
She didn’t reply. Had she inhaled too much smoke? Had shock overtaken her? He had been trained for situations similar to this. Laurel had never experienced such stress.
“Laurel?”
“The tunnel is a long vertical drop through sharp-edged rock,” she said. “We’d never survive.”
“EVACUATE THE BUILDING IMMEDIATELY. NINE MINUTES UNTIL IMPLOSION.”
“Laurel, do you think a person could fit inside Genevive’s high tech toilet?”
“It would be a tight squeeze, but yes, it’s possible. What are you getting at?”
“Outside the door there’s a fire hose inside the wall,” he said while rushing for the door. “We unravel it off the spool. We’ll use the hose to shimmy down through the well.”
“My god, it just might work,” Laurel said.
When he opened the door, a blanket of smoke hit him. He slammed the door shut.
“We have to get to the hose,” she said.
He yanked a small curtain off the wall and doused it with water in the sink.
“Leave a crack in the door for the hose,” he said. “Once I hand the end to you pull the slack out onto the floor here as fast as you can.”
“Halliday, this is Palmier. I’m offering you ten million dollars to open the rear door. I beg of you. It’s your duty as a policeman to protect the citizens. My men have families. They have innocent children.”
Without hesitating, Halliday went to the disposal unit. “This is for humanity’s sake,” he said as he dropped the electronic device down the refuse tank.
“You’ve done the right thing, John,” Laurel said. “Please hurry.”
Outside, he breathed beneath the soaked cloth. Silhouettes of flames pantomimed silent dancers raising their fiery fingers to the sky.
With the crowbar, he smashed the glass case holding the fire hose.
Smoke seeped under the cloth, making it difficult to breathe. He tossed away the cloth. When he handed the end of the hose to Laurel, it snaked in the air before disappearing through the crack in the door.
Halliday cranked feverously.
“EVACUATE THE BUILDING IMMEDIATELY. EIGHT MINUTES UNTIL IMPLOSION.”
The smoke burned his lungs. Halliday bent over, coughing. He stopped cranking. Laurel’s tugs on the hose proved sufficient to unravel it. He hurried back into the refuse room.
Inside, he sucked in a mixture of putrid air polluted by smoke.
Flames threatened outside the crack in the door. The hose had char marks. They labored to reel in the remainder on the spool.
“SEVEN MINUTES UNTIL IMPLOSION.”
Laurel said, “Hold your hands out.”
She pushed leather gloves over his hands and sealed them with duct tape. “Put this suit on,” she said. “It will help protect you from the transparency pool.”
Halliday stepped into the clean room suit. She used more duct tape to seal the suit.
Breathing had become an urgent problem. A flame reached for him through the crack in the door. After severing the hose with the axe he slammed the door. The free end floated in the air. It curled into a knot at the steel base of the refuse tank.
“EVACUATE THE BUILDING IMMEDIATELY. SIX MINUTES UNTIL IMPLOSION.”
Halliday doused Laurel with a bottle of water.
“What are you doing?”
“I need to be able to see you when we arrive at the bottom.”
She didn’t respond.
The door to the refuse room flew open. It smacked against the wall.
A plume of smoke preceded the outline of a living creature. Halliday backtracked into a desk. He gasped.
Brad Palmier loomed at the entrance like a creature from hell. Flames erupted from his back. Curls of smoke rose out of his once perfectly groomed hair.
Laurel’s scream summoned the devil to take Palmier to hell, causing Halliday to shudder.
Palmier’s crusted gray mask failed to hide bloodied eye sockets. Halliday watched as the man wheezed, trying to form words with scorched lips. Palmier summoned all his energy into a throaty gurgle of froth that approximated, “Go to hell, Halliday.”
The charred remnants of a human being, somehow still alive, approached Laurel.
Palmier froze.
The zombie-like creature once Brad Palmier attempted to spew out the refuse of its charred inner being. It gurgled, “Lorrrrr-alll.”
Laurel began sobbing.
The once powerful executive had nothing left. He took a short step, lunged forward, and fell flat on his face.
Halliday checked Palmier’s vitals. He had survived Laurel’s wallop with the fire extinguisher.
He searched the desktop. One bullet remained in the chamber. Halliday wrapped the gun in the curtain material. He would afford Palmier the same humane treatment as he would have given Gennie the cow.
The sound of the solitary gunshot died off.
“You did the right thing,” Laurel said between sobs.
“EVACUATE THE BUILDING IMMEDIATELY. FIVE MINUTES UNTIL IMPLOSION.”
Laurel jumped into action. She smacked the refuse tank’s “ACTIVATE” button. The large steel tray exited the housing.
They took a moment each sticking their head inside the refuse tank to access precious air.
Laurel tied a fire extinguisher to the other end of the rope. She dropped it into the opening. “Be careful of the unraveling hose,” she yelled.
The hose snaked down the opening until it came to an end.
Laurel demanded that Halliday go first. She would follow close behind.
The whole place went dark except for the light from the flames through the crack in the door.
Laurel yelled into his ear, “You need to shimmy d
own as fast as you can.”
“What about you?”
“Don’t worry about me,” she said. “I can scamper down that hose in two minutes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Try to fall away from this side of the well. The pool is deeper on the opposite side. Keep your arms close to your body. Use your hands and feet together during the descent. Bend your knees just before you hit the pool. It’s not deep. Once you hit the water, get out and run. You will have a better chance to survive.”
“Okay, see you at the bottom.”
“Remember, once you reach the bottom get out of the pool as soon as possible. Transparency takes time to take effect. Get as far away from the pool as possible.”
Halliday thought that the hose might not be enough. They would sustain injuries if they were lucky enough to survive the fall.
The aftereffects could be fatal. He muttered, “There will be a residual blast down the well.”
“Oh,” she said.
The short quiet progressed into an eternity.
He gave her a hug before he lowered his legs into the narrow opening underneath the stainless steel bucket.
“I’ll always remember what you did for me,” Laurel’s haunting voice called out behind him as he descended into the abyss.
Epilogue
Santa Reina Bids Farewell to Genevive Labs
SANTA REINA, CALIFORNIA. Santa Reina Tribune—Genevive Labs officially closed its doors today, thus ending a three year relationship with the town of Santa Reina. The recent tragedy at its main lab that took the lives of CEO Robert Gartner, Executive Vice President Brad Palmier, and members of Genevive security team proved to be too much for the firm to overcome.
Genevive Labs is now part of ATP, Incorporated with headquarters in Blacksburg, Virginia. Santa Reina will miss the citizens who have elected to relocate to Virginia. For those interested there will be a farewell party at the Elks Lodge on Saturday evening. Doors open at 7:00 p.m.
The Marriott Corporation, Marriott Resorts, has been awarded the right to purchase the vacant Genevive Labs property. At the same time the federal government has stepped in and gifted the Santa Reina Hot Springs to the Foxworth family, the original owners of the property. The remainder of the land will be returned to Miwok Indian preserve.
Transparency: Bio-Tech Cavern Secrets Untold Page 30
