Invasion (44 page)

Vince and Robert had wandered away from the van in ever widening circles. Suddenly Vince had stopped and bent down. Straightening up he called for Beau to come over.

Beau joined the two men.

Vince pointed to the ground. “It’s a camouflaged hatch,” he said. “It’s locked from within.”

Beau’s fingers snaked under the edge. Progressively he applied an upward force until the hatch snapped up into
the air. Vince and Beau leaned over and peered down at the lighted corridor below. Then their eyes met.

“She’s down there,” Beau said.

“I know,” Vince said.

“HOLY SHIT!” JONATHAN CRIED. HIS EYES BULGED FROM
their sockets. Then he screamed at the top of his lungs: “Pitt, Sheila, somebody, get over here!”

Pitt slammed down a syringe of antibody he’d been preparing for Cassy and dashed out of the sick bay into the hall en route to the lab where Jonathan was. Pitt had no idea what had happened but there’d been desperation in Jonathan’s voice. Pitt heard Sheila running behind him.

They found Jonathan sitting at the computer. His eyes were glued to the monitor, and his face was pale as an ivory cue ball.

“What’s the matter?” Pitt demanded as he rushed up to Jonathan.

Jonathan was momentarily tongue-tied. All he could do was motion toward the computer screen. Pitt looked at it and his hand reflexly slapped across his open mouth.

“What is it?” Sheila urged as she arrived at Pitt’s side.

“It’s a freak!” Jonathan managed.

Sheila sucked in a breath of air when she caught sight of what was on the screen.

“It’s Beau!” Pitt said with horror. “Cassy said he’d been mutating, but I had no idea…”

“Where is he?” Sheila asked, forcing herself to be practical despite Beau’s grotesque appearance.

“It was an alarm that drew my attention,” Jonathan
said. “Then the computer automatically activated the appropriate minicam.”

“I want to know where he is,” Sheila repeated frantically.

Jonathan fumbled with the keyboard and managed to bring up a schematic of the facility. A red arrow was blinking at one of the emergency/exhaust vents.

“I think that’s the one where we entered,” Pitt said.

“I think you’re right,” Sheila said. “What does the alarm mean, Jonathan?”

“It says ‘hatch cover unsealed,’” Jonathan said. “I guess that means they’ve got the hatch open.”

“Good God!” Sheila said. “They’ll be coming in.”

“What should we do?” Pitt asked.

Sheila ran an anxious hand through her unfettered blond hair; her green eyes darted erratically around the room. She felt like a cornered deer.

“Pitt, go see if you can lock the door to the air lock,” she sputtered. “That might delay them for a time.”

Pitt dashed from the room.

“Where’s Harlan’s pistol?” Jonathan asked.

“I don’t know,” Sheila snapped. “Look for it, Jonathan.”

Sheila started for the sick bay.

“Where are you going?” Jonathan called out to Sheila.

“I’ve got to get Harlan and Cassy out of those containment rooms,” Sheila said.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO, BEAU?” VINCE ASKED
, breaking what had seemed to be a long silence.

“What do you think this place is?” Beau asked, pointing down the hatch at the gleaming, white, high-tech interior.

“I haven’t the slightest idea,” Vince said.

Beau glanced back at the helicopter. The pilot was dutifully standing by. Beau returned his gaze down the hatch. His mind was in a turmoil and his emotions frayed.

“I want you and your co-worker to go down in this strange hole and find Cassy,” Beau said. He spoke slowly and deliberately as if he were making great effort to restrain himself from flying into a rage. “When you find her, I want you to bring her to me. I must go back to the institute, but I will send the copter back for you.”

“As you wish,” Vince said warily. He was afraid of saying the wrong thing. The fragility of Beau’s emotions was obvious.

Beau reached into his pocket and drew out a black disc. He handed it to Vince. “Use it as you see fit,” he said. “But do not harm Cassy!” Then he turned and strode back to the waiting aircraft.

7:10
P.M.

WITH FUMBLING HANDS SHEILA UNLOCKED THE HATCH
into Harlan’s containment room. By the time she had it open, Harlan was standing next to it. He was surprised and irritated.

“What the hell are you doing?” he questioned. “You’ve contaminated yourself and the entire facility.”

“It can’t be helped,” Sheila sputtered. “They’re here!”

“Who is here?” Harlan asked. His expression rapidly changed to concern.

“Beau and at least one other infected person,” Sheila blurted out. “They have the hatch open that we used to come in here. They must have followed Cassy. They’ll be here any minute.”

“Damn!” Harlan exclaimed. He paused for a second to think, then stepped out through the air lock.

They immediately caught up with Cassy and Pitt as the
two emerged from the neighboring containment room. Although Cassy appeared sleepy and confused, her color was better than it had been earlier.

“Where’s Jonathan?” Harlan barked.

“Back in the lab,” Pitt said. “He was searching for your Colt.”

With Harlan leading, the group rushed from the sick bay into the lab proper. They went from room to room. They found Jonathan in the final room, crouching by the door to the corridor. He was holding the pistol in both hands.

“We’re getting out of here,” Harlan yelled to Jonathan. Harlan ducked into the incubator and emerged seconds later carrying an armload of tissue culture flasks containing the rhinovirus.

A loud sputtering noise was heard from the corridor. Everyone’s eyes turned to the open doorway. A shower of sparks shot by as if someone were welding in the hallway. Simultaneously the pressure in the room precipitously dropped, forcing everyone to clear their ears.

“What happened?” Sheila demanded.

“They’re cutting through the pressure door,” Harlan yelled. “Come on! Hurry!” He motioned for everyone to retreat back toward the infirmary. But before anybody could move a black disc rounded the corner from the corridor and entered the lab. It was glowing bright red and surrounded by a hazy halo.

“It’s a disc!” Sheila shouted. “Stay away from it.”

“Yes!” Harlan bellowed. “When it’s active it’s radioactive. It’s spewing out alpha particles.”

The disc hovered near Jonathan, who ducked away and ran back toward the others. Harlan herded the group through the door into the next lab room. Stepping into the room himself, he slammed the heavy, two-inch-thick fire door.

“Hurry!” he commanded.

The group had gotten halfway across the second lab when the same sputtering noise they’d heard earlier reverberated around the room. There was another shower of sparks. Harlan turned to see the disc passing effortlessly through the door.

Everyone got into the third lab space and raced for the double doors into the infirmary. Harlan took the time to slam the second fire door before running after the others. Behind him he heard the sputtering again. Sparks bounced off the back of his head as he went into the infirmary. The doors swung closed behind him.

“Where to?” Sheila demanded.

“The X-ray room,” Harlan barked, pointing with a hand carrying one of the tissue culture flasks. “The one that is still operational.”

Jonathan was the first to arrive. He pushed open the shielded door and held it for the others. They all crowded inside.

“This is a dead end!” Sheila shrieked. “Why did you bring us in here?”

“Get over behind the shield,” Harlan ordered. Quickly he handed Sheila and Pitt the tissue culture flasks. Then he activated the machine that positioned the X-ray column. He aimed the positioning light directly at the door
to the hall before rushing back and crowding behind the screen with the others.

Harlan’s hands rapidly flipped switches and spun dials on the X-ray machine’s control panel as sparking and sputtering commenced at the door. With the lead shielding it took the disc a few more seconds to burn through the X-ray room door than it had the fire doors. When it emerged inside the room, its red color had slightly paled.

Harlan flipped the switch that sent the high voltage built up in the machine to the X-ray source. There was an electronic buzzing noise and the overhead light dimmed. “These are the hardest X-rays this machine is capable of producing,” he explained.

Bombarded with the X-rays, the disc’s color instantly changed from pale red to luminous white. The pale halo intensified, expanded, and quickly engulfed the disc. The sound of an enormous furnace igniting was immediately cut off with a thump. At the same instant most of the X-ray machine, the X-ray table, an instrument tray, part of the door, and the light fixture were all pulled out of shape as if they had been sucked toward the point where the disc had been. Even the people had experienced this sudden imploding force and had instinctively braced themselves and grabbed onto whatever they could.

A pall of acrid smoke hung over the room.

Everyone was momentarily dazed.

“Is everyone okay?” Harlan asked.

“My watch exploded,” Sheila said.

“So did the wall clock,” Harlan said. He pointed up to the institutional clock on the wall. Its glass had been shattered, and its hands were nowhere to be seen.

“That was a miniature black hole,” Harlan said.

A loud thump out in the lab shocked everybody back to reality.

“Obviously they’ve gotten through the air lock,” Harlan said. “Come on!” He took the gun away from Jonathan and gave him a tissue culture flask to carry instead. Cassy and Pitt picked up the rest of the flasks. Harlan led everyone from behind the distorted shield toward the door.

“Don’t touch anything,” he warned. “There still might be some radiation.”

It took all three men to get the twisted door open. Harlan leaned out. He could see down to the double doors leading to the lab. There was a small scorched hole in the right one. He looked the other way. It was clear.

“To the left,” he barked. “Down through the door at the end and across into the living room. Got it?”

Everyone nodded.

“Go!” Harlan said. He kept his eye on the double doors until the last person had cleared the corridor. He was about to follow them when one of the double doors opened in the opposite direction.

Harlan fired one shot from the huge Peacemaker. The noise was deafening in the hallway. The bullet hit the closed double door and shattered its porthole-like window. The door that had been opened swung shut.

Harlan raced out into the hall and ran its length on legs that had suddenly gone rubbery. He staggered into the living room.

“Harlan?” Sheila questioned. “Have you been shot?” They had all heard the gun go off.

Harlan shook his head. A small amount of foam bubbled out of his mouth and oozed from his eyes. “I think it’s the rhinovirus kicking out the alien virus,” he managed. He steadied himself against the wall. “It’s happening. Unfortunately it’s a rather inconvenient time.”

Pitt rushed to Harlan’s side and draped Harlan’s arm over his shoulder. He took the gun from Harlan’s limp hand.

“Give me the gun,” Sheila commanded. Pitt handed it over.

“How are we going to get out of here?” Sheila asked Harlan.

The sound of breaking glass drifted back from the lab.

“We’ll use the main entrance,” Harlan said. “My Range Rover should be there. I’d been afraid to go out that way for fear of discovery. Now it doesn’t make any difference.”

“All right,” Sheila said. “How do we get there?”

“We go out in the main hall and turn right,” Harlan said. “We pass the storerooms and there’ll be another air lock. Then there is a long corridor with electric carts. The exit comes up inside a building that looks like a farmhouse.”

Sheila cracked the door to the hall and began slowly to lean her head out to look back toward the lab rooms. She felt the bullet before she heard a distant gun go off. The slug had come so close to her that it had singed some of her hair before burrowing into the partially open door.

She pulled back inside the living room.