The Sphinx Project (27 page)

The first team overwhelmed our opposition, who were obviously unprepared for the assault. They overtook the entrance and via the radios, the others informed us that the second access route had been taken too.

Using this as a signal, we followed, crossing the distance between the trees and the building in no time at all. They had secured the prisoners and we moved past them quickly.

"The alarm has been sounded. You have approximately twenty-seven minutes to evacuate the building before reinforcements arrive,"
Mouse's voice announced in my ear. Glancing at my watch, it was a little amusing to note that twenty-seven minutes coincided precisely with midnight.

"Three teams—alpha, take the left route. Beta, go straight ahead. Gamma, take the right."
She knew where every single one of our men was because of a small tracking device in their microphones. She'd hacked into the security mainframe and had laid our GPS signals over the internal plans.

"Nike, Matt and Kayla, take the first right and go straight for thirty yards,"
she instructed before shifting her attention to one of the other groups.

We moved forward, guns in place, until we reached the corner. I crouched down to the ground and poked my gun around before me, while Nike and Matt went high. A single guard saw us and attempted to raise his weapon, but three shots slammed into his body at exactly the same time. One hit him in the face; from the direction of impact, I'd guess it to be Matt's. A second, mine, went through his shoulder. The third went directly into his masculine area. I glanced at Nike, who merely smirked. Matt cringed.

Halfway down the corridor, a door opened. The person who stepped into the hall was dressed in a white coat and carried his pens in a pocket protector. He looked ready to faint, facing the business end of three weapons with a dead guard before him. I snatched the ID Card from his lapel and rattled the numbers off into the microphone.

"He's okay—just a lab tech,"
Mouse assured us after a moment, having looked up his number in her computer.

"Get out of here," Matt snarled.

He ran and Matt radioed the men at the door, instructing them to hold him until we were finished.

"Where next?" I asked Mouse as we came to a junction. Including the one we'd come from, there were five different corridors leading in different directions.

"Sharp left."

We followed her instructions until we came to another door with a key pad lock.

"Mouse, we need a pin," I announced.

"Try six-seven-nine-two-two-six,"
she said.

The little light flashed red. "Nope."

"Four-eight-five-five-one-oh-nine?"

"No."

"
Six-six-three-nine-four-oh-nine."

I entered the numbers into the pin pad and the doors swished open.

"Bingo."

We found ourselves in a corridor lined with thick black doors, set into dark stone walls. Trying the closest door on my right, I found it locked.

"Mouse. You got a minute?" I asked, hoping she wasn't busy with one of the other teams.

"What do you need?"
she answered immediately.

"We have lot of doors here, but no pin pads, just swipe card access. Can you see what's behind them?"

"Give me a sec."
A moment later, the door before me clicked and a green light flickered on the electronic lock. Matt grabbed the handle and we raised our weapons.

On my nod, he yanked it open. At first I could see nothing. There was no source of light in the tiny cell, but as it filtered in, I became aware of a small person huddled in the corner of the room. Small tears dripped down a young face, tracing pale tracks down the grubby cheeks.

"Shit," Matt swore.

"Mouse, we're going to need backup. There are kids in here."

"On their way,"
she confirmed.

I crouched down and made my way forward, trying to make myself appear as safe and small as possible. "Hey, hello," I cooed.

The little thing turned her head, her wide eyes scared. Catching sight of her face my chest tightened. She looked so similar to Kelly. I had to wonder how she and her mother were coping.

"It's all right, it's okay," I continued to murmur as I drew my knife from my vest. She flinched when I flicked it open but said nothing. Silent tears continued to roll down her downcast face. I took hold of the cord that ran from a plastic restraint around her ankle and cut her free. Gathering her in my arms, I lifted her. She came willingly, grasping my neck and trying to hold herself even closer to me.

My chest tightened as her arms wrapped around me. Who could do this to toddlers? I pried her right hand free, rubbing at the muck that coated it. There, on her wrist, sat an arrangement of small black dots. I let out a sigh. Her, too. How many more had they made? How many more would they make?

"Mouse, we need the rest of these doors opened."

"Sure thing."
A chorus of clicks sounded and little lights flashed.

I set the child down, leaning her against the door to the cell where she'd been restrained before moving onto the next door.

I pulled it open slightly. I heard the small sound of a child's uncertain feet. From the corner of my eye, I watched the little girl follow a few feet behind me. I left her to it and opened the next door. Another child with wide eyes came into view. I cut her free and placed her against the wall of the corridor.

Crouched beside the kids, I heard another click. A different one. The door at the very end of the room began to open. A man in army fatigues pushed through with his weapon out.

Without any hesitation, I drew the handgun from my ankle holster and swung it up. Before I could fire, a shot rang out behind me. He coughed blood and then dropped. I turned to see Matt's gun in his hand, a glare on his face.

The children screamed as the man fell to the floor. They ran as fast as their legs could carry them in the opposite direction. Huddled in the far corner of the room, their terrified faces stared out at us. Inside, I was relieved to see that they were far out of the way.

More men arrived quickly and they helped us clear the cells at a much faster pace. The doors to the left held the little girls and on the right there were only boys. When every door had been opened, our back-up cleared the kids out, carrying one on each arm. Some had an extra one on their backs.

Alone again, we kept going, over the fallen guard and through the door at the end. Glancing at my watch, I saw that it was thirteen minutes to midnight.

"Mouse, how are their reinforcements? Still on target?" I asked.

"Nope, they hit bad weather. You have extra time; ETA is now seven minutes past midnight."

I gave a sigh of relief.

"Mouse, which way?"I asked as we came to a fork in the corridor.

"Left first."

We followed her instructions. The corridor was long and empty. I ran and the other two followed suit. At the very end of the hallway, we found one door. It had a small pad and no other features.

"Mouse, your assistance, please?"

"With what?"

"There's an electronic lock on this door."

"There's no record of any door there. It must be off the grid,"
Mouse said.

"What does that mean?"

"I can't access it. You'll have to sort it out yourself."

"So what do we do?" I asked, turning to Matt and Nike.

"I don't even know what that is," Nike said.

"Is it a fingerprint scanner?" Matt was confused too.

"There's only one way to find out." I pressed my index finger to the little pad. A small bar of light swept down. It whirred for a second before it beeped and flashed red. "I guess I'm not a match. Come with me." I turned, running back the way we'd come.

The man in fatigues lay where he'd fallen. I grasped one arm, Matt the other. Between us, we dragged him to the door. We held him in place while Nike methodically placed each of his fingers in turn on the pad. She finally reached the index finger on his left hand and the pad flashed green.

The door swung open. I came to an immediate stand-still, finding Nicole and Sarah confined in small plastic cells. They were exactly like the ones used below the labs in South Carolina.

They were each restrained, but instead of beds, their hands had been buckled to the walls. They were like prisoners in a medieval dungeon. Each cell had a huge padlock attached to it; no electronic locks here.

Their eyes brightened as soon as they saw us before confusion clouded their faces.

"Where's Briana?" I asked.

"I haven't seen her since the bar," Nicole replied. She seemed oddly broken, as if she couldn't face fighting anymore. This wasn't the sister I knew. Sarah didn't say anything.

I kicked the heavy sole of my boot against the plastic. It did nothing but make a loud noise. I was tempted to shoot the padlock, but the metal was sturdy and I didn't want to jam the mechanism if it didn't work.

"Where's the key?"

"They said the doctor had it," Nicole offered.

"Mouse," I barked into the microphone. "I need to find the doctor's office. Can you help?

"Go back the way you came,"
Mouse ordered.

Waving for Matt to follow me, I left Nike to guard the girls. We ran through the door, which was wedged open by the dead man. We sprinted back to the intersection and waited for Mouse's instruction.

"The next one on the left will take you there."

Turning sharply I kept sprinting. We came to a tall staircase leading sharply upward. Taking the steps two at a time, we dashed higher and higher. We must be in the part that connected to the mountain. The stairs ended abruptly at an ornate door.

"Mouse, door," I said, and once again she worked her technical magic.

With my rifle hanging at my back, I nudged the door open. My arms extended tensely in front of me, handguns grasped in both hands. I stepped forward cautiously, only to have something hit me from my side. I hadn't even heard anything.

I twisted as I fell, the person's momentum strong enough to tackle me to the ground. My head smacked on the heavy door, pushing it wide open. My world swam in front of my eyes, but I recognized the face of my attacker. Briana.

She managed to pin me down and was drawing her fist back to send a punch to my already tender head. I was dazed, more from the identity of my attacker than the actual attack. A hand came into view. It tried to grab her but she lunged at him instead.

Matt was quick, though. Somehow he managed to grab her hand and lift her from the ground. It was like watching an adult lift a squirming child. Apart from Mouse, Briana had always been the shortest. She flailed about like a fish out of water.

I pulled myself to my feet, wondering what she was doing. She twisted like a cat, managing to slam her head back into Matt's face, making him drop her.

"What the hell?" I yelled as she launched herself at me again. She swung her foot toward my head. I dropped the gun, throwing both of my arms up to shield my face from the blow, before kicking out at her other foot.

She avoided it but I pushed forward, kicking at her knee as she tried to sidestep me. My foot connected. Her knee cracked and she fell to the ground. She tried to leap to her feet again, attempting to ignore the pain. I knocked her back, punching her in the nose and sending her head into the wall. She was out for the count.

Fury coursed through me. My blood boiled. I tried to take a breath to steady myself, but it didn't work. I'd beat the stuffing out of a girl I'd known my whole life. I wasn't angry at her. I was angry at the puppeteer pulling our strings.

I turned to face the woman sitting primly behind the desk. She seemed almost bored with the display. I scooped my gun from the ground and leveled it at her face. She didn't even flinch.

"You do realize they'll never stop chasing you, don't you?" Doctor Fould's southern drawl dripped with resentment and resignation. "They're going to send me after you time and time again until they've got you back."

"I don't have time for this. Give me the key so I can unlock my sister and you can start chasing us again."

"She's not your sister." With a twist of her arm, she brought a gun up. She fired first at me, Matt and then Briana. I leaped out of the way, the bullet burying itself in the wall behind me instead. I didn't know if Matt moved or if her aim was awful, but the bullet intended for him continued out the door.

Briana had no such luck. Because I'd knocked her out, she didn't even see it coming. The bullet submerged itself in her chest. Her heart stilled instantly, her breathing shallow. The life left her completely and her blood spilled across the floor in a river of crimson.

Moving on instinct, I planted my feet, aimed and fired in the same movement. The bullet hit Sharnee in the chest, below her right shoulder. Her body jerked as she fell back in the chair.

"Killing me won't change anything. Except maybe I might finally find some peace," she said weakly.

"You don't deserve peace. Do you have any idea how many lives you ruined?" I asked, unable to hold the accusing tone back.

"No more than I created."

Pausing momentarily, I took a second to take in my surroundings. It was very similar to the office back at the labs, right down to the huge glass tank in the center. There was something different here though. The tank had huge heat lamps suspended above it, causing the temperature of the entire room to be warmer than was actually comfortable.

Movement caught my eye and I stepped closer to see what it could be. It took a moment for my eyes to distinguish between the landscape of the tanks and the creature within it. All of a sudden, I saw its eyes. Once I saw them, it was easy to see the rest of the body as it gradually unwound itself and slithered along the length of the glass.

"Gale…
Oxyuranus microlepidotus
, I presume," I said dryly. My anger throbbed again. I lifted my gaze back to the woman behind the desk, my mind working furiously. Was this the woman responsible for my mom's death, too? And Jake's mom?