Brett Battles - Exit 9

He switched back to his previous screen, certain that the matter would be satisfactorily resolved.

As with all the Project’s warehouses, there was a vault on the lowest level, protected not only by the secured entrance to the underground floors, but also by an impenetrable composite door on the vault itself. Impenetrable by force, at least, not if you had the key.

Karie and Gleason accompanied Olivia and the prisoner in the elevator to NB328’s lowest level. When the door opened, Gleason pushed the man out, and Karie and Olivia followed.

There was no need for directions. While each of the facilities might vary in size, all were laid out basically the same. This way, if personnel had to be moved between locations, they could jump in immediately without the need of an orientation period.

Olivia led the way, passing contingency dormitories and the medical wing before turning down the short hallway to the vault. The first door they came to was similar to the others on this level, the only difference being that it needed to be opened via a security code.

“Enter the code,” Olivia told the guard.

“No way.”

She’d expected that response. She looked at Karie and held out her hand. “Radio.”

The woman handed it to her.

Raising it to her lips, Olivia said, “We’re outside the vault room entrance. Looks like we’re going to need that information.”

“Got it right here,” a voice came back, crisp and clean. “You were correct, ma’am. Mr. Heath does have family on the survival roster.”

The guard tensed.

“A sister and a teenage niece. They live in Arlington Heights, outside of Chicago. Both have already been administered the vaccine. You want their address?”

Olivia looked at the guard, an eyebrow raised in question. “Do I need it?”

“No,” he said, then punched the code into the keypad.

The room inside was about the size of a small studio apartment. Along the opposite wall was the actual door to the vault. It had a blue-gray sheen and fit flush with the wall. There was a control panel mounted to the left.

“You know what I want,” Olivia said to the guard. “And you know what we’ll do to your family if you don’t cooperate.”

“And if I do?” he asked. “You’ll leave them alone?”

“As long as you do as I ask, yes.”

He studied her face as if trying to determine if she was telling the truth. She was, but only because it would be a waste of time to bother with his family.

“Okay,” he said. “I…I’ll do it.”

He started toward the control panel.

“Mr. Heath,” Olivia said.

He looked back.

“I know there are two different codes you can use to get the door open. If you use the one that will activate the vault self-destruct, your family will die.”

He shook his head. “I won’t.”

The control software was set up so that it needed not only the code, but also scans of the authorized person’s eye and left hand. It could detect blood flow in the eye’s capillaries, and the body heat in the hand.

Olivia watched him as he punched in the code, then scanned his eye and his hand. Once that was done, the code had to be input once more.

When he finished, there was a second of silence. Then she heard the locks pulling open.

As the door swung out, Olivia looked at the guard. “Thank you.”

She nodded at Gleason, who raised his gun and shot the guard in the head.

The private jet carrying Perez from South America touched down in San Jose, Costa Rica, at 10:04 a.m. Thirty-seven minutes later, he pulled his car off the road, about half a mile from NB328, and covered the remaining distance on foot.

Judging by the exterior of the building, nothing looked amiss. That, of course, meant nothing. When he’d checked in with Bluebird upon arrival, they told him they still hadn’t been able to reach anyone inside the facility.

Staying at least a hundred yards away, he made two complete circuits of the building, but saw nothing unusual. Even the three satellite dishes on the roof that kept NB328 in contact with Bluebird looked untouched.

About the only thing he could say was that the place seemed to be too quiet. He knew that was his own bias, though, having spent much of the last several weeks in crowded, South American cities. Unless a depot was receiving a shipment, there was no reason for anyone to be outside.

The main door was in the middle of what was considered the front of the building. Perez watched it for several minutes, but decided not to approach it. If there were hostiles still around, they’d no doubt have someone posted just inside. The better bet was to use the emergency entrance. After all, it had been built for circumstances such as these.

He headed northeast to a point five hundred feet away from the building. The emergency entrances were all the same, designed to look like an abandoned concrete slab. He found it easily, but someone had released the locks that held it in place, and had slid it to the side, exposing the entrance to the tunnel.

He slipped his gun out from the holster, and pointed it at the opening. He couldn’t see far. At this angle, the sunlight went down only ten feet. Beyond that was darkness.

He circled around the hole, checking the ground for footprints. He needed to determine if it had been opened from the inside by people trying to leave, or from the outside by someone trying to get in. If it had been the latter, that would definitely be troubling, because that meant the attackers knew ahead of time about the emergency entrance, and how to open it, which meant they knew about the Project, too.

Footprints. Leading to the slab.

So these weren’t just some random thieves.

Perez looked at his watch. The team flying in from Mexico was not due to arrive for another hour and a half. Under normal circumstances, he would have waited, but nothing was normal anymore. He pulled out the small flashlight he carried in his pocket, and descended the steps.

“It’s Perez, sir,” Ross said over the speakerphone.

The DOP snapped up the receiver. “Transfer him to me.”

There was a click.

“Perez?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m inside NB328.”

“And?”

There was a pause. “Everyone’s dead, sir.”

The DOP didn’t move for a full second. “Everyone?”

“Yes, sir. The entire security team.”

“And the people who did this?”

“Gone, sir.”

“What about bodies? Surely a couple of them must have been hit.”

“If they were, they’re not here now.”

The DOP was stunned. A whole security team wiped out by a local gang? How in the hell did that happen?

“Figure out what they took,” he said. “If any of it shows up somewhere, we can trace it back and deal with them.”

Perez took a moment before he replied. “This wasn’t a random robbery, sir.”

“What do you mean?”

“None of the supplies are missing.”

“That can’t be right.”

“I could be mistaken. I only did a quick look-through, but…well, sir, whoever it was entered through the emergency entrance using the code.”

“The what ?”

“It was open when I got here, so I checked the surveillance footage and the sensor logs, knowing there should be a record of the break-in. Whoever they were, apparently they were able to hack into the system before they came in, and turned off all the surveillance.”

If the DOP wasn’t stunned before, he was now. The emergency entrance? Knowing the code and hacking into the security system? What the hell was going on?

“And something was taken.”

“What?”

“The vault was open. Two of the numbered boxes are missing.”