Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
“Then we need to find where he would keep the controls and let you try to shut it down,” Devi said.
Shannon’s head shook. “Honey, I’m excellent at a lot of things, but not computers. I use them but I don’t hack. We need a hacker.”
They were almost to the door, and Devi had the keycard out. “Luckily, I’m pretty sure we have at least one working right now.”
She pressed the key card to the reader but got nothing. “Damn it.”
She was about to turn and tell Shannon they needed a new plan when a face appeared in the window in one of the doors.
Huisman. She gasped and stepped back because… Well, first because it was shocking that anyone was there, and also he was covered in blood, a hole in his forehead.
He grinned, a ghoulish expression, and then slowly peeled off the hole on his forehead and wiggled it in front of her. “Ces imbeciles.” He winked, and she worried he had a way in. “Tell your uncle I hope everyone enjoys my countdown. Tick tock. I wish I could have changed the timer, but I still think this will work. You have less than an hour to find your way out of here, little mouse, or the whole place falls down. Enjoy the maze.”
She tried the keycard again. Locked. She saw Huisman’s shadow disappear as he made his way to whatever insane exit plan he’d put into place.
“He’s already set it in motion,” Shannon said, her voice hollowing out. “Zach needs to get out of here if he can.”
“He won’t. He won’t leave me.” She knew it deep in her bones. If she died here, he would go down trying to save her.
So she had to survive.
“How do we get these doors open?” Devi asked.
“I don’t think we do.” Shannon studied the keycard reader. “I think we need to worry more about the power going out completely and us being truly locked in. Once he gets out, I suspect that’s what will happen. He might have the bomb on a timer, but he’ll also have some remote way to control the rest of the building.”
“Devi!”
She turned and her body seemed to lift. Zach was there. His face was in the window, their bodies separated by these fucking doors, and there might not be anything they could do about it. She pocketed the key card and put a hand to the window, wanting so badly to be able to touch him. “You have to get out of here.”
She could see her uncle trying to use the key card from the other side.
“I’m not leaving you.” Zach’s beautiful face was stark in the sputtering lights.
“Huisman ran that way. He has some kind of plan, and he’s going to blow the whole mountain. You have to get the team out of here.” She would beg and plead. Anything to save his life. Their lives. She would give hers up so her family could live. “Tell my parents and my brother I love them.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Zach reiterated.
Her uncle stepped away, his fingers at the comm in his ear.
“I love you, Zach.”
“Move back.” His jaw went tight.
Her uncle stopped him. “Lou is working on the system, but she’s got another problem.”
Devi nodded. “He’s got a way to blow the whole compound, and that will send the anthrax out into the world. But he told us it’s on a timer.”
“Lou, is there a timer?” her uncle asked, touching his ear again. Then he cursed. “The comms go in and out, and I’m pretty sure Huisman had protocols to fuck with the key cards. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don’t.”
“Chaos,” Shannon said. “It’s what he bases his world view on. I suspect he’s the only person in the facility with a master card that works all the time. He’s likely set up a rotating system that shuts down security levels. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don’t.”
“So we try again in a few minutes?” Devi asked.
“No. I get this fucking door down.” Zach’s eyes suddenly went wide. “Devi, behind you.”
She turned and gasped because Ray White was walking through the doors they’d opened. He was covered in blood and looked like a damn zombie.
Unfortunately, he didn’t move like one, and he’d found more than a working keycard. He seemed to have found another gun along the way.
“Bitch,” he cursed and raised the gun.
Devi leapt, throwing her body to the right and behind the first of the long tables that dotted the cafeteria. It wasn’t a large room. Just enough for roughly forty people to take a break if they needed one. She would have to move and fast.
“Ray,” she heard Shannon say. “Don’t hurt Zach this way. Don’t hurt our boy.”
She couldn’t see Ray. She gripped the gun, thankful she managed to not drop it. Devi crawled along the side of the table to the end. Tilting her head down, she could see Ray’s boots and Shannon’s sensible shoes. They were too close. Why wasn’t Shannon hiding?