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She preened. I stepped past her and opened the unlocked cabinet. It was filled with weapons, and by all rights should have been locked. The guards had obviously suspected the worst when Bear shorted the six cameras, and had simply grabbed their guns and headed out without relocking it. Which was good news for me; if things went wrong—and they more than likely would once I started destroying things—then at least I had an arsenal to use.
Once I released the sun shield, I patted the men down, relieving them of their weapons, then hit the door switch and partially opened it again. Bear might be able to slip through solid matter, but anything he was carrying wouldn’t.
As I waited for him to return, I sat down at the desk and studied the various light screens. There were more guards situated inside what I presumed were the main labs, given their size and the number of people within them, but none in any of the dissection rooms—including the one that held Sal’s body. Janice Harvey wasn’t in the purification room and didn’t seem to be anywhere else on the floor. The two guards who’d escorted me up here were also missing.
Unease stirred, but I shoved it aside. I could deal with them if and when I came across them. Right now I needed to find a way out, and then I needed to go finish what I’d started at Old Stan’s.
I keyed in a search for floor plans, and after a second or two they popped up on the nearest screen. This level was basically broken into three squares—the inner, smallest being the elevator foyer, the second being a series of large labs, and the third being smaller labs and rooms such as the cells and the dissection laboratories that ran around the exterior walls. One main corridor ran around the entire floor, and the corridor that led from the elevators appeared to be the only way in and out.
I frowned and made the image larger. There had to be fire escapes somewhere—it was illegal to build without them. After another couple of minutes, I found one tucked into a corner of a lab near the lobby, but I couldn’t see where it was accessed.
I can check, Cat suggested.
“Please.”
She returned the rifle to the cabinet, then headed out just as Bear was coming in. He plunked a plastic bag in front of me. Inside was not only the sealer and scalpel I’d asked for, but a syringe and the Oxy45.
Thought the latter
might be useful, he said.
“You thought right.”
I quickly injected the three men, then began stripping the uniform from the man closest to my size. While I was incapable of taking on a male form, I could certainly alter my features and make everything appear a bit manlier.
With that done, I grabbed the scalpel and cut his RFID chip out of his arm. Blood pulsed over both his companions and the floor, an indication that I’d probably nicked a vein. Whether he’d bleed out or not I didn’t know, and to be honest, I didn’t really care.
I cleaned off the chip and then, using the sealant, secured it to my palm. It probably wouldn’t last as long as the false skin Jonas had used, but it didn’t really need to. Once I’d altered both my features and my scent enough that a causal glance might mistake me as male, I changed clothes.
Eww, Cat said, when she returned. That form is not your finest.
I smiled. “The fire escape?”
Locked but otherwise not blocked off.
Locks could be shot off, but did I want to be trapped in such a small space?
Did I have any other choice?
Not really. Not unless I totally shut down all power to this place, and I could only do that by studying the electrical plans and finding the isolation switches. That would take time, and time was something I might not have a whole lot of right now. Not if Janice’s comment about notifying lab 2 that I was prepped and ready meant they would be coming to fetch me sooner rather than later.
I ran my stolen RFID chip over the scanner, ordered up the main security control screen, and systematically shut down all the cameras on this floor. I couldn’t afford to have them active when I began destroying things, because I had no idea if they streamed anywhere else other than this floor. Shutting them all down might well result in alarms being raised, but the guards had made an initial report about the camera fault in the cells, so they might just think this was an extension of that.
I pushed away from the console and walked back over to the weapons cabinet. I slung several assault rifles over my shoulder, clipped a couple of smaller guns onto the hooks at my waist, then pocketed as much ammo as I could carry. Then I hit the button to fully open the door and strode purposefully down the hall. Several white-coated men passed me, but none paid me any attention. I followed the corridor around to the other side of the building, slowing only when I approached the lab that held Sal’s body.
I took a deep breath, steeling myself against Rhea knows what, then ran the stolen RFID chip over the scanner and entered the lab.
He was lying on a table in the middle of the room, his body barely visible thanks to all the machines that were keeping his flesh viable. But I could see his face even though his skull lay open and his brain was exposed. The ugly mask of hatred—the very last expression he’d managed before the Sueño I’d used on him robbed him of life—was still frozen on his face.
I ignored the stubborn remnant of remorse within me despite knowing I’d had no other choice but to kill, and moved closer. The metallic click of the pump that had replaced his heart filled the silence and sent unease shivering down my spine.
Aside from the pump in his chest cavity, there was a dialysis machine as well as a myriad of other bits of equipment monitoring his various life signs. Although life was a misnomer in this case, because this wasn’t life, only flesh being kept alive. His spirit—his consciousness—had long departed.
I continued on past the table and studied the rest of the lab, looking for some means of destroying his remains. Cutting the power wasn’t really enough; I had to make sure there was absolutely nothing of him left that they could use to further their macabre plans. Which meant I had two options; either I needed to find a powerful acid that would destroy every scrap of flesh, muscle, and bone, or I’d have to create a chemical reaction that would have the same sort of effect. Given that there were plenty of chemicals in most labs, surely I’d be able to find something to use.
After a moment, I spotted a secure cabinet and walked across. Inside were half a dozen or so chemicals in heavy containers, all of them bearing warnings about toxicity and handling. I had no idea what any of them did, but several had “acid” as part of their name, so I grabbed them as well as the pair of heavy-duty gloves hanging inside the doors and walked back across.
And felt it.
