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“Do you think the cameras have live feed?” Grace asked.
“We’ll find out about two minutes after we breach the front door. It looks like a key-code security system. The windows are sensored, and there’s probably a trip wire and a secondary system once you get past the key code.”
“It’s a pity Standridge didn’t have Ethan design his system. I very rarely find a challenge nowadays. It took me fifteen full minutes to get into his apartment the other morning.”
She could see Gabe’s teeth gleam in the light. “It took me eight. Though he never knew I was inside. Do you want to do the honors?” Gabe asked, holding out his hand as if to say,“Ladies first.”
“As much as I hate to admit it, you’re faster. Be my guest.”
The back entrance was surrounded by a black, wrought-iron fence, and Gabe had his pick in the lock and the gate swinging open in a little over two seconds. He strode up to the back door like he owned the place, and Grace kept her position at the gate so she could keep watch up and down the alley.
Gabe had the door unbolted and the cover off the keypad by the time she looked back. She shook her head in pure appreciation. He could have made a hell of a living on the other side of the law. He held a screwdriver between his teeth, and his fingers were sure and steady as he cut wires and disarmed the system.
Grace left the gate open and went to join him inside the building. She pulled out her weapon and kept quiet as Gabe dealt with the secondary system. The cameras panned and scanned, and if someone was watching on the other end, things were going to get interesting real soon. If the cameras recorded straight to video, then it would all be destroyed anyway, and they’d get away free and clear. It was a chance they’d have to take either way.
“Done,” Gabe said. He hadn’t even broken a sweat.
Grace looked at her watch. “Four minutes start to finish. Not too shabby.”
He gave her a smile that made her pulse jump and then headed farther into the building. A series of see-through cubicles ran the length of the space, and she assumed they were different testing areas. Each one had a separate entry door with its own security system. The cubicles were sealed across the top, keeping whatever was going on inside completely contained.
“Well,” Grace said. “This is going to make things more difficult.”
“Maybe not. Logan gave me something new he’s just developed. It would go faster if we could get into each room and start a separate charge, but it’ll work just fine with one point of acceleration.”
Gabe looked quickly into each room and chose the one that was obviously Standridge’s main research room. Mathematic formulas were written along the clear walls, and maps were spread across every surface. He bypassed the security and opened the door.
“All of these rooms are connected to one electrical circuit,” Gabe said, squatting down next to the baseboard and unscrewing the plate that covered the electrical outlet.
“How does the bomb work?” Grace asked.
Gabe sliced plastic coverings and exposed the raw wires and then pulled out a tiny glass vial.
“Logan wouldn’t tell me what was in it when I asked, but the basic concept is that once the liquid touches the wires it travels through the entire electrical circuit. It works like an acid and a combustive at the same time, the heat getting so intense that it melts everything surrounding the wires. Once the wires reach a certain temperature, they spontaneously combust, which causes small explosions at each major circuit point.”
“Nice,” she said. “How long from start to finish?”
“Anywhere from five to ten minutes is what Logan said.” Gabe carefully pulled the dropper from the glass vial and placed one drop on the exposed wires.
She stared at the wires and said, “Well, that’s rather anticlimactic, don’t you think?”
“There’s nothing like the satisfaction of a big boom,” he agreed.
Several car doors slammed from the street side.
“We may get a big boom one way or another.” Grace checked the magazine for her weapon and then moved back to the alley entrance. She ducked behind the doorframe just as the wood splintered above her head.
Gabe took position on the other side, and Grace hunkered low against the wall. Something that smelled like burning plastic reached her nostrils just as a barrage of shots was fired into the open door. Gabe held up a small mirror, shielding the glare with his hands so the enemies couldn’t pinpoint their exact location.
“I see three,” he whispered. “Ten, two, and three o’clock. All slightly downhill from our position.” The door at the front of the building rattled as someone tried to get inside and trap them from the other direction.
“Got it.” Grace scooted down so she lay flat on her stomach. She waited until another shot was fired and she could tell exactly where he was standing and what angle she needed to fire.
“Gotcha.” She leaned out slightly and fired. All she heard was a groan in response.
“Hurry,” Gabe said.
Smoke started to fill the room, and she was glad she was down on the floor. Breathing was almost impossible as it was. More shots were fired at them, and she quickly leaned out and fired back in quick succession.
