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One of the guards nudged the curator forward.
“Open it,” Valya ordered him.
Kwong glanced to Gray, who nodded at the man. “Do as she says.”
The director fumbled and swiped his keycard through a reader, then placed his palm atop the glowing pad. The screen buzzed, then turned green. A rumble of gears sounded, accompanied by a sliding of metal.
A gunman grabbed the wheel, spun it, then heaved the foot-thick steel door open. Past the threshold, a large space opened. It was the size of a two-car garage and looked like a microcosm of the larger museum. To the right, rows of open shelves were crowded with bottles of every size. From the yellowing of the glass, Gray surmised that the collection was old, going back to the museum’s earliest years. To the left stretched rows of tall steel drying cabinets.
Valya left them outside and passed into the vault by herself. She consulted a scrap of paper and searched down the rows of cabinets, studying the dates on them. She crossed all the way to the back, to the oldest section, and bent down by one of the cabinets. With her back to them, she opened its door and ran a finger down a stack of wooden drawers. She tapped one and drew it out, sliding it fully free so she could carry it forth.
With the drawer in her hands, she crossed back to the door with a hard, satisfied smile.
Seichan glanced at Gray.
He nodded and said one word. “Now.”
3:17P.M.
Upon Gray’s signal, gunfire strafed into the storage room through the open door behind him. He leaped headlong and bowled into Kwong. He knocked the curator behind the nearest shelf of crates. Seichan dove along with them.
“Secure!” he radioed to Zhuang and Guan-yin.
The barrage intensified.
Men twisted and writhed, caught in a crossfire from the two shooters. Guan-yin and Zhuang had taken up positions on opposite sides of the research lab outside, firing through the door into the storage room.
Earlier, as soon as Gray had been ambushed, he had dipped his chin, activating the throat mike taped over his larynx. During the captors’ rush to secure their prisoners and get them moving, the gunmen had failed to note the nearly imperceptible radio gear. With the device activated, Gray had been able to alert Zhuang and Guan-yin of the attack, letting the two listen in on them the entire time.
In turn, Zhuang and Guan-yin had kept Gray abreast of their own journey upward. Zhuang had lifted a keycard from a passing guard. Guan-yin obtained the same from a researcher eating lunch. They had split up, coming up opposite sides of the museum to ambush Valya’s two posted guards. Their attack was aided by the team’s IVAS goggles. Using the feed from the CCTV cameras on this floor, they were able to spy on their targets. The two had waited until the guards were looking the wrong way, then silenced them with slashes to their throats. Afterward, they took up positions outside the lab and waited for Gray’s signal.
As the barrage continued, Gray covered Kwong with his own body.
By now, Seichan had snapped her ties free on a sharp bolt in the shelves.
Gray rolled off Kwong. “Keep him safe,” he called to her.
“Where are you—”
He didn’t even have time to free his wrists.
“Hold fire!” he radioed as he lunged up.
The gunfire ceased for a breath, and he dashed over to the openvault. He shouldered into the heavy door and swung it closed, intending to trap Valya with her prize inside. Before it could seal completely, she rushed out sideways.
She matched eyes with him, her hate shining brightly. To escape through the narrow gap, she had tilted the wide tray in her hands. She also struggled for her holstered SIG. As she did, the tray’s contents spilled to the floor.
Valya dove for them.
Gray did the same, skidding low, feet first, as if sliding into home plate.
“Resume fire!” he hollered.
Gunfire strafed over them. Gray’s toe kicked aside a clear envelope of yellowed pages. It slid under one of the shelves. He tried to do the same to a dented steel box, but Valya nabbed it one-handed and rolled away. She came up with her SIG in her other hand.
She pointed at Gray and fired—but a bullet from outside grazed her shoulder and threw off her aim. Her round pinged off the vault door near his ear. Valya was forced away as the gunfire focused on her. One of her men, bloodied but alive, rounded the shelves on the other side where he had been sheltered. He came to her aid.
Together, the pair rushed the storage room door, firing nonstop. As they reached the exit, Valya grabbed the man by the collar and shoved him ahead of her. Using his body like a shield, she fled across the research lab. His body jolted and jarred under the impact of rounds.
