He reunited with Powell and Sealy in the center of the room.
“I had seven,” Ash whispered. “You?”
“Five,” Powell said.
Ash frowned. Twelve. That meant, not counting the supervisor, one more was out there somewhere.
“Check the bathroom,” Ash said to Sealy.
The man disappeared into the back room but returned only a moment later.
“Empty,” he said, no longer bothering to lower his voice.
“Dammit,” Ash said. “Okay. The regular personnel might not question who we are, but another guard will know right away we’re imposters.” He thought for a moment. “Sealy and I will go deal with the supervisor. Powell, check in with Harden. See if he’s received any word yet on whether Chloe’s been able to make it inside or not. If she has, get word to her to hold tight, then do a sweep for this missing guard. We need to neutralize him before we do anything else.”
Reni Barton breathed in the scent of the living earth in the level seven hot house. It was her favorite place in Dream Sky. While visually it wasn’t all that appealing, the smell always took her back to the garden her grandmother used to tend behind the house where Reni grew up.
Its relaxing effect was the reason she was here right now. She’d just come off a week of graveyard shifts so her body hadn’t adjusted to sleeping through the night yet. She could have taken a sleeping pill like the rest of Tau squad usually did, but she didn’t like the way they made her feel groggy for hours after she woke up.
She was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a loose yellow T-shirt with USMC emblazed in red across the front. She’d never been in the marines. Could have been, and would have done well, she was sure, but she was recruited into the Project’s security division before she’d even made up her mind about whether or not to enlist.
She inhaled again, held the earthy air in her lungs, and then blew it out slowly. After doing this a few more times, she thought she might finally be ready to rest, at least for a couple hours. She sucked in one more deep breath, and headed for the elevator that would take her back to level three.
The supervisor’s room was located off a hallway closer to the center of the level.
Ash tried the knob. Locked.
After whispering to Sealy what he was going to do, he rapped on the door and said in a raised voice, “Sir?” He gave it a few seconds and knocked again. “Sir? I’m sorry to disturb you, but I need to speak to you.”
This time he heard a grunt and the flop of bedding.
“Crap,” Sealy whispered.
When Ash looked at him, Sealy nodded in the other direction. Ash turned and saw two Project medical team members heading their way. From the other side of the door, he could hear the shuffling of feet.
The timing was going to put them all near the door at the same moment.
Ash swore under his breath and whispered, “You take the two.”
Sealy nodded.
“What do you want?” the supervisor grumbled as he approached the other side of the door.
“Sir,” Ash said. “There’s a situation. I was sent to find out how you want to handle it.”
The two in the hallway were only a few strides away, their gaze on Ash, apparently having heard what he’d said.
“Why didn’t someone just call me?” the supervisor asked.
“It’s sensitive, sir.”
“It damn well better be!” The handle rattled.
As soon as the door began to open, two things happened. Ash shoved it inward, catching the supervisor in the chin and knocking him back into the room, while Sealy drew his pistol and ordered the two in the hallway to drop to the floor.
Ash followed the door into the room and slugged the security boss in the stomach before the guy knew what was happening. The supervisor doubled over and staggered farther backward. As Ash swung again, the man threw his arms around Ash’s waist, causing Ash to lose his balance.
They hit the floor with a loud thud, the Project man landing on his back with Ash on top of him. Ash jammed his knee into the man’s stomach, then drew his pistol and shoved it against the man’s temple.
“Think very hard about your next move,” Ash said, his teeth clenched.
He could see the man’s mind racing through his options, and then coming up with the only one that would keep him breathing. Angry, he dropped his arms to the floor and quit struggling.
Without looking back, Ash said, “Bring them in here!”
As he zip-tied the supervisor, Sealy escorted his two captives into the room.
“As soon as my security team finds you, you will regret this,” the supervisor said.
“Your security team isn’t going to be doing anything for a while,” Ash said. “Dream Sky is ours now.”
Reni exited the west elevator and took one of the corridors that bisected the third floor to the other side.
She was thinking about the tomatoes her grandmother used to grow and the delicious sauce they made. Reni could almost smell the spices that would fill the house for hours. She might make some after all this craziness was over. She tried to recall the recipe, listing off ingredients in her mind, and had just added sage when she heard a noise from one of the other bisecting corridors, followed by a sharp but indistinct voice.
Thinking there might be a fight brewing — it happened now and then — she hurried forward, intending to calm things down, but when the voice spoke again, she stopped just short of the intersection. It wasn’t angry, but commanding. She crept to the corner and edged out so she could look into the hall.
About forty feet down, two technicians lay on the floor. Standing above them, pointing a pistol at their backs, was one of her fellow security officers, oddly in outdoor gear. What the hell had these two done?
She was about to see if her colleague needed help when she got a good look at his profile. She had never seen him before.
“Bring them in here!”
The voice had come from inside one of the rooms. She watched the uniformed man order the technicians to their feet and through the doorway. As they disappeared, she realized what room that was.
Supervisor McHenry’s private quarters.
Had the technicians tried to harm McHenry? A possibility, she thought. But who the hell was this unknown security man?
This didn’t feel right at all.
She glanced at the room, then toward the hall where the barracks was located. Maybe someone there knew what was going on. She hurried back to her quarters.
The bunk room was as dark as it had been when she’d given up trying to sleep and gone for her walk. She tiptoed over to Gorgan’s bunk and shook her friend.
“Gorg, wake up,” she whispered.
He didn’t stir, so she shook again.
“Hey, wake up. Something weird’s going on.”
By now he should have at least groaned in protest, but he hadn’t made a sound. She rolled him onto his back, sure that that would do it, but it made no difference.
“Gorg?”
She tapped his face.
“Hey, Gorg.”
She reached under his blanket for his wrist so she could check his pulse, and discovered that his hands were bound together with plastic ties.
Quickly, she checked the others. All were cuffed and as sound asleep as Gorgan.
The imposters, she thought. They did this. They’re definitely not part of the Project.
Her first thought was to retrieve a knife and cut everyone free, but they were obviously drugged so that would be a waste of time.