He turned and ran back down the hallway.
When he reached Michael and Billy, he said, “Is there another way to the second floor?”
“One of them is still here?” Michael asked.
“Is there another way or not?”
Michael nodded. “I’ll show you.”
Moving fast, Michael took him into a room that was set up as an office, then out a door on the other side. This led into a narrow corridor that fed into the kitchen. At the back of the room, next to the pantry, was a closed door. Michael wrenched it open. Beyond was a staircase.
Ash pushed past Michael and raced up. Behind him he heard the other man’s feet pounding the treads.
Instead of arguing with him, Ash looked back and said, “Stay just inside the stairwell in case they try to use it.”
Michael nodded. “Okay.”
Ash took off down the hallway. Having never been on this floor before, he let his instincts guide him. Ahead, the hallway bent to the left. He stopped just short of the turn and listened.
Silence.
Planning to move as quickly as he could to the far end, he stepped around the corner. He was instantly halted by the gun thrust in his face.
Janice headed for the back stairs, hoping the intruders weren’t guarding them, but as she neared the end of the corridor, she heard footsteps running in her direction down the intersecting hallway.
She leaned against the wall and raised her gun.
At first, the only thing Ash could see was the barrel of the pistol. Forcing himself to look beyond it, he made eye contact with the person who wanted to kill him.
“Janice?” he said, surprised.
Her eyes narrowed, confused, but she didn’t lower the weapon.
“Janice. It’s Ash. We’ve been looking for you.”
More confusion, the barrel wavering slightly.
“Please. We’re not here to hurt you. Whoever did this is gone. We just flew out from the Ranch.”
“The Ranch?”
He could see she was having a hard time understanding. She took a harder look at him.
“Ash?”
Whatever energy had been holding her up vanished. If Ash hadn’t jumped forward when he did, she would have smacked her head on the floor.
13
I.D. MINUS 12 DAYS
Browne and Solomon accompanied Ash, Pax, Billy, Michael, and Janice on the plane back to the Ranch. The other men stayed at the Bluff, securing it until the cleanup team arrived the next afternoon.
Janice had yet to regain consciousness since falling in the hallway. After a quick examination at the house, Billy determined that in addition to the flu, she was now also suffering from hypothermia, which would explain why she hadn’t been killed with the others. Somehow she had been able to hide outside.
Matt was waiting for them when they landed back at the Ranch. He had Ash and Pax ride with him, while everyone else piled into the other waiting vehicles.
“It was indescribable,” Pax said as Matt pulled away from the airstrip. “A goddamn massacre. I don’t think anyone even had a chance.”
“We ran the names of everyone you identified,” Matt said. “The missing person is a man named Jeremy Murphy.”
Pax shook his head. “I don’t think I know him.”
“He was one of the control room technicians.”
“So was he involved?”
“He’d have been perfectly placed.”
Everyone was silent for a moment, then Pax said, “If that’s the case, I wonder if he did this of his own free will, or was he coerced?”
“It doesn’t matter one way or the other,” Matt said. “They’re all still dead.”
Silence once more.
After a little while, Ash said, “Olivia must be pretty damn important to them.”
Matt frowned. “Maybe a few years ago, but I wouldn’t have thought now. Whatever skills she had, they would have surely replaced them by this point.”
“Could be a personal connection. Someone in the Project who just found out she was alive?”
“That would make more sense.”
“Or,” Ash said, having another thought, “what if she was just a byproduct? And the real goal was to disrupt your organization.”
“Then they would have struck here.”
“Has Murphy ever been here?”
“Yeah, but like most of the people we bring in, he doesn’t know where here is.”
“You should probably still get ready, because chances are they’ll figure it out.”
“That’s already being taken care of.” Matt glanced at him. “I’m afraid I need your answer now.”
Ash’s mind had been so absorbed with the events of the evening, it took him a few seconds to realize that Matt was talking about Bluebird. “You should have Pax lead the team. He did a pretty damn good job at the Bluff.”
“Pax will be going, but he won’t be leading. He’ll be there to help and advise, but mainly to be my eyes and report back. I can’t have you burdened with dealing with me, too. Once you go, you’re the authority. I won’t contradict any of your orders. I’ll have too much down here to deal with.”
“You’re assuming we won’t be successful, aren’t you?” Ash asked.
Matt said nothing for several seconds, then nodded. “Yes.”
The rest of the ride was in silence. When Matt pulled up in front of the Lodge and killed the engine, no one made a move to get out.
“You’re asking me to leave my kids,” Ash finally said. “To quite possibly sacrifice my life for something you think is not going to work anyway. Why in the hell should I do that?”
Matt looked at him. “Because if you do succeed, you’re ensuring that the world your children know will still be here.”
It was as if Matt had been echoing his own thoughts.
“Well?” Matt asked.
Ash sat down on the edge of his daughter’s bed, and gave her a shake. “Josie, I need to talk to you.”
She groaned softly and turned on her side, her back to him.
“Josie, come on. Wake up.”
He put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back around. She twisted against the mattress, then her eyelids parted.
“Dad?”
“Hi, sweetie. We need to talk.”
“What time is it?”
“Nearly four.”
She looked at the window, then back at him. “In the morning?”
“Yeah.”
Looking completely confused, she asked, “What do you want to talk about?”
He patted her on the leg and stood up. “Get dressed. I’ll wait for you in the hall.”
Once she joined him, he took her down to the kitchen where Bobbie had some hot chocolate waiting. The house was eerily quiet, in part due to the hour, but also because, as Matt had told him, most of the resistance personnel had shipped out not long after the destruction of the Bluff was discovered, so as not to be caught in any action that might have happened at the Ranch. Those remaining would be moving into the Bunker in the next few days, where they would remain, acting as communications hub, until it had all played out.
It took Ash an hour to fully explain everything to his daughter. He left nothing out, and answered all her questions as honestly and directly as possible.
She took it surprisingly well, but telling her the world might end in the next few weeks wasn’t the hardest part.
He took a sip of his now lukewarm cocoa. “There’s a chance we might be able to stop it. It’s not a good chance, but we have to try.”
“What is it?” she asked warily.
“We think we know where the Project’s headquarters are located. If we can get to those in charge before anything happens, we might be able to stop it.”
“Where?”
She was talking around the real question she wanted to ask, and he knew it.
“About three thousand miles north of here.”
She contorted her face. “You mean the North Pole?”
He couldn’t help but let out a quick laugh. “No, not that far, but close. On one of the islands in northern Canada.”