It was a beautiful, warm day. In the Southern Hemisphere, it was the end of spring, and in less than a week it would be summer. Perez had a brief thought about the millions of bodies in the city that would be rotting in the heat come January. He was not blind to the fact that he was working directly on making that happen, but it was for the greater good of humanity-the only way the human race would survive. At least he wouldn’t have to experience the decay firsthand. He’d be on a completely different continent by Implementation Day, safely riding out the unfolding disaster in one of the Project’s compounds.
He turned down the dead-end street where the building with the troublesome IDM was located. There were several cars parked along the block, but since there was no one on the street at the moment, he headed all the way back and entered the property.
The IDM had been sealed in the large, front room of the old building. There was, however, a disguised entrance that, with the right code entered into the hidden keypad, allowed Project members inside.
This particular entrance was all the way at the far end. The problem for Perez was that to get there, he had to go around the back of the building. As he walked along the rear area, he spotted fresh footprints in a patch of earth near the wall. He knelt down for a closer look. Two sets at least, and perhaps a third, pointing in the direction he was going.
Probably someone just taking a shortcut through the yard, or a couple teens hiding out from their parents.
He continued on, but as he reached a wall that had a group of bricks missing at the top, he noticed that the footprints simply stopped.
He opened the bag, pulled out the gun and two additional magazines. He stuck the gun in the holster under his arm and the spare mags in his pocket. He climbed the wall and dropped inside.
At first he thought maybe he’d been mistaken. The small room was empty. But then he noticed the door of an old cabinet in the corner hanging open. He pulled it out of the way and looked inside.
Well, look at this.
At the bottom was a hole that led into the sealed-off section of the house.
Both Hector and Rodrigo grunted as they tried to pull open one side of the container’s roof doors.
“Wait, wait,” Hector said, releasing his grip.
“We almost had it,” Rodrigo told him.
Hector frowned. They had not almost had it. In fact, while Rodrigo had been right, and there was a spot that was loose, it wasn’t loose enough.
“If we can’t get it to open enough to peek through, then it’s not going to work.”
“Uncle Hector, just one more time. I’m sure we can-”
“No. I don’t want to damage it. There’s no proof that any law has been broken. Except for us being here.”
“You’ve got to think there’s something strange about this,” Rodrigo said.
“Of course I do. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t, but I think maybe I should call this in and get some help.” He pointed at his nephew and down at his niece. “You two should go home.”
“Home?” Patricia protested. “I’m the one who found it. I should be here when you open it!”
“I understand that,” Hector said. “But if this is something bad, I don’t want your names on any report. The last thing I want is some drug lord looking for you, understand?”
“I hadn’t thought about that,” Rodrigo said.
Patricia looked like she wanted to say something, but stayed quiet.
“I’m sorry,” Hector said. “But you understand, don’t you?”
Patricia, still silent, seemed to have stopped paying attention to him.
“I promise I’ll tell you exactly what we find. Okay?”
A male voice from somewhere out of Hector’s sight suddenly said, “I’m afraid you’re not going to get that opportunity.”
It hadn’t been something she’d heard. What had caught her attention was movement, a subtle shift in the layers of darkness at the far end of the container. At first she thought she was seeing things, but then the outline of a man emerged.
A man holding a gun pointed at her.
“I’m sorry,” Uncle Hector said. “But you understand, don’t you?”
She tried to open her mouth, to warn her uncle and brother, to scream, but all she could do was stare at the gun.
“I promise I’ll tell you exactly what we find. Okay?”
The man with the gun grinned. “I’m afraid you’re not going to get that opportunity.”
His words broke her spell. “He’s got a gun!” Even before she finished yelling, she started running toward the container end closest to her, hoping she could get behind it before the man shot her in the back.
She heard her uncle yell something, but her mind wasn’t registering the words. Her focus was only on finding a place to hide.
Something thudded against the ground behind her. She couldn’t help but look back.
Uncle Hector had jumped off the container and was standing between her and the man with the gun.
“Put it down!” he ordered.
Patricia reached the end and moved partially behind it. “Uncle Hector, please run.”
“I’m a police officer,” Hector said, still looking at the man. “You will toss the gun over here, then you will lie on the floor, your hands on your head.”
For a second it looked like the other man was surprised by Uncle Hector’s words, but then he said, “If anyone’s breaking the law here, it’s you. You don’t own this property. My employers do. You have no right to be here.”
“Your employers are the owners? Then what’s inside this box?”
“Whatever’s in there is not your business.”
“If you move the roof away, and open the top, it looks suspiciously like you are going to release something into the air. Some kind of waste product, is that what it is? Something you’re trying to hide?”
The man cocked his head. “Is that what you think? How interesting.”
If it weren’t for her fear of the gun, Patricia would have rushed out, grabbed the back of her uncle’s shirt, and pulled him to safety. “Please, Uncle Hector. Please come.”
A noise behind her startled her. It was her brother peeking at her from around the other corner. He motioned for her to come to him. She shook her head, and motioned with her eyes toward the other side where their uncle was.
“He wants us to go,” he whispered, “while the other guy can’t see us. He’s trying to keep him busy.”
Leave Uncle Hector behind? They couldn’t do that.
“Who knows you’re here?” the man with the gun asked.
“My colleagues,” Uncle Hector said. “They’re already on the way.”
“Really? That’s not what it sounded like to me. I got the distinct impression from what you told the other two that you hadn’t called anyone yet.”
“I called them on the way here. Told them where I was going. They should be here soon.”
Patricia could hear the lie in her uncle’s voice, and was sure the other man did, too.
“Tell your friends to come out. They’re not going to get away.”
Uncle Hector said nothing.
“Did you hear me?” the man said, raising his voice. “You’re not going to get out. I’ve blocked the entrance through the cabinet. And I guarantee you that the bullets in my gun travel faster than any of you can run.”
“Come on,” Rodrigo said. “We have to go now.”
“What about Uncle Hector?”
Rodrigo hesitated a moment, then said, “I have a plan, but you have to get out of here first.”
“You heard him. He’s blocked the cabinet.”
“Then use the rat hole.”
The rat hole? She had forgotten all about that. It wasn’t really an exit, but it was a way to get out of sight. If she still fit.
Not knowing what else to do, she scrambled past her brother, and out through the collapsed wall.
“I said, get out here!” the man yelled again, his voice now partly blocked by the container.
“Okay,” Rodrigo said. “We’re…we’re coming.”