“You remember which one?”
“No,” Teri said, amused by the thought.
“A lot of good the blueprints did.” He pressed the down button and within fifteen seconds the doors to both elevator cars opened simultaneously. “Your choice.”
“Eenie—Meenie—Minie—Mo.” She pointed to the car on the right. “I’ll check this one.”
The other car turned out to be the one that could take them where they wanted to go. Walt called her over, the car doors closed, and he used a clip he had broken off the cap of a ball-point pen to pick the basement lock.
“You’re getting pretty good at that.”
“I’m getting lots of practice.”
[138]
“So we’re really clearing out tonight?” Mitch asked as they came out of the lab on the third floor and started down the hallway to the elevators.
“Unless you’ve got a better idea,” D.C. said.
“What about our company downstairs?”
“The Knight woman and her buddy?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s just leave them.” He checked his watch, wondering how long it would take to clear everything out and still make it to the airport tonight. He could always have the agency arrange for a private plane. Only that would alert Webster, and he didn’t want that bastard to know what was going on. Not until after the fact, when the dust had settled and it was too late for him to stick his nose into it. “We’ve got other things to worry about.”
“Like the good doctor?”
“Does he worry you?”
“You know someone’s going to eventually track him down.”
“So.”
“So the first thing he’s going to do is start pointing fingers.”
“Yeah.”
“And the first finger he points, he’s going to point at you.”
“And what do you suggest I do about that, Mitch?”
“I’ll take care of him for you, if that’s what you want.”
D.C. stopped outside the first elevator car and momentarily stared at Mitch, both amused and—if he were to be honest—a bit intrigued. “You really got it in for the guy, don’t you?”
“Just trying to cover your ass.”
“Jesus, Mitch.” He reached out to press the down button, his mind toying with the idea of giving Mitch the go ahead to handle the doc in whatever fashion he deemed necessary. It might be easier on everyone that way. Just walk away and never have to worry about looking over his shoulder to make sure the Karma Project wasn’t coming back to bite him. He toyed with that a moment, and then his mind went to the DOWN light illuminated over the elevators and made a jarring new connection. Someone was in the elevator, going down.
“Where’s Tilley?”
“She went into town to pick up supplies.”
“Christ! Someone’s in the elevator!”
As part of the building’s security system, emergency in-house call boxes had been situated on every floor, directly across from the elevator shaft. D.C. dug his keys out of his pocket, unlocked the door, and grabbed the receiver off the hook. It was the first time he ever had to use the system. There was dead silence on the line.
“Come on!”
Finally someone picked up.
“Jake.”
“Override the basement elevator. Now! Do it now!”
[139]
Jake reached across the console to the elevator control panel and depressed the red, emergency STOP button, which activated the terminal stopping switch. He had already begun to suspect that something was wrong. The monitor on the far end had flickered from the receptionist’s area to a black screen and Jake had been fiddling with the contrast when the phone had rung.
“Got it,” he said.
“Great. Send the car back up to the third floor.”
“Will do.”
[140]
Somewhere between the first floor and the basement, the elevator car made a strange winding-down noise, like an engine shifting into a lower gear. It shuddered violently, and came to an abrupt stop. The overhead fluorescent lights flickered and went out momentarily, then slowly climbed back to full strength again.
“What’s happening?” Teri asked.
“My fault. We should have taken the stairway.”
“You mean they’ve shut us down?”
“Looks that way.”
“Can’t you override it?”
“Not likely. Not from in here.”
Walt took a look at the control panel anyway. There wasn’t much to play with: the emergency override button, the basement key lock, the buttons for the lobby and the two floors upstairs. He toyed with the panel face plate and almost had it off when the car suddenly shuddered and began to rise.
“Now what?”
“I think they’re inviting us back.”
“Great.”
[141]
Gabe had flailed with his good arm against the door until he was silly with exhaustion. He sank against the wall, catching a breath and glancing across the room at Cody, who was sitting up in bed, looking horrified.
“We’ve got to… do something,” Gabe said, panting.
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
When Tilley had brought Cody in on the wheelchair, she had folded the chair and left it leaning against the next bed. Cody worked himself a little higher on the mattress, pulled the covers off and swung his legs around.
“What are you doing?”
“I wanna help.”
[142]
There had been a sound, a little like the cargo hatch of a 747 snapping shut, and then the DOWN light over the elevator had suddenly gone off. D.C. waited anxiously until the UP light finally illuminated several seconds later.
“Got ’em!” he cried.
“Nice job.”
“When they show up, take ’em back to the lab and keep them there along with Childs. I’ll catch up with you as soon as I can.”
“Where are you going?”
“It’s time to start shutting things down.” The doors to the second elevator opened. D.C. entered. He pressed the button for the lobby and stood at the back of the car, his hands curled around the rail. “Don’t do anything until I get back. Got it?”
Mitch nodded.
The elevator doors closed.
D.C. sank back into the corner, feeling hopped up, his adrenaline keeping every muscle taut and on edge. It was all going to come crashing down soon, anybody’s guess who’d be left standing and who wouldn’t.
Hold on, Karma, ’cause the ride’s just beginning.
[143]
Enough was enough.
Childs had turned away from the console and watched D.C. and Mitch leave the lab, knowing that it might very well be the last time he ever saw either of them again. It had all come to a head now. There was no sense in trying to save what he had already accomplished. It was lost. Forever. A life’s work. Just like that.
The door had closed and Childs had scrambled to his feet. He went to the cabinet at the far end of the lab, unlocked it, and removed the only vial of AA103 that remained. He set the vial aside, and removed the tray of test tubes at the back of the cabinet, and slid open the false back wall. Behind it, set into the wall of the building, was a combination safe he’d had installed several years earlier. He opened the safe and removed its contents, which included: fifty thousand dollars in cash; a Visa, MasterCard and American Express, all made out in the name of William Devol; some obsolete research notes, which he tossed aside; a California driver’s license in the same name as the credit cards; a medical board certification and license to practice; two diplomas; and a set of car keys.