Assuming the device was perfected, the final analysis would be done by the core council when their minds were amplified, but even so these questions would be brutally difficult to answer.
Kira quickly caught up to her husband and Ross Metzger, who led them from his lab, past the recessed thumbprint scanner just outside the door, and into a short hall. Just beyond this was another lab, about half a football field in length, with a high ceiling. It was packed with monitors, lasers, and exotic physics equipment of every kind. Even so, it was so spacious and well laid out that it was anything but crowded.
Just past the lab they arrived at one of the company’s four conference rooms. Black, high-back swivel chairs surrounded a long conference table whose cherry wood veneer was so polished it had become reflective. They settled in and began a lively discussion.
Twenty minutes later they were interrupted by a grinding sound coming from Ross Metzger’s pocket. He glanced down suspiciously and pulled out his vibrating phone. “Sorry,” he said. “Wasn’t expecting any messages.” He tapped the screen a few times with his index finger and frowned.
Desh raised his eyebrows. “Problem?”
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” he replied. “But I should check it out anyway. Wait here. I’ll be back in five minutes.” He walked to the door, but turned back before he exited. “Five minutes,” he repeated with a sly grin. “Don’t let me catch the two of you in any compromising positions when I return.”
Desh smiled back. “Come on Major, give us some credit. We’re not hormone gushing high school kids,” he said in mock indignation. “I think we can manage to keep our hands off of each other for five minutes.” He stared at Kira lecherously and raised his eyebrows. “On the other hand, since you brought it up and all . . .”
Metzger shook his head and exited, making a show of leaving the conference room door open as he did so.
Desh pulled Kira up from her chair and gathered her in his arms. “I’ve always liked the way Ross thinks,” he said, and then brushed his lips gently against hers. She responded by moving even closer and kissing him with a tender, unhurried passion. Thirty seconds later their lips parted and they opened their eyes.
And they were blind.
Their faces were almost touching, but they couldn’t see each other at all.
The entire facility had become an impenetrable cave.
Desh carefully extricated himself from the embrace, and as he did so the backup generator on premises took over and the lights snapped on with a loud thunk—and then back off, plunging them once again into absolute darkness.
Kira surged to a heightened level of alertness. A power outage could have been accidental, but one followed immediately by an outage of the backup generator had to be deliberate.
“We’ve got trouble,” whispered Desh unnecessarily. He reached out clumsily until he found Kira’s hand and took it in his.
Kira fished in her pocket with her other hand until she felt the metal LED penlight attached to her key ring. It was a red cylinder about the size of a double-A battery. Small but surprisingly powerful. She unclipped it from the ring, turned it on, and pressed it into Desh’s free hand. He shielded the light in his palm so that it provided just enough illumination for them to find the open door, and peered cautiously into the hall.
Kira jumped as a burst of gunfire filled the air, coming from the direction of Metzger’s lab. The all pervading darkness amplified her startle reflex and her heart accelerated wildly.
Desh had seen considerable action in the special forces and the gunfire threw his mind and body into a heightened state of alertness that few could match. He swept the tiny penlight in an arc through the lab until he discovered the base of a bulky, high-energy laser. Without power it was nothing more than a large paperweight—but it could still serve as a fortified hiding place. He rushed to it, almost dragging Kira behind him in his haste. “Wait here,” he whispered. “I’ll be back soon.”
“I’m coming with you,” she whispered back. “You know I can fend for myself.”
“I know you can. But wait here anyway,” he replied firmly, rushing off in the direction of the gunfire with the penlight as he did so, leaving Kira once again in total darkness and with no way to follow.
She crouched low behind the heavy steel base of the laser and strained her hearing to its limits. She was tempted to activate her cell phone for the light it would give off, but knew this would only serve to give her position away.
Shit, she thought angrily. They had become too complacent. Too sure they were completely off the grid and that their hacking skills were too accomplished for them to ever be discovered. Too sure that their breakthrough advances in electronics and optics, which they used to transmit false images to street cameras and otherwise hide their existence, were foolproof.
After a few torturously long minutes of absolute silence she heard someone enter the far end of the large lab. Was it David? If not, her only chance was to remain as quiet as possible and hope she wasn’t spotted.
Blood pounded in her ears. Not being able to see an inch in front of her was unnerving on a primal level. She had been in any number of deadly situations against incredible odds, but she couldn’t remember ever feeling as helpless, or afraid, as she did now.
A faint light source accompanied the person into the lab—a partially covered penlight. Her heart swelled with relief. It had to be David.
The form was moving quickly in her direction, slamming into small obstacles as it did so. But as it neared she could vaguely make out a bulky, monstrous shape; a shape that couldn’t possibly be David. A shape that couldn’t even be human.
She opened her mouth to gasp when what she was seeing finally registered. It was David, all right. But he was running with a large body draped perpendicularly over his neck and shoulders, in a classic fireman’s carry.
An instant later she realized that the man he was wearing like a two hundred pound scarf was Ross Metzger.
He was unconscious. And quite possibly even dead.
***
Desh thrust the tiny flashlight into Kira’s hand as he reached her location. “Lead us to an office,” he whispered, his movement remarkably steady given the dead weight draped around his shoulders and neck. “Hurry.”
Kira began picking her way between the equipment, with Desh behind her.
“Ross?” she asked simply.
“Gunshot to the stomach. I applied a makeshift bandage, but he doesn’t have much time.”
Less than a minute later they arrived at a row of large offices. Kira chose the fourth one down and threw open the door. Desh carefully lowered Metzger to the floor just outside. He searched his friend’s pockets, hoping for matches or a lighter, but came away with only a cell phone. He handed this to Kira and followed her into the office.
“A large group of Commandoes breached the facility,” whispered Desh. “A few dismantling the cold fusion reactor. Ross was able to draw the others into his lab as well. He was shot, but he managed to crawl out and scan his thumb to seal up the room.”