As he quietly pulled the lab door open Pierce saw a variety of colors in the central lab. To his left he saw the large body of Six-Eight sprawled near the mantrap door. His torso was a collage of reds and yellows tapering in his extremities to blue. He was dead and turning cold.
There was a bright red and yellow image of a man huddled against the wall to the right of the main computer station. Pierce raised the gun and aimed but then stopped himself when he remembered Rudolpho Gonsalves. The huddled man was the security guard Wentz had used to gain entrance to the lab.
He swept right and saw two more still figures, one slumped over the probe station and turning blue in the extremities. Cody Zeller. The other body was on the floor. It was red and yellow in the vision field. Renner. Alive. It looked like he had turtled backward into the kneehole of a desk. Pierce noted a high-heat demarcation on the detective's left shoulder. It was a drip pattern. The purple was warm blood leaking from a wound.
He swept left and then right. There were no other readings, save for yellow reactions off the screens of the monitors in the room and the overhead lights.
Wentz was gone.
But that was impossible. Pierce realized that Wentz must have moved into one of the side labs. Perhaps looking for a window or some sort of illumination or a place from which he could attack in ambush.
He took one step through the doorway and then suddenly hands were upon him, grabbing his throat. He was slammed backward into the wall and held there.
The vision field filled with the blaring red forehead and otherworldly eyes of Billy Wentz. The warm barrel of a gun was pressed harshly into the softness under Pierce's chin.
"Okay, Bright Boy, this is it."
Pierce closed his eyes and prepared for the bullet the best he could.
But it didn't come.
"Turn the fucking lights on and open the door."
Pierce didn't move. He realized Wentz needed his help before he could kill him. In that moment he also realized that Wentz probably wasn't expecting that he would have a gun in his hand.
The hand that gripped his shirt and throat shook him violently.
"The lights, I said."
"Okay, okay. Lights."
As he said the words he brought the gun up to Wentz's temple and pulled the trigger twice. There was no other way, no other choice. The blasts were almost simultaneous and came instantaneously to the lights in the lab suite coming on. The vision field went black and Pierce reached his other hand up and shoved the goggles off. They fell to the ground ahead of Wentz, who somehow maintained his balance for a few seconds, despite his left eye and temple having been torn away by the bullets Pierce had fired. Wentz still held the gun pointed up but it was no longer under Pierce's chin. Pierce reached out and pushed the gun back, until its aim was no longer a danger. The push also sent Wentz on his way.
He fell backwards onto the floor and lay still, dead.
Pierce looked down at him for ten seconds before taking his first breath. He then collected himself and looked around. Gonsalves was getting up slowly, using the far wall to hold himself steady.
"Rudolpho, okay?"
"Yes, sir."
Pierce swung his view to the desk beneath which Renner had crawled. He could see the cop's eyes, open and alert. He was breathing heavily, the left shoulder and chest of his shirt soaked in blood.
"Rudolpho, get upstairs to a phone. Call paramedics and tell them we have a cop down.
Gunshot wound."
"Yes, sir."
"Then call the police and tell them the same thing. Then call Clyde Vernon and get him in here."
The guard hustled to the mantrap door. He had to lean over Six-Eight's body to reach the combo lock. He then had to step widely over the big man's body to go through the door.
Pierce saw a bullet hole in the center of the monster's throat. Renner had hit him squarely and he had gone down right in his tracks. Pierce realized he had never heard the big man speak a single word.
He moved to Renner and helped the injured detective crawl out from beneath the desk.
His breathing was raspy but Pierce saw no blood on his lips. This meant his lungs were likely still intact.
"Where are you hit?"
"Shoulder."
He groaned with the movement.
"Don't move. Just wait. Help is coming."
"Hit my shooting arm. And I'm useless at distance with a gun in my right hand. I figured the best I could do was hide."
He pulled himself into a sitting position and leaned back against the desk. He gestured with his right hand toward Cody Zeller, handcuffed and slumped forward over the probe table.
"That's not going to look too good."
Pierce studied his former friend's body for a long moment. He then broke away and looked back at Renner.
"Don't worry. Ballistics will show it came from Wentz."
"Hope so. Help me up. I want to walk."
"No, man, you shouldn't. You're hurt."
"Help me up."
Pierce did as he was instructed. As he lifted Renner by the right arm he could tell the smell of carbon had permeated the man's clothes.
"What are you smiling at?" Renner asked.
"I think our plan ruined your clothes, even before the bullet. I didn't think you'd be stuck in there with the furnace so long."
"I'm not worried about it. Zeller was right, though. It does give you a headache."
"I know."
Renner pushed him away with his right hand and then walked by himself over to where Wentz's body was lying. He looked down silently for a long moment.
"Doesn't look so tough right now, does he?"
"No," Pierce said.
"You did good, Pierce. Real good. Nice trick with the lights."
"I'll have to thank my partner, Charlie. The lights were his idea."
Pierce silently promised never to complain about the gadgetry again. It reminded him of how he had held things back from Charlie, how he had been suspicious. He knew he would have to make up for it in some way.
"Speaking of partners, mine's going to shit himself when he finds out what he missed,"
Renner said. "And I guess I'll be headed to the shitter myself for doing this on my own."
He sat down on the edge of one of the desks and looked glumly at the bodies. Pierce realized that the detective had possibly jeopardized his career.
"Look," he said. "Nobody could have seen all of this coming. Whatever you need me to do or say, just let me know."
"Yeah, thanks. What I might need is a job."
"Well, then you've got it."
Renner moved from the desk and lowered himself into a chair. His face was screwed up from the pain. Pierce wished he could do something.
"Look, man, stop moving around, stop talking. Just wait for the paramedics."
But Renner ignored him.
"You know that stuff Zeller was talking about? About when you were a kid and you found your sister but didn't tell anybody?"
Pierce nodded.
"Don't beat yourself up on that anymore. People make their own choices. They decide what path to take. You understand?"
Pierce nodded again.
"Okay."
The door to the mantrap snapped loudly, making Pierce but not Renner jump. Gonsalves came through the door.
"They're on the way. Everybody. ETA on the ambulance is about four minutes."
Renner nodded and looked up at Pierce.
"I'll make it."
"I'm glad."
Pierce looked back at Gonsalves.
"You call Vernon?"
"Yes, he's coming."
"Okay. Wait upstairs for everybody and then bring them down."
After the security man was gone Pierce thought about how Clyde Vernon was going to react to what had happened in the laboratory he was charged with protecting. He knew that the former FBI man was going to implode with anger. He would have to deal with it.
They both would.
Pierce walked over to the desk where Cody Zeller's body was sprawled. He looked down upon the man he had known for so long but now understood he hadn't really known at all. A sense of grief started to fill him. He wondered when his friend had turned in the wrong direction. Was it back at Palo Alto, when they had both made choices about the future? Or was it more recently? He had said that money was the motivation but Pierce wasn't sure the reason was as complete and definable as that. He knew it would be something that he would think about and consider for a long time to come.