Curtis Wicks made a U-turn. As soon as he stopped at the curb, Matt opened the door and climbed in.
“Hello, Curtis,” Matt said.
“I…I don’t know what to call you,” Wicks said.
“I’ve been Matt for so long, I don’t think I could answer to anything else.”
Wicks held out his hand. “Good to see you, Matt.”
Matt shook it. “You, too, my friend. You, too.”
“What about there?” Sorrento asked.
The Humvee had just entered the Las Cruces city limits.
Ash looked through the light snowfall at the set of interconnected buildings Sorrento was pointing at. It appeared to be a school with several large parking areas. Perfect place for a convoy to hide.
“Yeah. Let’s take a look.”
The passing hours hadn’t made Hiller like the situation any more than he had when Mr. Hamilton told him what was going to happen. Sure, Mr. Hamilton was the boss, but going off on his own? That was crazy. What could he possibly accomplish by himself? He should have, at the very least, taken one of the men with him.
But Hiller had been trained to follow orders, and Mr. Hamilton’s orders were to wait thirty minutes after he left Alamogordo, then proceed to the Las Cruces shopping center where they now were, and wait.
“Be ready,” Mr. Hamilton had said. “If I need you, I’ll call, but if nine p.m. comes and I haven’t, don’t hang around. Get to Ward Mountain as quickly as possible.”
Hiller checked his watch. There was less than an hour to the deadline.
No, he didn’t like this one bit.
Matt felt his chest constrict as they pulled to a stop near the warehouse that sat above NB219. It had been a long time since he’d been so close to a Project Eden facility, and even longer since he’d been near this one, back when it was still under construction.
“We have to hurry,” Wicks said. “I have to be in my office in ten minutes. And it won’t look good if I’m late.”
He led Matt to the auxiliary entrance, located one hundred feet from the side of the warehouse. Meant primarily for emergencies, it was below ground, the door situated in a cutout that had been made to look like part of an arroyo. To open it, Wicks placed an ID card against a reader attached to the frame, and they were in.
A tunnel sloped gently upward, taking them all the way to the warehouse level. Another door, another reader. After the lock clicked open, Wicks held up a hand, telling Matt to stay put while he slipped through the doorway.
Matt was beginning to feel his friend had been gone too long when the door opened and Wicks waved him inside.
“We’re all clear,” Wicks whispered. “Here, put these on.” He was holding out a dark gray jumpsuit and matching baseball cap. “It’s what security wears.”
Matt put the duffel on the ground and donned the suit. After he zipped it up, he pulled on the hat, wearing it low so the bill would shade his eyes.
“Okay,” he said, picking up the duffel.
Wicks led him through the packed warehouse, and made Matt wait again in one of the aisles while he summoned the elevator. As soon as the doors opened, Matt walked as briskly as his bad leg would allow, from his hiding place and into the car with Wicks.
“When we get out, follow me,” Wicks instructed. “But not too close. Don’t make it look like we’re together.”
As Matt followed Wicks off the elevator two minutes later, he had another overwhelming moment of dread. He was actually here, in the belly of the beast. Suddenly the plan he’d made seemed ridiculous, impossible. There was no way it was going to work.
Stop it! he told himself. Take things one step at a time.
While the warehouse level had seemed deserted, down in the heart of NB219 plenty of people were passing from one hallway to another through the elevator lobby. Matt almost forgot to check for the panel but caught himself in time. It was there, all right, a few feet to the left of elevator car number one. Exactly where he remembered it.
Though he was increasing his physical discomfort, he did everything he could to minimize his limp as he followed Wicks down the hallway. Unfortunately, this required him to walk at an even slower pace than usual, so he fell farther and farther behind. When Wicks finally noticed, he was almost out of sight, and had to slow his own pace considerably until a more comfortable distance between them had been restored.
Matt was fairly sure no one had noticed him, but he was more than a little relieved when Wicks led him into an empty office and shut the door.
“Take this,” Wicks said, handing him the ID card he’d used to get them into the warehouse and to call the elevator. “It’ll open any door except to the principal director’s suite.”
“How am I supposed to get to him, then?” Matt asked.
“You don’t have to get into his suite. There’s a planning meeting at eleven p.m. in the conference room two doors down from here. No one’s using this office so you can stay in it right until the meeting starts.”
“You’re sure he’s going to be there.”
“He’s the one who initiated it. Wants to know where things are on the preparations for the recovery phase.”
“All right. Good.”
Wicks looked at his watch. “I need to leave.”
“Curtis, wait a second,” Matt said.
He set the duffel on the desk, unzipped it, and pulled out a plastic-wrapped package.
“You’ll find sixteen devices inside. Place them wherever you can, out of sight. The wider dispersion the better. There’s a sticky side, remove the plastic, and they’ll stay where you put them.”
Wicks hesitated a moment before taking the package. “Do I really need to do this?”
“Yes,” Matt said. “You do.”
Wicks took a deep breath. “Right. I’m sorry. Of course, I’ll do it.” He took the package from his old friend.
Before heading for the door, he remembered the envelope in his pocket. He pulled it out and removed the piece of paper inside.
“Here,” he said, setting it on the desk.
Matt picked it up. “What is it?”
“Something you asked me to look into a long time ago.”
Matt unfolded the paper, read the words printed on it, and then looked at Wicks. “Is this—?”
“Yes.”
“But you said it didn’t exist.”
“I lied. I was scared and I lied. I’m sorry.”
He turned to leave.
“Hold on,” Matt said.
Wicks wanted to keep walking, but forced himself to look back at his friend.
“When the time comes,” Matt said, “you’ll want to be miles away from here.”
30
Wicks arrived at his office just in time for his meeting with two of his team members — Adrian Bernstein and Evelyn Courser. Predictably, they were already waiting outside his door.
“Did you take care of the western Africa problem?” he asked Bernstein as he led them inside.
“Yes, sir,” Bernstein said. “It’s all done. Again, I’m sorry that—”
“It’s done,” Wicks said curtly. “That’s all I care about.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Wicks moved around his desk, Bernstein and Courser started to sit down in the guest chairs.
“Don’t,” he said. “This needs to be quick.”
“Quick, sir?” Bernstein said. “But, uh, we’re supposed to be prepping you for the eleven o’clock meeting.”