He opened one of the hypo kits, stuck the needle into the bottle, then started drawing the drug out.
Yes. Very humane.
“That door there,” Winger said, his voice weakening. “Those are the subject rooms. They’re in there.”
“I think it’s best if we leave you here,” Ash said. “Do you want to lean on the wall? Or sit on the ground?”
“I…don’t know if I can…stand on my own.”
“Okay, no problem.”
Ash tried to ease the man to the floor as gently as possible, but the orderly still sucked in his breath and winced.
“I’m sorry,” Ash said once the man was down.
“It’s okay.” Winger tried to smile. “Go get your kids.”
Ash gave him a pat on the shoulder, then he and Chloe moved down the hall to the door Winger had pointed out.
“What’s the plan?” she whispered.
“Play it by ear.”
“Oh, okay. So the same plan as before.”
Ash didn’t bother to respond.
He turned the knob until the latch was all the way out, then he inched the door open just enough so that he could see inside. The space appeared to be set up similarly to the wards back at the Palmer Psychiatric Hospital — central corridor and doors off to the sides.
He eased the door open some more. No shouts, no sounds of movement, nothing.
With a quick warning glance at Chloe, he pulled out the door wide enough to get through, then rushed inside. No one was there.
“Check the doors,” he whispered.
They worked from opposite sides, opening each door and looking in. Every room Ash checked had beds, but all the mattresses were bare and appeared unused.
“Ash!” Chloe called out.
She was standing in the doorway of a room near the back wall. He rushed over and looked in.
There were two beds inside. Both had blankets and sheets but were unmade. He moved in quickly, put a hand on one mattress, then the other. The bed on the left still had the warmth of a body.
He ran past Chloe out of the room, through the outer area and back into the hallway.
Winger’s eyes were closed as Ash reached him.
“They’re not there!”
“Wha… what?” Winger said, his eyelids barely peeling apart.
“They’re not there. No one is. Where are they?”
“Not there?” The orderly looked confused. “I don’t…” He stopped, then his eyes opened wider. “No. Oh, God, no.”
“What?”
“Okay,” Ramos said as he stepped out of chamber three, where he’d just laid Brandon Ash next to the girl on the floor.
At that very moment, the indicator for the door to the first airlock switched from closed to open on the lab’s computer screen.
Dr. Karp almost missed it. He had just finished activating the controls for chamber three, and had turned away to retrieve the hypos of Beta-Somnol when one of his oldest habits, his need to double-check everything, caused him to look back.
Not for one second did he think whoever had entered was one of the project members there to help him.
This was it. The end. Unless there was some kind of miracle — something he didn’t believe in — his own life would soon be sacrificed.
Before it had been just a possibility. Now, the harsh reality was numbing.
Five seconds passed without him moving at all. Then he remembered his oath, his promise to the project. The job he still had to do.
He grabbed the needles, and was halfway to chamber three before he realized there wouldn’t be enough time. He’d have to start the sequence without administering the drug. Hopefully, the children would remain asleep and feel no pain as the intense heat quickly took their lives. Not quite as humane as he’d hoped, but still better than nothing.
When he got back to the monitor, the indicator for the door between the second and third airlocks was already in the open position. As soon as it closed, the door to the lab would open.
He started punching in the code.
49
Ash pulled the door between the second and third airlocks shut, then jammed down the handle that created the final seal. Already having positioned herself at the door to the lab, Chloe began pulling up its handle the second he finished. Ash got there just in time to grab the edge of the door as it released and yank it open.
“No one move!” he yelled as he and Chloe rushed into the room.
There were three men inside. Two were standing next to a wide window that looked into what appeared to be another room, while the third was at a counter along the right wall in front of a computer. Ash knew this third man. He’d seen a picture of him at the ranch. He was the man responsible for the hell Ash’s family had gone through.
“Dr. Karp, where are my children?”
The doctor’s head tilted slightly to the side, then his eyes narrowed. “Captain…Ash?”
“Where are my children?”
“I’m impressed, Captain. I didn’t know you were this resourceful. Unfortunately, I’m afraid you’re too late.”
“What do you mean?”
“They died in the outbreak at Barker Flats,” the doctor stated matter-of-factly. “You were told that before.”
“We both know that was a lie.”
Dr. Karp lowered his hand, his fingers now resting on the edge of the counter. “Why wouldn’t we have told you the truth?”
Ash took three quick steps forward, closing the gap between them to less than ten feet, and pointed the SIG at the center of the doctor’s face. “Where are they?”
“Seriously, Captain. They’re dead. There’s nothing you can do.”
Dr. Karp’s fingers tapped nervously against the counter.
Without looking at her, Ash signaled Chloe to check the rest of the room. As she moved past Dr. Karp, he eyed her nervously.
“Where are they?” Ash asked the doctor again.
The ends of Dr. Karp’s mouth went up and down in a quick smile. “It doesn’t really matter, you know. You’ll all be dead soon enough. Well, maybe not you, but everyone else. The whole world will be different then.”
“They’re in here!” Chloe yelled.
Ash turned to look. Chloe was standing next to an open door that appeared to lead into the room the window looked in on. Before Ash could react, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned back just in time to see the doctor hit one of the keys on the keyboard.
Ash wanted to run over to Chloe, but he sprinted to the doctor instead, grabbing the man by his collar.
“What did you do?” Ash demanded.
“It’s closing!” Chloe yelled.
“I told you,” the doctor said. “There’s nothing you can—”
Chloe screamed out in pain. “Stop it! Stop it!”
Ash looked over. She’d put her leg between the door and the jamb, preventing it from sealing shut. But whatever was closing it was keeping the pressure on her.
“Help her!” Ash yelled at the two men cowering by the window. They hesitated a moment, then jumped up when Ash pointed his gun at them, and moved quickly over to Chloe.
“I’m not sure you want them to do that,” the doctor said.
“What are you talking about?”
“Look for yourself.” Dr. Karp nodded toward the window.
Ash wasn’t about to leave the doctor behind, so he manhandled him across the room, then looked through the window. Josie and Brandon were on the floor. While his son looked like he was asleep, Josie was sitting up, her eyelids only half open.
“Oh, that’s too bad,” the doctor said. “The sound must have woken her. I was hoping they’d both just sleep through it.”
Ash turned on him, and leaned in so that their faces were only inches apart. “What did you do?”
“Once that door seals shut, they die. Moving your friend’s leg will make that happen all the sooner.”
“Open it!”
“Sorry.”
Ash jammed the gun into the side of the doctor’s head. “Open it!”
“If you’re going to shoot me, then shoot. It doesn’t change the fact that once the sequence is initiated, I can’t undo it.” He grinned. “Oh, and if the door remains jammed for more than three minutes, this entire lab will be sterilized at a nice toasty 3000 degrees.”