“I don’t. But it’s a reasonable guess, based on the layout of the other buildings we’ve been through. If I'm wrong, we’ll huddle again.”
After peeking one last time through the crack, Zane then opened the door completely and the three sprinted down the corridor. The distance was greater than they imagined, and they passed several intersections before finally arriving on the other end. As Zane had predicted, they discovered two rooms there, one on each side of the hallway. Zane silently slipped into the room on the left, while Reid and Skinner disappeared into the one on the right.
A few seconds after the operatives positioned themselves inside the rooms, the doors to the lobby burst open, and the corridor filled with dim light. Opening his door a hair, Zane watched as four armed men walked briskly past his position. Each was armed with a semi-automatic rifle, and the one in front was barking orders in Russian.
As the men disappeared down the hall, Zane made a quick assessment of the situation: in a few short minutes, the men would discover their comrade had been killed. And when they did, all hell would break loose.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
“How much longer?” asked an increasingly irritated Marrese. As he waited for Koehler to answer, he looked over at the Italian woman standing against the far wall between two guards. Her hands were cuffed behind her back and she was still groggy from the blow to her head, but Marrese still wasn’t comfortable. She had already eluded an entire Renaissance security team a couple of days before, and could very well cause more trouble before it was all over. Not to mention there were likely others roaming the grounds.
“The energy of the proton beam is now at eight TeV,” replied Koehler, staring at the monitor in front of him. “That was the maximum achieved when CERN was last operating.”
“I’m aware of that,” hissed Marrese. “Increase it… Our time is running out.”
“You truly are a fool,” said VanGelder, who was standing at the back of the group that was huddled around Koehler. “This is not the accelerator on a car. You don’t increase energy on a new system without making sure the machine is still able to handle it at that level.”
“I said move it now,” Marrese said to Koehler in a loud voice, ignoring the Dutchman.
Several people in the room turned their heads at the sound of the priest’s voice. Koehler glanced back over his shoulder at Mironov, who nodded.
Satisfied that his instructions were being followed, Marrese walked toward the cubicle where his disciples were gathered, his cape flaring behind him. His anger and sense of urgency were related to something he had sensed in his spirit for the last hour or so. There was something — no, someone—out there in the storm who opposed their efforts. At first he thought the person might be one of the Americans, but then the Masters showed him it was someone else. He might be aligned with the Americans, but he wasn’t one of them.
But as Marrese arrived in the cubicle and knelt to pray, he felt a surge of confidence. Within the next half hour or so, the collider would do its work, smashing particles together with an energy not seen since the Big Bang. That, combined with the dark magic that Marrese had put in place, would tear a partition in the heavens. Then, and only then, would the visitors arrive. And when they did, it would be too late for whoever was approaching outside.
Pandora’s Box would be thrown open, and there was nothing that could reverse it.
Once Marrese walked away, Koehler turned to Mironov. “The Dutchman is right. If we increase the energy too quickly without checking the system, we could very easily blow this place sky high.”
“I understand.” Mironov lowered his head down to the German’s ear and whispered, “Just do what you can, but we do need to move as quickly as possible. The Americans are here, and we need to get this done before they do any damage.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Koehler.
As Mironov pulled away, there was a loud beep that came out of his coat. He reached into one of the pockets and pulled out a radio and pressed a button on the side. “Yes,” he said in Russian.
“Sir, we just captured another woman,” said the voice of one of his guards. “This one was wandering around outside the building. She’s unarmed.”
There was a long pause, and then a look of confusion spread across Mironov’s face.
“What would you like us to do with her, sir?”
“Where are you now?” asked Mironov.
“We’re right outside in the lobby.”
“Bring her in here.” Mironov looked down at Koehler and said in English, “It seems we have another visitor. Get this thing moving.”
Just as Mironov finished his sentence, the door to the lobby burst open, and a blond-haired girl was shoved inside. She stumbled a bit before regaining her balance. The two Renaissance guards grabbed her roughly and threw her up against the wall next to the Italian.
Mironov watched as a knowing glance passed between the women.
“I see you two know each other,” Mironov said as he walked over to where the two were standing. The women remained silent. The Russian reached out and grabbed the blonde’s bicep through her coat. “I see the Americans brought in a highly trained and dangerous commando unit.” A few guards laughed as the blonde jerked her arm away from Mironov. “Feisty too. Maybe she is the team commander.” Again there was laughter, this time louder.
“What are you doing here?” asked the Italian, clearly not happy at seeing her friend.
When the blond American gave her an apologetic look, the Italian’s demeanor softened.
“Yes, what are you doing here?” asked Mironov, in English. The American refused to answer. “I’m assuming you came to help your friends? Next time I’d recommend you come a little more prepared. You know, normally I would have both of you shot, but you’re too pretty for that. Actually, I’ll probably have that done later. For now, I’d love for you both to witness what is going to happen here tonight, the fulfillment of the very thing you came to stop.”
Carmen glared at Mironov. The appearance of Amanda had thrown her off for a moment, but the operative in her began to take over, and she realized it might help to engage the Russian, perhaps even stir him up. Distracting him might give Zane and the others time to act. “Shouldn’t you give this up while you still have the chance? Right now, you’re only facing kidnapping charges, and I’m sure you can pull enough strings to get out of Switzerland without landing in jail.”
Mironov turned toward Carmen and caressed her chin with his hand. She tried to pull away, but his hand followed and caressed her again. Eventually he pulled it back and said, “I will do nothing of the sort, my beautiful Italian. Everything is almost finished, so why would I leave right before the fun starts?”
“You do realize this building is now surrounded, don’t you?”
“What I realize is that you’re lying,” Mironov retorted. He then gestured toward Amanda. “So far, this is the extent of the resistance we found outside.”
“That’s only what you’ve been able to find. I probably should mention that the Swiss authorities are on their way as well.”
Mironov smiled. “Do you think I’m stupid?” he asked. “The Swiss aren’t doing any such thing. We’ve been monitoring them all evening. In fact, I have people working within the Geneva police department. So you can save your lies for some other time. Besides… ” He paused to look back at Amanda. “If this is an example of what we’re up against, I’m pretty sure we don’t even need to lock the doors.”
There was more nervous laughter around the room.
“You know, there is another even better reason you should end this now,” Carmen said.