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  About a mile from Biotronics, we came to a curve, and over the rise a red glow flashed that we figured came from a police car. Rajiv had been correct about the roadblock. We angled to the side of the road again. There was no way to get to Biotronics except by that road. The facility had been cut into the side of the nearly vertical face of the mountain.

  “What now?” I asked as all of us ducked low in the reactive-camouflaged vehicle, apprehensively watching a car pass and head toward the roadblock and Biotronics. I wondered what its occupants might of thought if they’d been able to make out much of our vehicle and the .50 caliber machinegun mounted on top. Hopefully, they thought we were supposed to be there — or a mirage.

  Sunny said, “Any ideas, Sam?”

  “I say, I drop you off and you get out of sight until Rajiv picks you up. Then I’ll go back for the chopper. You push that panic button around your neck when you’re ready — or in trouble.”

  “No,” I said. “I go alone.”

  “Bullshit,” Sunny blurted.

  “It’ll be too dangerous.”

  Another car went by, and we ducked protectively.

  Sampson said, “We don’t have much time.” He nodded back toward town.

  A line of headlights approached from down the road.

  Sunny gave me a penetrating look. “What do you think it’s been up until now, a game of patty-cakes? I’m going with you.”

  I knew it would be useless to argue.

  Sunny and I got out and Gunny Sampson handed her a backpack and what looked like a ragged blanket roll as he climbed into the driver’s seat.

  I patted the dog on the head, and he whined and licked my hand. Sunny embraced Sampson, while the big man glared back at me.

  “You’d better bring her back in one piece,” he said. “And make sure you get my buddy back, too.”

  I nodded to him.

  When Sampson pulled a U-turn, Sunny and I trotted down into some high weeds in the ditch. From there, we would wait for Rajiv.

  Sunny untied the blanket roll and shook it out. “This is an active camouflage ghillie,” she said, her voice low, as she threw part of it over my head, then ducked under it also. “Like a poncho. We only have the one — I left the one I had in the park when I spotted you.”

  I realized that she’d placed her head through the opening in the ghillie.

  “Cozy,” I whispered.

  She slipped her head back inside, and what little light came through allowed me to see the outline of her face only six inches away, and I felt her breath on my lips.

  “I think we’re okay for a while,” she said and turned on a small red light. “We should be able to hear Raja’s car when it pulls to the shoulder

  We sat there for some time, listening to the traffic, staring at each other silently. Her soft, large eyes seemed to explore me from the inside. I wondered what kind of a woman she really was, and felt she was wondering the same thing. The poncho provided warmth on the chill night — but there seemed a warmth in the air outside of what could be measured by thermometer. It was pleasant, sensual. We stared at each other, almost unblinking, and for a long moment, I felt as if we made some sort of connection, psychically, as if I could read this woman’s thoughts, or at least her intentions. What I read was complete good will and passion.

  We’d been under the ghillie for probably ten minutes, and I felt as though we might be transcending into something even deeper mentally, when Sunny broke away and raised her head through the opening.

  “Here he comes,” she said.

  I raised the edge of the ghillie and looked down the highway. Rajiv’s Volvo slowly came up the road. Several cars passed his as he drove tentatively watching the shoulder and ditch for Sunny and me. I slipped from our concealment and held out my hand toward the pavement when he was close enough to see me, and he steered to the shoulder to pick us up. But the line of cars behind him had grown, and their horns began honking. A car that had started to pass him turned on its red lights. It was a dark-blue Biotronics security jeep. I shrank back under the ghillie and only peeked out.

  Rajiv parked directly beside us and the Jeep with two security officers pulled in behind him. The two officers stepped up on both sides of our friend’s Volvo. The one on the driver’s side asked for Rajiv’s driver’s license and registration. As the long line of cars heading toward Biotronics continued to drive past, the officer asked why Rajiv had been driving so slowly. Rajiv said something about trying to avoid a horny deer, putting his splayed fingers to the sides of his head like antlers again. The second security officer glanced around them, shining his long black flashlight into the bushes beside the road.

  We were well hidden and the constant motion of light and shadows from the passing cars helped to conceal us. Seemingly satisfied he was not in danger of being attacked by a horny deer, the young security officer went to the Volvo’s trunk and asked Rajiv to open it. The trunk popped open and the officer checked inside briefly, then closed it. He mentioned to Rajiv driving without a spare tire wasn’t wise. After assuring the officers he would drive with the flow of traffic so as to not be a hazard and impede progress, Rajiv was free to go.

  I’d hoped the security officers would depart, and we could quickly slip inside Rajiv’s trunk, but they didn’t. Instead, they motioned for Rajiv to go, then leaned against the front of their jeep and watched the traffic while they lit up a couple of cigarettes. Rajiv had no choice but to leave us behind.

  It was at least three minutes before the two security men finally finished their smoke, and drove away. To have any hope of catching up with Rajiv, Sunny and I pushed ahead to make up time, stepping quickly along the weed-filled ditch toward Biotronics.

  With the line of cars growing, we found the three guards at the roadblock too busy to notice us, and we slipped by without incident. Rajiv’s car was out of sight and the going was slow through the vegetation and snow. Still we had hopes of somehow catching Rajiv before he went through the gate.

  After half a mile, we came to Biotronics’ lighted parking lot. It was enormous, probably a quarter of a mile square, and surrounded by an electric fence topped with triple-stranded concertina razor wire. We were surprised to easily spot Rajiv’s blue Volvo, but it was inside the fence, in the stall nearest the guard shack. His car faced the entrance, and I could make out someone sitting inside. I hoped it was Rajiv, and that he hadn’t somehow double-crossed us. Still there was the guard at the gate to deal with.

  We got as close as we could without being seen. Cars now lined up four to five deep but passed through quickly. From the ditch, I tried to catch Rajiv’s attention by tossing pebbles at his car while Sunny rose up just far enough to see the parking lot and acted as my forward observer. I stayed low to avoid the eyes of any of the people in the cars.

  “Add five meters, three to the right,” Sunny whispered.

  I adjusted and pitched another one.

  “Down two meters, one to the left,” my spotter said.

  I adjusted once more and used a bigger rock with the next toss.

  I heard a faint pop this time. Sunny winced. “Good shot. You got his windshield.” She smiled. “He’s out of the car. Checking the windshield. Looking our way. Now, he’s headed for the guard shack.” She turned to me. “You think we can trust him?”

  I stood up cautiously and watched him.

  “Mr. Guard, sir,” Rajiv called out much louder than necessary as he approached the armed man.

  The guard, a forty-five in the holster at his side, was checking the ID of a driver stopped at the crossing arm. He looked over his shoulder briefly at Rajiv. He handed the driver back his ID, raised the gate to allow the car to pass and then lowered it in front of the next car.

  “Mr. Guard, sir, please,” Rajiv said again and the guard turned to him.

  I slipped from underneath our camouflage ghillie and said, “We have to trust him. But we can’t take the poncho. It’s too obvious — attract attention, looking like some kind a chameleon gh
ost up close. We’ll be better off appearing like all of the others.”

  Sunny nodded, coming out from under the ghillie, and said, “Let’s go.”

  I took her by the arm and we trotted up behind the closest car in line. Stepping out and walking by the passenger’s side nonchalantly, we held hands as we passed.

  Rajiv said to the guard, “I have a question about my pass, Mr. Guard.” He dug into his pocket.

  “Yeah? Make it quick. What is it?” the guard asked with one hand on his hip.

  “I do not know, but maybe it is out of date.” Rajiv pulled his hand out from his pocket, and with it came over a dozen, loose hundred-dollar bills. They fell to the ground and several tumbled with the light breeze.

  “Oh, my,” Rajiv said. “It is my entire month’s paycheck!”

  The guard began chasing some of the bills. Rajiv waved us on from behind his back. We hoped the drivers in the line of waiting cars were too involved with watching the money to notice us, or to care, as we ducked under the gate as if it was something we did every day.

  We jogged around to the side of a panel van parked nearby and out of sight, where we waited for Rajiv to come by. He soon scurried past counting his money, and I grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him back from view. He gasped, but then saw it was only me.

  “I think that son of a female jackal kept two-hundred dollars,” he said.

  I yanked his money from his hands and shoved it into his pants pocket.

  “Let’s go,” I said and headed toward the front door of the main entrance as if we owned the place, hoping no one would think any different.

  I scanned the parking lot as we went. A number of people were getting out of their cars and walking toward the entrance. I studied the white walls of the building. Five stories high, dug into the mountain. I couldn’t see the peak of Mt. Rainy. We were too close and it was too dark. The building itself must have been nearly a quarter of a mile wide. No windows.

  Then I saw them. Cameras. Not hidden but blatantly displayed. One every fifty feet or so had been hung about midway up the side of the building’s wall. I looked back into the parking lot. On each light pole was a box. More cameras. How stupid I had been to think it would be that easy. A hardware storeowner might not have known better, but I felt I somehow should have.

  I shoved Rajiv. “Get away from us,” I said. “It may be too late. Get as far away as you can and don’t ask any questions.”

  Rajiv stopped and stared at me. Sunny, also.

  “Get!” I said, as if I were yelling at a stray cat.

  Rajiv backed away and hoofed it for the front door. Sunny and I turned the other way.

  “What the hell?” Sunny asked. “Have you gone mad?”

  “They’re watching us. Cameras lining the walls. On the lights.”

  Sunny’s head turned in all directions.

  I continued, “If they haven’t been, they will be soon. If we’re lucky they didn’t see Rajiv with us.”

  “What do we do?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I’m guessing they have one hell of a security system in there. There are probably cameras all up and down the hallways and in every room inside. It’s useless. We screwed up.” I looked at her, eye to eye. “Maybe you should run, too.”

  “No,” she said. “What else could we have done?”

  “Nothing.”

  “There’s one way in,” Sunny said. She started toward the entrance again.

  “Wait a minute, they’ll catch us. What’s your plan?” I followed her one step behind.

  “That’s it.”

  “What’s it?” I insisted.

  Rajiv went through the revolving door at the entrance fifty yards ahead of us. It appeared he had made it unmolested.

  “That’s my plan — we walk in. They catch us and we’re in.”

  “Okay,” I said, “and the rest of your plan is . . . ?”

  “That’s it so far.”

  “What? Are you nuts?” This was the one time I missed Harvey. Even my imaginary nuisance would have surely come up with a better idea.

  * * *

  A guard scurried out from the doorway of the control room at the Mount Rainy Biotronics installation. “Dr. Xiang, Colonel Wu!” he yelled down the hall to the two men who were walking in his direction. “I think you should see this.”

  Xiang walked swiftly to the doorway with Wu at his side as the guard stepped back to allow them passage. On the parking lot monitors were Subject 374 and the strange woman.

  “They are outside the front door!” Xiang said. “He got this close without me being alerted?”

  The attendant bowed. “Sir, with the security alert and our forces stretched, I am doing the job of what would normally take five technicians. I alerted you as soon as I saw them.”

  “You saw no one with them? Nothing else?”

  “No, Doctor.”

  Wu frowned at the guard as he reached for the microphone and pushed the Security button. “I’ll have them killed immediately.”

  Xiang grabbed his hand. “No. This could be interesting. Ensure your men are in the proper gear and have them bring our guests to me.”

  Wu smiled. “I hoped you would let me finish him.”

  “Not so fast,” Xiang said. “I do not wish for this to turn into some sort of competition between you two. You are much too valuable. I will get Dr. Yumi and we will meet your men in the interrogation room. I want you to take care of this security breach. You must contain the intruders and ensure they do not interfere with our departure.”

  Chapter 24

  Sunny turned to me with tears in her eyes, but we kept walking. “Yes,” she said, “yes, I’m nuts. You already said there was no way in. The thing is, we’ve got to get in. I don’t care about anything else right now. You said your son’s in there. I know you’re not going to walk away and leave him there. And there’re a whole bunch of other innocent people. You’ve seen what these bastards do. They’ve been trying to kill us for the past five hours.”

  I shook my head. We were fifty feet from the door. “I think they wiped out an Air Force Special Ops unit,” I added.

  Sunny’s eyes widened. “Jax — Major Jackson?”

  “Yeah, Major Jackson and at least nine others.”

  “They’re dead?”

  “I’m afraid so. I’d hoped the major made it, but when we were at the house, I didn’t see any sign of him.”

  “After the first rescue attempt, Jax was the only one on my side.”

  “First attempt?” I asked.

  “Yeah, we knocked on the wrong door several days ago, looking for Dan — this place, Gold Rush. But Jax threw away his career for this rescue mission, even with the slim chance of it working. It’s likely we’ll all end up in a Federal Prison — or worse — if we survive. There would be no way his superiors and the President, would have gone along with it. They don’t even know where we are — yet. He was sure, from the current administration’s record, they’d want to bomb everything first — destroy it all — and ask questions second. He put this rescue mission together with Gunny Sampson’s financial and logistical backing. And he launched the operation without clearing it — on his own. I know he might not appear like it, but Gunny Sampson is a self-made multimillionaire. He’s one-hundred-percent hands on in his business and in his own way, a genius.”

  I couldn’t believe what she was saying. “Bomb everything? Gold Rush? Biotronics?”

  Sunny nodded. “But the thing is, they shouldn’t worry. Your Dr. Xiang has already started a countdown to do it himself. One way or another, this whole place won’t be here past sunrise.”

  I put my arm across her shoulders and we stopped, ten feet from the three long, concrete steps before the door. Several people walked past us. “I think the guards have orders to shoot us on sight, too,” I told her. “Looks like we’re dead no matter what happens.”

  Sunny’s eyes glistened in the lights. Dirt smudged her face or maybe it was the nitrates from the gu
nfire. Still, her beauty hadn’t dimmed. I touched her hair. Wild from the abuse, but even now it was soft and florescent.

  Sunny said, “Maybe they won’t kill us if we make ourselves easy to catch. Once inside, maybe we can make a break for it.” I heard a slight sob in her voice. “I don’t know.”

  “If we merely stand here and let them catch us?”

  She nodded.

  I shrugged. Our situation appeared hopeless. Maybe the guards would show mercy if we offered no resistance. “The major told me not to give myself up.” I reached into my shirt pocket and pulled out the red pill the young Lieutenant had handed me. “He told me to bite into this and put it under my tongue if it came down to it. Why am I so important?”

  “There’s not enough time, Robert.”

  I put the pill in my mouth, still in the bubble pack and moved it to my cheek with my tongue. Sunny’s eyes widened, and she grabbed a hold of my jaw.

  I backed away. “No,” I said. “Tell me now. The pill is still in the plastic. But tell me what’s going on now, or I’m going to bite down.”

  Sunny blinked at me and then began spilling out like a broken water pipe. “You and Dan have a gift. It’s incredibly strong in both of you. We all met at Stanford fifteen years ago. I was a psych student, and you and Dan were right out of the Marines going for physics degrees. We’d volunteered for some ESP experiments the psychology department was doing in cooperation with the Army. We jumped at the chance. And why not? They gave us three psych credits and three-hundred dollars for it. I didn’t do so well, but you and Dan — you both exceeded all their expectations. You said you didn’t know anything about it, like reading minds or anything, except you always did well at poker — you know, could tell if someone was bluffing.” She smiled. “You told me you knew I wanted to go out with you. And I did.”

  “You’re feeding me BS again. I was never at Stanford.”

  “You were, Robert. I swear.”

  Several people walked by us and up the steps toward the door.