doing?” she yelled, causing the man to jump and fall out of his chair. “This is not the time to fall asleep, you moron. They could hit at any time.”
A squelch came across Collette’s portable radio, then a man’s voice cut in. “Boss, you’d better come to the front lobby. We’ve got visitors.”
She angrily pressed her transmission button. “I don’t have time to screen people. You take care of this.”
“You may want to check it out. We have a medevac helicopter setting down in the parking lot. They think we have a medical emergency of some kind.”
“Have all units converge there. I want that crew taken down at gunpoint. Search the chopper-now!” If this flight crew worked for the enemy, they’d never leave this place alive.
Chapter 46
Gerrit and Alena slid down the ropes and landed on the roof. The aircraft dipped and slipped away into the night. As it quietly disappeared, Gerrit heard another helicopter’s blades noisily beating the night air at the front of the complex.
“They took the bait, Mr. G. I ordered up one medevac chopper. They are attacking that flight crew right now at gunpoint. Looks like you got your window of opportunity. Better use it quick.”
Gerrit smiled. “I read you loud and clear. Remember, these transmissions might be monitored.”
“No way, Mr. G. Joe and I put an encryption on these babies that only God can break.”
“Fine. Right now, you’re our eyes and ears. Give me a read on any bogies in the area. We’re at the target location and need about five minutes.”
He turned toward Alena and pointed to a housing vent a few yards away. “There is our way in. I’ll have that removed in a jiffy. Just cover me.”
She nodded, taking up a position that gave her a full view of the rooftop.
Gerrit pulled out his tools and had the ventilation cover off several minutes later. “Let’s go.” He lowered himself down the vent. “Just follow my lead. This heads right to the lab.”
Alena moved to the edge, watching his descent. “Come on, slowpoke. We haven’t all night.”
He started to retort, then saw her smile. “Just try to keep up, or I’m leaving you behind.” Reaching the ninety-degree angle in the vent, he moved farther into the shaft to give her room. She joined him seconds later.
“Come on,” she said. “I’m getting old here.”
He turned without saying a word and moved down the aluminum vent until he reached another ninety-degree turn downward. There was a filtered cover across the face of the downward shaft. Using a penlight, he quickly removed the vent cover and set it aside. “This fast enough for you?”
She moved past and lowered herself down the shaft. “Here, let me show you how it is done.” In one swift move, she pushed through a second vent cover and dropped to the floor below, rolling to one side. She whispered up, “Don’t hurt yourself, old man.”
“Nice move. You made enough noise to set off every sensor in this building.”
“We will be long gone before they ever reach us. Now do your thing, jarhead.”
“You been hanging around Redneck too much. Wait for me. I’ll be right back.” He moved farther down the shaft and reached into his backpack for a few surprises he planned on leaving behind. A moment later, he returned and dropped down the shaft to join Alena. “Well, time to get to work.”
The lab consisted of a large rectangular room, housing ceiling-high computer servers taking up most of the room. Individual workstations with monitors and keyboards connected directly to the servers.
He moved over to a series of computer consoles. “You will be glad I took that detour. Now, let’s get down to business.” He keyed his mike. “Okay, Willie, can you read me?”
“Loud and clear, Mr. G. Now, here’s what you’re looking for.” Willie began to guide him through the log-in codes hacked earlier back at the motel. “Just follow my instructions and I’ll have you out of there faster than-”
“Cut the jokes, Willy. Just give me what I need to get us out of here.” Gerrit glanced at his watch. Two minutes and counting. He tried to move as fast as the programs allowed.
Collette nervously watched her security team sprawl out the flight crew at gunpoint. So far, no face she recognized. One flight nurse screamed when they yanked her out of the aircraft.
Where are Gerrit and the others?
“Hey, Boss.” Geek Man from the security office.
“Don’t bother me right now. We have a situation at the front of the building.”
The man’s voice sounded nervous. “I think you got bigger problems. I just saw sensors triggered in other parts of the building-including the lab.”
“Could the medevac chopper have set those off?”
“No, these are centralized-the lab and the roof above the lab.”
She whirled around and started running. “Check the cameras. Tell me what you find out. I’m coming back to your location right now.” She dashed through the building and threw open the door leading to the security office.
Geek Man was hunched over the console.
“What do we have on the camera?” she yelled, causing him to jump. “Time to focus, you moron. They could hit at-”
The lights blinked on and off. Suddenly, all the screens filled with snowlike flakes as if someone had cut the line and all visuals went dead. Everything went black for a moment until emergency red lights flickered on. The man scrambled back into his chair, frantically hitting the keyboard, trying to reload the system.
“What happened?” She leaned over him as he worked.
“I don’t know. It is as if they jammed-”
The building shook for a moment, a deep blast sounding somewhere off-site. Collette snatched up her portable radio. No response.
“I think they killed your radio system.”
Collette rushed to the door. “I’m heading to the lab. If you can raise any security, get them moving in that direction.” She drew her sidearm, pointing at the disheveled technician. “Keep working on that. As soon as you have something-call me if you can.”
Geek Man, eyes wide with fear, nodded before turning back to the console.
She dashed into the hallway and ran for the building’s central point-the lab. The main power source appeared to be wiped out, and emergency generators juiced up only selected sites in the structure. She heard a secondary explosion that came from deep within the building.
A firefight could be heard outside the building as security apparently came under attack. She keyed her mike, calling for anyone to report in. Only an irritating squelch. Still no way to communicate.
Collette felt like screaming out in frustration. Instead, she ran toward the interior lab, knowing the attackers would attempt to reach that destination. Another explosion shook the building. Were they trying to destroy the whole building?
She reached the last passageway leading to the primary lab. Impatiently, she tapped in the code for entry, only to find that power to the keypad had been cut off. No power to the lab. Without electricity, the lab security automatically froze up.
No way in. No way out.
Unless… She looked at the ceiling.
Gripping her weapon, Collette raced toward the only roof access. An interior door led to a stairwell to the roof, and that door was almost a hundred yards away. If she could reach the roof, she might be able to catch them before they entered the lab.
She would be in position to kill them all.
Gerrit glanced over at Alena before the lights flickered out. “They just got a taste of one of my surprises. Jack and Redneck are about to set off the others.”
“That knock out their generator?” Alena flicked on a flashlight. “How are you-?”
