The man nodded and sank to the floor.
Hurrying back to Willy, Gerrit said, “Keep getting this data pulled from the system, or as much as you can retrieve. Once help gets here, we’re going to level this place to the ground.”
Willy nodded.
“And Willy, if you hear any movement through the door, dive for cover and call me. I don’t want to lose you. Hear me?”
“You got it, Mr. G.” Willy moved closer, whispering, “What did you tell that guy to get him to talk to us?”
“It’s a secret, Willy. You better hope I never have to use it on you. Now get to work.”
Again, Willy nodded, his focus now the computer screen. “You got it, Mr. G. ’Cause I certainly don’t wanna tick you off.” He shot Gerrit a smile. Willy did not seem intimidated.
An instant later, they heard rifle fire in the building. It came from the ground floor above them, echoing down the stairwell. They had only minutes to finish the job.
“Alena. You ready?”
She backed away from the bound prisoners. “Willy, keep an eye on them.”
Gerrit dashed to her side and pointed toward the locked door at the end of the room. “Can you work your magic again?”
Without answering, she ran to the door, waited for him to get into position, and then punched in the code. The sequence seemed to work again because the door clicked open. He reached in his backpack and pulled out a dark-green flash-bang. “If it’s dark again, we’ll crisscross, hit the deck, and count to three. Then I open up with this.” He showed her the stun grenade.
She nodded and reached down for the handle, pausing to see if he was ready, then flung it open.
Completely dark inside. Gerrit rushed in, followed by Alena.
They dived for the floor as a flash of gunfire opened up. He heard Alena crawl to the right as he edged to the left in the ensuing blackness. As the gunman opened again, Gerrit registered the layout in front of him-a large room, office and doors at the far end, farthest away from the door they just came through.
Something else registered in his brain. Yellow light from the gunfire illuminated a man standing next to the gunman, a man with a mane of long silver hair.
Richard Kane.
Gerrit counted to three and hurled the flash-bang deep toward Kane.
Chapter 64
Flashes of gunfire across the room forced Richard to drop. He scrambled through the doorway behind him, locking it from the inside just as explosions shook the door. Gerrit and Alena made it here. He needed to call for reinforcements.
His bodyguard banged on the door, trying to get inside. The man failed him, allowing those intruders to get this far. So now, the man could deal with his mistakes. Richard dialed the in-house phone to reach his security office on the top floor.
The Hulk’s voice came on the line.
“How did they get down here belowground? I need reinforcements here this second.”
“Sir, per your order, the others are manning the perimeter, awaiting your order.”
“You idiot! The intruders are inside the lab and blowing things up as we speak. What are you doing up there? Waiting for me to die? Get my people in here right now!”
“Yes sir, I’ll put the order out this second.”
Richard smashed the receiver into the concrete wall, before rushing farther down the hallway to another secured doorway. He activated the code pad to unlock it, then grabbed the door and flung it open.
There was one last thing he could do that might make Alena and Gerrit stand down. One last chance to make them back up until his people got here.
A message alert flashed on Willy’s laptop just as more shots fired above. He reached over and clicked on the message. It was from Beck:
Help has arrived. Keep your head down. All hell’s about to break loose.
Gerrit rose, flicked on a light switch he’d seen near the front door. Lights flickered across the room and he dove for the floor once again. Alena lay a few yards away. Catching her attention, he used hand signals, motioning that he’d move to the left and along the outer wall. He signaled her to move to the right and take up a position until he flushed the gunman.
She nodded, moving in the direction he pointed.
Turning his attention toward the gunman, Gerrit snaked his away along the floor until he reached the far wall to his left. This room seemed to be devoted to storage. Boxes of office supplies stored on metal shelves the full length of the room. A wide path cut down the center of the room-where he had seen Kane and gunman at the far end-and two narrower aisles along each wall. Only three paths to the gunman. He heard a door slam and assumed Kane had left. Leaving one man-armed.
Gerrit inched forward down the center aisle, moving slower as he drew near the gunman’s position. Every few aisles, he would dart to the left, using cardboard cartons of supplies, stacked high on the shelves, as cover. He estimated Kane’s man was crouching about ten yards away. Or dead. The gunman hadn’t appeared in the open since Gerrit heard banging on the door.
Left his bodyguard behind. Kane-the hero.
Gerrit found a large box of computer paper. Above it, he had a clean shot in front of the doorway through which Kane exited. The gunman must be to the right or left of that door. Gerrit reached up and grabbed a coffee mug someone left on the shelf.
Quietly raising himself, he positioned his rifle on a box for support, aiming it about where he thought the gunman might be hiding. Once he had the muzzle pointed down range, he hurled the coffee cup through the air.
He tightened his grip on the weapon, sighting down the barrel. The cup shattered against the far wall.
The gunman lunged into the open and fired down the center aisle past Gerrit. The man fired fully automatic, shooting blindly.
It was all Gerrit needed. He squeezed one round off, and the target lurched backward. Richard Kane just lost one more gunman.
Rising, Gerrit motioned to Alena toward the far door. He knelt by the fallen guard and felt his pulse. Dead. He nodded at Alena.
She dashed toward the remaining door and hurriedly entered the password.
The lock snapped open like the others. He flung the door open toward Alena, who held it open with her foot. He held up three fingers-one at a time. When the third finger rose, he rushed in as they crisscrossed through the doorway. No gunfire. He froze, searching for movement ahead.
Gerrit peered through a reddish gloom, tinted light giving off an eerie feeling as if they stepped aboard a submarine. More storage area. Several rows of shelves blocked his view. A central aisle cut between these shelves like the room they just left. Beyond, he saw what appeared to be an open area, although this part of the room lay mostly in darkness.
He started to take a step when a single light bulb at the far end of the room flicked on. Cascading cold white light illuminated a man slouched in a chair, wrists bound, his mouth covered by gray duct tape.
Joe O’Rourke.
Cautiously, Gerrit started to work his way toward his uncle when Kane’s voice cut through the darkness.
“Take one more step, Gerrit, and I will put a bullet in Joe’s head.”
Gerrit halted. He’d lost track of Alena ever since he saw his uncle strapped to the chair. She seemed to have slipped into the shadows as well.
“What do you want, Kane?” Gerrit peered through the gloom trying to figure out where Kane might be hiding.
“I want you, Gerrit. You and your lovely girlfriend.”
