“You’ll find Iris?”
Quinn hesitated. “I’ll try.”
“Please. She’s only a little girl. I can’t imagine what they’ll do to her, what they’ve already done. Please. Please find her.”
Quinn nodded, wanting to promise but knowing that he couldn’t.
To Nate he said, “Keep all the doors closed in case they come looking for him or for her.”
“Right.”
“I might be gone awhile,” Quinn said. “You’ll be safe here. But if it’s within an hour or so of dawn, get her out of here before it’s too light.”
Nate didn’t appear to be happy about the idea, but he nodded.
“Orlando’s on her way,” Quinn said. “See if you can reach her by phone. She can help you, especially if you need to get out without me.”
“But they’re leaving tonight,” Marion said.
“What?” Quinn asked, surprised.
“I overheard them talking outside my cell. They said they would be out of here before sunup.”
“Son of a bitch,” Quinn said. “You’re sure?”
“I don’t know, but it’s what I heard.”
“Okay,” he said, trying to sound reassuring. He looked at Nate. “Stay with the plan. But chances are I’ll be back before you have to leave.”
“I’m counting on it,” Nate said.
“So am I.”
CHAPTER
33
QUINN WAS PRETTY SURE MOST OF THE ACTIVITY was taking place on the lower level, the one the map had indicated contained the laboratory. He didn’t even want to think about what that might mean, what the bastards might be doing there.
The problem he faced was how to get down there without being detected. As far as he could tell, there was only one direct route. The elevator. Unfortunately, he couldn’t just get on and ride down without taking a huge risk of getting caught. And while his job was full of risks, the smaller they were, the better.
Before leaving the northern hallway, he looked at the map again. There had to be stairs somewhere, didn’t there? OSHA would have had a field day with this place. Of course, it had been built thirty years before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was even formed. But there still had to be some other way down. It wouldn’t make sense not to have a backup.
But if there was, it wasn’t on the map.
Short of tunneling through the rock by himself, it looked like the elevators were his only choice. Or, more specifically, the elevator shaft.
According to the map, there were two elevator cars running side by side in a shaft that went from the lowest level up to the surface. If he could somehow get into the shaft, he could make his way down without being seen. Except the only way in would be through the elevator doors. That meant taking the hallway on the other side of the main east-west corridor.
He swore under his breath, counted to three in his head, then reentered the Yellowhammer labyrinth.
The sentry at the guardhouse reported that there had been no further activity outside the gate. Good news for sure, Tucker thought. It was just further confirmation that Furuta had come alone.
Tucker guessed that the man had been an advance scout, probably had received a tip and had been checking it out first before calling in a whole team. Intelligence gathering, the stiffs at the Agency would have called it. Even if Furuta had somehow gotten word back to his people—which Tucker was confident he hadn’t—they wouldn’t be able to mount any kind of response before Tucker’s team evacuated in a few hours.
The radio on his desk beeped, then the voice of one of his men came on. “Tucker?”
“Go for Tucker,” Tucker said.
“Mr. Rose is asking for you.”
“Tell Mr. Rose I’ll be there in just a bit.”
“Said you should be here supervising us.”
Tucker tensed. “Tell him I’ll be there in just a bit.”
“Sure. Got it.”
Tucker felt like throwing the radio across the room. What did Mr. Rose want him to do? Take care of security? Or babysit a bunch of grown men who could handle a packing job just fine on their own?
He radioed the guardhouse one last time just to make sure nothing had changed. All was still quiet. He switched to channel four.
