Russian mini-sub arrived and took us away. I’ve been here a week, kept in an office with a bunk bed.’
‘How did you get to me?’ Stratton asked as he walked over to check on the young guard.
‘I wasn’t always a scientist.’
Stratton glanced at her, remembering what Jason had said about her.
‘I did a selection course for a military undercover unit. I got pulled out after I finished it. We covered hostage situations,’ she explained. ‘I learned a few things. From the moment they took me from Binning I played the pathetic frightened child.’
‘That must have been a challenge.’
Rowena was not offended by the remark.
The young guard remained unconscious but Stratton decided he would live.
‘The guards took to locking me in the office. They felt sorry for me and stopped checking on me every few hours. After a couple of days I only saw them at mealtimes. I worked out how to pick the door lock open as well as how to relock it. At night I had a look around. I found diagrams of this place, inventories, files.They still have literally tons of chemical and biological concoctions here.’
Stratton picked up the guard’s AK-74, checked it was ready to fire and went to the door to look into the empty corridor.
‘Today I heard voices outside the room. It was the laughter I recognised. I couldn’t believe it was them together again. That’s when it all began to make sense. Their conspiratorial meetings. The things I thought were strange. They went into a nearby room. I rigged the intercom phone so I could listen in.’
Stratton looked at her, for a moment wondering if this was some kind of set-up, another piece of the three- dimensional chess game. But he was free, from the chains at least, and he had a gun in his hands. Not that that seemed to make a difference to the kind of plans these characters conjured up.
Rowena took his look as one of disbelief. ‘Rigging a simple intercom phone is child’s play, literally.’
He looked away, believing her.
‘Jason wants you dead by tonight. They mentioned the pump room, and so here I am.’
‘I don’t suppose you’ve figured out how to get out of here.’
‘Of course I have.’
He looked at her again, more doubt in his eyes.
‘I’m a nuclear engineer. I have an IQ forty points above genius.’
‘And a photographic memory, of course.’
‘Live with it. You doubt me, don’t you?’
Stratton thought carefully about his answer. ‘No, I don’t.’
She looked thoughtful. ‘I wouldn’t blame you if you did. You’ve been royally screwed. By two of the best.’
‘Well, I’ve got you on my side now, haven’t I?’
Rowena wanted him to know that he did. ‘There are two lift shafts. One for cargo and everyday use by the soldiers. The other is in one of the labs for executive use only. There is a single stairwell to the surface, two hundred and fifty feet above us. Since Binning got here the guard force has doubled. But there aren’t many of them down here in the complex. They stay up top, stopping people from getting in. They don’t like being down here, anyway.’
He waited for more of the plan to materialise. So far she had given him hardly anything.
‘I can see only one way out,’ Rowena said. ‘And that’s to create a situation where everyone else down here needs to get out too.’
That interested him. ‘An emergency?’
‘Right.’
But Stratton’s interest began to fade without more info. ‘So we get to the surface along with everyone else. That’s not an escape.’
‘That depends on what kind of emergency. If there’s a serious bio leak, every safety door in the complex automatically seals the place tight and cannot be opened without an executive order from Moscow. The safety doors are between each chemical and biological storage hall and at the top of both lift shafts and the stairwell.’
‘I still don’t see it.’
‘This place is old. The door seals are shit. Everyone knows that if there was a serious bio leak it wouldn’t be contained. Those who managed to get to the surface before the place shut down wouldn’t stop at the surface. They’d keep on running for as far as they could get, just like at Chernobyl.’
Stratton perked up. But there were still holes in the plan. ‘How much time to get to the surface before the place seals?’
‘None. Everything shuts down as soon as the alarms are triggered.’
He looked at her with raised eyebrows.
‘Certain death? That’s also what the scientists who worked down here thought when they first came. They didn’t like that idea much either so they built a delay mechanism into the executive lift only. Anyone working in the labs or offices might make it to the surface. The lift’s big enough. Everyone else who didn’t make it . . . well, tough. When a leak sets off the alarms, all the doors seal within two minutes. The executive lift stays live for five minutes more. The door that seals the surface exit to the exec elevator stays open for another minute.’
Stratton was beginning to see something of a plan. ‘So, we create a fake leak and get out using the executive lift.’
Rowena shook her head. ‘Not that easy. The only way to fake-trigger the system is by using the test circuit. But the guards up top will be able to see that. They won’t run away because they’ll know it’s just a test.’
‘Then we need them to believe it’s real.’
She nodded.
‘How?’
She shrugged. ‘Only one way. It has to
He looked at her. ‘Real?’
‘I don’t see any other way.’
‘That
‘Maybe worse. You won’t believe some of the shit they have down here.’
Stratton contemplated the idea. ‘You really are a cold-hearted bitch, aren’t you?’
‘You have a problem with surviving?’
He shook his head. ‘You are in the wrong job . . . How does it work?’
‘There are dozens of sensors around the place but several different locations need to detect the leak in order to trigger a full shutdown. A small leak won’t work. We need to be at the lift when the sensors trip, otherwise someone might beat us to it. Once it goes up it will not come back down.’
‘Have you figured that part out - how we set the leak and get to the lift before the sensors trip?’
‘No.’
‘Some genius.’
Rowena clenched her jaw. ‘I thought I’d leave something for you to figure out.’
Stratton ran his fingers through his hair as he pondered their next move. ‘You know where the exec lift is?’
‘I can see the map in my head.’
‘And the storage rooms?’
‘Yes.’
He gripped the AK-74 and took another moment.
‘What do you think?’ she asked. ‘Too crazy?’
He wasn’t entirely sure but there were no other options. ‘It sounds like my kind of plan.’
She fought back a smile. She had gone from despising the man to seeking his approval. He had something about him.
The guard moaned as he began to come around.
Stratton indicated for Rowena to lead the way along the corridor. ‘After you.’
She took a breath, focused her mind and moved ahead.
