up Max and the others from here, either.
His eyes flicked back and forth between the two guards. Was there some way he could take them both out?
You decided your first day in here that there was no way to handle two guards at once, he reminded himself. Don't do anything stupid, or your friends are only going to have a corpse to rescue.
'I'll get the guard. You go on,' Isabel exclaimed.
She took off across the parking lot. She heard feet pounding behind her and threw a quick glance over her shoulder. Alex. Good. She might need some kind of backup.
The guard had to hear them, but he didn't turn. He kept running, veering off onto a long corridor. What was he doing? Why wasn't he trying to stop them?
Suddenly Isabel knew why. She spotted an intercom on the wall. The wall about six feet from the guard.
She pushed herself to run even faster.
Too late. The guard reached the intercom. 'I have a situation here,' he barked. 'There-'
Alex shoved past Isabel and hurled himself at the guard's knees. They both went down.
Isabel reached them a second later. She saw the guard go for his prod. Without hesitation she slammed her foot down on his wrist. She heard a bone crack, and the prod rolled out of the guard's hand.
An instant later she heard the guard's machine gun clatter down the corridor. Knew Alex would be a good guy to have around, she thought. She threw herself down on her knees and pressed her fingers against the guard's forehead. Yeah, he was unarmed. But that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous.
She pulled in a few deep breaths and made the connection. Images flashed through her brain. A boy proudly displaying his hall monitor badge. A parrot in an enormous cage. The boy at an even younger age screaming as a clown handed him a purple flower.
Isabel heard a second heartbeat join hers. She was in. Now she just needed to find a good vein in his head. Their head. She chose a medium-sized one near the brain stem and concentrated. She could feel the pain she caused him. God, she hated doing this.
The connection broke. The guard had lost consciousness. Alex tossed her a roll of tape, and Isabel started to restrain the man. She froze as she heard the intercom crackle. 'What kind of situation?' a voice demanded.
'Keep going,' Alex said. 'I've got it.' He pushed down the intercom button. 'There was some kind of power surge down here. One of the surveillance cameras went down for a few minutes, but it's back up. I'll do the report.'
'Valenti will want a copy,' the voice answered. 'Make sure he gets it today.'
'Roger that,' Alex said.
'Roger that. Your dad would be so proud.' Isabel slid a piece of tape over the guard's mouth and shoved herself to her feet.
'You okay?' Alex asked her.
'Yeah,' she answered. 'I want to keep going this way. I started feeling Michael a little more strongly once we turned down this corridor.'
'Adam knows where Michael's being held,' Alex reminded her.
'But this feels like the right way. Maybe they moved him after Adam escaped,' Isabel answered.
'Let's check it out, then,' Alex said. They started down the corridor.
'Thanks for coming with me,' Isabel mumbled, without looking at him. Now that they weren't fighting for their lives, it felt a little strange to be paired up yet again.
'No problem,' Alex answered.
Isabel tried to zero in on exactly where the feelings from Michael were concentrated. 'I think he's somewhere to the left of us,' she said. The corridor continued on in the same direction as far as she could see. But there was a door on the left a few feet away. Isabel didn't think Michael was that close. But maybe if they cut through that room, they'd find another passageway.
She rushed up to the door. It was one of those massive metal ones she remembered from the last time she was in the compound. She focused on the molecules and gave them a shove. The door squealed open.
'I know it's old-fashioned, but I always appreciate having a door opened for me,' Alex said as he stepped through.
Isabel followed him, and her breath caught in her chest. It was like walking into one of her nightmares. There's a door on the other side of the room, she told herself. All you have to do is walk over to it. Don't look at anything. Just move.
She kept her eyes locked on the door. But she couldn't help catching glimpses of things. Scalpels, and scissors, and even a little saw.
You're halfway through, she thought. And it's not like any of this stuff is going to jump up and start dissecting you all by itself.
Another step. Then another. Then another. You can do it. She bumped into something hard and cold. She glanced down and immediately wished she hadn't. It was a high metal table with troughs lining two of the sides. To catch the blood, she realized.
She reached out and touched the back of Alex's shirt. She didn't want to grab onto him like some pathetic thing. She just wanted to keep two fingers on his shirt. That's all.
She couldn't stop a long, shaky sigh of relief from escaping as Alex reached for the door handle. But before he could pull the door open, Isabel felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck. She reached behind her and felt something sticking out of her skin. She yanked it free. A syringe.
She turned and saw a man in a white lab coat. 'Where did you come-'
Her body gave a violent jerk, then her legs started to spasm. The drain in the tile floor filled her vision as she fell.
'That's the door to Michael's cell,' Adam whispered.
'Are there guards inside?' Max asked.
Adam shook his head. 'They're usually out here.'
If they were usually out there, then why did Adam lead them down this corridor without any warning?
Do you think there's any chance he could turn on us? That question of Alex's had been running through Max's head all day, like some kind of Muzak from hell.
Max just didn't know. Maybe they should have left Adam at home. But Max thought that he might need the extra power.
This is not the time to start rethinking your decision, he told himself. Adam's here now. There's no turning back.
'You two keep watch,' he said to Liz and Maria. 'If you see guards, try and knock on the cell door or give us some kind of signal.'
'We'll kick their butts if they come near us,' Maria answered, her voice quaking.
'Go,' Liz urged.
'Let's connect here in case we need to use our combined power inside,' Max said. Adam reached out and grabbed him by the wrist.
Do you think there's any chance he could turn on us?
Max tried to ignore that question as he and Adam crept up to the cell door. Adam reached out with his free hand and swung it open.
Wait. There was something wrong. Shouldn't it have been locked?
Before Max could formulate any kind of answer for himself, Adam stepped through the door, pulling Max with him.
'Max Evans. You've saved me the trouble of coming to pick you up.'
Max jerked his head toward the voice and saw Sheriff Valenti sitting behind a wide desk. A girl with short red
