Decker’s voice crackled through. “Bravo Dealer to Alpha Vigil. Heavy resistance at south entrance. Lazarus breached northeast side. Lost comms with him six minutes ago.”
That wasn’t good. When Gage went dark, it usually meant the biohacking had taken over. I’d seen what happened when that line got crossed. It wasn’t pretty, and he couldn’t control it.
“Changing approach,” I told Flynn and Rafe. “We use this chaos. Security’s focused on two breach points. We hit them from a third angle, catch them in crossfire.”
Flynn nodded and gave a smile that was all teeth. “I do love a good pincer movement.”
We abandoned the vehicle behind a rock formation and moved on foot, using the natural terrain for cover. My boots crunched on loose gravel as we approached from the west side, where the old mining equipment still rusted in the yard. The night air tasted of dust and cordite, the tang of it sharp in my nose.
“Alpha moving to west entrance,” I reported. “Sixty seconds to breach.”
“Copy that,” came Ethan’s voice. “Bravo pushing forward to create diversion.”
Almost on cue, the gunfire at the main entrance intensified. Security teams shouted to each other, their attention drawn to the south. Perfect.
“Now,” I signaled, and we broke cover, sprinting the last twenty yards to a maintenance door half-hidden behind a pile of ore carts.
Rafe made quick work of the lock, his fingers dancing over the electronic keypad, bypassing it with a device Ozzy had designed. The door clicked open with a soft beep.
“I’ve got point,” I said, slipping inside with my weapon raised.
Emergency lights cast everything in an eerie red glow that made the shadows move like living things. We moved fast, clearing corners and checking doorways as we went.
“Getting facility schematics from Oz now,” Flynn murmured. “Main lab complex is two levels down. Security office on this floor, east wing.”
The first contact came at an intersection of corridors. Two guards in tactical gear spun toward us, weapons already rising. I fired twice, catching the first in the chest. He went down hard. Flynn took the second with a clean headshot before the man could radio our position.
“Clear,” Rafe called after checking the bodies. “Damn. They’re Halston.”
The three of us exchanged a glance.
“Fuck,” I said under my breath.
Flynn whistled softly. “If Gage hasn’t already gone berserk, he will when he sees those uniforms.”
“We need to find him and get him the fuck out of here.”
“Roger that,” Flynn and Rafe said at the same time.
We pushed deeper into the facility, the architecture changing around us. What had started as a utilitarian mining operation gave way to something much more sophisticated. The floor transitioned to polished concrete. Climate control systems hummed softly overhead. Wall-mounted monitors displayed security feeds and data readouts.
“More like a research facility than a mine,” Flynn observed.
“That’s exactly what it is,” I replied, checking another corner before moving forward.
The first test subject we found was strapped to a gurney in what looked like a converted storage room. Middle-aged man, pale as paper, an IV in his arm feeding something cloudy into his veins. His eyes tracked our movement, but there was no recognition there, no awareness.
“Got a civilian,” I reported and checked his vitals. His pulse throbbed weak but steady under my fingers. “Looks like the same setup we saw in the surveillance feeds.”
Flynn covered the door while Rafe cut the restraints. The man didn’t move even after being freed.
“Can’t evacuate him now,” Rafe said. “He needs medical attention first.”
“Tag him for extraction,” I decided, placing a tracker beacon beside the gurney. “Alistair can send a med team once we secure the area.”
We found four more in similar condition in adjacent rooms. All hooked up to IVs, all with the same vacant stare. All wearing regular clothes—jeans, t-shirts, work boots. Ordinary people from Garnett who’d been turned into lab rats.
Each one twisted something tight inside my chest. Every vacantly staring face could have been Evelyn if things had gone differently. Every motionless body could have been Sophia. The thought turned my stomach.
