“Unless the robot’s been down there all along.” I took the stairs two at a time. “We only explored a tiny portion of the tunnel system yesterday. It could have been hiding in an area we didn’t check.”
“Possible. Either way, we need eyes on the ground. Can you get in touch with your contact so we can bypass security?”
“I can try.” I reached my room and went straight for my equipment. “He’s on the line with Reynolds right now.”
I had a field bag ready to go: presumptive test kits, decontaminant sponges, and a durable tablet with analytical software. “I just wish the incursion suits were ready.”
“We’ve got the hazmat suits in the vehicle,” said Bobcat.
I paused to stare at the ceiling for a beat. The men on my team were great at waiting for the action, but when it presented itself, they sometimes barged in without mapping all the variables. “Leave the hazmat suits in the vehicle until we know what we’re dealing with.”
“But if the Greek Fire is?—”
“The robot isn’t carrying anything, so if it belongs to Fenix, they’re doing recon. If we go in with hazmat suits, they’ll know we’re on to them.” I slung the small pack over my shoulder and headed for the stairs. “If we spook Fenix, we fuck up both our goals. So tell the boys to keep their Pendragon attitude under control. Blend in. Observe.”
Bobcat grunted a laugh and spoke to whoever was with him. “Doc says we’re not allowed to stick out.”
“Good fucking luck,” said Percival in Bobcat’s background.
“You hear that?” asked my team lead.
“We obviously gave them whatever final piece they needed for the formula.” I arrived at the second-floor landing, taking the steps as quickly as I could on their route around the elevator. “If we hadn’t left it on that server in fucking Mnemis, none of this would be happening.”
“Don’t beat yourself up, Doc.”
I’d told them to delete the formula. Leaving it on the servers was a stupid, risky idea, even if I’d screwed up the data. It hadn’t been enough. I’d left too much detail behind.
“You know as well as I do?—”
I paused at the bottom of the stairs as he continued.
“—if they got the chemicals together this fast, they already had at least some of Haddad’s research. They had to have been at least ninety percent of the way there before Mnemis.”
He was right. Of course, he was right. If the Greek Fire was ready, they would have ordered the constituent parts weeks, if not months, ago. There would have been waits, delays, and trials as they got their lab working.
Thatwas why the formula hadn’t been deleted.
Our government had known someone was already close to piecing it together. The only way to make them reveal themselves before deploying it was to dangle parts of the formula in front of them, so they’d come out of hiding.
Shit.
So who was in Fenix’s lab? Who’d picked up Haddad’s research and wasn’t in custody already? And where was their lab?
Keep moving, Brooke. Figure it out later.
Before hanging up, I said to Bobcat, “I’ll call you when I’m close.”
In the operations center, Drew was still monitoring the feed while maintaining comms with Rav. Jayce was marking positions on a digital map of the tunnels, using the survey data Mario had provided yesterday.
“The robot is circling the chamber,” Drew reported. “Still no sign of human operators.”
“I’m going in,” Mario’s voice came through Jayce’s phone. “I have clearance to be underground, and I know how to disable this type of robot.”
“Negative,” Rav responded firmly. “Wait for backup. Fenix operatives might be monitoring above ground.”
“Mario’s right,” I said, setting my pack on the table to double-check its contents. “His presence won’t raise suspicion. Anyone else would immediately trigger alarms.”
“Brooke—” Rav started.
