Bec snorted, but it wasn’t out of amusement. “Walter doesn’t have a rich relative.”
“My gut says the same unless his rich relative is very much alive and very much a bad player. So far, we have proof that he set the lab up at someone’s request. There has to be another file here to tell us who—”
A loud bang made them both jump. “What was that?” Bec asked.
Iris grabbed the walkie-talkie. “Secure Watch, India.” She released the button and waited but got no response. “Secure Watch, India!” She waited but still didn’t get a response. “Something’s wrong, Bec.”
“Let’s give them a minute in case they can’t stop doing what they’re doing to respond.”
Her heart pounding, she closed the laptop and set it aside, grabbing the tablet to call Cal when the stairwell door slammed open.
“Thank God,” Iris said, but the rest of the thought died on her lips.
Four men, dressed head to toe in black with only their eyes showing, marched into the lab, assault rifles aimed at them as they approached.
“Who are you?” Bec asked, putting herself between the men and Iris. “You have no right to be here.”
“Walter sent us,” one of the men sneered. “We’re here for Ignis.”
“You can’t take a dangerous pathogen out of the lab. That’s suicide.”
“He said you completed the vaccine,” another one said from the left.
“Completed, yes—proved its effectiveness, no. That will take years.”
“We’ll take our chances,” the first guy said. “Open the door to the lab.”
Iris shook with fear as the men aimed their rifles at them, making it almost impossible to think about what to do next. Were Declan and Zac alive? Had they been hurt? Had Cal arrived yet? Cal! The thought penetrated her terror, and she leaned over to cough, hoping it didn’t sound fake. While bent over, she hit the panic button under her shirt, alerting everyone at Secure Watch that she was in trouble. If Cal was still at Walter’s or headed back, he’d know they needed help.
“Where’s Walter?” Bec asked. “I won’t do anything until I talk to him.”
“We’d like to know the same thing,” the ringleader said. “We’ve been trying to reach him since he missed our scheduled call. We’re not waiting any longer.”
Was Walter planning to double-cross them by taking off and leaving Bec holding the bag? It was starting to look that way to her.
Slowly, Iris stood up, enraged at the thought that her friends could be hurt or worse. “What did you do to my friends?”
“Relax. They’re fine. Or they will be once they wake up from their little nap and find a way to untie themselves. We aren’t here to hurt anyone. That includes you. As long as you do what we say.”
Iris could hear the hint of an accent but couldn’t pinpoint where it was from. Bec reached behind her and took her hand, squeezing it.
“What do you want us to do?” Bec asked, and the guy motioned to the lab with his gun.
“Open the lab door, but don’t make any sudden moves.”
Bec nodded. “I’m going to turn around and explain to my friend what she needs to do on the computer so I can use my metrics to open the door. I’m not trying anything. We’ve had some computer difficulties. Not everything is working properly.”
“Hands where we can see them,” he responded, and Bec raised her hands before she turned to face Iris.
“You’re okay?” she asked, and Iris nodded, her eyes wide. She wasn’t okay, but she didn’t want to freak Bec out and make her worry when she had four guns aimed at her back. “I’m going to need you to go through the sequence just like last time so I can enter my biometrics at the door.”
“But Bec, that’s dangerous.”
Trust me, she mouthed, and Iris snapped her lips shut, even if they continued to tremble as she faced off with the woman who had taught her so much about herself in such a short time.
“Just sit down slowly and wait for me to get to the lab door, then type everything in exactly as you did last time.”
Bec turned around, and the guys walked her to the door, where she waited. Iris was confused because she didn’t need her to open the door. Since she didn’t know what she had planned, she sat down and typed away on the laptop as though she was doing something important. She occasionally glanced at Bec, who had moved to theside while the guys lined up in front of the lab door. She kept typing, hoping to buy time in case Cal got her SOS alert and was on his way.
