“We don’t have time!”Reynolds argued.
“We make time,” Gunnar countered.“Or this whole operation will be for nothing.”
Bryn spotted an unmarked door.“There, that might be it.”He pointed.
“Go,” Reynolds ordered.“You have three minutes.Not a second more.”
Gunnar, Bryn and Giles rushed toward the door and found it locked with an electronic keypad.
“Can you just, you know, rip it off?”Bryn asked Gunnar.
“I have a better idea.Stand back.”Gunnar grabbed a nearby chair then swung it into the lock with lupine-powered force.The lock smashed, shattered plastic fragments flew everywhere and the door clicked open.
Inside, rack-mounted servers hummed, blinking lights reflecting off the walls.“This is it!”Giles moved to the main terminal.“Explains the power usage.”
“Can you stop the countdown?”Bryn asked.
Giles typed rapidly.“Unlikely.But I can do this.”He pulled a device from his pocket.“This is a specialized data drive.I can download everything before it’s destroyed.”
“How long?”Gunnar snapped.
“Two minutes, maybe less.”
From the server room door, Bryn watched as the evacuation continued, precious seconds ticking away.The three gene-affected individuals from the chambers had been disconnected from their equipment and were being carried out on stretchers.
Bryn’s earpiece buzzed.“Sixty seconds!”Reynolds’ voice warned.“Everyone out now!”
“Gunnar?”
“Almost done.Go!”
“Like hell,” Bryn retorted.
Giles was still working, the data transfer in progress.
“We need to get out,” Gunnar insisted.
“Thirty more seconds,” Giles replied without looking up.
The terminal beeped.“Transfer complete.”Giles yanked the drive free, tucking it into an inner pocket.“Now we run.”
Bryn was already moving and they sprinted for the exit, the countdown in Bryn’s ear.The main production floor was already empty, the bodies gone.They shot through the broken front door as a series of muffled thumps sounded from inside the building.
“Get down!”Gunnar shouted, tackling Bryn to the pavement.But the expected explosion never came.Instead, the lights inside the facility went dark, and smoke began pouring from vents in the roof.
“Not bombs,” Giles observed as they stood.“Data destruction.They’re frying the electronics and hard drives.”
“Everyone accounted for?”Reynolds demanded, moving through the gathered officers.
“All clear,” one of officers reported.“But we have bodies laid out along the sidewalk.”
Bryn watched the smoke rising from the building.“They knew we were coming.”
“They did,” Gunnar agreed.
“Those people were left there to die.”
“Seems so.Russo is brutal.”
