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  At first she just lay on the floor as she let the warmth of the Bluff flow over her and attempt to thaw her out. After a while, though still cold, she felt like she could stand. Using the bed to help her, she rose to her feet. That’s when she saw Robert. He was lying near the door, a drying pool of blood at his side. He could have saved himself, but had instead given his life to save her.

  She knelt beside him, and brushed a strand of hair off his cheek. He was so young. How would she ever repay his sacrifice?

  Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something under her dresser. She leaned forward to take a better look. A pistol, probably the one Robert had been using. She picked it up and checked the mag. It was full.

  Though hiding in the closet had been her initial plan, a new one had taken its place. She would find the intruders, and get a good look at them so she could identify them later. If she were really lucky, maybe she would find one alone, and take one life in payment for the many that she was sure had been lost that day.

  Quickly she exchanged her sweats for more practical clothing, then checked to make sure no one was in the hallway.

  Without waiting another moment, she slipped out of her room.

  The mood in the elevator was somber as the team headed back up to the house. Counting the four prisoners in their cells, thirty-two were dead, and two-Janice and Olivia-were the known missing.

  Not only were the losses devastating, but the numbers themselves were a problem. There had been thirty-five people at the Bluff, not thirty-four. Someone else was also missing. To try figuring out who it was, Browne and Solomon had stayed below to ID the bodies.

  As soon as the doors opened at the top, they all ripped off their masks and took in deep breaths of fresh, untainted air.

  “I need to report in,” Pax said as he pulled out his phone and walked away.

  Ash and the others headed toward the front room.

  It was clear to him what had happened. The Project had found out that Olivia was alive and had come for her. She had been one of their leading scientists before she was taken and her death faked. There must have been a need she filled that required her return to the fold. How had they found out, though? A leak here at the Bluff?

  Perhaps the missing-

  A gunshot rang out.

  Moving as silently as she could, Janice listened for intruders as she made her way toward the stairs that would take her to ground level. So far she had heard nothing, and had the distinct sense the others were no longer on the second floor.

  She was just starting to think that maybe they’d pulled out altogether when a male voice drifted in her direction, and was answered a moment later by a second man. They seemed to be somewhere ahead of her.

  The hallway she was in T-boned with another that ran parallel to the front of the house. She turned left, heading toward the stairs, and soon discovered where the voices were coming from.

  The hallway stopped at the edge of the second-floor mezzanine. There was no one there. The speakers must have been in the room below, their voices drifting upward. The problem now was, if she stepped out onto the walkway, she’d easily be seen from the lower level. She scanned ahead, and realized maybe that wasn’t correct. If she stayed low, she could use the railing as cover and get even closer to the stairs.

  Not allowing any time to talk herself out of it, she dropped into a crouch and crept along the mezzanine until she was three feet short of the stairs. She peeked over the top rail. Standing together in the lower room were two men, both wearing black, with rifles slung over their shoulders.

  Without warning her head began to swim. She reached out and grabbed the rail to keep from falling down.

  “Did you hear that?” one of the men said. “Up by the stairs, I think.”

  They’d heard her.

  “We need to check,” the other one said.

  “I’ll go.”

  No! Oh, God, no! They knew she was here. Now they wouldn’t stop until…

  …until I’m dead, too.

  She had to buy time, but the only way to do that was to let them know for sure she was there. Without looking, she pointed her gun into the room toward where she thought the others were, and pulled the trigger.

  Ash raised his gun, and looked back at Michael and Billy.

  “Stay here,” he said.

  Billy wasn’t armed, so he didn’t put up any protest, but Michael looked like he was about to.

  “Stay. Here,” Ash repeated.

  Not waiting to see if Michael complied, he ran to the end of the hallway and scanned the front room beyond. He could see the two men they had left behind, pressed against the wall opposite the front door.

  Ash quickly waved his hand to get their attention. One of the men looked over and pointed at the mezzanine above him. Ash nodded, then held up his hand, telling them to stay put.

  He turned and ran back down the hallway.

  When he reached Michael and Billy, he said, “Is there another way to the second floor?”

  “One of them is still here?” Michael asked.

  “Is there another way or not?”

  Michael nodded. “I’ll show you.”

  Moving fast, Michael took him into a room that was set up as an office, then out a door on the other side. This led into a narrow corridor that fed into the kitchen. At the back of the room, next to the pantry, was a closed door. Michael wrenched it open. Beyond was a staircase.

  Ash pushed past Michael and raced up. Behind him he heard the other man’s feet pounding the treads.

  Instead of arguing with him, Ash looked back and said, “Stay just inside the stairwell in case they try to use it.”

  Michael nodded. “Okay.”

  Ash took off down the hallway. Having never been on this floor before, he let his instincts guide him. Ahead, the hallway bent to the left. He stopped just short of the turn and listened.

  Silence.

  Planning to move as quickly as he could to the far end, he stepped around the corner. He was instantly halted by the gun thrust in his face.

  Janice headed for the back stairs, hoping the intruders weren’t guarding them, but as she neared the end of the corridor, she heard footsteps running in her direction down the intersecting hallway.

  She leaned against the wall and raised her gun.

  At first, the only thing Ash could see was the barrel of the pistol. Forcing himself to look beyond it, he made eye contact with the person who wanted to kill him.

  “Janice?” he said, surprised.

  Her eyes narrowed, confused, but she didn’t lower the weapon.

  “Janice. It’s Ash. We’ve been looking for you.”

  More confusion, the barrel wavering slightly.

  “Please. We’re not here to hurt you. Whoever did this is gone. We just flew out from the Ranch.”

  “The Ranch?”

  He could see she was having a hard time understanding. She took a harder look at him.

  “Ash?”

  Whatever energy had been holding her up vanished. If Ash hadn’t jumped forward when he did, she would have smacked her head on the floor.

  13

  I.D. MINUS 12 DAYS

  Browne and Solomon accompanied Ash, Pax, Billy, Michael, and Janice on the plane back to the Ranch. The other men stayed at the Bluff, securing it until the cleanup team arrived the next afternoon.

  Janice had yet to regain consciousness since falling in the hallway. After a quick examination at the house, Billy determined that in addition to the flu, she was now also suffering from hypothermia, which would explain why she hadn’t been killed with the others. Somehow she had been able to hide outside.

  Matt was waiting for them when they landed back at the Ranch. He had Ash and Pax ride with him, while everyone else piled into the other waiting vehicles.

  “It was indescribable,” Pax said as Matt pulled away from the airstrip. “A goddamn massacre. I don’t think anyone even had a chance.”

  “We ran the names of everyone you i
dentified,” Matt said. “The missing person is a man named Jeremy Murphy.”

  Pax shook his head. “I don’t think I know him.”

  “He was one of the control room technicians.”

  “So was he involved?”

  “He’d have been perfectly placed.”

  Everyone was silent for a moment, then Pax said, “If that’s the case, I wonder if he did this of his own free will, or was he coerced?”

  “It doesn’t matter one way or the other,” Matt said. “They’re all still dead.”

  Silence once more.

  After a little while, Ash said, “Olivia must be pretty damn important to them.”

  Matt frowned. “Maybe a few years ago, but I wouldn’t have thought now. Whatever skills she had, they would have surely replaced them by this point.”

  “Could be a personal connection. Someone in the Project who just found out she was alive?”

  “That would make more sense.”

  “Or,” Ash said, having another thought, “what if she was just a byproduct? And the real goal was to disrupt your organization.”

  “Then they would have struck here.”

  “Has Murphy ever been here?”

  “Yeah, but like most of the people we bring in, he doesn’t know where here is.”

  “You should probably still get ready, because chances are they’ll figure it out.”

  “That’s already being taken care of.” Matt glanced at him. “I’m afraid I need your answer now.”

  Ash’s mind had been so absorbed with the events of the evening, it took him a few seconds to realize that Matt was talking about Bluebird. “You should have Pax lead the team. He did a pretty damn good job at the Bluff.”

  “Pax will be going, but he won’t be leading. He’ll be there to help and advise, but mainly to be my eyes and report back. I can’t have you burdened with dealing with me, too. Once you go, you’re the authority. I won’t contradict any of your orders. I’ll have too much down here to deal with.”

  “You’re assuming we won’t be successful, aren’t you?” Ash asked.

  Matt said nothing for several seconds, then nodded. “Yes.”

  The rest of the ride was in silence. When Matt pulled up in front of the Lodge and killed the engine, no one made a move to get out.

  “You’re asking me to leave my kids,” Ash finally said. “To quite possibly sacrifice my life for something you think is not going to work anyway. Why in the hell should I do that?”

  Matt looked at him. “Because if you do succeed, you’re ensuring that the world your children know will still be here.”

  It was as if Matt had been echoing his own thoughts.

  “Well?” Matt asked.

  Ash sat down on the edge of his daughter’s bed, and gave her a shake. “Josie, I need to talk to you.”

  She groaned softly and turned on her side, her back to him.

  “Josie, come on. Wake up.”

  He put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back around. She twisted against the mattress, then her eyelids parted.

  “Dad?”

  “Hi, sweetie. We need to talk.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Nearly four.”

  She looked at the window, then back at him. “In the morning?”

  “Yeah.”

  Looking completely confused, she asked, “What do you want to talk about?”

  He patted her on the leg and stood up. “Get dressed. I’ll wait for you in the hall.”

  Once she joined him, he took her down to the kitchen where Bobbie had some hot chocolate waiting. The house was eerily quiet, in part due to the hour, but also because, as Matt had told him, most of the resistance personnel had shipped out not long after the destruction of the Bluff was discovered, so as not to be caught in any action that might have happened at the Ranch. Those remaining would be moving into the Bunker in the next few days, where they would remain, acting as communications hub, until it had all played out.

  It took Ash an hour to fully explain everything to his daughter. He left nothing out, and answered all her questions as honestly and directly as possible.

  She took it surprisingly well, but telling her the world might end in the next few weeks wasn’t the hardest part.

  He took a sip of his now lukewarm cocoa. “There’s a chance we might be able to stop it. It’s not a good chance, but we have to try.”

  “What is it?” she asked warily.

  “We think we know where the Project’s headquarters are located. If we can get to those in charge before anything happens, we might be able to stop it.”

  “Where?”

  She was talking around the real question she wanted to ask, and he knew it.

  “About three thousand miles north of here.”

  She contorted her face. “You mean the North Pole?”

  He couldn’t help but let out a quick laugh. “No, not that far, but close. On one of the islands in northern Canada.”

  “Oh.” She stared down at her mug, lost in thought.

  He waited patiently for a minute, then two. Finally he said, “They want me to go.”

  “I know,” she whispered. “When?”

  “As soon as possible, but it will probably take a few days to get everything together.”

  She stared at her hot chocolate again.

  “I won’t go if you don’t want me to,” he said.

  Quiet again, then, “I don’t want you to.”

  “Okay. Then I won’t.” He raised his mug to his lips.

  “But, Dad?”

  He moved the cup away an inch. “Yeah?”

  “You have to go.”

  “No, sweetie. I don’t have to. I told you, if you said no I wouldn’t go, so I won’t.”

  “No. That’s not what I mean. I don’t want you to go, but I know you have to.”

  She chewed on her bottom lip, trying not to cry.

  He looked her, his chest tightening. “Sweetie, I don’t have to. They’ll still send a team. I just won’t be on it.”

  Eyes full of tears, she said, “You have to, Dad. You’re the one who can make it happen. You found Brandon and me. You saved us. Now you need to save everyone else.”

  As she started to cry, he moved around the table and knelt beside her, wrapping his arms around her. In that moment, she reminded him of his late wife more than ever, nearly bringing him to tears, too.

  “You have to go, Dad,” she whispered in his ear between sobs. “You have to.”

  14

  I.D. MINUS 9 DAYS

  MUMBAI, INDIA

  Sanjay could not believe his luck. Not only had he been given a job the day he’d finally accompanied Ayush to the Pishon Chem offices, but after he took the test they gave him, he’d been given the position of supervisor, responsible for operations in his home neighborhood and several more surrounding it. Ultimately, over one hundred others would work directly for him.

  Ayush had done even better. He was given the title of Coordinating Officer, and worked over the group of supervisors in charge of nearly half of Mumbai. Which made him Sanjay’s boss.

  Though the project they’d been hired for was a temporary one, the people at Pishon Chem made it clear that if they did their jobs well, some of the supervisors and coordinating officers would be kept on permanently. And the money they were paying! It was even better than he had hoped.

  Tomorrow was going to be a big day. For the first time, the sweepers-the title of those working under the supervisors-would be practicing with the spray machines. The managers from Pishon Chem wanted everyone to be completely familiar with the equipment. When the day finally came for dispensing the miracle spray, the sweepers would need to move quickly, covering as much ground as possible in a single day.

  Sanjay would observe those training under his command, and give instructions and encouragement to those who needed it. At the end of the day, he was expected to give honest assessments to his coordinating officer-Ayush-so that adjustments could be m
ade now while there was still plenty of time.

  But that was tomorrow morning. Tonight he would make a stop at the fruit stand, because he knew for sure Kusum would be there. She had told him herself.

  With a wide grin, he hopped off the bus and headed to the market, happier than he’d ever been.

  GILSTRAP HALL

  HAWKINS UNIVERSITY

  ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

  Corey was getting annoyed.

  It had been several days since he contacted Hidde-Kel Holdings and requested an information pack about the company. He’d stressed the importance of getting it quickly, and had been told they would rush it right out, but, as his latest check of the mail just proved, it had yet to arrive.

  It wouldn’t be so crucial except for the fact he’d been hard-pressed to find other information about the company. Apparently it wasn’t very big on publicity, as evidenced by its website, which was woefully devoid of useful information. He wasn’t even sure where its headquarters were actually located. The address on the website corresponded to a tiny office in a multiple-tenant building in Portland, Oregon. He knew this because he’d looked it up on Google Maps, then switched to street view and saw the actual building. From that he was able to get the name of one of the other businesses that shared the same premises. He called and persuaded the woman who answered to give him a little information on her neighbor.

  Turned out Hidde-Kel’s address was more a mail drop than anything else. So was the company even in Portland?

  As he walked back to his dorm room, he knew he had to come up with some other options. If he didn’t, his paper wouldn’t be much more than a page or two, guaranteeing him a failing grade.

  There was one thing he could do. He’d been avoiding it because he’d hoped Hidde-Kel would be more cooperative, and because, technically, it would be breaking the law. But perhaps it was time to push things a bit.

  His friend Blanton Kirn, also a student at Hawkins U, was working on a degree in computer engineering, a natural offshoot of his computer-hacking hobby. Corey thought that maybe Blanton could cut through the BS on the Hidde-Kel website and get to some real information.