Brain Storm (US Edition) Read Online Free

of her combat knife to start the doors opening. After she had them in motion the doors continued to open without further effort on her part. There was no guard stationed immediately outside these doors but neither were they located in a little room all to themselves. These opened out into what appeared to be the main foyer of the statue. Sara saw three CDM terrorists in the first instant after the doors opened. Luckily for her they all had their attention focused on the main front entrance to the statue and didn't appear to have heard the doors opening. They kept their attention focused outwards through the thick glass doors of the entrance. They had the lights dimmed and Sara could make out the human guards and reprogrammed security mech they had outside. Sara could also see the reflections of the three terrorists in the foyer with her and knew that she would have to be careful when she moved to avoid giving herself away in them.
    Sara wasted no time in taking advantage of the guards' inattentiveness and slipped from the ladder landing in a crouch next to the doors. She reached up on the inside edge and triggered the switch that caused the doors to slide back closed. As soon as she had pressed that switch she crawled into the cover provided by a nearby water fountain. She was out of sight of the three CDM terrorists but that also meant she couldn't see if they had heard her closing the doors. She strained her ears for sounds of them coming to investigate.
    When there were none she slipped out of her hiding place and started her investigation of this floor. Unlike the floors above it the ground floor was divided into a series of sections surrounding a main area in the centre as a small hall. The sections surrounding this hall, starting with the foyer, were a series of interconnected rooms the largest of which was the gift shop located in the back of the statue and on the opposite side to the entrance foyer.
    Sara made her way through the perimeter offices, checking the view from each one into the main area. That seemed to be where most of the terrorists were located but she had yet to see any sign of the hostages. There was a quartet of rusted brown barrels located against the inside corner wall on the other side of the hall from her current position that could contain the explosives and that Sara would try to get a better look at when she reached the offices behind that area.
    Sara had no trouble making her way around the offices lining the perimeter of the hall, inside the outer wall of the statue, until she came to one that seemed to be the back office of the tourist gift shop. The door to the next room was locked, that wasn't the problem though the lock was a simple one only on the inside of the door she was at meant to keep people coming from the next room into this one. The problem was that she could hear voices coming from inside.
    Sara flattened herself sideways to the door. She brushed the stray strands of her hair that had come loose from her ponytail back behind her ear and pressed it against the door.
    The first voice that she could make out was male and spoke in a slow methodical manner. He was in control of the situation and he knew it.
    "Your contact does not exist. There is no way out of this situation for you unless you cooperate with us. How much does she know about Project Brainstorm?"
    There was a hesitation before the second voice put in and it began with a grunt of pain. This must have been one of the hostages being encouraged to speak up by a kick or a punch.
    "She doesn't know anything except the name."
    "We know she has been in contact with you on more than one occasion," the first voice said. "We have access to your computer terminals and will have reconstructed all of your communications within the hour. It will go better for you if you co-operate now."
    The second speaker barked out a short laugh that ended in another groan of pain. "You will get nothing from my terminal I erased it fully and then