The Solomon Key Read Online Free Page B

equipment, all the blast doors, the cameras, the retinal scans… it doesn’t make sense for them to just pick up and leave and then shut the power off on us, Joe. And no one else is back from dinner yet...”
    Joe tried to calm her down. “Maybe they were stopped topside, told not to come down because of the drill.”
    There was silence in the darkness as she contemplated the probability of this, but before she could reject his consoling, they heard footsteps coming down the corridor.
    Joe quickly shed his unconcerned act and ran through the darkness to a giant stainless steel counter that contained two large, empty cabinets underneath. “Melissa, over here,” he urged.
    She followed his voice, and they climbed into the cabinet just as someone pushed open the heavy door and entered the room.
    They held their breath, unable to see anything in the darkness.
    And then a beam of light split the darkness in half.
    “Joe? Melissa?”
    It was Mark.
    Melissa let out a sigh of relief and began to move, but Joe put a firm hand on her shoulder, keeping her still.
    The beam of light swept across the room, bringing to sight whatever it fell on.
    “Dr. Theissen? Are you here?” Mark asked again. “Dr. Strauss?” He began walking forward, through the lab, the flashlight continuing to sweep the room. Finally, he seemed content that he was alone because the ray of light no longer surveyed his surroundings, but focused instead on just one thing. The classified object resting within the glass case.
    They listened as Mark’s footsteps echoed off the hard floor, the length of the beam shortening as he came up to the case. They watched through the crack in the open cabinet door as the light suddenly went berserk, Mark using the flashlight’s bottom to smash the glass case. Had the power been on, alarms would have sounded so loud that cars would have begun pulling over on the streets above. But now… nothing.
    “What’s he doing?” Melissa whispered in Joe’s ear.
    Joe’s legs were beginning to cramp up, and he had to concentrate extra hard to ignore them. He ground his teeth, softly nudging Melissa into silence.
    Mark grabbed the object, shining the light on it. He stood there for a few seconds, mesmerized by what was in his hands as if he actually knew what it was that he held. Then he turned on the broken glass and headed out the way he had come in.
    “What do you have there?” a new voice suddenly asked.
    Neither Joe nor Melissa could see what was going on because Mark’s flashlight was pointed at only an empty spot on the floor, hanging uselessly at his side.
    “What are you doing here? They sent you—” It was Mark’s voice, and it lasted only as long as the new arrival let it.
    “Where are they?” the new voice asked, cutting him off.
    “They’re not here.”
    “They have to be here, they weren’t picked up leaving the lab,” the strange voice objected.
    “What difference does it make?” Mark asked. “I have it.”
    “They’re here somewhere. Spread out and look for them.” It was an order issued to more unseen figures, the sound of their hastened steps filling the lab.
    “Who sent you?” demanded Mark.
    Melissa craned her neck to peer further to the right, to try and see what was going on. As soon as she saw Mark, he was raising the flashlight and pulling out what appeared to be a gun. There was a scream from one of the armed men that the light exposed, causing him to jerk the night-vision from his head while Mark shot him in the chest.
    The loud gunshot sent Melissa back against Joe. She didn’t know what happened next; the room just seemed to explode.
    “We can’t stay here,” Joe whispered into her ear.
    Melissa threw the cabinet door open just as the beam from Mark’s flashlight swept across the room and revealed two men in black shooting at him. He was hiding behind some metal crates, firing aimlessly over their tops while trying to focus the light on a glimmering object resting on the floor.