Chapter 19 - The Fire Inside
Lena didn't hesitate. She threw her weight against the master override panel on her wall, tearing away the protective plastic cover and slamming her fist down on the manual purge button.
System Warning: Hyperbaric Overload Initiated. Evacuate Sector Four.
Through the reinforced glass of her office door, she watched as the distant corridor of Sector Four lit up in a blinding, instantaneous flash of superheated plasma. The muffled roar of the controlled explosion shook the foundations of the underground complex, sending dust cascading from the ceiling tiles.
The thermal imaging monitors flickered once, twice... and then the red thermal signatures in Sector Four vanished entirely.
"Blast successful," the computer chimed smoothly.
Clara slumped against the desk, exhaling a ragged breath. "Did... did we get them?"
"We bought ourselves about ten minutes," Lena said, grabbing a tactical medical pack and shoving two high-caliber trauma pistols into her waistband. "Get the biological ledger. We're moving to the secondary safehouse through the old steam tunnels."
Before they could reach the emergency exit, the heavy steel door of the lab hissed open.
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Marco stepped through, his overcoat singed at the hem, a streak of carbon ash smeared across his cheek, holding a smoking assault rifle. Behind him, two of his elite guards were dragging a heavily armored, unconscious federal operative.
"Sector Four is clear," Marco said, his breathing only slightly elevated. He looked at Clara, then back to Lena. "Now, would someone care to explain why the United States government is trying to level my entire estate over a glass vial?"
