Jane did a U-turn and stopped the car on the road outside the storage facility. She checked her pistol was loaded and clipped it back into the holster under her jacket.
‘Okay, Doc, you’re the expert. What’s the plan?’
Doctor Owen looked at Jane with a blank expression on his face. She’d known the answer to her question before she asked it but she wanted to see his reaction. Unfortunately, it was exactly what she suspected.
‘You mean you haven’t got a plan?’ she asked, anger growing in her voice.
‘Have you still got your Mantek badge?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ she said and fished it out of her pocket.
‘That’s our best option.’
‘Jesus Christ, Andrew. This is a shambles. We’re going to get ourselves killed.’ Jane shook her head and rubbed her eyes. ‘Come on, let’s go.’
They got out of the car and ran through the rain to the front door. Jane was despairing at their lack of organisation. Her work was always so well planned but now she felt helpless. She always had to have a plan A, B and if possible C, but they barely had a plan A. For all she knew, they were walking right into a trap and there was nothing they could do about it, but as Doctor Owen had told her, they didn’t have a choice. They had to recover everything on his list. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to stop The Brotherhood developing and distributing the primary treatment.
‘Wait,’ she said as they approached the front step, ‘the door’s open.’
Jane drew her pistol as they reached the door. With the fingertips of her left hand, she slowly eased the door open.
Blood.
There was a pool of dark red blood on the floor. Jane stepped inside and took a deep breath as she saw a dead body lying in front of her, stopping the door opening all the way. He was clad in combat gear, with blood was still slowly pouring from the hole in his head. Jane grabbed Doctor Owen’s arm and dragged him inside the building, closing the door behind them.
‘Oh my God,’ he exclaimed.
‘It looks like someone’s beaten us to it. We’re too late. What the hell is going on here, Andrew?’
‘But this is a Brotherhood facility. Who did this?’
They slowly followed a trail of wet footprints up the stairs. At the top they found a security pass hanging from a cord tied to the handle of the door. They shared a look that told each other they had no idea what was going on. They were out of control, out of their depth and they knew it.
Jane removed the pass and opened the door to the reception area. She had no idea what to expect when she opened the door but the sight before her left her speechless.
The bodies of four dead soldiers were lined up on the floor next to the reception desk. Just in front of Jane as she stepped through into the reception area was a heavy clear plastic bag that was filled with data tapes.
A hand-written note sat next to the bag. Jane picked it up and read it out loud. ‘Doctor Owen, you and your companion are out of your depth. If you want to stay alive, go to the following address: 112 Abbey Tower. The Brotherhood are coming. Go now.’
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