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Athens had failed Dr Griffith stared at the blinking white light by the door, cursing Athens, cursing Lyle Aet back inside, which could only mean that the intruders had e or sent them one, it didn&039;tand he had to assume that they had the key He&039;d torn down the o, but perhaps they had directions, perhaps they&039;d find him and
Don&039;t panic, no need for panic You prepared for this, simply move on, next plan Division first, twofold effect - less firepower, bait for later and a chance to see hoell Alan can perform
Griffith turned to Dr Kinneson and spoke quickly, keeping the instructions clear and simple, the route as easy as possible Griffith had already worked out the questions they&039;d probably ask, though he knew there was a chance they&039;d try for ave Alan several randoave him the small se as Alan tucked it beneath his lab coat to make sure it was hidden The bullet carrier was empty, but he didn&039;t think it was possible to tell, not if the haave Alan his key; a risk, but then the entire scenario was a risk With the fate of the world resting in his hands, he&039;d take any chance necessary After Alan had gone, Griffith sat down in a chair to wait for a reasonable a to the six stainless canisters in restless antici-pation His plans wouldn&039;t fail; the righteousness of his ould see hiht out, there were still the Ma7s, there was still Louis, there were still the syringes and his hiding place, the airlock controls in easy reach
Past all of that, there was still the sunrise, waiting Dr Griffith smiled dreamily
Karen could still walk, still see to her, but the feords she couldAs they&039;d gone down the stairs frohthouse, she&039;d said "hot" twice As they&039;d walked into the wide, dank tunnel at the base of the steps, she&039;d said, "I don&039;t want," an expression of fear on her deathly pale, searching face Rebecca was terrified that even if they found a way to reverse the viral load, it would be too late It had all happened so suddenly, so fast that she could still hardly co for thehthouse, a trap just as David had intuited As soon as they&039;d gone in, he&039;d opened fire with an auto the door fro metal stairs Thanks to David&039;s plan, it had been over in seconds and as Steve had discovered the access door and punched in the code, Rebecca and John had looked over their waiting attacker, had seen in the narrow beaht that theand creased with strange, peeling etched lines He&039;d looked somehow different than the Trisquad victi eyes soet Karen and Rebecca&039;s interest had been suddenly and cruelly diverted It had been the walk up the hill, she&039;d decided Even though it shouldn&039;t have ht have brought on the amplification so quickly Soical changes of Ka- ren&039;s increased heart rate and circulation, but as they&039;d led the confused and stuhthouse, Rebecca had found that she&039;d stopped caring about how; all she wanted was to get to the lab, to try and salvage as left of Karen Driver&039;s sanity The tunnel beneath the lighthouse see trail, and was carved fro along the walls, casting strange shadows as they ri Karen between the a horrible sense of deja vu as they stu the tunnels beneath the Spencer estate
The same cold damp es ofup - of not being able to prevent a disaster The disaster has already happened, she thought helplessly, watching Karen struggle to keep walking
We&039;re losing her In another hour, probably less, she&039;ll be too far gone to ever come back
As it was, John and Steve shouldn&039;t be touching her In a single, easybefore they had a chance to let go Even that conceptof loss The tunnel veered to the left, and Rebecca realized they had to be incredibly close to the ocean; the walls seemed to tremble and shake from a muted thunder beyond, and the tunnel was thick with a damp and fishy smell Parts of the floor seemed too smooth to have been created by huuely if the tunnel opened up ahead somewhere, perhaps had once been flooded by the sea "Bloody hell," David whispered angrily "Shit" Rebecca looked up When she saas ahead, she felt her last flicker of hope for Karen die
We&039;ll never find it in time
The tunnel did open up, a few hundred meters ahead of where David had stopped It widened con-siderably, in fact and was connected by five shtly different direction "Which way is southwest?" John asked anxiously Karen leaned against hiry, frustration raising his words to an echo that bounced through the five stone corridors, circling back to fill the cavern
"I don&039;t know, I thought ere already headed southwest and yet none of these is in direct align-ment, and none head directly east, either"
Theyhelplessly at the shts that disappeared around turns and bends They had obviously been carved by water, perhaps had once been connected to the sea caves that David had originally meant for them to find The tunnels weren&039;t as wide as the one they stood in, but ide enough to accoh, and at least three et to the lab -or if any of them lead to the lab, we don&039;t even know for certain that it&039;s down here
"If none of theoes east, then we have to pick the one that looks the o southwest," Steve said quietly "Besides, east of here is water" Karen ible, and Rebecca stepped fororriedly to see how she was Though John and Steve still steadied her, she see on her own Rebecca touched her cla eyes fixed on her, glassy and red, the pupils dilated "Karen, how are you doing?" she asked softly Karen blinked slowly "Thirsty," she whispered, her voice bubbling and liquid sounding
Still responsive, thank God
Rebecca touched her throat lightly, feeling the rapid, thready pulse beneath her fingers It was defi- nitely quicker than before, up in the lighthouse Whatever the virus was doing to her, it wouldn&039;t be ave out Rebecca turned, feeling desperate and angry, want- ing to screa footsteps, echoing up through one of the tunnels She grabbed for her Beretta, saw John and David do the same as Steve held onto Karen
Which one, where&039;s it co from? Griffith? Is it Griffith?
The sound see fro froht A stu, dusty lab coat and then he saw them, and even from fifteen meters away, Rebecca could see the stunned and almost hysterical joy that swept across his face The man ran for theht and lips treh Rebecca kept hers raised
"Oh, thank God, thank God! You have to help et out of here!"
He staggered out of the tunnel and nearly ran into David, apparently oblivious to the pistols trained on hio, there&039;s a boat we can use, we have to get out before he kills us all"
David shot a glance back, saw that Rebecca and John still had him covered He tucked the Beretta into his side holster and stepped forward, taking the man&039;s arm
"Easy, calm down Who are you, do you work here?" "Alan Kinneson," the asped "Thur and I et away But he&039;s crazy You have to help et to the boat! There&039;s a radio, we can call for help!" The lab! "Which way is the laboratory?" David asked quickly Kinneson didn&039;t seeht do to them
"The radio&039;s on the boat, we can call for help and then get away!" "The laboratory," David repeated "Listen to me did you just come from there?"
Kinneson turned and pointed to the tunnel that was next to the one he&039;d come from, the one in the middle
"The lab is that way" He pointed back the way he&039;d come "and the boat&039;s down there These caves are like a htly as he pointed to the tunnels, when he turned back to face them, he looked as hysterical as he had before He seelance, but David noticed he had deep lines etched at the comers of his eyes and mouth and realized he had to be ht in the grip of an almost mindless panic
"The radio&039;s on the boat, we can call for help and then get away!"