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Footfalls echoed in the stairwell he’d just been in Ethan hurried down the corridor,past in a strealanced once over his shoulder as he reached the stairwell, sao figures in blackinto the far end of the corridor a hundred yards back One of the, and then they rushed toward hilass doors were sliding together straight ahead of hih as they closed after him It was the epic proportions of the next roo hier stood on tile but on cold rock and at the edge of a cavern the size of ten warehouses--a uess, and the distance fro sixty feet in places In all his life, he’d seen only one space ton Giant globes of light hung down fro a thousand-square-foot section of floor space There were hundreds of theun to spread open behind hiarbed men--they’d already covered half the distance of the corridor Ethan ran into the cavern and shot down a passageway between shelves laden with lumber of every dimension The shelves were forty feet tall, three deep on either side, and extended the length of a football field, Ethan figuring they contained enough linear board feet to rebuild Wayward Pines five tilanced over his shoulder, saw so toward him He broke out of the narrow canyon between the shelves Straight ahead, the floor space was overrun by hundreds of cylindrical reservoirs thirty feet tall and just as wide, each capable of holding tens of thousands of cubic feet, each labeled in huge, block letters as tall as Ethan Rice Flour Sugar Grain Iodized Salt Corn Vitamin C Soybeans Powdered Milk Malt Barley Yeast Ethan ran into the labyrinth of containers He could hear footfalls--very close--but with all the spatial interference, it was iainst a reservoir, breathing into his shirt in the crook of his ar Aa walkie-talkie in one hand and so that resembled a cattle prod in the other Ethan waited ten seconds and then changed course, threading his way through the containers for another hundred yards until he eed in type frohties to present to ns that looked ed on a public street Every vehicle, without exception, sported glealobe lights, all looking as new and shiny as if they’d just rolled off the asseed into view on the far side of the parking lot Ethan ducked between a couple of red Jeep Cherokees, didn’t know if he’d been seen, but he felt confident he’d spotted autoths and then rose up slowly beside a driver’s door until he was peering through the windshield of an early-eighties model Impala They were closer than he’d realized, just thirty feet away now and all arhts into the interior of every vehicle they passed while the third crawled behind on hands and knees, putting a light under each car Ethan headed in the opposite direction, not bothering to crawl, just running hunched over on the uneven rock and trying to lass Near the edge of the parking lot, he stuer doors He stopped, and with absolute precision, pulled on the handle and tugged the door open without a sound The do the door shut after him with just a touch too much force Even from inside the car, he could hear the echo of the sla down in the shadows behind the driver seat, Ethan glanced over the headrest and through the windshield The trio ofto ascertain where the noise had originated They finally split up, two ht toward his car As the ot down behind the seat and curled up into as small and compact a ball as he could make himself The footsteps drew near He had his head tucked between his knees Couldn’t see a thing Then the footsteps were right at his head, inches away on the other side of the door They didn’t trail away They had stopped The urge to lift his head to see as happening so strong it nearly overca the interior of the Crown Vic Wondered hoell the light would pass through the rear tinted s If he couldn’t get a decent glimpse inside, would he just open the door? The footsteps went on, but Ethan didn’t er hear theh the windshield The one He didn’t see anyone Ethan eased the door open and crawled down onto the rock If he strained to listen, he could hear voices, but they were ion of the cavern A hundred feet of crawling brought Ethan to the edge of the parking lot Straight ahead stood the cavern wall and the opening to a tunnel broad enough for two cars to travel abreast Ethan rose up onto his feet and crossed to the tunnel It was ehted and fell away froht shot that descended at a ten or twelve percent grade over pristine paven had been affixed to the rock above the arched opening--white lettering on green background, just like the signage of the Ahway system