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He paused, looked ahead The entrance he was searching for was up ahead It was built into the back of a kitchen cabinet on a swivel pin Stone had always assuroup of trainees before his time had done that Stone and his teaht and followed it out They weren’t the only class of Triple Six recruits anted a bit of freedom, it seemed Orthat the recruits needed to believe they had a bit of control over their lives, that they could take a few moments rest from a hellish experience

Maybe they were afraid we’d all go mad and kill them

He slipped his gun from its holster and another object froht ahead He assuiven strict orders Do not kill, at least hi hi him watch the deaths of Caleb and Annabelle

He reached the outside of the entrance Readying his gun, he held out the other object, a telescoping rod He flipped it out to its full six-foot length He nudged the wall in front of him that represented the back of the cabinet on the pin swivel It had been painted to resemble black rock, but it was only wood Rotted wood now He pushed harder with the rod The wood gave way, the pin swivel did its job and the wall swung inward

So and hit the rock Stone was standing next to This he’d expected A dart Paralyze, not kill He pulled the pin on the lump of metal he’d taken fro at the sae outcrop of rock

There was a sy followed by a dense cloud of saswhen he heard the h the opening and looked down The Russian was large, with a shaved head, a soatee and a dart pistol in his hand It was probably not in the man’s nature to seek to stun instead of kill He’d not been very good with the dart gun Stone used two pairs of plasticuffs to ias, he removed his mask and moved forward into Murder Mountain

At the front entrance to the facility, Finn, Chap a metal door revealed in the rock face of the mountain where they’d pulled aside a curtain of kudzu that covered it Stone had told theiven them a key that he said would open the portal But there wasn’t even a keyhole to try the key in He’d also told theh the hidden entrance, because there was no way for soet lost He told them he would rendezvous with them at the front door

“He snookered us,”the useless key “I can’t believe I fell for it Like he’d have a damn key to this place after all these years”

“He’s going it alone,” said Finn

“The hell he is,” snapped Chapman She reached inside her jacket and pulled out a slender e

“What is that?” asked Knox

“Well, love, at MI6 we call this a doorbell” She attached it to the metal door where it met the doorjamb She motioned them to step back She drew a remote fro and pressed a button “Don’t look at the laser,” she instructed

They all looked away as a burst of red light erupted froh the locking bar, and the door swung free on its hinges

“Pretty cool technology,” said Knox

“One-tiood for most secure doors, metal or otherwise,” she explained

“I see Mr Q is still alive and well in British intelligence”

“Actually, it was a woman who invented this little toy But you can just call her Ms Q”

Guns out, they approached the door With Chap him, Finn slowly pulled the door all the way open He aiun into the darkness and then nodded at the others They pulled on protective goggles, as did Finn A second later Finn hit the opening with a pulse of blinding white light There was a shout of pain froht vanished

Before theThey hustled after her in time to see her nimbly disar hiainst an interior wall The ht, ricocheted off the wall and ca like pistons Finn ent had already launched off the ground With her left foot she hit the ht knee They all heard the bone in his leg snap He crumpled doard at the sa hi in and out with painful breaths, Chapood with an elbow strike to the base of his neck She rose and placed the ainst the unconscious man’s temple

“Wait a minute,” snapped Knox