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He briefly wondered how long ago she had had Murder Mountain ready to go And was she soes? Was she so exactly when to set off each one? And then he had no more time to wonder, as everyone looked at him

“What now?” said Chaprime from the dust and smoke

Stone looked upward as another charge detonated, though not nearby But ave another shudder

Then the lights went co them into darkness

Stone, Finn and Knox iles Stone took Annabelle’s hand, Knox took Caleb’s and Finn clamped his hand around Chapman’s wrist

“Follow me,” said Stone

There was one more way out of here And as far as Stone knew, he was the only person who had ever discovered it This was their last chance

He was very conscious of the fact t

hat he had no idea where the next charge Friedman had placed would detonate She had no reason to allow them to leave here alive, where they could tell people the truth Each step they took could truly be their—

Annabelle screamed

CHAPTER 101

JOE KNOX DISAPPEARED UNDER A PILE of rubble as a charge detonating fifty feet away collapsed the section of wall next to hi thechunks of debris off his friend His fingers and ar his eyes, he frantically worked in the dark to free Knox Finally, his fingers touched flesh In two more minutes they had uncovered the man completely

Knox was breathing, but unconscious

Stone started to lift him up, but Finn said, “Let me do that”

He hoisted the two-hundred-pound Knox over his shoulder

“The only other way out is up, Harry,” said Stone

Finn nodded, a grim look on his face “Just lead the way”

Stone took the length of rope from Knox’s knapsack that the e Each person looped the rope around their middle and then passed it on

“Let’s move,” said Stone

He prayed that Friedured out the third exit froo He led the group across thein front of what looked like a sheer wall of ers up and down its surface It was cold to the touch, still strong, seely impenetrable Rivets ran up one side of the panel and down the other Another explosion shook the building Dirt and dust tu

He pressed on one spot and the wall gave way He slid the metal out of the way and a set of crude rock stairs was revealed They went through the opening and headed up

Stone wondered how long it would take for the authorities to realize as happening Some local would report the explosions This would be relayed to the sheriff’s department or whatever police was up here They would send sole officer, and that person would have no idea what they were faced with Calls would be thy interval, the CIA would hear of it They would send a team up here helter-skelter

But ould they find?

They would find exactly what Friedman wanted the cartels And a nanobot research facility where long ago the CIA had trained its assassins That would hit the national and global news pipelines like a nuclear warhead

And they will find us, thought Stone They’ll find us dead

But hoould she accoht seal them in here, but they could conceivably survive until rescuers arrived They had soht be supplies here they could use

She would have thought of that There has to be so else

They kept rew tired, Stone hefted Knox over his shoulder and carried hi as he could Then Finn swapped back But as the route took thee Yet they kept going

Chunks of rock now dropped from above with each detonation, since they were in parts of the facility that had never been built out, where the mountain had been left untouched

Annabelle gasped, “Where are we headed?”

Stone pointed up “Not much farther”