Page 84 (1/2)

“There’s nothing in any of these drawers” Juan looked at Lincoln “They needed the beds because they had to restrain their victims Someone intentionally infected with typhus, cholera, or so to thrash around”

Franklin snapped his hands away froh he’d been burned

They found four h to hold forty beds They also found a sled his head and shoulders into the aperture and saw that the cave beyond dropped precipitously At the extree, he could see the floor of the cavern littered with all sorts of unidentifiable junk This had been a communal dump, and amid the rubbish were human bones They had become disjointed over the decades, so Cabrillo couldn’t tell how many there were Five hundred would be a conservative estimate

“This place is like a slaughterhouse,” he said when he pulled himself free “A death factory”

“And they kept it running for eighteen months”

“I think the surface facility was used solely to maintain the secret laboratories down here, where they experi a cave system meant they could isolate it in a hurry if they ever had a viral outbreak”

“Ruthless and efficient” There was no adht the Nazis a thing or two”

“I’m sure they did,” Juan said, still a little unsettled by what he’d just seen “Unit 731 has its roots going back to 1931, two years before Hitler cay transfers went the other way Gerines for suicide aircraft, as well as nuclear materials”

Linc’s next comment died on his lips

Deadened by distance and the surrounding rock, they couldn’t hear the explosion at the cave’s entrance Rather, both ainst their bodies, like the windblast of a passing truck The Responsivists had breached the pile of debris and were now in the tunnel syste them

“They probably know the tunnels and will be corimly “We have maybe a half hour to either find a way out of here or someplace we can defend with a pair of pistols and eleven rounds of ammunition”

The next medical chamber hadn’t been stripped as much as the others There were thin mattresses on the beds, and the cabinets were stocked with jars of chemicals The labels were in German Juan pointed this out to Linc, as it proved his earlier point

Linc studied the labels, then read aloud in English: “Chlorine Distilled alcohol Hydrogen peroxide Sulfur dioxide Hydrochloric acid”

Cabrillo had forgotten Linc spoke Gerot an idea Find me some sodium bicarbonate”

“I don’t think this is the time to worry about a bellyache” Linc remarked blandly as he scanned the bottles and jars