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“That’s what Clay thinks, too.” Will gestured out the windshield where green highway signs glowed in the distance. “Which way now?”
She told him to head to Riverside Expressway. “And Winston wants the virus.”
“Use my phone and call Clay back. Tell him what you just now told me. And that we’re going over to your lab now because of the attempted break-in.”
Gwen did as he requested and hung up. “The agent who’s working all leads on the arms dealer is going to call you.” She settled Will’s phone in the center console.
Almost immediately, his cell chimed again. Will grabbed it up and identified himself.
Gwen nibbled a fingernail, anxious what he might be finding out. He suddenly glanced at her. “What building houses your lab?”
She told him. He spoke a little longer and then disconnected. “Clay and the other agent will meet us at your building.”
“It’s always locked over the weekend, and locks automatically when someone exits. I have a key, but I can’t see how Winston got inside.” When they were close, Gwen called campus security and directed Will to the parking lot nearest her building.
Officer Starnes met them at the outside door with a man from maintenance. After making sure the entrance closed and locked behind them, they proceeded to her lab. The alarm had been shut off, and their footfalls echoed in the silence. “We searched the building earlier. Didn’t find anyone.”
Upstairs, she led the way to their lab, where yellow crime scene tape crisscrossed the lab’s entrance. A junior officer straightened and detached one end of the tape so they could enter. “No one’s been back.”
Good. Her shoulders relaxed. “I hope it stays that way.”
Cracks riddled the wire-enforced window in the corridor door. She rubbed her finger over the scrapes and gouges around the lock and the keypad.
Starnes pointed out the smashed-in-but-intact window. “We think he ran off when the alarm sounded.”
“Sounds like a reasonable assumption.” She keyed in the four-digit combo, turned the knob, and entered the lab’s outer office. Nothing looked disturbed. The burglar hadn’t gotten through the door. The knot between her shoulders loosened.
Will and Starnes followed her inside, but the maintenance man stopped to access damage to the entry door.
Four desks with computer workstations and filing cabinets filled the office. Everything looked as it should. She peered through the window in the first of the two card-protected doors leading to their laboratory. The first door led to the small room where techs suited up. The second opened to the lab with the isolation units where they worked with the virus.
“These are still locked.” Starnes tapped on the door’s window. “We’re assuming the lab hasn’t been tampered with.”
“They each require a separate card for entrance.” She tried the handle, reassured the entrance to the first room remained secured. A glance through the window revealed an undisturbed interior.
Replacing the hall door would be a hassle, but not the disaster she’d been imagining. “Do you have any idea how the burglar got into the building?”
“We’re not sure. But the alarm on the side entrance has been flukey in the past.”
While the maintenance man propped open the hallway door with a chair and took measurements, Will pulled his cell which must have been on vibrate, and turned away to answer the call. He disconnected and leaned close. “Clay and another agent are outside. I told them to wait, that they don’t need to come up here. Right?”
Gwen nodded. “We should meet them downstairs.” She made sure the maintenance man had her phone and office numbers. He promised to return with enough plywood to patch over the window and then he left.
A call crackled on Starnes’s radio. “Emergency, Chief. Gunshots reported in one of the residential halls.”
Everyone standing in the office heard the alert.
Starnes headed to the door. “I need to take Officer Simmons, if you don’t need him. You’ll be able to leave, but let me know you’re ready, and I’ll send him back here to reset the alarm.”
The officers disappeared, their boots soon thudding on the stairs. Gwen went around the office to confirm all desks and workstations remained locked down. Reassured, she started to follow Will out, but a figure rushed through and slammed him against the opposite wall.
Were the cops still in the building?
“Help!” She yelled and bolted toward the door.
Winston tried to block her path, but she sidestepped him and lunged into the corridor. A long hallway stretched to the stairs. She only managed two yards before a figure in black blocked her path. She stumbled back, hitting the side wall. A large, powerful-looking automatic pistol gleamed in the light. She gasped. A big hand pointed a gun straight at her. She lifted her gaze to the bulky man with black hair in a bespoke business suit holding the pistol.
She recognized him instantly from her uncle’s photos, Jacok Caruceko, the criminal wanted for illegal arms dealing as well as the older businessman with Winston at the seminar. She couldn’t catch a breath, couldn’t—She pressed a hand to her chest where something pinched hard.
