Page 117 of The Lazarus Protocol

Steph hit the floor just as the door did, reaching out but pulling her fingers back at the last second.

The blast door settled with a loud clang that shook the room.

Overhead a recorded voice said, “Facility secure.”

FORTY

“This place is giving me the creeps.”

Ash opened a file cabinet. “There’s nothing here. They cleared out, and this facility is basically a ghost town.”

The commander of the whole base had left only a couple of pencil stubs, and some blank requisition forms that were in German.

“Yeah, one that’s giving me the creeps.” Kyle stood at the doorway to this office.

“Find the source of that signal yet?”

“It isn’t a GPS. It’s just a signal.”

Ash nodded. “Let’s keep looking around.”

He didn’t say this place was giving him the creeps, too. Nor did he ask Kyle what got him enrolled in the Phoenix Network program in the first place, either. Usually wasn’t kosher to ask a guy that kind of question, even if he was curious.

Ash might’ve met Noah and Caleb’s parents once, but Kyle was the one who had recruited Adam personally. Rescued him from that hospital himself. “Tell me”—he figured there were some things he could ask—“if Adam hadn’t broken out of that mental hospital, would you have gone in and pulled him out?”

Kyle held his phone in front of him like he was scanning for signals, or trying to find the source, even though he said it didn’t work like that. “Of course. That was the job. Little did we know the guy busted himself out.” He seemed amused by that. “Not your average guy who survives something like that and breaks free.”

“Why do you think I work for the guy?” It was “Adam” in a nutshell to go through all that and save himself in the process. Still, even with what Kyle had told him, Ash figured there was more to the story.

Some reason Kyle had stuck around, supposedly helped out the team, and had come all this way with Ash just to back them up. Just out of curiosity, or because the Phoenix Network had requested him to do so? Or for some other reason.

Kyle turned the corner at the end of the hall, all of it gray and drab. No furnishings except an old table and chairs in a conference room. A breakroom with a small kitchen that smelled like old water.

Ash ran his finger through the dust. “Feels like no one has been here in seventy years.”

“No kidding.” Kyle pointed to a room down the hall. “This way.”

Which begged the question of what the signal was. “You think this place is some kind of CIA relay station?”

“Interesting idea.”

“Vesper told Steph about it, like this is where the team was being held, but we all know the program Earthnet has can spoof a voice. Maybe this whole thing was just a trap, and we were lured here.” Ash was creeping himself out now. “I need a bad guy to shoot before I lose my mind and start running for my life.”

Kyle chuckled. “The signal is stronger here.”

“Good. Keep searching for it.” Ash grabbed the radio. “Nix, come back.” They kept walking down the hall, deeper into the building where the darkness seemed to thicken and their flashlights grew dim. “Nix!”

Kyle spun to him. “Dude, we should go back outside.”

“Find the source of the signal, then we will.” His head spun, and he planted a hand on the wall. “You don’t feel that?”

“What?” Kyle shook his head. “I have a headache. Is that what you’re talking about?”

Ash couldn’t focus on the guy with the hallway swirling. Kyle seemed to swim about in front of him. “Something’s wrong.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

Ash palmed his pistol with the other hand. The radio crackled to life. “Ash?”