Page 120 of The Lazarus Protocol

“I’m saying you can trust me.”

“Okay, cool.” Ash would rather have a plan than a promise.

“You need to believe it so I can explain the plan.” Kyle lifted the radio. “Steph, we’re going radio silent for a while. Sit tight and don’t worry. We’ll get you out.”

“Find Adam.”

Ash grabbed the radio. “We will.”

“Going dark.” She signed off.

Kyle grabbed the radio and twisted the dial, turning it off. “Wanna find your friends?”

“I’m not going to like this plan, am I?” Ash gritted his teeth, trying to figure out why this entire conversation sounded like a trap.

“I can find you.” Kyle didn’t sound as certain as he should. “I can always find you. That’s what the Phoenix Network does.”

“What about Adam? Because you should be able to find him.” Then it would be three against those eleven guys making their way over the runway now. Getting closer every second. It was time to start picking them off. But as soon as they started shooting, those men would know exactly where they were hiding.

“I can find him,” Kyle said. “But if you allow yourself to be captured⁠—”

“No way.”

Kyle ignored that. “—you’ll know where they took Kai, Dan, and anyone else they have. Maybe everyone else. You’ll be with your team, and you can tell them that we’re on our way.”

“Find Adam, prove to me this magical resource works,” Ash said. “I’ll think about it.”

“We don’t have time for you to be indecisive. Let them capture you. I’ll find Adam, and we’ll come get you and the rest of your team.”

Definitely a trap.

“I don’t know you and I don’t trust⁠—”

Kyle pistol-whipped him before he could even finish.

FORTY-ONE

Adam coughed and rolled over, his lungs spasming until all the dust left his airways. He kept rolling, ending up on his back. Staring up into blackness, unable to see anything around him. His chest felt like fire.

He touched a hand to the front of his shirt and felt patches of wet blood where the stitches had pulled. Again.

He groaned.

Somewhere several feet away, a tiny light illuminated. A pinprick of green. He couldn’t tell how far it was, with the enveloping darkness. All he knew was that he’d touched the wall and the floor disappeared. After falling for several seconds, he’d landed hard on something that declined and slid down that until he hit level floor down here.

Steph was alone up there.

Kyle and Ash…

Adam dug in his pockets, fishing for his phone. He pressed the Power button, and the screen illuminated. No signal. “Great.” He unlocked it and turned on the flashlight, shining it around.

This level of the facility seemed to be an expansive room. More computer terminals that looked like someone from the 1950s’ idea of cutting-edge technology.

Across the room, the green pinprick light blinked and grew brighter.

Adam got up, ignoring the state of his chest and whatever new bruises he had. There was no one down here to hear him groan, but being stuck in a basement wasn’t going to get his friends back.

The spot where he’d tumbled down from upstairs had to be some kind of air vent. He had no idea what else it could be, and there was no way to climb back up without gear. A single door across the room had a circle window in it, but beyond was as dark as in here. He shined his flashlight, but it was only another dark hallway. The handle didn’t budge.