Page 106 of Silent Target

His eyes aren’t fixed on us.

They keep moving toward the right-hand passage.

“He isn’t protecting the command center.”

Evie looks at the prisoner. “He’s worried we’ll take the other tunnel.”

Mac’s expression changes. “The rail system.”

“The seventh drive isn’t in the command center,” I say.

Fathom checks the countdown.

“Seven minutes.”

Evie kneels in front of the prisoner.

“Graves is using the command network to trigger the purge, but the drive is going somewhere else. Who has it?”

The man’s jaw tightens.

Evie watches him.

“The Chairman?”

A flicker.

Barely visible.

Enough.

Mac’s face loses its color. “The Chairman is here?”

The prisoner tries to hide his reaction.

Too late.

Evie stands. “He is now.”

Rook turns toward the right-hand tunnel. “If the Chairman has the drive, who’s running the purge?”

“Graves,” I answer. “He’s bait.”

The entire facility above us exists to keep our attention on Walter while someone more important escapes beneath the mountain.

Fathom’s screen flashes.

Six minutes, forty seconds.

Rook looks from the left tunnel to the right.

“We split.”

“No,” I say.

His eyes meet mine.

“Graves expects us to divide the team.”