Page 163 of Silent Target

On the screen, Charles Whitmore looks directly into the railcar camera.

At us.

A faint smile crosses his face.

He knows we can see him.

He reaches forward and disconnects the feed.

The screen goes black.

Fathom’s tablet emits a warning.

“He transferred the seventh drive.”

“Where?” Rook asks.

“Off-site. I can’t trace it.”

The timer on the containment system stops.

Twenty-one minutes.

Then resets.

Seven minutes.

Cobra stares at the display. “That seems bad.”

“It is,” Fathom says. “Whitmore accelerated the bunker’s demolition sequence.”

The remaining First Circle guards begin withdrawing.

They aren’t losing.

They’re leaving us inside a tomb.

Rook sees it.

“Fall back to the archive.”

Cobra works at the control panel.

“I can interrupt the charges, but I need access to the primary relay.”

“Where?”

Fathom studies the schematics.

“Behind that upper door.”

He points toward the third level.

The armored guards are retreating through it.

“That’s our only exit,” Mac says.

The archive door begins closing behind us.