“Go ahead and put on your hoods so we can make sure audio and visual are working.”
Reese pulled the hood of the suit up into place and zipped it closed. Sound muffled, and his periphery went blind. He shifted it back and forth, still not able to find a comfortable position.
Off to the side, duct tape ripped.
Harrington stepped in front of Reese and ran the strip over the zipper, sealing it. The others in the group took turns tearing off pieces of tape and covering any gaps.
“Testing,” the tiny voice blared in Reese’s ear.
Reese flinched. “Tell him to turn it down before he blows my eardrum.”
Harrington moved out of Reese’s sight for a moment.
“Testing.” The kid’s voice didn’t lose any of the whine, but at least it didn’t make Reese’s head throb.
“Everyone got ears?” Harrington said.
Scientists and gunmen nodded and gave a thumbs up.
“What about visuals?”
“Yes, sir, all cameras appear operational.” The kid’s voice sent another cringe down Reese’s spine.
Harrington grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll be up here manning the coms.”
Reese almost said something, then remembered everyone standing around him would hear it.
Jones and two of his men flanked the panel door leading to entry airlocks.
Reese made his way to the front of the group. The two remaining gunmen took up position behind Campbell and Rice.
The panel by the door glowed.
“Do your thing, Dr. Dante.” Jones moved aside, and Reese laid his right hand on the panel. The red light on the side turned green and the cover over the keypad unlocked. He flipped up the shield. Reese hummed a few bars of the song he used to memorize the numbers.
“You going to open it or sing?” Jones said.
“I’m trying to make sure I’ve got the number right. If I get it wrong too many times, it will reset, and we’ll get locked out, and even I won’t be able to open it.”
“And what does that have to do with humming?”
“Will you shut up so I can hear myself?” Reese hummed and typed the number he assigned to each bar. The red light flicked to green, and a lock clanked. Jones motioned Reese to get back. He did. One of Jones’s team members used a crowbar to create a gap so they could manually push the doors back.
Once the soldiers had the door open, they moved in.
Reese waited until the men guarding the rear motioned them forward. Emergency lights painted the walls of the three-stage airlock in splashes of orange. A strobe flashed overhead.
Reese and the other scientists followed Jones’s men through the next couple of airlocks, stopping in each one to wait for the men to close the barriers behind them.
They entered level one. Emergency lights bleached holes in the darkness of the long hallway leading to the labs. Even with nothing in the main corridor, a sense of violation clogged the air. Reese was sure it was because every time he’d entered the complex there would be sounds, distant, but the noise of the living.
“Do you think there are any survivors?” Campbell said.
Reese had hoped, but deep down he was pretty sure he knew. If there’d been someone left alive, they would have found a way to communicate to the outside world. The expression on his face must have conveyed his thoughts because Campbell nodded and fell in behind him.
“Why are the labs empty, Dr. Dante?” Jones said.
“First floor only has a day shift. Tier-one personnel doesn’t handle sensitive data, so they got normal nine-to-five work hours, off weekends and holidays.”