Page 92 of Once a Hero

Jake let the matter drop.

They were about to leave the office when Jake heard more scuffles. A thud on the cement floor out there. Then another.

They were all distant, as if coming from television speakers in another room.

Jake tried to remember the layout of the laboratory. There was a font office somewhere. Then double doors with key cards to the cavernous lab space.

This office seemed to be at the far back end of the building.

A muffled shout put Jake on high alert.

Instantly his arm was out in front of Beatrice, preventing her from touching the door. He closed it. Locked it.

“Stand back,” he whispered.

Beatrice’s phone flashed red. “Lockdown.”

Jake nodded, wishing he had more than a Sig Sauer with him.

Beatrice sat down at the desk and logged in to her desktop computer. She pointed to the screen. “Intruders. Why didn’t the alarm go off?”

Jake went around the table to find five or six security screens showing armored people in oxygen masks sweeping through the entire building.

“Where’s my security?” Beatrice mumbled, clicking buttons.

The cameras outside the building showed a carnage of staff members on the floor, passed out or dead. The computer showed a high level of carbon dioxide in the front office.

“Did they pump carbon dioxide into the building?” Jake asked.

“We can still breathe, so I’m guessing they did it just enough to get through the security.”

Beatrice’s phone flashed again. She picked it up. “Ben, we’re under attack.”

Jake was close enough to hear Benjamin say, “I know. Ansel is on his way.”

Whoever Ansel was.

“Ansel is our chief of security. He works from the house.” Beatrice pulled open a desk drawer. Inside was a small Glock.

Jake thought that was not nearly enough.

“Where’s Ray?” Beatrice was back at her desktop, viewing the various security points. “Okay, I found them. Ray’s in the break room. Ken is… There. He’s in the bathroom downstairs.”

Beatrice texted Ken and spoke as she did so. “Stay there. Ansel is on his way.”

Jake’s mind was elsewhere. Would the door hold? “Is that a fire door?”

Beatrice nodded. She clicked on something, and a far wall where there was no map slid open, revealing a secret closet—

And a cache of weapons.

“What in the world?” Jake asked, walking toward it.

Beatrice was right behind him. “We need oxygen masks. If you want something bigger than your Sig, take your pick.”

Assault weapons, semi-automatic, several Israeli products…

“Take my pick?” Jake’s jaw dropped. “You know how to use all these?”

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