Page 41 of Devil
A small smile touched her lips, and they turned toward the barn, both pulling on their masks as they walked. “You need any help adjusting it?” she asked, her voice an echo behind the contained compartment protecting her face.
He shook his head as he gently tightened a strap. Pausing outside the barn door, Lily reached up and tested the fit of his mask, ensuring it was properly secured. He’d worn similar protective gear more than once in his life, but he didn’t mind her fussing over him one bit.
“Let’s do this,” she said. Reaching down, she released her gun from her ankle holster, and the sight made him grin. Her gun was soher. It was delicate and fit perfectly in her small hand, but it was also strong enough to fell a rhino. He’d only ever seen one like it in his life; a CIA spook who’d been a guest at one of the bases he’d worked at carried a similar version. Although hers had been black, whereas Lily’s was a classic gunmetal gray.
Unholstering his own weapon, he gave her a nod. Turning to the barn, she knocked sharply but didn’t wait for a reply before pushing the door open and stepping inside. He followed closely behind, but then drew up short. There was nothing but a cavernous space. A cavernous empty space. The barn was more than two stories high, and they could see straight up to the beams—there were no stalls, no haylofts, no equipment, just one big room. The craftsmanship was beautiful, but it wasn’t what they were looking for.
“I think it’s safe to say there’s no lab here,” he said.
Lily walked over to a set of stairs that led to what would have been a cowshed back in the day. Taking several steps down, she stopped and leaned over, scoping out the space.
“Anything?” he asked.
She straightened and jogged back up. “Nothing. Outbuilding?”
He nodded and followed her out of the barn, shutting the door behind them. In silence, they walked the fifty yards to the utilitarian concrete structure. Large doors big enough to move equipment in and out took up most of the south side. A smaller single door sat to the left of the rolling doors, and Lily headed straight for it.
She knocked, and the door swung open a few inches. She shot him a look over her shoulder, then gently pushed the door fully open. “Jennifer!?” she called without moving into the building.
No one answered.
“Dr. Pritchard?!” she tried again. When no answering voice filtered out, Lily looked to him, and he nodded his readiness. Inching through the door, she took the lead, keeping her back to the wall without actually touching anything. A half a second later, he stood beside her.
Quickly, he scanned the space, relieved to see a lack of security cameras—a lack of security in general. They were trespassing with guns and masks. While a system might have proved useful with Cyn and her hacking abilities, he was glad his and Lily’s foray wasn’t being caught on camera.
But while the space might be lacking in security, itwasn’tlacking in a lab. And a decent-sized one at that. In fact, it had to be at least two thousand square feet, occupying the entire east half of the building.
“Well, fuck,” he muttered. Beside him, Lily’s gaze took in the scene, darting back and forth.
“I’m not sure what I was expecting to find, but it wasn’t that,” she said. “Thathas far better safety and ventilation equipment than I anticipated. While it allays some concerns, in general, it’s not making me feel great about this situation.”
It didn’t make Darius feel better, either. “How could she possibly fund all of this? There’s tens of thousands of dollars of equipment that I can see from here. And that doesn’t even include some of the stuff you noticed, like the vent system.”
Lily shook her head. “I have no idea.”
“Maybe she inherited something?”
“Maybe,” Lily said, but from the sound of her voice, he didn’t think she believed that. “I’ll ask the club to look into it. Maybe it was an inheritance. Maybe she’s dipping into her mother’s accounts, or maybe…”
“Or maybe someone is funding her?”
“Not going to lie and say that thought didn’t occur to me,” she said. “But even if someone is, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s for nefarious purposes. A lot of pharma companies hire consultants. Or maybe she’s partners in a start-up of some sort and has been funded that way. I’ll text everyone once we’re back on the road and ask them to look into it.”
“Are you going to have a look?”
She tilted her head and studied the space. His stress levels were hoping she’d skip it. He knew her well enough to understand that was a pipe dream, though. She’d never let the opportunity pass, nor would she ever risk missing a lead. She might be studying the area, but it wasn’t to help her decide whether to explore it or not. More likely, she was assessing entry and exit points as well as the amount of time she felt she could safely spend inside.
She finally gave a decisive nod. “I don’t think I need more than ten minutes, probably less than that unless we find a smoking gun or something.”
“I’m coming with you,” he said. Behind her mask, her blue eyes seared into him, letting him know exactly what she thought about that idea. Then her eyes narrowed. He wasn’t going to back down, and he met her scrutiny with an unflinching gaze of his own. Ten seconds passed, then, without a word, she turned and started toward the back of the building.
Heavy plastic containment sheets hung from the ceiling, blocking the lab off from the rest of the room. As they moved closer, the orderly appearance they’d seen from the door morphed into something else. Papers were scattered across a few tables, a piece of broken equipment leaned against the back wall, and some sort of experiment looked to have been left in mid-run with a couple of beakers, half-filled with liquid, resting in metal frames. A Bunsen burner sat under a hooded counter. Thankfully, it wasn’t on.
The whir of the ventilation system was a comfort, but Darius hoped that whatever was in the uncapped beakers wasn’t some sort of virus that would become airborne upon evaporation. He didn’t even know if that was possible, but he kept his fingers metaphorically crossed, regardless.
When they reached the containment sheet, they paused and took a closer look.
“Ready?” she asked, after a beat. He nodded, and she reached out and shifted the sheet away from the wall. “Dr. Pritchard!” she called. Neither thought she was nearby, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious.
