The coordinates led to the original laboratory. The place where it had all begun. Gavin Thorne's first facility, buried beneath the desert, half-collapsed, half-forgotten.
Elliot stood at the edge of the sinkhole, looking down at the rubble. The entrance they had used years ago was gone, buried under tons of rock. But there was another way—a maintenance shaft that Adam had found in the old blueprints.
Frank stood beside him, his rifle slung over his shoulder. "You're not going alone."
"She said alone."
"She's lying."
"Probably. But I need to know what she knows."
Kael spoke through the earpiece. "My team is in position on the north ridge. David's team is on the south."
Elliot climbed down.
---
The shaft was narrow and dark.
Elliot's flashlight cut through the shadows, illuminatin
