Moonlight filtered through the grated vent above, casting silver bars across the narrow maintenance tunnel. Viola Kane led the way, her heartbeat an urgent drum in her ears. Behind her, Lester Hayden stumbled but kept pace, Marlowe close at hand with his rifle shouldered. Dr. Sun brought up the rear, clutching the small vial of serum that contained Viola's final encoded override.
The tunnel sloped upward, then broadened into a service corridor scarred by soot and flickering emergency lights. Ahead, the heavy steel doors of Gabriel Locke's inner laboratory loomed, half-ajar and guarded by two mercenaries rifling through overturned carts. At the sound of approaching footsteps, one guard spun, finger on his trigger. Viola froze, instincts honed by years of covert ops kicking in.
“Quiet," sh
