were gazing out at the valley where the colors of autumn had turned the sweep of hardwood trees to rich golds and reds among the green pines.
She was watching the sentries. "They're perfect targets," she murmured.
"Lazy idiots. They think because Tremont is gone they can do what they want."
"If it comes to shooting," Randi whispered, "I'll take the one on the right, you take the one on the left. With luck, they'll surrender."
"That's what we want." Smith nodded in agreement. He was getting used to working with her. In fact, he was enjoying it. Now, if they could just do it well enough to survive... "Let's go."
They eased the doors open and padded out onto the porch as the two men talked and smoked in their chairs. The sun was hard and flinty as Jon's gaze locked onto the guards sitting directly below, unknowing.
The taller guard flicked his cigarette onto the grassy lawn and stood. "Time to do another turn around the property." Before Jon or Randi could move, he saw them. "Bob!" he called in alarm.
"Lay down your weapons," Jon commanded.
Randi's voice was tense. "Do it slowly. So no one makes any mistakes."
Both men froze. One was completely on his feet but only half-turned to face them, while the other was merely halfway out of his chair. Neither's weapon was pointed at Jon and Randi, while Jon and Randi had the guards completely covered. It was a surprise ambush that had worked, and there was no doubt in anyone's minds that unless the sentries wanted to commit suicide, they would do exactly as told.
"Shit," one muttered.
The timbered grounds were quiet as Smith locked the three tied-up sentries in an outbuilding behind the garage. Marty stood in the shadows next to it, while Randi was out of sight, monitoring the lodge for any activity. Marty's round face was worried, and his green eyes had a dark look, as if he were in a world he had never wanted to know anything about. His plump body seemed desolate in his baggy pants and jacket.
He looked up at Jon. "You want me to stay here?" he asked, as if he knew the answer.
"It's safer, Mart, and we need someone to be sentry. I don't know what we're going to find in the lab. If something happens to us, you've got a chance to make it by escaping into the woods."
Marty nodded soberly. His fingers twitched on the bullpup as if he longed for a keyboard instead. "It's okay, Jon. I know you'll be back for me. Good luck. And if I see anything"--- he gave a brave smile--- "I'll be sure to fire once."
Smith clamped a hand on his shoulder in encouragement.
Marty patted Jon's hand. "I'll be okay. Don't worry about me. You'd better go."
Weapons in hand, Jon and Randi met at the side door of the lodge they had used before. They exchanged a long look, and some kind of recognition passed between them. Jon moved his eyes away, and Randi found herself wondering nervously what was happening to her.
Inside the lodge, they paused at the foot of the staircase in the long hall. There had been no gunshots fired outdoors, and they hoped that whoever was at work upstairs had no idea the sentries had been taken and the lodge invaded. The whole point of this stealthy attack was to accomplish what they needed as quickly and efficiently as possible--- and to emerge alive and intact.
Warily, they padded up the stairs, rounded the landing, and continued on up. As they neared the top, there was still silence.
And then they saw why. A thick glass door with heavy glass panels on either side was set back from a small foyer area. Beyond the glass was a vast, gleaming laboratory with offices and rooms around its perimeter. Off to the side was what looked like a "clean room" devoted to experiments that had to be conducted in an atmosphere free of contaminants. Another room held an electron microscope. All labs had the same sense about them--- orderliness touched with an aura of controlled chaos that came from papers, test tubes, Bunsen burners, glass beakers, flasks, microscopes, file cabinets, computers, refrigerators, and all the other paraphernalia that was so vital to scientists in their pursuit of codifying the unknown. This one also had what looked like a next-century spectrometer.
But what riveted Jon's gaze, what gave him both a sinking sensation and a jolt of triumph, was a heavy door in the center of