she might have a chance while all the Nazi guards were still distracted, laughing as they kicked his mutilated corpse.
Mia ran as fast as she could, her footsteps as loud as thunder in her ears. She expected bullets to cut her down at any moment, but she managed to make it inside the dim warehouse.
She caught her breath as she explored it, stepping over the gunshot bodies of dead guards. She found the enormous, armored steel cargo door, and she trembled as she found the button that activated its system of chains and pulleys. It began to rise, loud and clanking. She didn’t hesitate. The moment she saw a slice of the night outside, she dropped to her hands and knees and crawled under the rising door, her stomach dragging the concrete floor.
Outside, she found herself on a loading dock. She stood up, ran to the edge, and jumped to the pavement below.
Mia ran into the woods, out of range of the spotlights. She kept running for a long time.
* * *
The loud, clanking ventilation machinery looked like it hadn’t been upgraded in the intervening decades, though it now sat inside a narrow concrete room instead of raw cave rock. Mariella opened the access panel and found rows of electrical heating coils had replaced the old coal-burning furnace, warming the air before the array of fans pumped it through ducts to the underground rooms.
Mariella looked up the wide vertical shaft from which fresh, cool air pounded down from the giant fan above. The big vertical duct was now thick with water stains and mildew. No Nazi janitor had been ruthlessly scrubbing it with cleaning chemicals this time around. Unfortunately, this meant the rungs built inside were also slimy, and looked even more slippery than last time.
“I’ll go first,” Mariella said, leaning her head out to speak to Seth, Jenny, and Esmeralda. She’d gotten them this far safely, using Seth or Esmeralda to help her watch the future. “You’re the one carrying a baby this time, Seth.”
“I wish they had one of these back in the day,” Seth said, opening a small tool cabinet against one wall. From the array of hand tools suspended by magnetic strips, he picked the two largest screwdrivers and a pair of wire cutters and handed them to Mariella. “Good luck. Watch out for sparks.”
“I could have used that warning last time, thanks,” Mariella told him.
They climbed the slippery rungs as fast as they dared, Mariella first, then Seth with the baby in her sling and her head resting against his chest, then Jenny and Esmeralda.
Equipped with the right tools, Mariella opened the top of the vent much faster than Seth had done in their past life. There were spotlights again, so she waited until one had passed before looking out.
The yard was in chaos. It looked as though everyone in the base was flooding out through all four exits, probably thanks to the terrified medical staff running and screaming about bombs. Guards were everywhere, too, but they didn’t look very organized. Some of them ran around howling and firing their guns at random, shooting real bullets at whatever nightmarish illusions filled their minds. Some of the other guards fired back. Everyone else was in a panic, trying to get from the low pillbox buildings to the front or side gate without getting shot. Tommy had done his job well.
Mariella waited for another spotlight to pass, then helped Seth climb out. The baby stirred at the sound of gunfire and screaming, but Seth touched her face and soothed her.
Jenny and Esmeralda were the first to jump to the ground. Seth went next, his arms around the baby, landing in a squatting position with a painful wince on his face. Jenny and Esmeralda grabbed him from both sides, keeping him steady so he didn’t topple over. Mariella joined them on the ground.
“I’m not going with you,” Mariella whispered. “I’m going back inside.”
“You can’t do that!” Jenny told her. “Why would you?”
“They have so much information on us,” she said. “We have to destroy Ward’s records, or it will be too easy for someone else to pick up the pieces and track us down. He’s a control freak. I wouldn’t be surprised if all the data is right here on site, in the file server room. I don’t think even his superiors know what he’s really doing here.”
“Ward will still be looking for us,” Seth said.
“Maybe. You’re going to encounter him again tonight,” Mariella said. “The future’s too