The Search for Artemis - By P. D. Griffith Page 0,118

to catch up to the others.

Landon passed between the trees with ease. The team’s brief respite was enough for him to catch his breath and regain his energy. So far the mission seemed to be going off without a hitch, and Landon was grateful for that. In the back of his mind, he was still a bit unsure of himself and of what role he was supposed to play in the successful completion of their objective.

The team stopped running once they reached a dirt road that cut through the forest. It led straight up to the compound’s gate—a large steel door in the center of the southern wall of the electrical fence.

Peregrine’s voice sounded in Landon’s earpiece. “There are two men guarding the gate. And watch out. . . . They have those Morphium-12 guns on them.”

Pressing his finger to his ear, Dr. Brighton returned, “Copy that.” Dr. Brighton then turned to the twins. “Castor and Pollux, take care of the guards.”

A frightening grin stretched across the twin’s faces simultaneously. After glancing at one another, they headed out of the tree line and sauntered up the dirt road. Landon couldn’t believe what they were doing. The guards quickly noticed them and drew their weapons, threatening to shoot if the twins came any closer.

In reply, the Cranes swept low to the ground in a crouched position and raised their arms in unison. The guards lifted off the ground, dangled in the air for a moment, and then were thrown backward. Unlike the first guard, these two were not lucky enough to miss the fence. When their backs connected with the electrified coils, Landon could hear a distinctive popping sound as thousands of volts shot through their bodies. Not even a moment later, the guards fell off the fence, lying face down on the wet grass.

Dr. Brighton turned to the rest of the team and signaled for them to move out. As they rushed to the gate, Peregrine’s voice returned over the comm. link.

“You need to hurry up. I think the other guards heard you.”

Keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of the other guards, Landon stepped out from the tree line. He moved toward the gate with a series of pivoted steps that allowed him to scan his surroundings as he rotated. Once he neared the others standing before the sealed gate, an odd, acrid smell of burned meat tinged with a strange metallic quality penetrated his senses. Landon noticed the thin stream of smoke coming off the backs of the guards lying beside the gate. Brock and Joshua dragged their limp bodies away from the fence and deposited them in the shadows of the trees. For a moment, Landon wondered if the guards were even alive.

Unlike Landon’s cautious approach, Parker walked casually from the cover of the forest to the access panel on the right of the gate and began to input the sequence of numbers necessary to unlock it. The loud clank of the gate’s lock disengaging drew Landon’s attention back to the mission. He watched intently as the well-oiled door slid open.

They had gained access to the compound without an issue, but they would now have to make their way inside the tower and up to the forty-seventh floor undetected. As Landon thought about this, he figured they’d only scratched the surface of the potential threats and dangers that awaited them. He wasn’t sure his nerves could handle the stress much longer.

“Coast should be clear all the way to the tower,” Peregrine added over the comm. link.

Even with the all clear from Echo, they moved into the grounds of the compound stealthily, keeping to the shadows and darting swiftly from one place of cover to another. When they reached the doors of the tower without difficulty, Landon began to feel somewhat relaxed.

Again Parker went straight for the keypad and began typing in the code to unlock the doors. After a small beep from the panel, the glass door made a soft hiss. Dr. Brighton grabbed the handle and pulled it open, ushering the team inside.

The base floor of the Metis Labs facility was expansive and ethereal. At its center, a single circular wooden desk was placed, and moving outward in concentric rings was white marble flooring, then a ring of water, like a moat, filled with a copious amount of blooming water lilies. There were four small strips of marble bridging the water, connecting the inner circle to the outer one. The outer ring was also covered in