“What about you?” asked Starkman.

Chase nodded at the central corridor. “Frost’ll have the virus in the containment area-we need to collapse the hillside and make sure it stays in there!”

“Sounds good to me. I’ll cover you. Aristides, Lime, with me-the rest of you set your charges in the basement, then get out!”

Chase checked the corridor. More people were running up it, trying to escape the building. “Come on!”

He ran into the corridor, Starkman and the others following. The men and women coming the other way reacted with predictable fear to the sight of four armed men in body armor charging towards them, and desperately tried to get out of their way, cowering by the walls.

“Get out of the building!” Chase roared. “Go!”

“We got company!” Starkman yelled, pointing down the corridor. Chase saw two uniformed men crouching behind the security post at the far end, taking aim-

He threw himself sideways as a spray of bullets flew down the corridor, cutting down one worker who had been trapped in the middle of the passage, paralyzed by his own fear and indecision.

“Shit!” Chase spat. The civilians were still scurrying helplessly across the corridor, blocking his aim, and the guards weren’t bothered about casualties among the workers.

A bloody wound burst open in the shoulder of a woman a few yards from him, bright red spots staining her face as she fell.

No choice.

He raised his UMP and fired a burst at the security station, trying not to hit any of the panicking civilians. The guards ducked as bullets cracked around them.

“Cover fire!” shouted Chase. A man tried to run past him; he grabbed him and pointed at the injured woman. “Get her out of here!” Terrified, the man nodded, then dragged the woman along the corridor.

Chase fired another burst to keep the guards occupied, then rushed down the corridor, staying to one side to give Starkman a clear angle. He jumped over a man cringing in a doorway, the heavy doors of the first airlock not far ahead.

The gunfire behind him went from three guns to two, then one as the others reloaded. Frost’s men would take that as an opportunity to pop up and start shooting back. Right on cue, one of the men sprang up from behind the counter, MP-7 at the ready-

Only to fly backwards against the wall in a spray of blood as Chase emptied his magazine into him.

Chase dived, the spent magazine ejected even before he hit the polished floor.

The second guard jumped up.

At least three seconds to reload…

The guard saw him and brought around his MP-7-

His head snapped back, a single shot from Starkman’s UMP catching him in the forehead.

Chase looked back to see the other men jogging towards him. He reloaded his gun, then got up. “Nice shot.”

“Yes, very nice,” said another voice.

Chase whirled.

Frost!

He fired at the figure on the other side of the doors at the same moment as Starkman, their UMPs now on full auto and unleashing a savage burst of firepower at the glass.

Tink. Tink.

The flattened bullets fell harmlessly to the floor at the base of the door. The transparent aluminum armor wasn’t even scuffed.

“Son of a bitch!” Starkman muttered.

Frost stepped forward. His voice emerged from a speaker below the thumbprint reader. “Mr. Chase. I have to admit, I’m surprised to see you.”

“You owed me some back pay,” said Chase, looking for a way to open the door. Maybe there was an override at the security station…

“Don’t bother,” said Frost. “This section of the lab is completely sealed. There’s no way you can get in.”

“Maybe we can’t get in, but I’m gonna make goddamn sure you don’t get out,” Starkman told him. He opened one of the packs attached to his belt and took out the contents. “CL-20. Two pounds of it. We’re gonna bring the place down on you just like you tried to do to us in Tibet.”

Frost merely smirked. “I wish you luck.” He turned his back on them and started to walk away.

“Frost!” Chase shouted. “Where’s Nina?”

Frost paused, glancing back at him. “Dr. Wilde is with my daughter. Kari persuaded me to keep her alive-she hopes to convince her to see reason and join us before the virus is released.”

“And when’ll that be?”

“In however many minutes it takes their plane to reach thirty thousand feet.” Chase and Starkman exchanged shocked looks. “Yes, it’s already happening. You’re too late, Mr. Starkman. Qobras failed to stop me, and so have you. You might want to reflect on that… before you die. Which no matter what happens will be sometime in the next twenty-four hours.” He smirked again. “Good-bye, gentlemen.” With that, he walked away. The second set of doors slammed decisively behind him.

Starkman angrily fired another burst at the door, which remained unscathed. “Motherfucker!”

“If there’s one thing I hate,” said Chase, “it’s a smug bastard.”

“You think he was lying? About the virus, I mean?”

“If the plane hasn’t taken off yet, we still have a chance. If it has, we’re fucked, and so’s the rest of the world. Either way…” He took out his own CL-20. “We do what we came here to do-and blow this place to fuck.”

The Mercedes stopped beneath the massive wing of the Airbus A380. The huge cargo plane was waiting on the runway apron outside its hangar, engines idling. Kari pushed Nina up the boarding steps, the two guards following.

The A380 had three decks; on an airliner model the middle floor they entered would have been the lower of the two passenger levels, but all three decks of the cavernous freighter version were designed for cargo containers. They entered the crew room. A door at the rear opened into the hold. Nina glanced through it. The windowless deck was about a third full.

Somewhere among the containers, she knew, was the virus, waiting to be released…

A steep flight of stairs led up to the top deck. Kari directed her up it. Nina expected to see another huge cargo space, but was slightly surprised to emerge in a luxurious cabin.

“My father installed a private office,” Kari explained. She unfastened Nina’s handcuffs. “Please, sit.”

Nina reluctantly did so, looking around. Portholes lined each side of the cabin, and a door in the rear wall presumably opened into the upper hold. An L-shaped desk had a computer monitor and a pair of telephones built into it.

Kari sat facing her on a leather sofa. The two guards hadn’t come up the stairs with them, staying in the lounge below. Nina wondered if she might be able to overpower Kari and flee the aircraft before it took off… but dismissed the idea even as it took form. She had no chance of beating Kari in a fight.

“I don’t know what you think you’re going to accomplish,” Nina said. “If you think I’m going to happily go along with what you’re doing…”

“I don’t expect you to come around with a click of the fingers. I know the whole thing is hard for you to accept. But you have to accept it-it’s going to happen.”

“You are deluded! No, you’re insane! Do you seriously think I want anything to do with you, ever again?”

Kari looked wounded. “Please don’t be like that, Nina! Don’t you understand? You’re one of us. You’re a true Atlantean, the very best of humanity! You deserve to be one of the rulers of the world!” She rose and came across the cabin. For a moment Nina thought she was going to hit her again, but instead she knelt down before her. “I don’t want to kill you, I don’t! Just say that you’ve changed your mind-you don’t even have to be telling the truth! Once everything changes, then I know you’ll come around, that you’ll realize we were right. But you have to say it if you want to stay alive.”

“You’d still kill me even though I’m one of the best of the best?” sneered Nina.