Dangerous Minds (Knight and Moon #2)(68)

“I told you something bad was happening,” Vernon said. “They’re coming to get us.”

BANG! Another thunderous crash and a forklift exploded through the wall, sending bricks flying, raising a tremendous dust cloud. The forklift stopped short once it had demolished the wall, and Riley leaned forward in the driver’s seat, mouth open, eyes wide.

“Crap on a cracker,” Riley said. “I had no idea you guys were out here. I almost ran you over!”

“Holy cow,” Vernon said. “Holy guacamole.”

Riley swung down from the forklift. A handcuff dangled from her right wrist. “It’s not safe to stay here.”

“What’s with the bracelet?” Alani asked.

“Berta made the mistake of unshackling me for a bathroom break,” Riley said. “She might know how to build a bomb, but she sure can’t take a punch.”

“Who’s Berta?”

“She’s the woman who’s tied to the lab bench.”

Everyone peeked through the hole in the wall and stared at Berta, tied up and sitting on the floor. Several tables and chairs were knocked over, and there had clearly been some sort of a struggle.

Alani looked around the room. “What is this place?”

“It’s a weapons lab,” Riley said. She pointed at the bombs in the corner of the room. “They’re making a weapon capable of detonating and releasing a payload of the strange matter. They’ve got the Penning trap on the table by the bombs.”

“Where are Tin Man and Bart Young?” Emerson asked.

“I don’t know. They left me here with Berta. I’m sure they’re close. I barricaded the door to the lab but it won’t stop them for long. We should get out of here ASAP. I’m sure they heard me breaking through the wall.”

Emerson looked at the steel door on the other side of the room. It had a small reinforced-glass window at its top and a professional stainless steel refrigerator tipped over in front of the bottom.

Emerson kneeled next to Berta. “Does the Penning trap hold all of the strange matter?”

Berta stared at him in stony silence.

Emerson rose and walked over to the bombs. He studied them for a moment and set the timer on one of them to ten minutes.

“I assume that even without the strange matter loaded, these can still do some damage,” Emerson said.

“You don’t know what you’re doing. You’ll kill us all,” Berta said.

“Not all of us,” Emerson said. “Only those remaining in this lab. The rest of us will die only if we leave some strange matter behind.”

“You mean to steal the strange matter,” Berta said, eyes wide in disbelief and fear.

“Yes,” Emerson said. “All of it.”

“You might want to reconsider your priorities,” Riley said to Berta. “It might be better to be a poor live scientist than a rich dead empress.”

“I’ll ask you one more time,” Emerson said to Berta. “Does the Penning trap on the table hold all of the strange matter?”

“Yes,” Berta said. “Except for what you already have in the other trap. Just don’t leave me here.”

Emerson unplugged the trap, Vernon grabbed it, and Riley got Berta to her feet. Someone was banging on the lab door, trying to get in. Riley and Berta looked at the door. The enraged face of Tin Man filled the little window.

“He looks pretty angry,” Riley said.

“He’s insane,” Berta said. “If he catches us he’ll chop us into pieces, fingers and toes first, and then ears and breasts. I’ve seen him do it.”

Riley felt a wave of revulsion roll through her, and she pushed it away. No time for emotion, she told herself.

“Let’s get out of here,” she shouted above the banging.

Emerson lugged the Penning trap back into the tunnel and got into the passenger side of the forklift.

“What are you doing?” Riley asked.

“Making our getaway.”

Riley climbed into the driver’s side. “In a forklift that drives less than ten miles per hour?”

“The only way back to the main line of the Kazumura from here is through a crawl space. The Penning trap won’t fit.”

“And a forklift will?”

“There’s a skylight about a mile into the tunnel. We can use the forklift to lift the trap to the surface and make our escape.”

Vernon, Wayan Bagus, Alani, and Berta piled onto the blades of the forklift, and Riley turned the ignition. It reluctantly started up and rumbled slowly through the bricks, down the tunnel. By the time they reached the skylight, they could hear footsteps and voices echoing in the tunnel behind them.

“We have about a six-minute head start,” Emerson said. “Let’s get topside with the Penning trap.”

Riley raised Vernon, Alani, Wayan Bagus, and Berta close enough to the hole in the ceiling that they could scramble out and then lowered the blades so Emerson could get on, holding the Penning trap. Once the trap was safely aboveground Emerson slipped back into the lava tube.

A deafening explosion reverberated through the tunnel, followed by the sound of a cave-in coming from the direction of the lab.

“I guess the bombs work,” Emerson said.

Riley looked in the direction of the lab. “Do you think we got Tin Man?”