The Espionage Effect(57)
Next, I focused on the clean room. As I concentrated on the objects within, the binocular feature activated, enlarging each detail as I centered them, one by one, into view.
Narrow glass test tubes were lined up in a metal rack on one side of a gleaming stainless steel surface, all empty. On another table, two unused syringes were lined up perfectly parallel to one another on a blue cloth. A third expended syringe rested beside a mushroom-shaped cork. Two additional corks rested on their rounded sides in the center of the table, haphazardly positioned as if they’d rolled there.
On the far wall, a bulletin board hung above a desk. Pinned to its surface were pages of molecular diagrams, mysteriously beautiful and complex constructs of DNA strands. I zoomed in further and concentrated on each page individually, committing them to memory. It suddenly dawned on me that EtherSphere One would want copies to examine, I leaned closer to Alec. “Is there a way to take snapshots of what I’m seeing?” I murmured.
“Already happening. The images you see upload automatically to live satellite feed, then into our servers to be disseminated by electronic processors and human analysts.”
I gave a curt nod as I multitasked, continuing to view and catalog during our conversation. Common sense warned me we didn’t have unlimited time down here, and a growing sense of urgency churned in my gut. I blew out a measured breath as I continued to scan.
While I gathered information, Alec remained tense and alert, constantly scanning across the room, occasionally glancing up toward the locked door. I got the feeling that door was our ticking time bomb.
I blinked to clear my vision, then scanned downward from the bulletin board to a desk with papers strewn across its surface. Odd to have such scattered chaos in an otherwise orderly room. Two disheveled stacks of bound reports towered high on the desk’s far left corner, occasional loose papers sticking out randomly between them. Unable to see the blue covers of the two bound reports on top, I stepped forward, unthinking.
Alec’s solid grip clamped on to my right upper arm. When I glanced up, the sunglass lenses blanked out for a brief second, then a glowing blue grid appeared, mapping the topography of his face: cheekbones, orbital bones, jawline points, distance between his eyes. “Facial recognition,” I whispered, amazed.
He gave a sharp nod, then pointed up toward the ceiling. A security camera perched above us, in the corner over the uppermost landing of the staircase. “We can’t leave this area. We’re in an approximate two-foot blind spot to their security cameras. Everything needs to be gathered from here to remain undetected.”
And undetected was a top priority. No way to save the world if we got caught and imprisoned. My pulse quickened as that growing sense of urgency returned, and I hurriedly refocused on my task. Done with my examination of the clean room, I scanned over to the two darkened rooms.
With the aid of the ever-adjusting lenses I wore, the shadowed environment suddenly illuminated before me with night-vision technology. Beginning my sweep from the left, I spotted direct access from the first clean room: two sets of glass sliding doors separated by a four-foot space in between. Round, metal pressure knobs were mounted on the glass wall outside of each set of doors, three feet up from the floor.
The room held no furniture. And a darted scan to the right confirmed the last darkened room resembled the first: no furniture, no structures in the center of the room whatsoever, only empty floor space.
Along every square inch of wall space, however, from floor to ceiling and side to side across, stood refrigeration units. Through their glass doors, metal shelves spanned their three-foot widths. Each of the units held uniform contents, and a green digital reading displayed the temperature on the upper left corner of each door. When I focused into one of the refrigerators, my ingenious lenses blinked back a temperature reading in bright glowing red. Both temperature readings matched: 40.
Deep voices broke my concentration.
Confused, I looked around. With the rushing sounds of water echoing off the hard surfaces, the clarity and close proximity of the intruding sounds startled me. An instant later, understanding dawned as another male voice spoke, clear as a bell…into my right ear.
Brow furrowing, I turned and glanced up at Alec. “The glasses pick up conversations?”
His expression hardened as he turned his head and stared at the door above us, our only exit point. “They’re programmed into alarm mode. Picks up anything breaching the silence of a fifty-foot perimeter. Activates the sensors I secretly planted in the hallway.”
“Sensors?” When the hell had he planted those? I buried the question. No time.
Not yet finished with our reconnaissance, I focused back on the refrigeration units, zooming in on the contents of each as I scanned inside from top to bottom. One held test tubes, another vials, a third, larger beakers. Two entire units contained what appeared to be upright Champagne bottles. All were scanned into my brain and the lenses simultaneously.
“We have to go.” His urgent tone throttled any further exploration.
I tore the glasses from my face, folded them, and handed them back. He tucked them into the inner breast pocket of his jacket.
Panic boiled to the surface as I glanced up at the door we’d been locked behind. Then I stared across at the prisoners we were helpless to do anything about.
Alec gripped my hand and pulled me toward the underground river.
“The cameras,” I hissed. “You said we had a two-foot perimeter of nondetection.”