Page 46 of Burning Truth
He stopped at the steel door, an obvious sign of nefarious activity. Who put a thick, steel-reinforced door on a Quonset hut? Unless they were trying to keep people out.
Kane dropped his hose and hacked the handle and lock with his Pulaski. No luck. So he drove his axe through the metal siding in an attempt to create an opening for them to enter.
“Sanchez? Where are you?” Grizz looked around, but the smoke engulfed him like a curtain he couldn’t see through.
“I’m right behind you.”
Kane hammered until he formed an opening in the side of the building. Fire sizzled from the roof, and Grizz took an extinguisher off his back and plastered the area with foam.
He stuck his head through the wall to make sure there wasn’t some gunman waiting for them in an ambush. The camp had been quiet, but he wasn’t taking any chances.
Black smoke hung in the air, but the fire hadn’t made its way inside. Yet. “Let’s go.”
Grizz moved a few feet into the structure. Rows of laboratory tables created aisles throughout the main area. One wall held empty bins.
Grizz pointed. “This is where they kept the weapons stash. I saw it in the recording.”
“At your ten o’clock, Grizz.” He turned to see what Sanchez indicated through the haze and took a few steps closer. Three white vats were arranged side by side against an interior wall, filled with liquid. Labels with a skull and crossbones warned them of the chemical cocktail behind the drums.
More tables held test tubes and lab equipment. This looked like a science experiment gone wrong.
Kane sprayed his hose at the ceiling, where the flames had melted a hole in the metal.
“Look out!” Grizz dove for Sanchez, knocking them both to the ground.
A blazing beam crashed to the ground—the very spot where they’d just been standing. Flames swirled around the roof of the building.
“Let’s get that fire out,” Grizz yelled into the radio. “It’s getting dangerously close to the vat of chemicals against the north wall.”
Water from the fire hoses rained down from the ceiling. Within a few seconds, the fire had dissipated into a hissing vapor.
“Good job, team.” Grizz picked himself up off the dirt floor and extended his hand to Sanchez. “It looks like the fire is out inside. Keep watching the roof for more hot spots. We’ve got a lot of chemicals in here.”
“Whoa.” Kane’s exclamation shot ice through Grizz’s veins. “I found a body. Shot through the temple. Female in a lab coat.”
Grizz heard Sanchez’s gasp through the comms—probably thinking how that could have been her father. But who knew where they’d taken him now? Sanchez’s search was starting from scratch.
Saxon began tearing through the walls of the building from the outside. Shouts came from outside as reinforcements arrived.
These men must have had several scientists working for them. But what were they making? He turned around the room in a circle, trying to figure out the endgame. Why all of the equipment and chemicals unless you were building something big?
There. In the back corner of the Quonset hut stood a metal rack. Grizz moved in for a closer inspection, and Kane followed.
“What is this?” Kane looked at Grizz, the concern evident on his soot-covered face.
“They look like canisters.” Grizz studied the rows of containers. “Could this be their finished product? There’s space for five.”
“Yeah, but two are missing.” Kane pointed at the two indentations where a canister would fit. But no canister.
“It’s time to let the professionals figure that out,” Grizz said. “Now that we know the fire is contained, we should get out of here. I don’t like this place one bit.”
The FBI would now secure the compound and examine the contents of the secret lab.
Kane, Sanchez, and Grizz headed out of the building through the hole Saxon had created.
The radio squawked.
“Grizz, is she there?” Rio’s voice seemed strained.
