Page 19 of Hollow State

Wynn checked the mirror again. If that SUV had actually been following them, they weren't alone. Those guys always traveled with backup. The only question was, when and where would the next set come from, and would bullets start flying right away?

Or would they show up when they least expected it?

However, for the next twelve kilometers, the road behind and ahead remained empty until Elis turned onto the institute grounds, bypassing the main entrance, and followed a service lane around the building. The emergency drop-off sat inside a recessed bay at the rear, hidden from the public parking lot by a concrete wall and a row of dense evergreens.

Elis had texted his father, letting him know they'd arrived, and Prewit had made sure the emergency wing was empty. This wasn't an uncommon practice. The institute treated high-ranking government officials and a few celebrities. Anonymity was imperative.

The exterior door opened and Prewit waited in the wings as Elis brought the vehicle to a stop.

Waving, Prewit strolled toward the back of the transport vehicle.

Wynn opened the door and stretched her legs. Technically, the ride had been easy, but intense. Honestly, it had been the first time she'd felt exposed while on a run. Sure, for most of the journey she’d had Quinn as a guide. Even if she couldn't see him, she’d known he was there as backup through radio comms check-in.

She wiggled her fingers and blew out a puff of air.

“Good to see you upright," Prewit said. "I bet you're all hungry."

Kane gripped the walking stick and climbed out. “I could eat.”

"Let's get you inside and settled." Prewit gestured toward the electric doors.

She glanced around. She'd dreamt about what it would be like to get out of the bunker. To go somewhere else. Anywhere that didn't include enhanced soldiers. Or bullets aimed at her chest. Someplace where she and Darwin could just sit and be. Granted, this wasn't the place.

Darwin inched closer, resting his hand on the small of her back. He leaned in. “Everything alright?”

“It will be once we’re safe inside the bunker.”

CHAPTER FIVE

The laboratory Prewit had set aside for Darwin was barely large enough for two people, much less the equipment lining three of the walls, but Darwin didn't mind. He needed answers more than he needed to be comfortable.

He worked on the far wall where a stainless-steel counter ran beneath a row of glass-front cabinets. A compact centrifuge occupied one corner beside a refrigerator marked with enough warning labels to make the contents sound radioactive. The mass spectrometer sat behind a pane of protective glass in the adjoining room, connected to the workstation in front of Darwin.

It wasn’t the main research lab, and that was the point.

The smaller room sat inside the secure wing Prewit used for patients whose names never appeared on public schedules. Access required a separate code, and the internal network had been disconnected before Darwin and the others had arrived.

He adjusted his glasses and leaned closer to the monitor. Three columns of numbers filled the screen, each representing a sample taken from the patches recovered from Emma Pryce’s facility.

None matched.

Not each other.

Not the known composition of VKR-1, KTH-1, or TTN-3.

But they all had traces of each, and that disturbed Darwin on so many levels.

He tapped the screen with the end of his pen. “She blended them, but there's something else in here, and I can't tell if it's meant to stabilize like KTH-1, or something like what I originally used in AXS-1, or a mix of something else.”

Prewit remained on the opposite side of the room, working beneath the ventilation hood. He drew a small amount of amber liquid from the vial they’d brought and transferred it into a clear test tube.

“Same thing in the vial, and it reacts strangely when I add a stabilizer."

“What do you mean?”

“Basically, it blows up the cells like VKR-1 does without a flushing system, but worse.”

"That's bad." Darwin glanced at his friend. "That's the entire reason I told Finch TITAN would never work—especially in a fucking patch."