Kingdom of the Seven by Jon Land

Author:Jon Land
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 1994-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 23

The private side entrance to Van Dyne Pharmaceuticals slid open to reveal Freddy Levinger peering out through the crack.

“Hurry,” he whispered urgently, motioning for Karen Raymond to enter as his eyes darted about the courtyard.

She was inside almost before he had finished speaking. Levinger closed the door behind them.

“When we’re done tonight,” he followed nervously, “no matter what we find, my role in this is finished. I want your word on that.”

“You’ve got it,” she said softly back.

She had followed the instructions Levinger had given her that afternoon exactly. Van Dyne had outgrown their facilities in Torrey Pines Industrial Park years before and had moved out to their own private complex off the freeway heading north out of La Jolla. The complex included not only the company’s corporate headquarters and research wings, but also a self-contained manufacturing facility on the grounds that allowed Van Dyne the luxury of private production and distribution.

A pass Freddy Levinger had provided got Karen through the main gate, and his own identification card had permitted her access to the underground parking garage. The air of this parking garage smelled peculiarly clean, not anything like that of other such garages she’d walked through. Karen moved quickly yet warily toward the exit door he had indicated, anticipating the possibility of another car arriving or rattling footsteps that would force her to take cover. Neither intruded and she climbed up a staircase back to the surface. She emerged inside Van Dyne’s processing plant near its main entrance. She crept down another corridor toward a less obtrusive exit sign that took her out into the night.

The distance separating her from the courtyard contained within the U-shaped office and lab complex was considerable. But she could see no guard patrolling, and the spill of lights could be easily avoided. Karen covered the distance fast, stopping and pressing her shoulders against the cream-colored Van Dyne facade just before the open part of the U. She made sure to peer around the corner before entering the courtyard. When again there were no guards in sight, Karen dashed toward the door in the back right corner of the complex Levinger had directed her to.

She reached the door a minute early and waited, eyes scanning the courtyard frantically. This locked door had no specially tailored slot to accept the card Levinger had given her for easy access. Instead, she’d had to wait in this spot until he appeared to let her in.

“There’s a room upstairs they’ve converted into the nerve center for all data concerning the test group,” Levinger told her, leading the way down the corridor.

“Sounds like you’re not very familiar with it.”

“With good reason: I’ve only been inside once.”

“Even though you’re head of development?”

“This testing was considered too important for anyone other than a select few to handle. I’ve been briefed regularly on the test and documentation status. Beyond that, I couldn’t really tell you what’s been going on there.”

“‘There’ as in where, Freddy?”

Levinger took a deep breath as they reached the top of the stairs.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.