The Sacred Vault_ A Novel - Andy McDermott [178]
‘We need to wreck that radio jammer first,’ said Eddie.
‘Sounds like your area of expertise. We’d better get moving.’ They left the vault, heading back past the unconscious guard. ‘Although I’m really not looking forward to climbing back up that ladder.’
Eddie gave her a weary smile. ‘Have to admit, I’m coming round to the idea of using the lift—’
Someone had beaten them to it.
One set of elevator doors rumbled apart - revealing Zec and Tandon. Both men pointed handguns at them, fingers tight on the triggers.
Neither Eddie nor Nina had their weapons raised. They froze. ‘Cock,’ Eddie muttered.
‘Drop the guns,’ said Zec. A half-smile as they obeyed. ‘You are really incredible, Chase. What does it take to kill you?’
‘A bullet to the head should do it,’ Tandon said, kicking the fallen MP5Ks away. He pushed his gun against Eddie’s temple. The Englishman tensed, Nina drawing in a sharp breath of fear. ‘But . . . Mr Khoil wants to see you first.’
‘Lucky us,’ said Eddie as the gun withdrew. ‘How’d he know we were here?’
Zec nodded towards the laptop. ‘It has a webcam connected to the security office. As soon as I saw the guard was not at his station, I rewound the stream. And there you were.’
‘Move,’ Tandon ordered. ‘Into the lift.’
The elevator was a wide square platform, surrounded by railings but otherwise worryingly open. Nina and Eddie unwillingly stepped aboard. While the Indian kept them at gunpoint, Zec dragged the unconscious guard into the lift. Once both men were inside, Tandon pushed a button and the doors rattled shut. With a whine of motors, the elevator began its long journey to the surface.
The ride ended at the lowest floor of the composite building. Two more armed men were waiting as the doors opened. One picked up the guard and carried him away as Zec and Tandon ushered Nina and Eddie out. ‘Up the stairs,’ said Zec, gesturing to a staircase.
The utilitarian, military-drab environment of the bottom level gave way to considerably more high-tech surroundings as they ascended. Two entire floors of the old radar station had been gutted and replaced by massive data centres, rank after rank of computer servers processing information.
‘Christ,’ said Eddie as they kept climbing. ‘All this just to play Tetris?’
‘It’s part of their plan,’ Nina realised. ‘Pramesh said he had archives storing information so it wouldn’t be lost when civilisation collapses. This must be one of them. He’s recording every bit of data that passes through the internet.’
‘Yeah, ’cause that’s what the world’ll need after the apocalypse - funny pet videos and porn.’
‘I’m sure he’ll be very selective about what survives and what “accidentally” gets lost to history.’
Zec gave them an odd look. ‘What do you mean, the apocalypse?’
Nina and Eddie exchanged glances. ‘Taking a dump during the briefing, were you?’ Eddie asked. ‘Or did they just not tell you that part?’
‘You’ve been told everything you need to know,’ Tandon said firmly to Zec as they continued upwards. The next level appeared to be living areas; the one above was the same, but more expensively appointed - the Khoils were reluctant to give up the comforts of wealth, even in the Arctic.
The stairway ended here, but they still had higher to climb. Nina and Eddie were escorted along a short hallway to another set of stairs, this one spiralling upwards through the building’s central core to the giant dome. It took them via a distinctly industrial level, large - and from their appearance, Cold War vintage - electrical transformers emitting menacing hums. They had once fed power to the giant radar antenna; now they supplied energy to the 360-degree lightshow that had replaced it.
‘Dr Wilde!’ called a familiar voice as they trooped into the infotarium. ‘And Mr Chase, too.’ Pramesh Khoil stood with his wife atop a circular platform at the dome’s centre.
Vanita regarded them with disgust. ‘Why are they still alive?’
‘They have gone through a lot to be here, Vanita,’ said Khoil. Smug pride blossomed on his face as he