Margo Holland's Arc

Chapter 11 of 13

The drive east took two hours in Doc Henson's truck, headlights cutting through predawn darkness. Margo kept her medical kit between her boots and watched the road markers count down. Chen had given exact coordinates to the checkpoint—fifteen miles from the depot's eastern perimeter, marked by a rusted metal post with faded numbers. The checkpoint appeared as a concrete pad with a single red supply container, its lid propped open. Margo climbed out and approached the metal box. The locking mechanism had been pried apart recently—fresh scratches on the hasp, packing materials spilling over the sides. Someone had already found Chen's hidden access point. Boot prints led away from the container toward a brick structure thirty yards north, half-buried in sand. The prints were deep, made by someone carrying weight. Margo followed the tracks to the brick kiosk. The glass door stood open, revealing a stairwell descending into darkness. She clicked on her flashlight and moved down the steps, one hand on the rail. The tunnel at the bottom stretched forward, concrete walls lined with exposed wiring. Twenty feet in, she found a leather wallet lying face-up on the ground. She picked it up and flipped it open. A faded transit card showed a military ID number, and tucked behind it was a folded paper with Lab Three's floor plan—Chen's handwriting in the margins. Margo stood still, weighing the wallet in her hand. Chen hadn't waited for dawn. She'd come ahead during the night, taken the equipment Margo needed, and left just enough evidence to make it clear she'd beaten Margo to the lab. The partnership had been leverage, nothing more—Chen had used Margo's keys to plan her route, then cut her out before the real work began. Margo pocketed the wallet and turned back toward the stairs. She still had five other keys and override codes Chen didn't know about. If Chen had gone to Lab Three for tissue samples, she'd need the server room access to understand what she'd found. And that door only Margo could open.