Return to The Deep (From The Deep Book 2) Read Free Page A

The third however, was open. Clayton quietly swung it open and stepped over the threshold.
    "Holy shit," he whispered as the others followed.
    They were on an enclosed walkway, a corridor of white marble with glass observation windows running the entire length of the corridor. To the right were a series of laboratories, cast in half illumination from the discreet overhead lights. They were pristine, and each glass door to the half dozen labs bore a red painted stamp, which said:
    CAUTION!
    ABSOLUTELY NO ACCESS TO UNAUTHORISED PERSONNEL.
    ANTI CONTAMINATION MEASURES ARE
    IN PLACE AT ALL TIMES
     
    The labs would have been interesting enough on their own, if not for the view to their right. There, some twenty feet below them, was an enormous body of water, which looked like a sheet of black ice in the gloom.
    "What the hell?" Clayton said, grinning at Fernando.
    "This must be it. This must be what they're hiding," Fernando replied, breaking into a grin of his own.
    “See there?" Clayton said, pointing at the double doors visible through the window beyond the edge of the lagoon of water. "Those were the ones that we couldn’t get through. You can see where the pipes run through, and then down the wall and into the water. That’s where we wanted to be."
     
    "What do you think is in there?" Marie said, her breath fogging the glass as she stared at the water.
    "Whatever it is, it’s obvious they don’t want the public to know about it."
    “What if we-"
    Jim was cut off by the shrill sound of the alarm ringing through the building.
    "Shit, run!" Clayton said, turning back and racing back the way they had come, Jim and Marie not far behind.
    "Come on, man, hurry up!" Jim yelled to Fernando.
    However, Fernando couldn’t move. He thought he had seen a shadow, something shifting beneath the glassy surface of the water.
    "Hey, I think I-" he turned to tell his friends, then for the first time noticed they were gone, and he was standing alone.
    He turned to follow, thanking his luck that he didn’t get caught, when he felt the vice like grip on his shoulder just seconds before he was tackled to the ground by the security guard.
    "Get the hell off me," Fernando grunted as he tried to wriggle free.
    "Fernando?" The guard said, hauling Fernando to his feet. "What the hell are you doing here?"
    "Fuck you, Tom."
    Fernando's older brother frowned and released his grip on his sibling’s shirt. "How the hell did you get in here?"
    Fernando held up the key card.
    "You little bastard. That's mine. I had to report it lost last week."
    "I only borrowed it."
    "Do you know how much trouble you're in?"
    The brothers looked at each other, the two of them remarkable in similarity. The same olive complexion, dark eyes, and slightly hooked nose.
    "That depends if you let me go."
    "My ass will be on the line if I do that. This is breaking and entering, Fred."
    Only Tom called him by that name. He hated anyone else to do it, and made a point of letting them know. Tom had always called him that, and it was something neither of them really thought about.
    "Come on, you know mom will go postal on me if she finds out about this," Fernando said.
    Tom hesitated, looking at his brother and then back over his shoulder.
    "Go on; get the hell out of here. You and your friends just stay away from now on, you hear me?"
    Fernando nodded. "What will you say to the other guards?"
    "There's only old Harry working with me tonight, and he lost interest in the job years ago. Even so, as slow as he is getting up the steps, I wouldn’t hang around. Now go home. I’ll talk to you later."
    "Thanks, bro. I owe you one," Fernando said as he turned to leave.
    "Hey, Fred."
    Fernando turned around to see his brother’s outstretched hand. "Key card."
    Fernando handed the card to his brother then turned and jogged after his friends. Tom waited on the walkway staring at the empty door and waiting for Harry to catch up to him. The old man’s arrival was preceded by the sounds