Chapter 7: Into the Abyss

We approached Blackstone Research as the sun set, casting long shadows across the wooded hills. Blake had acquired military-grade equipment from sources I didn't question—night vision goggles, tactical gear, and enough firepower to outfit a small army.

"Shift change happens at 2000 hours," he murmured, checking his watch. "That gives us a fifteen-minute window when the guards are transitioning."

I studied the facility through night vision, counting heat signatures and identifying patrol patterns. The building loomed like a concrete fortress against the darkening sky, its minimal windows glowing with harsh fluorescent light. "How do we get past the electrified fence?"

"We don't. We go under it." Blake pointed to a drainage culvert that ran beneath the perimeter. "Storm system from the old development that was here before they built the facility. Should bring us up inside the compound."

The culvert was narrow, dark, and filled with three inches of stagnant water that smelled like decay and old leaves. We crawled through it for what felt like hours, our tactical gear scraping against the concrete walls. The sound of our breathing echoed in the confined space, mixing with the distant hum of electrical systems above. Finally, we emerged in a concrete drainage basin within the facility's grounds.

Above us, klieg lights swept the compound in regular patterns, their beams cutting through the night like searchlights hunting for intruders. The basin was deep enough to provide concealment, but I could feel the weight of surveillance pressing down on us. Blake checked his equipment one final time, then looked at me with an intensity that made my heart race.

"Once we're inside, we split up. You find Lisa and any other prisoners. I'll locate their research data and plant charges to destroy the facility."

"Charges?" The word came out sharper than I intended.

Blake patted a backpack full of what looked like enough explosives to level a city block. "If we can't expose this operation, we'll make sure it can't continue."

The main building loomed above us, all concrete and steel with the institutional coldness of a government facility designed more for containment than comfort. We waited for the next patrol to pass, two guards walking their route with the mechanical precision of men following orders they didn't question. Then we sprinted across open ground to a service entrance Blake had identified during our surveillance.

The lock was electronic, sophisticated, with multiple security layers that should have taken hours to bypass. But Blake produced a device that made quick work of it, the lock clicking open with surprising ease. "Perks of working with the NSA for two years," he explained at my questioning look.

Inside, the facility was a maze of corridors lit by harsh fluorescent lights that cast everything in stark, unforgiving detail. The walls were lined with security cameras, their lenses tracking movement with predatory focus. But Blake's electronic device seemed to interfere with their operation, creating blind spots we could exploit as we moved deeper into the building.

"This way," he whispered, consulting a layout he'd somehow acquired. The paper was marked with guard rotations, security protocols, and structural details that shouldn't have been available to anyone outside the project. "Detention cells are on sublevel three. Research labs on sublevel two."

We reached a stairwell and began our descent, the weight of the concrete above us making the air feel thick and oppressive. Each level down seemed to increase the sense of institutional menace, the feeling that we were descending into something deliberately hidden from the world above. At sublevel two, Blake caught my arm.

"This is where we separate. Give me thirty minutes, then get out whether you've found Lisa or not."

"What if—"

"Thirty minutes, Kate. No heroics, no trying to save everyone. Get Lisa and run."

I nodded, though we both knew I had no intention of leaving anyone behind if I could help it. Blake seemed to understand, because his goodbye kiss was fierce, desperate, carrying the weight of things we might never get to say to each other.

"See you on the other side," he murmured.

Sublevel three was a nightmare from a dystopian novel. Rows of cells lined both sides of a central corridor, each containing a person with vacant, medicated expressions. Some sat motionless, staring at walls with the blank intensity of the heavily drugged. Others muttered to themselves, carrying on conversations with people who weren't there. A few pressed against their cell doors with desperate eyes, their hands reaching through the bars toward any sign of hope.

The fluorescent lights here were dimmer, casting everything in a sickly yellow glow that made the prisoners look like corpses. The air smelled of disinfectant, fear, and something else—something that reminded me of the electrical discharge I'd sensed around people with supernatural abilities, but wrong somehow, corrupted.

I found Lisa in cell 47, curled in a corner with electrodes still attached to her temples. Thin wires ran from the devices to a monitoring station outside her cell, and I could see readouts tracking her brain activity in real time. She looked up as I approached, and for a moment I wasn't sure she recognized me.

"Kate?" Her voice was hoarse, confused, like someone waking from a dream they couldn't quite remember.

"I'm here to get you out." I worked on the electronic lock with a device Blake had given me, praying it would work on the detention system. The mechanism was more complex than the entry door, but finally I heard the soft click of success.

"The dreams," Lisa whispered as I helped her to her feet. "They made the dreams so much worse. Forced me to see things, terrible things."