“We can't leave you.”

“It's all right. They won't hurt me as long as I'm of use to them.” She smiled beguilingly. “I'll look forward to being rescued by NUMA once again.” She turned to Brynhild. “I'll see them to the elevator.”

“No tricks,” she snarled. She ordered two guards to escort the group.

Francesca pressed the button that opened the door on the egg-shaped lift. “You're injured. I'll help you in.” When they were all seated she leaned in and whispered, “Does anyone have a gun?”

The guards who relieved Zavala of his machine pistol assumed that because Austin didn't have a gun in his hand he wasn't carrying one. But he still had the revolver he had taken from one of the Kradzik brothers tucked under his shirt.

“I have one,” Austin said, “but it would be suicide to try to shoot your way out of here.”

“I don't intend to. The gun, please.”

Austin reluctantly handed the gun over. In return she reached under her smock and handed him a manila envelope.

“It's all here, Kurt. Guard this with your life,” she said.

“What is it?”

“You'll see when you give it to the world.” She gave Austin a long and lingering kiss. “I'm sorry, but we'll have to postpone our date,” she said with a smile. Then she turned to the others. “Good-bye, my friends. Thank you for everything.”

The finality in her voice was unmistakable. Austin suddenly realized that she had no intention of being rescued.

“Get in!” Austin yelled, and made a grab for her arm.

She stepped easily out of reach and glanced at her watch. “You have exactly five minutes. Use them well.”

Then she punched the Up button. The door slid shut, and the elevator quickly shot out of sight. The guards diverted their attention to watch the elevator. Francesca eased the gun from under her smock and shot out the elevator controls. Then she did the same with the freight elevator and tossed the gun aside. As Brynhild rushed over with the other guards, a loud klaxon began to sound from loudspeakers set around the dome. “What have you done?” Brynhild shouted.

“That's the five-minute warning,” Francesca yelled back. “The reaction has been locked into place. Nothing will stop it now.”

“You said you would stop the reaction if I let your friends go.”

Francesca laughed. “I lied. You told me never to trust any one,” flinging Brynhild's words back at her.

The technicians had realized the danger before anyone, and while attention was diverted they silently slipped off to climb a narrow emergency staircase that spiraled in a separate water proof shaft that led to the surface. The directors saw them trying to flee and tried to follow. The discipline of the guards quickly dissolved under the influence of fear. They used their gun butts to drive the directors back, then opened up on those who wouldn't yield. Bodies piled up in front of the portal that led to the stairway. Guards scrambled over the heap of corpses only to be stuck in the narrow space. None would give way, and others pushed from behind. Within seconds the only way out was clogged with crushed bodies.