She sat holding the wheel, her eyes focused on the horizon as a huge yellow disk was becoming visible.

“Moon rise,” Matt whispered.

“Then we have little time,” she said and looked back at the black doors.

“It’s dead.” Andy was looking out of the back window. “There’s no one around.”

Adira turned the car at the end of the lane and pulled in. “That two-story brownstone with the double doors. What we seek is in there.”

“Now what?” Matt had sunk low in his seat.

“Now we find a way in.” Adira sat forward, looking up at the blacked-out windows, the walls and roofline. “No problem.”

Matt turned from the building to Adira. “Really?”

She sat back and stuffed the tracker into her pocket. “Hand me that bag.” She pointed at his feet, and then checked each of her guns.

Matt handed it to her, and she quickly unzipped it, removing two police walkie-talkies. She threw one to Andy in the back and shouldered open her door.

“I climb up to the roof, and find a way in there – no one ever locks rooftop doors or skylights. And then you, Professor, will come in through the front door.”

Matt jumped when his phone buzzed with an incoming call.

“Ignore that,” Adira said harshly.

Matt checked the incoming number. “Oh shit; it’s Major Abrams.” The phone seemed to ring ever more insistently, but Adira glared so hard he almost felt physical heat on his face. He let it go, until it gave up. In another second a text came through, and he read it.

“He knows you’re here.” He looked up at Adira.

“Then we better get moving. Wait at the front door – I’ll let you in.”

“Hey, what about me? What do I do?” Andy asked through the open window.

Adira started to cross the street, but turned to lift her walkie-talkie. “You, my geologist friend, are the backup.”

Chapter 21

Abrams had been pissed off that Kearns had not taken his call, but any feelings of hostility or frustration was wiped away by what he looked at in the containment cell…any feelings other than revulsion, that was.

He stood at the thick glass viewing panel, and stared in at the thing inside. Beside him, Eric Ford’s face, like those of all the other scientists in the room, was drawn with exhaustion.

“It’s quite impervious to projectiles – it’s not made up of the same cell structures as we are. Our cells, human cells, as well as most animals, have a membrane as their outer boundary – the cell wall. This wall is surprisingly strong for something so tiny. Basically they contain something called a cytoskeleton – like scaffolding to maintain the cell’s shape.”

Ford folded his arms. “But not this guy; its cells do not have a cell wall, just a membrane. In fact, it’s more like water and mucous than flesh and blood. One minute it can disassemble and then tighten its cells and create a shape like poor old Harry in there, and then the next it can expand to fill the room.” He exhaled. “Damned tough sonsofbitches too.”