Mosh followed Jefferson’s flashlight beam. As far as he could tell, the plan made sense. Myers’ MCB agents couldn’t risk tipping their hand by being spotted trying to talk to the scientist, so they were going to cause a distraction and sound the alarm while Holly and Mosh snuck into Stricken’s base of operations.

They reached an intersection. “All right, Holly.” Agent Jefferson aimed his flashlight down the service tunnel. “Here’s where we part ways. You go to the right. We’re now under the Taj, that’s the casino that was next to the Last Dragon. You’ll find the access door to the basement in about two hundred yards. Archer cut the camera wires, picked the lock, and disabled the alarm earlier when we thought we were going to have to do this on our own. Last we knew before the MCB got tossed out, Doctor Blish was one floor up in the main office area.” Jefferson looked at his watch. The hands glowed in the dark. “In approximately ten minutes there will be a massive security breach. That should get the guards’ attention. I wouldn’t expect them to stick around if they think the monster has come through the smoke. They’ll run. They’re only contractors.”

“Watch it, Grant,” Holly warned. “Contractors are bailing your ass out right now.”

“Only kidding.” Jefferson lied smoothly. “Everyone here will think the monster has broken out. From what Myers knows about him, Stricken will go there in person to oversee its takedown. He wants just enough carnage so the president will green-light his pet project, so having everyone in the Last Dragon die is perfect, but he won’t want it to escape into the city because that will make him look bad, since he’s in control.”

“Or if it does escape, then Stricken will just blame it on Stark. Your boss will be the fall guy, and the MCB loses even more authority,” Holly said. “There’s no way that slippery bastard is taking the blame for anything that goes wrong, which is why Myers wants to steal his thunder and stop this monster before Stricken’s little task force can get all the credit.”

“Not bad.” Grant smiled. “You sure you don’t want a federal job? The benefits are great…Okay, relax. Stricken knows how to stop this creature, and we’ll be watching to see how he reacts to our false alarm. He’ll more than likely take his actual Unicorn personnel with him, so at least you won’t have to worry about any of those things.”

“Things?” Mosh asked.

“Long story.” Holly’s brief answer didn’t make him feel any better. “How do you plan to rig this breakout, Grant?”