“Seriously? Okay, fine. I promise I won’t kill anybody unless I really need to. You think I like this fly by the seat of the pants stuff? I’d love to have time to come up with a plan that doesn’t end with shooting them, but we don’t have time.”

As if to punctuate that statement, there was a distant rumble. Mosh couldn’t be sure, but he suspected that it was an explosion. Right on time. Holly crouched down and opened the door a bit, revealing a dimly-lit storage area. A single red light began to flash high on the wall above. An annoying repetitive wail emanated from the ceiling along with a calm, prerecorded voice. “Proceed to the nearest exit. Proceed to the nearest exit.” It was extremely loud. The MCB’s distraction had begun.

The storage area was filled with props and costumes, most of them with a Bollywood vibe. “This way.” Holly ran between the rows of shelves, looking for a way out. They didn’t have a map or any idea how this floor was laid out, just general directions from the MCB, but there was supposed to be an office area around here somewhere. Holly found another door that led into a carpeted hallway. There were filing cabinets and corkboards with memos tacked to them, so it felt like they were on the right track. Mosh got ready to charge out, but Holly stopped him. “Stay hidden. Give them a minute to react. We want the Unicorn troops to leave first.”

The wait was killing him. He couldn’t shake that feeling that something terrible was about to happen. Holly waited for what seemed to him like far too long, but that was probably just the adrenalin rush making it seem that way, then she opened the door the rest of the way and slipped into the hall. At least the Proceed to the Nearest Exit lady was so loud that there was no way anybody would hear them coming. Of course, as soon as Mosh thought that, the prerecorded message stopped.

“Hurry,” Holly said.

Hurry? They didn’t even know where the scientist was, so for all they knew they were hurrying in the wrong direction. The entered a room full of cubicles.

“Go left here,” Mordechai told him.

“Turn left,” Mosh said immediately. Holly looked at him incredulously, but Mosh just pointed at his temple. “Dead guy said so.”

“Freaking Pitts.” But Holly didn’t argue. She turned down the next hall. They entered another desk and cubicle filled room. There were doors on each side and half of each wall was a frosted glass window.

“Stop. Get down.” Mordechai ordered. Mosh repeated the warning without even thinking about it. Holly took a knee behind a water cooler. Mosh crouched behind her. Holly held up one hand. Voices.