After two futile attempts, Lou hooked the keys, but deflated an instant later when the grip he had secured failed to hold.

Lou inhaled deeply. He needed to slow his heart in order to steady his hands.

Just imagine you’re sewing up a squirming little kid … don’t get flustered … just another routine procedure.

One more try, and he was going to give up and bolt. Whether he loathed them or not, he wished he had gone for the gun.

The pulsating alarm was unnerving. There was no way to tell precisely where the intruder was or how many of them were out there. He began considering going for an ambush—hiding behind the door onto the catwalk and using the extension pole as Edwin had used it. The necessity to make that decision never came. One more deep breath, and he hooked the keys. He hoisted them up, thought a second about going for Stone’s gun, but decided against it.

Looking over his shoulder, he limped across the catwalk, then disappeared into the radiation room. Whoever was about to enter the termite lair was in for a hell of a surprise.

As the steel door closed behind him, Lou thought he heard the door open at the far end of the catwalk. He slid a dead bolt into place and finally allowed himself to exhale. He had to get out and get out soon, but there had to be confusion on the other side of the door, so he probably had a bit of time to compose himself.

The radiation room was bathed in red light. Lou’s eyes were immediately drawn to what looked like a holding tank. It was a massive glass-fronted structure, five feet high and four or five feet deep, occupying most of one wall. Inside the tank were thousands upon thousands of termites, almost certainly, Lou guessed, Macrotermes. A long plastic tube rose up five feet from the center of the tank, made a ninety-degree right angle bend, paralleled the floor for fifteen feet or so, and then dropped down into a plastic box the size of a small refrigerator. The box rested on top of a conveyor belt, which would, Lou observed, carry the contents inside a piece of machinery that looked like the X-ray machines found at airport security points.

The purpose of the setup was apparent. A vacuum would suck the termites into the tube, then deposit them inside the box. Afterwards, the box would be conveyed into the apparatus where the insects would be radiated. On the far side of the machine was a door marked simply: EXTRACTION.

Extraction. Probably the removal of the DNA from the termites, Lou decided. Incredible how far the technology had come—absolutely incredible and absolutely terrifying.