He pushed the door open. She had spread the phones out on the long table and was activating them.

“I need to check in with my handler,” she said. She turned to him. “You need help?”

He paused, debating whether to stay and see who she called.

“No,” he said, still torn on what to do.

“You’re downloading the CityForge app, right?” A small smile curled at her lips. He wondered if she knew he had lied on the helicopter.

He nodded, withdrew from the room, and closed the door behind him. But he stood just outside the door, waiting, hoping to hear her call. It never came. She must have been texting.

He activated a cell phone and downloaded the Labyrinth Reality app. He entered the code for the private Labyrinth he had created. He was once again asked whether he was the hero or the Minotaur.

He clicked hero. The dialog read:

Searching for an entrance to the Labyrinth…

In Berlin, the application had said there were no entrances near him. He waited. Finally, a message appeared:

1 Entrance Located.

He clicked the link. A map appeared with GPS coordinates and a glowing green dot.

The location was an island north of Scotland, which surprised him: it was much closer to Berlin than Dadaab. Why did the location not appear when he tried the app in Berlin? He decided the entrance must have been set to reveal on a timer, or perhaps only after some event had occurred. Or, perhaps, when a partner activated it. That possibility intrigued Desmond the most.

He zoomed in on the map dot. It was in the Shetland Islands. From the satellite photography, the place looked barely inhabited. There were some farms, a few roads, a seaport, and an airport.

The glowing dot itself lay in the middle of a forest. There was no building, no home, not even a road leading to it. But he knew something was there—waiting for him.

He hoped it held the key to finding a cure.

Chapter 71

Chapter 71

Hannah’s eyes were open when Peyton entered the office that had been converted to a patient room. The young woman tried to sit up in bed, but Peyton told her to lie back down.

Her voice came out hoarse, faint. “What happened?”

Peyton considered what to tell her. She decided that Hannah had been through enough. Details could wait for another day.

“We were rescued.”

Hannah closed her eyes, breathed heavily.

“Are we going home?”

“Eventually. I need to make a few phone calls. You’re in good hands here. I’ll be back.”

Outside the room, Peyton activated the phone and dialed Elliott’s cell. The call connected without ringing.

“You’ve reached Operation BioShield. If you’re calling from inside a cordon zone, press one. If you’re calling from outside a cordon zone, press two.”

After a brief pause, the recording repeated.