The man was beginning to enter the code, but his progress was slowed by the fact that he had to keep referring to the paper in his hand. They had less than five seconds before the advantage swung heavily in the direction of the three men outside. Until then, though, Smith had the edge. He knew their positions from the security camera images, and they wouldn’t expect the door to open until the override was fully entered.

“Come on!” Smith prompted. “Hurry!”

Two of the armed men were standing one slightly behind the other, partially overlapping in the narrow passageway. Both had guns drawn and both were trained on the door.

Smith dropped to the floor and aimed at the right jamb about waist height. With luck, their first shots would go over his head.

The door began to slide open and he could hear the surprised shouts of the men outside. He followed the widening crack through the sights of the handgun he’d taken from the dead guard. One of the security men fired, but it was a blind shot that went well wide and slammed into the bank of computers against the back wall.

A little more…

Smith squeezed off a round, hitting the lead man in the side, just above his belt. Not a fatal wound, but that wasn’t the goal. It was a soft part of the body with no bone to deflect the bullet. The man buckled at the waist and was thrown back into the man behind him as Smith leaped to his feet.

His gamble worked. The bullet passed right through and hit the man behind, interrupting his aim and sending a bullet hissing past Smith’s right ear. He ignored the sound, sprinting forward and firing at the two men struggling to stay on their feet. He hit the front one in the chest and then slammed into them before pressing the Sig’s barrel to the second man’s forehead and squeezing the trigger.

The back of the guard’s skull sprayed across the dirt wall and Smith spun, lining up on the man at the keypad. He’d dropped the piece of paper containing the access code and was going for his gun, but the barrel hadn’t even cleared his leather shoulder holster when a round from Smith’s weapon hit him in the face.

Smith ran down the corridor, stopping just before it opened into the main cavern. It looked clear to the right, so he stepped out, holding his pistol in front of him with both hands.

Takahashi was about fifty yards away—running toward the exit a hell of a lot faster than a man his age should have been able to. It was a relatively easy shot made impossible by the trailing guard who was directly in the line of fire.