‘Lovely,’ answered McCormick. ‘I’m almost at the HPFC. Don’t bother chasing me, Kate. I’ll be done by the time you get here.’

Kate snarled. McCormick was most likely right, and there was no point denying it.

‘Fine, you do that,’ she whispered. ‘When I’m done here I’ll meet the others on Floor F and we’ll head upstairs together. That OK, boys?’

‘Not without me, you won’t,’ McCormick butted in before Ewan or Alex could answer.

Stuff that. If I can’t put myself at risk for you, I’m not letting you do the same for us. Sorry sir.

‘We’ll be far above you,’ she answered. ‘We can’t afford to hang around for you to catch up, and then spend another half an hour waiting for you to recover. When you’re done with the backup server, find a safe place to hide and we’ll meet you on the way down.’

‘You’re trying to keep me safe. That’s not what I’m doing here.’

‘Sorry sir,’ came Ewan’s voice, ‘but Kate’s right. And we’re not just being protective. We literally can’t wait for you. Just trust us to do the right thing while we’re up here.’

‘Oh, I know you’ll do the right thing,’ answered McCormick with misery in his voice, ‘that I don’t doubt.’

His feelings were clear without the need to see his face. The mission had been his first direct action against Grant since before Christmas. He had endured Lorraine’s ugly surgery to earn the right to take part, risked his life on a gamble in the vehicle port and exhausted himself with the stairwell, only to be denied the opportunity to see it through to the end. The final showdown would involve the other members of his family – the adoptive sons and daughter – but not the father. It almost made Kate feel guilty, but she knew better.

‘Good luck down there sir,’ she finished. ‘We’ll be in touch.’

*

Oliver Roth’s keycard still worked against the Experiment Chamber exit. He took a long breath of fresh air and tore the Kevlar away from his chest, moments before the thermite fire chewed its way to his skin. He staggered into the Floor F corridor and collapsed from physical exhaustion, crying tears of real pain. Stripping to his bare chest and crawling on all fours, he reached a fire extinguisher outside the neighbouring room and sprayed its water all over himself in an effort to remove the heat from his body.

I was so stupid! If he’d got me in my head or neck, I’d be dead!

Why did I follow him in there when he was almost certain to die? Would the other exit even have worked?