The Genesis Illusion

Chapter 20

The street passing the warehouse slumbered quietly like most of frenzied Bangkok at 3 a.m. Paul scrutinized the front of the building his hidden position behind a delivery truck parked on the opposite side of the street. Harsh unshaded lights, spaced irregularly around the covered wooden walkway that spanned the entire front of the building, lit the entrance. Guards lying on the bare planks of the covered deck slept near each of the cannon-like weapons positioned at each end. A single naked light bulb, hanging above the now closed, rolling overhead entrance door, cast a dim glow on a hinged metal door a few feet away.

I can't get my sample from the sacks outside without waking the guards. The extra sacks inside the meeting hall are my best target. The guards need to get inside to use the toilet, so the front door must be unlocked.

Should I put in my night vision contacts in now or wait? I'd better wait, if I put them in now the light over the door will blind me. Both guards lay motionless, so he hurried across the street, but paused at the door. The knob turned slowly in his hand. It opened, and he slipped inside almost in one motion, closing the door guiding it with both hands.

Leaning against the inside of the door, like it was an old friend, a black expanse greeted him. Slowly, as his eyes adjusted, a few rays of light leaking around the door created a white frame. The only other light was a faint red glow in the distance. That's probably the idle light on the printer near the window inside the computer room.

I'd better put in my night vision contacts. He reached in his shirt pocket for the contact case. I've practiced this many times. Without difficulty he used his index finger inserting one in his right eye.

After a few blinks his vision cleared, and an infrared image appeared. The entire room came into view. In the middle the sacks lay just where they had been earlier. I don't think I need to put in the other one. He closed the contact holder and stuck it back in his pocket. Even though his left eye was mostly useless, there was a potential advantage if he needed to read something.

Paul scanned the open storage space from right to left looking for any guards. Good, they're all out in front. He crept to the nearest sack in the center of the room and got out the sample container and latex gloves from his pants pocket. The burlap sack was sewn shut with a stitched cord like those used on flour sacks. He found the end and pulled open a corner.

He wiggled his fingers, struggling to get them all the way into the latex gloves. I must be careful not to contaminate the sample. He reached inside the sack with two fingers. A plastic bag liner. He cut a small slit in the bag with his pocket knife and again stuck in two fingers. I don't feel anything. But it's not empty. The sack looks full. This time he curled his fingers inside the bag and removed them. Something clung as if by static electricity. He scraped his fingers on the sides of the sample container removing the substance and trapping it for later analysis. It took several times to fill the container, then he snapped the lid closed. It's so light. He poked the plastic liner inside the sack and carefully closed the corner but he couldn't re-stitch it. I don't think they'll notice. Even if they do, they'll just think the bag's defective.

Undetected and emboldened he investigated further. The meeting room next to the computer room. The Arcadia leaders might have left something. He got up from the sack stack, slinked across the open storage area to the room in the rear. The door knob wouldn't turn. Locked. Maybe I should take my sample and get out of here? On the other hand, a locked door might mean there's something important inside.

Paul had practiced, under Nara's tutelage, the technique to open a simple interior door lock using a plastic card. He used his medical insurance identification card, inserting and bending it to trip the lock. It worked, quick and easy. Inside, scanning the room with his night-vision contact equipped eye, the furniture and a large meeting table surrounded by unoccupied chairs appeared. A projector and laptop computer covered the far end of the table. Neither was on but the ready lights glowed providing a surprising amount of red light near the devices.

Paul searched for anything important, opening drawers and reaching into cabinets. Inside a closet at the back of the room he found a small locked safe. It had an electronic keypad security lock that was no match for Paul's code-breaking skills. It took only a few seconds to gain entry.

Inside he found a few documents, and another locked safe. Curious? A safe within a safe? The interior safe had a broadcast sensor chip incorporated into the lock mechanism. Perhaps there's a bio-metric entry lock that broadcasts the unlock signal? Bright Sun used a similar security system to lock the secret computer file I found.

Paul couldn't defeat this security level without the bio-key such as a fingerprint or eyeball scan so he turned his attention to the documents. Carrying them to the projector its red ready light shown on the paper. Opening the left eye he read the document title; EMP GENERATOR INSTALLATION AND OPERATION MANUAL. That must be the strange machine in the center of the storage area?

I can't take it they'll notice. Paul remembered his phone and its camera. Photograph the pages and read them later. The flash? The room doesn't have a window. I closed the door so it should be okay. He took photos of every page not stopping to review the images. Paul then replaced the documents and re-locked the safe. Next, using his night-vision contact eye, he stepped back out into the storage space closing the room door behind him.

A piercing beam speared Paul's eye. The lights!