Going to the center of the landing, I gazed down at the employees working diligently at their various tasks and imagined this large wall of glass exploding outward, showering down on everyone on the factory floor below. Shrill screams and blood everywhere. We definitely needed a ruse to get everyone out of the building. As much as I loathed everything Jin Corp stood for, there would be no innocent lives lost if I could help it.
We slowly walked the entire circumference of the floor, and Daiyu stepped into the elevator again. This time, we stopped on the third floor. The corridor was paved with gray tiles, not as opulent as the ground floor. Laboratories behind glass windows flanked both sides of the narrow hallway, revealing more employees wearing white lab coats bearing Jin Corp’s insignia placed above their hearts.
“Is this where they do the testing?” I asked, watching a technician gauge the durability of various materials at his workstation.
“Yes,” she said. “For the suits, but it also houses the labs for scientific research.”
This caught my attention. It was what Arun had told me to look for.
I observed as much as I could without drawing Daiyu’s suspicion, noting the emergency-exit stairwells on this floor. But nothing I saw seemed out of the ordinary: technicians testing different materials used for the suits and helmets, engineers working on different 3D models of new designs, and artists sketching to render patterns on custom suits.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing at an oval structure shaped like a giant egg housed in a lab that looked exactly like the one Arun worked in.
“That’s a decon pod,” Daiyu replied. “The same one that we have at home. There are two located on this floor.”
This only reaffirmed Arun’s suspicions that the avian flu was being produced on-site.
We soon reached a portion of the floor that was housed behind steel doors, with brain wave scan stations set beside them.
“Another restricted area?” I asked. Here was my chance to have Daiyu use the scan machine again. But how?
We had passed several employees in lab coats along the corridor, but this part of the building looked deserted, silent and empty. It felt like a dungeon formed of steel, the massive doors revealing nothing of what went on behind them.
“Yes,” she said.
“Do you know what they do in there?”
She crossed her arms, studying the thick steel doors. “I don’t,” Daiyu said. “But I know that my father has been working on a secret project for a few years now.”
I untinted my helmet, and she held my gaze, assessing me. Was I being too obvious? Had I looked too long through one window, shown too much interest? Did she notice me memorizing the layout of everywhere we went, marking each corridor and emergency exit?
“I’m sure he’ll make a big announcement soon about the endeavor,” she said. “But now you have me curious too.”
I gave a devilish grin. “Let’s go see.”
Just then, one of the steel doors slid back, releasing a draft of cold air. Daiyu tensed, laying her hand lightly on my arm. “Keep your helmet on but untinted.”
A tall man exited, wearing the same white lab coat as everyone else, clutching a stack of files. He was reading notes, murmuring to himself, before he noticed Daiyu and me standing on the edge of the restricted area. When he recognized Daiyu, his eyes widened. “Miss Jin,” he said. “Good evening.”
She nodded at the man, smiling. “Dr. Lu. You’re here late.”
“Yes, got caught up in what I was working on.” His dark eyebrows drew together. “Can I help you?” He cast a glance my way. It was not a friendly look. “This is a high-security area.”
“Really?” Daiyu said, lifting her chin. “Even to me?”
The tall scientist shifted on his feet, his uncertainty and discomfort obvious. “I . . . I think you’d have to ask your father, Miss Jin.”
She flashed that disarming smile. “I was just giving my classmate a small tour,” Daiyu said, her tone casual and light. “I’m taking him to Vivian to see my newest suit.”
Dr. Lu brightened. “Vivian. She is so talented.” He pressed the files he held protectively against his chest. “You’re fortunate to have her as your designer.”
“Definitely. We were just headed that way.”
He nodded at us as we turned around, then pushed past us in his haste to where he was going.
She gripped my arm to stop me and cocked her head back toward the restricted laboratory. I winked. We didn’t say a word as she stepped beneath the brain wave scanner. This time, I slipped the capture device onto the column right as she got under the dome. I wondered if the scanner would grant her entry, and by Daiyu’s uncertain expression, she didn’t know either.
Three seconds later, we heard a loud click, and the steel vaulted door eased open with a soft whoosh. Daiyu pushed it a fraction and peered inside. I took the opportunity to remove the device and slip it back into my pocket, hoping it had copied her brain wave scan. She beckoned with her hand, and I followed. The door glided shut, but was at least a foot thick. The large lab was empty, with two rectangular lab benches strewn with machines and equipment. An array of test tubes set in a large tray was placed on a small rolling cart between them. Much bigger machinery lined the walls of the lab. It was freezing, and Daiyu shivered, being suited still but without her helmet on to regulate her temp. I dialed my own suit up to a comfortable seventy degrees.
“What happens if we get caught?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I have access to this lab, so security can’t argue that this is off-limits to me.”
“But it is to me,” I said, cocking my eyebrow.
“True.” Daiyu grinned. “I know the Jin security team doesn’t review recordings unless they have a reason to.”
“So don’t give them a reason?”
“Exactly,” she replied.
Daiyu wandered around the large room, hugging herself to keep warm.
“Was Dr. Lu acting strange to you?” Daiyu asked in a soft voice.
I had the same exact thought: The man was hiding something. “Maybe he’s just awkward.” Daiyu didn’t need to know what we suspected.
She let out a soft laugh.
I meandered through the long laboratory, studying everything with unabashed curiosity. An enclosed refrigerated case against the wall caught my eye, and I went over as casually as I could. Three test tubes were nestled under the glass case. I leaned down closer to look at the vials. H7N9S had been labeled on all of them, and the test tube rims were banded in red.
“What do you think it is?” Daiyu asked.
I almost jumped, not hearing her approach behind me.
H7N9 was an avian flu strain. I was certain H7N9S was the mutated strain that Jin had released, and what Arun was looking for.
“I’m not sure,” I lied. “We should probably go. Dr. Lu might return soon.”
She agreed and pressed a large square release button by the steel door. It sighed open, and we slipped out, making sure the door was securely closed behind us.
“I’d still like to take you to see Vivian, my designer,” Daiyu said.
We walked side by side, and her hand brushed against mine, long enough that it didn’t feel accidental. It brought a flush of heat through my body, to my annoyance, that she could elicit such a visceral response with the slightest touch. Even with everything else going on during this tour.