Atlantis Stolen (Sam Reilly Book 3) by Christopher Cartwright Read Free Book Online Page B

number.
    “Who’re you
trying to call at a time like this?”
    “Elise. And I’m
trying to get us out of here.”
    Elise was a
computer whiz Sam had met years ago during his specialized training as a Ghost
Agent for the U.S. Military. He never saw her in person, only through computer
challenges and games of riddles designed to test how each of them responded had
they become friends. From what he’d heard, Elise had an IQ of 162 – that was two
points higher than Einstein, and she’d been recruited by the CIA when she was
still a teenager.
    Elise had
discovered something that she didn’t agree with while working for the agency
and a few years later, simply disappeared. Sam worried that her malcontent had
gotten her killed, but last year she started sending him encrypted messages
that only he and four other people on the planet could possibly decipher. Since
then, Elise had been working intermittently on a variety of projects for Sam.
    Sam took the lead
and started running down a set of stairs, which led deeper into the archives
storage, where millions of boxes covered more than ten miles of basement.
    “Where the hell
are you headed? We’re only burying ourselves deeper by going that way.”
    Sam ignored the
question and kept running.
    “Sam, what do you
need?” It was Elise, his computer whiz, who answered. Her voice was curt, as
though she’d been expecting his call.
    In front of them,
a solid glass door was locked. Tom kicked at it several times without making so
much as a scratch.
    “You know how we
discussed plan A and plan B for getting the Arcane Stone?” Sam said.
    “Yeah.”
    “Well, Tom
decided he’d elect for plan B. Now we’ve got about twenty security guards, and
some sort of spook I’ve never seen before, after us. We’ve just reached the
basement, and the first door is locked.”
    “Ah, boys. You
sure will get yourselves into trouble.”
    Above, someone
started shooting at them. He guessed it must have been the man with the
silencer, because he couldn’t hear the sound of the shots being fired. Only the
sight of bullet holes ahead let him know. They were off by several feet. More
warning shots, he guessed.
    “Not to rush you
Elise, but we’re a little short of time. Can you open the basement door or
not?”
    “Hang on. I’m
just getting you on their CCT. Ah, there you are. Tell Tom he looks guilty as
hell.”
    “Yeah, well,
that’s because he is.  Not that it’s gonna matter much if you don’t get us out
of….”
    And then the
glass doors clicked open.
    They both ran
towards the end of the corridor, where the next door opened automatically for
them, and then the next one.
    “I’m just going
to superimpose fictional characters over your bodies, so that the investigators
don’t get an accurate image of you two. You’re now Santa Claus, and I’m afraid
Tom’s one of the reindeer… you know that one with the bright red nose, or
something…”
    “Rudolf?”
    “That’s the one.”
    Sam stopped. Dead
in his tracks. The last door remained firmly locked.
    “Elise, I’m going
to need the last door opened.”
    “Are you sure? That’s
a pressurized room – they’re not going to be very happy if you destroy their sterile
atmosphere.”
    “And I feel
terrible about it, really I do… but if you don’t open it, I’ll be asking you to
break us out of prison, or more likely, find us a nice place to be buried!”
    The door opened.
    And the two men
walked into the sterile room.
    Sam looked
around, pulling covers off drawers, searching for something.
    “Stop where you
are! You have no way out, and we’re armed.” It was the stern voices of the
security guards.
    The security door
closed once more.
    A couple of the
guards kicked at it aimlessly before accepting that it was locked and had been
designed to offer protection against force.
    Sam looked behind
and saw that the man in the dark suit with the blue tie was ordering them
about. He stared at the man for a second. There was