Algorithm - Book 1 - The Medallion

Chapter 3

The policeman resumed his position near the entrance. Adam turned away and walked slowly toward the parking lot, thinking of options.

"Adam!"

It was George. He ran up and began describing the devastation in the analytical lab. It seems the explosion may have been due to a gas leak of some sort, triggered by one of the electrical contacts in the equipment. At least this was the fire marshal's preliminary finding. Then George frowned and shook his head.

"Is there more, George?"

"The only gasses we had in there were argon, nitrogen, oxygen and helium … none of which are flammable. None of those would cause such an explosion."

George was staring at the ground and muttering to no one in particular.

"Whatever it was, it scared the hell out of us. We were next door."

George's head shot up. "You were in the breakroom? My God, I saw that room. The explosion must have knocked over a nitrogen cylinder. It flew through the lab wall. You could have been killed ... We?"

"Linda and I were lucky."

Adam paused a second as George's mouth formed an 'o'.

"George, are you sure there was no one in the lab this morning?"

"I locked up the lab last night. Besides the janitor, I've got the only key. So, I don't think so. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, nothing. Just worried that someone could have been hurt."

Adam recalled the shadowy figure in the hallway earlier that morning.

"Do me a favor?"

George peered over his glasses at Adam.

"I need to get into the breakroom, to get my laptop if it's still there. The firemen don't want me going in, but I really need to get to my computer. If you could talk to that cop at the door, kind of distract him? You know, kind of move him away from the door?"

"While you scoot inside?"

Adam nodded. At first George grimaced, then smiled and returned the nod. In short order, the policeman at the entrance was enmeshed in an animated conversation with George who was making noises about his equipment and the fire. Adam slipped inside and entered an alien landscape. An emergency flood light at the far end of the hallway silhouetted snake-like tendrils of smoke hanging from the ceiling. The sprinklers had done their job, leaving everything wet and dripping. Feeling his way forward, Adam came to the glistening metal breakroom doors which stood ajar, as if beckoning him inside. Just then, he heard the front doors squeal open and someone saying they had to wait for the fire marshal  before they could go in. It had to be George and his new friend, the policeman. Adam slipped into the breakroom, crunching glass underfoot and hugging the shadows along a wall for cover. As the disembodied voice continued on with its cautionary monologue, Adam heard the front entry doors swing closed and the voice fade away. Adam looked over the overturned tables and debris-strewn floor for signs of his black leather laptop case. He spotted the upturned table that he had shared with Linda what seemed only minutes ago. Beyond that there was a gaping three foot hole in the wall through which the silver missile had flown and through which he now peered into the analytical lab. His arm brushed up against the now empty and silent gas cylinder still lodged in the opposite wall. He lowered himself to the floor on all fours and began to crawl toward the table. Before he could move ahead a pace or two, a movement caught his eye. He froze. Something was moving in the analytical lab. The only people in the building were the fire and safety inspectors on the floors above him.