***** Vol.5 Chap.33 Breaking the combinations *****

May-Ling was frantically opening all the locks while she was talking to Frank. When she heard the guards, she quickly pushed the button to close the bookcase. At the same time she dashed into the freezer locking herself in.

Once inside, she switched on the flashlight and worked quickly. She opened the freezer and located the AG-85 vial that she came to get. She exchanged the vial with the one she brought with her and dumped the real vial at the biohazard disposal bin.

She could hear the guards searching the lab outside. She thought that she would be safe for a while because she figured that the guards would not know about the freezer.

She was wrong. She heard the book case moving. She moved to the end of the freezer and sat down.

“Frank, mission accomplished. Good bye.”

Calmly, she took the white pill from her pocket and swallowed it. There was an explosion of light and for a moment, she was blinded by the light. Then in her consciousness, she sensed that every cell in her body was disassociating from one another. Then the cell structure was disintegrating into proteins, the proteins then separated into molecules, and the molecules unscrambled into atoms, and the atoms unraveled into quarks…

“May-Ling? May-Ling?”

There was no answer.

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Frank turned the surveillance camera back up in the lab. He was shocked to see that the lab was crawling with guards. It was pure pandemonium. Guards were running everywhere, shouting and yelling. It was total chaos.

He next switched to the camera and was shocked to see that the guards has already broken through the security doors and were quickly approaching his own room. He hoped May-Ling had accomplished the mission, but it was time to leave.

He stood on the table and unscrewed the grill on the ventilation system. It was not easy getting back into the ventilation system, but he managed to do that right before the guards burst into the room. Immediately, the guards sprayed the room with bullets while Frank scrambled as fast as he could down the duct.

“Lock down. Lock down.” He heard the guard shouted.

Frank managed to crawl to the main ventilation system. He took his map out and tried to negotiate his way along the maze. He had to work fast because he knew the guards were only seconds behind him.

He crawled and he crawled and he crawled. He made a few wrong turns and had to back track a couple of times. While he was expecting the guards to follow him, he was glad that he saw none. He was not about to find out why either.

He finally made it to the junction to go back up to the next level. With a little work, and pushing with both feet on both sides of the duct, he managed to push himself up the junction. Everything seemed to be pretty quiet at this level, although the air was stifling. The fan must have stopped, he thought.

He turned the corner and instantly understood why. There was a solid steel partition cutting through the ventilation system. Of course! If one isolated the lab, one must also isolate the ventilation system also. That is the reason no one was following him. All they have to do was to wait for him to come back out again. He could not go anywhere.

He turned around and sat down. He reached into his pocket and took out the white pill. He sat there looking at the white pill for a long time. He had no regrets. He lived a full life. It is time to join his wife. He popped the pill into his mouth and swallowed. In an instant, he felt he was disassociated into his elements. His consciousness watched as his body disappeared.