The lab door behind them, they looked and listened, then walked to the diagram between the stairwells. The noise of men and equipment came from the stairs below.

“Voices,” Tom mouthed.

Tom leaned his AK against the wall while drawing his knife.

The voices of several men carried up the cement walls. Al strained to hear. He was pretty sure they were two levels down, but couldn’t be sure. The echo grew stronger as they walked up each flight.

Tom put his finger to his lips. For now, quiet would be better if they could get away with it.

With his eyes closed, Al dropped his head, trying to determine how many. The voices and noise of their steps drowned each other out, making it hard to fix an exact number, so he guessed and lifted his hand, all five fingers exposed.

Tom nodded in agreement.

The butt of his rifle held high. Al was ready to ram into the first man on his side.

Tom gripped his knife ice-pick style, holding it across his face.

The men stopped at the level below, and two more men joined the conversation.

“Seven.” Tom mouthed. “We’ll still try to do this quietly.”

Al dipped his head in acknowledgment. They were facing men with guns, but they wouldn’t be ready.

The men finished their conversation and began upstairs.

“Shift change?” Tom shrugged.

The guards turned the corner on the landing below. Their voices conveyed a relaxed tone as they walked up the stairs. Their conversation was loud, animated, and upbeat.

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The first guard to reach the top was alone. Startled, he leaned back and grunted in surprise. Tom rammed his knife into the guard's throat and pushed/heaved the body onto those below him.

There were four men below. Al jammed his rifle butt into one man’s face. One guard shouted and tried to pull his slung rifle off his shoulder. Al brought the barrel around and hit the second man in the jaw with the end of his rifle. The two guards staggered but weren't out.

The other two caught the flung body, pushing them back and stepping down a step. Their comrade dropped to the ground, and they reached for their guns as Tom dove on top of them, driving them to the ground and pinning them to the floor.

Al’s foot kicked out into the groin of one of his men, but it was only a glancing blow. The man curled forward, and Al’s AK plowed into the top of the man’s head, dropping him to his knees. Before Al could finish him, the second guard had a hold of his rifle. He dropped his shoulder and ran into the guard, knocking into the wall and knocking the wind out of him. The guard bounced off the wall and tried to get away. Al grabbed the man’s shirt and threw him down the stairs over Tom and into the far wall.

Tom’s knife hand lifted and dropped. It rose again and fell.

The man Al kicked in the groin tried to get up and make a run for it. Al swung his rifle butt down on the guard so hard the man’s skull cracked in two. The man he’d thrown over Tom was an unconscious heap.

Tangled up in the dead and unconscious guards, Al reached down and grabbed Tom’s extended hand, pulling them around the corner and out of sight.

Getting his breathing under control, Al said, “Not exactly quiet.” None of the guards was moving. A few were breathing.

“We got lucky.”

“Yeah, we did.” They listened for shouts or running feet. “I don’t hear any alarms.”

Tom strained to hear any reaction. “Me either.”

“What do you think?”

“We may be good. I don’t know. It’s the middle of the night. The people who are supposed to be asleep are sleeping. The rest, hopefully, are outside looking for us.” He looked down. “So, we dump all these guys with the body in the lab and get back to it.”

“Roger that.” Al looked down at the man curled up on the step below him. “A couple of these guys are still alive.”

“Not for long.” He looked up. “Who’s going to take care of it?”

Al got the message. “Don’t worry, I got the breathers I didn’t finish.”

Tom gave him a slight head nod.

“And the blood?”

Tom grabbed a guard and threw him over his shoulder. “Maybe they won’t see it.”

Al lifted another guard into a fireman carry. “Yeah, maybe,” he said without conviction.