Polar Quest

41

Following Grin’s directions, Kilkenny and Tao arrived at a turn-of-the-century factory in Greenwich Village that had been reclaimed as residential lofts. As soon as they were inside, Grin closed and locked the door. Stripped to bare steel and brick, the old building was transformed into a shell in which sleek contemporary planes and curves described a hypermodern living environment.

‘Interesting place,’ Kilkenny said as his eyes followed the line of a warped partition.

‘It belongs to a buddy of mine and his wife,’ Grin explained. ‘Both of ‘em are into CGI, doing graphics for the movies. They’re in Europe working on a film right now, but they let me crash here whenever I’m in town. This place is wired with all the best toys, which is just what we’re gonna need tonight. If I wasn’t running the shop at MARC, I’d probably be working here. After I arrived, I went to work collecting information about Vielogic’s facility in New Jersey. It’s relatively new and, thankfully, equipped with the very latest in computerized building management and security systems.’

‘And why are we thankful for that?’ Tao asked.

‘Because it made my job a lot easier. I have a detailed computer model of the entire building that I can transmit into Nolan’s heads-up display.’ Grin smiled at Kilkenny. ‘Once inside, you’ll be able to see around walls. I also found a dedicated phone line used by the security contractor to maintain the system. It’s already mine.’

‘Great,’ Kilkenny replied. ‘Let’s see what we’re getting ourselves into.’

Grin led Kilkenny and Tao into the studio. The dull hum of cooling fans filled the space with white noise. In addition to four graphics workstations, one wall of the studio was covered with a large high-definition flat screen surrounded by several smaller video displays. Grin typed a command into one of the workstations and the large wall monitor filled with a model of the Vielogic facility and surrounding property.

‘You weren’t kidding when you said this building was different,’ Kilkenny said, then turned his attention to the grounds. ‘Flat lot, large parking areas, minimal landscaping on a few islands around the perimeter. On the plus side, we don’t have to deal with any fences or razor wire. There’s a drainage creek running across the back property line and large parcels on either side.’

‘Both are occupied by large pharmaceutical companies,’ Grin said. ‘This stretch of road is affectionately known as Research Row.’

‘How is the security?’ Tao asked.

‘The guards are all Cerberus Sécurité. The electronics are top of the line — good cameras, motion sensors, mag locks — and all of it is integrated into a computerized operations center.’ Grin changed the image to show the plan of the building’s main floor highlighting the security suite. ‘Vielogic runs a pretty standard five-day work week with hardly anyone working on the weekends.’

Kilkenny nodded. ‘A nice quiet Saturday night, just the way I like it.’

‘The newest piece of the research wing was completed in January. It contains Vielogic’s first Level Four biocontainment lab — essentially a building within a building — accessible only through an internal secure corridor.’

‘Isn’t Level Four for the real nasty stuff?’ Tao asked. ‘Like deadly viruses and biological weapons?’

‘That, and stuff nobody has ever seen before, like what you might find in a twenty-million-year-old lake buried under a couple of miles of ice.’