Free Fire by Alan Rodgers Page A

him out of doing his job.)
    Ron came out of Phil Johnson’s office, dragging the last, heaviest bag with both hands, and as he came through the door he saw the door to Luke’s lab peek open. He’d already seen Luke leave for the night. Hell, he thought, maybe he forgot something and had to come back for it. He wasn’t up to seeing Luke again right then. He still felt too angry, and all at the same time too guilty about the anger, and he was sure that if he talked to the man he’d just say something that’d make the both of them feel worse. So he ducked back into Phil Johnson’s lab, to avoid the conversation he didn’t want to have.
    The sound of a man stepping out of the lab, locking the door behind him.
    Ron poked his head out the door a moment later, when he heard the sound of footsteps receding toward the elevator; more out of reflex than because he had any need to see the back of Luke’s head —
    And what he saw wasn’t the back of Luke’s head at all.
    It was Herman Bonner — Dr. Herman Bonner — who had no imaginable business in Luke Munsen’s office. The two didn’t share projects, and they didn’t care much for one another. In fact, Ron recalled, Luke didn’t approve in the least of the way Bonner cared for the Bestial creature in his laboratory, and he’d said as much, in no uncertain terms, to the institute’s administrators. And Bonner hated him for that. Hated him quite publicly.
    Herman Bonner ought to have no business at all in Luke Munsen’s office. And if he was poking around inside it at odd hours of the evening when he presumed he’d go unnoticed, then it meant that he was up to nastiness.
    Ron knew that he was going to have to do something about it. There was no choice. Mixed as his feelings about Luke were at that moment, he couldn’t in good conscience look the other way. Luke was his friend; if a creep like Bonner was prowling around among Luke’s projects, Ron had to put a stop to it. Never mind the fact that the things Luke worked with were too dangerous to be tampered with by unfriendly hands.
    It meant that Ron had to talk with the institute’s administrators, as soon as possible. First thing in the morning.
    Shit.
    It was the first thing that had happened all night that genuinely threatened to leave Ron unemployed. Janitors were unimportant enough that they were hard to fire under ordinary circumstances — Ron had worked with enough lazy janitors to know that from experience — and the fact that Ron had showed up at all on a night like this would make him enough of a hero that he’d be just about impossible to fire for a month or two. Ralph Hernandez would have a hell of a time getting rid of him, even if Ralph was feeling crazy. And the harsh words with Luke weren’t likely to do Ron any harm; Luke was a friend. But when Ron went to speak to administration — and he had to; if he was going to live with himself he didn’t have any choice — the minute he went to the administrators he was putting himself in the middle of a very nasty fight among the professional staff. Which would leave Bonner with a powerful need to get him.
    And, sooner or later, the man would get him, too. And when he did it’d cost Ron his job.
    Shit.
    When Bonner was clear of the hallway, Ron checked Luke’s lab to see if whatever mischief Bonner had done was obvious or fixable. The doorknob didn’t turn when he tried to open it; when he checked it he found that it was locked. Which meant that Bonner had a key to Luke’s office. Where in the Hell would he have got a key? The sinking feeling in Ron’s stomach grew strong enough to make him feel ill.
    Ron took his keychain from his belt, opened the door.
    The lights were off inside the lab; when Ron turned them on he didn’t see anything unusual. Luke’s desk, his chair; lab benches. Over there, by the left front leg of the desk, Luke’s briefcase — probably left behind in his rush to get to the airport. Everything neat, spotless-clean.