Lin Lee was already in the building when the sound of a second explosion rattled through the centuries old college. She had gained access through an unlocked door that led to a utility shed on the roof directly above the laboratories. The fact the door was unlocked was fortunate but finding it was no coincidence. It was clearly outlined on a second set of blueprints she had received from her in-country contact. She had not shared this information with the Australian traitor. She had known of Bruce’s intended betrayal for some time. The rogue agent discovered by the British had continued to play both sides by alerting the Director to the fact he had been discovered. The signal for this was the use of the word oxford written three times in his last message without capitalisation of the letter o. The information regarding Bruce’s betrayal was indicated using his name at the end of a sentence followed by two full stops. This was then confirmed by repeating the two full stops at the end of the message. This information left her with no other option but to kill Bruce. She no longer needed his assistance to create the diversion. Her plans had changed thanks to his betrayal, but the planting of the explosives at the guard hut was the perfect opportunity to get rid of him. All she had needed to do was short out the circuitry of the timer, so no matter what the setting was, the detonator would activate as soon as the switch was flicked to “Armed”. On hearing the explosion, she had allowed herself a smile, pleased at the thought of having rid the world of another deceitful, misogynistic bastard.

According to the college blueprints there was a chute leading from the utility shed, all the way down to ground level. Its purpose was to provide a route for pipes and cables that served the rooms below. The dimensions shown indicated the space would be sufficient for her to climb down, allowing her undetected access to a room above the laboratory containing the Harmoniser. There she would plant enough explosives to create a downward blast that would destroy the laboratory, along with everything and everybody in it. First, she had to confirm the Harmoniser was indeed in the same room where she had first laid eyes on it. There was every chance the security services would have moved it to another location after learning of her imminent attack. She approached the area indicated on the blueprints as the access point to the chute. There was a metal hatch set in the floor against one wall. She lifted the hatch, revealing a number of cables and pipes fixed to a metal runner descending into darkness. It was going to be tight but she was confident her slight frame would fit into the space between the runner and the walls of the rooms. The cable runner would act as a ladder for her to climb down. She removed the rucksack from her back and retrieved a length of nylon rope and a set of night-vision goggles. She tied one end of the rope to the handle on the rucksack and tied the other end to her ankle. Slipping the goggles over her head and eyes, she lowered the rucksack into the chute and climbed in after it. At each floor level, the space in the chute narrowed as the cables and pipes were channelled at a ninety degree angle into the rooms they served. To pass she had to press her body hard against the cable runner. The task was made more difficult by the fact she now saw everything in different shades of green through the night-vision goggles. The building was five storeys high which meant she would have to repeat this twice more before reaching the second floor and her point of access. After several minutes, and a number of abrasions to her body from jagged edges on the cable runner, she reached the position of the second-floor room. She pushed the goggles up from her eyes to her forehead and placed an ear against the wall. She listened for around a minute but detected no sound from inside the room. Reaching down to her side she removed a large knife from a holster strapped to her waist. As quietly as she could she cut out a section of the plaster board. The wall was made up of two layers of board fixed to a wooden frame. The gap between the boards was about two inches deep and was filled with insulation. She pulled the insulation out of the way and made the hole large enough to place her ear against the board forming the inner wall. Again, she detected no sound from the room. She poked the tip of the knife into the inner board and twisted slowly until she had made a small hole through which she could see inside. The room was in darkness. She made the hole bigger and peered through wearing the night-vision goggles. It was completely empty. She took the knife and continued to cut through the boards making a space big enough for her to climb through. Once inside the room she stretched out her aching limbs to let the blood flow back into them before climbing back into the chute and continuing to the next floor. She wanted to confirm the Harmoniser was in the room below before planting the explosives. On arrival at the next level down she repeated the process of pressing her head against the outer board of the wall. This time she heard the unmistakable sound of muffled voices and movement coming from the room. She reached for her knife again but before she needed to start cutting a bright light flashed through the night vision goggles. She pushed the goggles up to her forehead and noticed the light was coming from a gap between one of the pipes and the plasterboard. At first all she saw was the back of a white coat, but then the person wearing it moved to one side revealing the unmistakable shape of the Harmoniser booth. Fortune shone on her for the second time that day. She headed back to the room above and began to assemble the bomb. She set three slabs of plastic explosive, one at each end of the room and one in the middle. An array of wires connected the detonators from each slab to a remote-control unit that would be triggered from her phone. The blast from the slab in the middle would be enough to kill everyone below and destroy the Harmoniser. To make sure the job was done the other two would bring the rest of the building down on top of them. She set the unit to “armed”. The only way the array could be disarmed now was by the correct code being entered into her phone. Any attempt to disconnect the wires would lead to immediate detonation. She surveyed the area one last time before climbing back into the chute and heading back to the roof to find a safe location from which to detonate the explosives.