Most of the time the order went: fire, smoke, alarm, then sprinkler. But not today. He wondered why that was and if it was important. ‘The alarm should be on,’ Ulster assured him. ‘Both here and at the firehouse in Biasca… It must’ve malfunctioned.’ Somehow Payne doubted that. ‘Is there a manual turnoff?’ He nodded. ‘It can be deactivated with the proper key.’ ‘Who has the keys?’ ‘Me, Franz, and all the guards.’ Kill a guard, take his key, and turn off the system before it could warn the fire department. That’s what Payne would’ve done to stop help from coming. ‘Where’s the switch?’ He pointed to the eastern section of the house. ‘There’s an electrical panel in a back hallway. Everything can be run from there.’ ‘Then that’s where we’re going.’ Ulster looked at Payne like he was crazy. So did Boyd, Maria, and Franz. The heat was starting to build and so was the smoke, yet Payne wanted to head deeper inside. The only one who understood was Jones, because they’d been stuck between a rock and an even bigger rock several times before.
