PROLOGUE:

A sneeze cut through the silence as the beam of a flashlight pierced the dust that lay suspended in midair. The yellow glow bounced off the wall when the force of the sneeze shook the hand of the young man holding the torch.

He sniffed and wiped his nose on the sleeve of his once white lab coat. Certain that what he needed was there, somewhere, he bent down to take a closer look around. His toe stubbed against a metal drum, and he nearly dropped the light. As he straightened up, the hazy beam illuminated the label on a cardboard container beside the metal one.

Pay dirt!

He examined the labels carefully, squinting in the dimness to read the words. Although the initial shipping label was all but obscured by the ones that had been haphazardly pasted over it, he could still read the return address.

It was what he needed, all right, and had been to hell and back before it got here. Smiling to himself, he laid the transfer form on top of the drum and strained to see well enough to fill in the blanks. He'd have no trouble getting this one upstairs, but while he was at it, he might just as well check out his suspicions about some of the other drums.

After another five minutes of hurried searching, he jotted several lines of information in his notebook. That'll serve the s.o.b. right, he thought, and keep him plenty busy. He sneezed again before he made his way back to the exit. Damn poor housekeeping, but then nobody was supposed to know about this stuff.

Well, he knew now, and he wasn't afraid to use that knowledge!

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