Page 28 of Very Special Forces

"I couldhave been eaten in there."

"Bywhat?"

"I don'tknow. Check."

Maddoxlooked up. "No."

"Whynot?"

"Ifthere's something alive in there, I don't want to know what itis."

I rolledmy eyes.

"Are youokay?" he asked again.

"I thinkso," I mumbled, still stunned. First from Maddox appearing out ofnowhere, then from falling backwards into a stinking dumpsterpopulated with something alive besides me. Then from Maddox pullingme out and landing unceremoniously on the ground. It was hard toknow what stunned me the most.

"Whatare you doing here?" he asked.

All Icould do was blink at him. Then I realized how much I hurt. "Ow," Imuttered as I pushed onto my feet. I leaned over, brushing myjeans, and was glad my flat pumps managed to stay on my feet. Notthat it helped with the strange stains around my knees. I didn'teven want to think what they were. I checked my exposed lower armsand face. No cuts or scratches. Hurrah!

"How didyou know about this place?" Maddox asked. He handed me a tissue andI wiped my hands before returning it to him. Unsurprisingly, heshook his head so I tossed it over my shoulder and into thedumpster. There was a squeak and some scrabbling as we stared ateach other, wondering who would acknowledge it first. However,neither of us volunteered.

Then Iremembered Maddox asked me a question. "What do you mean?" Iasked.

"How didyou know?" he asked again. He nodded to the camera above the door."You looked directly at the camera."

"Ofcourse I did! It's a security camera and the light was blinking sothe feed was live!" I snapped angrily. What was he talking about?How did I know about this place?

"So...you don't know?"

"Knowwhat?" Now I was getting annoyed. I was filthy. I stank. And Maddoxwas talking in riddles.

"Ahh."Maddox rocked back on his heels like everything had just becomecrystal clear to him. It was all right for some! "Listen," he said,taking my elbow and steering me towards my car. "Forget you camehere. Forget you saw anything. You can't come back."

"Huh?"We came to a standstill at my car. I tugged my keys from my pocket,grateful they hadn't fallen out.

"Youwere lucky I saw you when I did. I just got off my break and waspassing the security monitor when I saw you standing outside. Idon't know how I'm going to explain this to my boss."

"Yourboss?"

"If thisis part of a case, I'll need to see your case file," hesaid.

"It's not," I told him, the stunned feeling gradually ebbingaway.What had I stumbled onto?"That is, I was checking several buildings in thearea."

"Yes, Iheard a report that someone was driving around, snooping. That wasyou?"

Ishrugged and something slimy dropped to the floor. "Must be. No oneelse is around except you and me and..." I stepped to one side,gazing at the building behind Maddox. "Is this a black site?" Iasked, my eyes widening as he gulped. "It is, isn't it? What areyou doing, Adam?"

"Nothing. Like I said, you didn't see anything. What were youlooking for, if not for me?"

"Atank." It slipped out before I had a chance to engage mybrain.

Maddoxblinked. "A what now?"

"Atank." I started to mime driving a car, then honking a car hornbefore realizing I had no idea how people drove tanks or even iftanks had horns. "Never mind. Have you seen a tank around here?" Iasked.

"No," hesaid decisively.

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