Page 36 of Tracking the Alpha
Nope. She did one better by smashing the camera on the left corner. The noise as the missile hit it slight but enough to draw the guarding soldier’s attention. He got on his walkie-talkie. “Just heard something beyond the wall. West corner.”
“Stand by while I check it out.” A pause followed before someone replied. “Camera’s gone. Probably that damned racoon again. I’ll fix it in the morning.”
“It’s like you want the major to ream you out, or have you forgotten what happened last week with Smithy?”
Despite the distance between Barrett and the sentry holding the walkie, he heard the sigh. “Fuck me. I hate being out there after dark.”
“Don’t be a pussy. I’ll make sure nothing bites your fat ass,” joked the soldier on the wall.
“You’d better. I’ll be out in a minute. Gotta turn the power off first so I can swap the unit.”
During Barrett’s focus on the conversation, he’d lost track of Tanis, who appeared to have disappeared. But he wasn’t stupid. She’d obviously taken out the camera for him. The question being, was she actually on his side or trying to lure him into a trap?
He hoped the latter because when the gate opened and someone came scurrying out with a ladder over one shoulder, and knapsack in his other hand, Barrett saw his chance.
As the sentry kept his gaze focused on the area around the guy setting up the ladder and his tools, Barrett sprinted across the open area. Waiting for someone to yell as they spotted him. Expected the searing pain of a bullet.
Instead, he made it inside Davidson’s domain.
And Barrett wasn’t leaving until he’d dismantled the project.
Chapter Eleven
Tanis did her best to find out more about the facility, only to get stymied. When her meeting with the major ended, and she exited the room, she had nowhere to go other than outside. The doors she could see remained closed, and she didn’t dare try to open any lest someone catch her.
The electronic watching eyes on the perimeter of the compound also posed a problem, not just in her mission to find out more but in contacting Barrett. She couldn’t exactly call, email, or write him a letter, which didn’t leave her many options. Would it look suspicious if she went for a walk in the woods? Probably, since she’d told the major she planned to freshen up and firm up her plans for capturing the wolf. She couldn’t exactly hold up a sign or shout. Flashing a mirror to deliver a Morse code message would have probably been the solution in a movie, but she didn’t know the alphabet and had to wonder if Barrett would either.
Then again, what would she say? About a dozen people counted. That was it. She had nothing to tell, no wondrous revelation, no sudden inspiration on how to extricate them—and those that might be prisoner—from the situation. So why the determination to make contact? Because she felt uneasy being alone inside enemy walls? Because she wanted to see him? Because, despite all her brave words, she didn’t want to do this alone.
While eating her box lunch in the courtyard—a meal delivered by one of the soldier’s she’d seen before—a woman, in a white coat with square features and red-framed glasses perched on the tip of her nose, came looking for her, making the number of people she’d seen an even twelve.
“You must be Tanis Rivard. I’m Dr. Lindt. Major Stevens says you encountered the escaped project?”
Tanis swallowed the bite of her apple before replying. “I did.”
“If you’ll come with me, I’ve been asked to debrief you about your experience.”
“I already spoke to the major.”
“You got the basics. I’d like to speak to you more in-depth.”
“There’s not really much to tell,” Tanis replied.
“That’s for me to decide. Follow me, please.”
Without a real choice in the matter, Tanis ended up back in the main building sitting across from Dr. Lindt, who asked question after question and didn’t seem to care if Tanis could actually answer.
Who found who? Did the wolf track you, or did you stumble across it? How tall did it stand? What color was its fur? Eyes?
All things she should have already known, or so Tanis thought. Did it attack? Obviously not or she’d have injury. Describe its den. What techniques did you use to hunt it?
“You say the wolf didn’t touch you at all?” Dr. Lindt glanced up from her tablet, glasses perched so low they appeared ready to fall off.
“No. We never came in contact,” Tanis repeated for the umpteenth time, really hoping the woman couldn’t detect the lie.
“Not even a droplet of saliva? A brush of its fur?”
The query brought a crease to Tanis’ brow. “No, but I have to ask why you’d even care. The wolf I saw didn’t appear to be carrying any disease. No frothing of the mouth or signs of mange.”
