The Containment Team (13 page)

Pete pocketed a couple of lighters and stuffed several of the cocktails into his pockets before pulling out a couple of gasoline containers for himself as well. He had picked up his gym bag and put it back in the car. If he was mad about my method of getting to the tape, he didn’t make any further comment and his face was devoid of any anger.

“I hope that guard doesn’t wake up,” Ron said. “If he sees what we have he isn’t going to stop to ask questions before calling the cops.”

“The police won’t come. They have worse problems to worry about.” I slammed the trunk shut and snatched up several gas containers. I would have preferred to rely only on my shotgun, but it was best I had something that could kill the miserable creatures.

MADELYN WAS ALREADY at the entrance with Ron waiting at her side. Both of them had Molotov cocktails poking out at various places. Her front jean pockets weren’t big enough to carry a bottle, but she did have one bursting out a back pocket and several that were precariously stuffed into her jacket, her arm bracing one so that it didn’t fall. She was more pale than normal but seemed to be handling the stress of the situation as well as could be expected. 

Ron kept looking around as if he expected blutom monsters to charge out of the shadows at any minute, which was a real possibility considering we were at the place where they were made. His cocktails were stuffed into the front and back pockets of his jeans and there were several more in his jacket. While he waited for us to catch up, he set down the gas canister he’d been carrying and maneuvered his shotgun until it was covered in the shadows as he warily stared back at the guard station.

I couldn’t help but check that out as well. I didn’t have a view of the guard from where we were, but at least he wasn’t emerging from the station while shouting at us and pointing a gun, something I was half expecting to happen at any moment. After several prolonged seconds during which everything was quiet, I released my breath. What kind of gun did the guard have? A pistol, rifle, or a shotgun?

I just hoped we moved quietly enough that we didn’t find out.

It was colder now than it had been before, but my light jacket was still doing the job. The moon was higher, allowing me to see more easily. Unfortunately, the added moonlight didn’t do anything to ease my impression of the place being a prison. It also increased the number of shadows in which things could be hiding. When I realized that I was looking over my shoulder for the second time in under a minute, I chided myself silently. I couldn’t get rid of my anxiety, but I didn’t have to let it control me.

Taking a deep breath, I let the anxiety stay and tried to channel the nervous energy into action. I would normally try to argue with my anxiety by pointing out anything that was irrational about it. That wasn’t going to work in this situation because my sense of reality had slipped away several hours earlier. The monsters were real and could come at us at any time. There was no arguing with that.

Pete set down his containers so that he could pull out his key card.

I handed one of my containers to Madelyn while we waited. After she took it, I fished out a lighter from my pocket and gave her that as well. “Remember to not throw gas onto a fire, it will come back at you. Dump all the gas out first and then light it. Carefully.”

Pete chuckled darkly. “Wish you two could have been there when Buckshot learned that one the hard way. It was months before he had back all his arm hair. Remember when that hot brunette asked if you waxed your arms? You turned all red and choked.”

“Get going,” I said through clenched teeth. 

The door buzzed when Pete slid his card through the reader. He swung it open and waited for us to enter.

“No turning back now,” he said glibly, “you’re all officially trespassing.” His voice was louder than I liked and triggered a final look from me back to the guard house. Madelyn pushed past me, she was closely followed by Ron. I cringed when his canister clanged against the door.

Muttering something that was half an expletive and half an apology, he disappeared inside.

Maybe the guard had died of a heart attack or was deaf. Wondering whether it would turn out to be good luck or bad that the guard hadn’t caught on to our presence, I followed the others inside. The ominous feeling almost overcoming me as we walked into the dark shadows.

Pete let the door slam on its own instead of easing it back into place. When he saw my alarmed look, he shrugged.

“That bozo clanging the canister against the door didn’t wake the guard, why should that?”

I could feel my blood pressure rising. “Sound carries when it’s quiet. Let’s not push our luck.”

My heart rate decreased slightly when I saw that the guard was where we had left him. He was even further slumped down in his chair. I looked closely but wasn’t able to see what was keeping him propped up. Everything that I saw indicated that he should have fallen out of his chair by now. As I watched, he woke up with a start, straightened in the chair and then promptly fell back asleep.

If what Pete had said earlier was accurate, there weren’t any other guards on site and we would have free reign of the building. I couldn’t believe that the thing that was wreaking havoc outside was so poorly guarded. No wonder why it had been able to escape. 

The front lobby was nicer than I’d been expecting. It was decorated was expensive sofas and art. The receptionist desk had several monitors that were swapping between camera views.

“Over here.” Pete stood at the side wall, swiping his card against another reader. “Try not to get separated as we go. There’s at least one of these on every floor and most rooms require this for access as well. You get lost in here, you might not be found until morning when everybody comes in.”

I stifled a snort and didn’t say what I’d been thinking. By the look that Madelyn and I exchanged, I supposed that she’d had the same thought. Who would come in after all that had happened tonight?

We followed Pete into a stairwell and up several flights of stairs where he once again had to use the card to get onto the third floor. I was taken aback to see wall to wall cubicles. I had been expecting microscopes and petri dishes. 

Pete passed several rows before he stopped in front of one station. It was a four-foot square area that had just enough room for a laptop and a chair. He flipped up the top and powered on the computer. I noticed a directory of numbers tacked to the wall.

“Does that have anybody’s home or cell number?” I asked.

“If it did, would I be turning this on?”

I bit my tongue to keep from saying something insulting. It was bothersome that he continued to pretend to be upset about the fact that we’d insisted on coming. Couldn’t he see that we were in this together? It made sense to stay in a group for support in case we were attacked by more monsters.

“So, where’s the lab?” Madelyn asked.

“It’s up on the next floor.” 

“Shouldn’t we go check on things there? For all we know, the place could be overrun with blutom.”

Pete shook his head. “It’s bad enough that I’ve brought you here. You bullied me into coming this far, this is where it stops. I can’t imagine my superiors aren’t already aware of the situation. The containment team may have already been deployed, I’m just getting the number to humor all of you so we can find a safe place and hunker down.”

“And where would that be?” Ron asked. Nobody answered his question. For my part, I didn’t have a clue where we could go. I supposed we could try to get out of town. My parents would be happy to see me and wouldn’t be bothered if I brought anybody back with me. They had met Madelyn while we’d still been together and I’d told them about the breakup, so that would be a little awkward. 

“It’s a mistake to not look in on the lab,” I said. “It could be the epicenter. We should at least check and make sure that it’s quiet up there.”

Pete didn’t answer as he sat at his computer and checked his email. When he noticed all of us looking over his shoulder, he turned. “A little space would be nice. There are many things I’m required to keep secret. Perhaps if I minimize the damage I’ll just go to prison for life instead of getting the electric chair.”

I walked away, hefting the straps of my backpack as we did. It was bad enough that the town was being torn apart by the blutom monsters, but now we had to deal with Pete stonewalling again.

Again? Had he ever really stopped? Couldn’t he see that things had changed and it was doubtful anybody would be around to prosecute his oathbreaking? It was as if being onsite at work had strengthened his resolve to keep the oaths that he’d made.

The far side of the floor had a row of offices and there was an emergency exit. I did a lap around the room, looking for anything that might strike me as unusual. My hackles went up when I noticed a blue rubber like substance on one of the desks until I realized that it was just a funky eraser.

I continued past as my heartbeat thudded in my ears. When I was out of Pete’s line of site, I stopped at a cubicle.

It was the same size as Pete’s but had been decorated with cat pictures. Judging by all the pink and flowers I assumed that it belonged to a female employee. I was wondering if it had belonged to either Veronica or Jen when I spotted a picture of a middle-aged woman with a child.

Other than the decorations, there wasn’t a single shred of paperwork. After checking to make sure that Pete wasn’t on to me, I opened the drawers underneath her desk and found nothing there as well.

Not sure what else to do, I moved her mouse and her computer screen came to life. It was of course password protected. I toyed with the idea of trying to guess a password but decided to move on to the offices. The first office was locked but there was a glass window beside the door. I could make out stacks of paperwork on the desk but little else. The light was off and the only light came through the window on the door. I could have sworn that I saw movement in the shadows but as I focused on the spot, everything was still.

Taking a deep breath, I smelled the unmistakable stench of a dog that was in need of a bath. It seemed to come from behind me but as I whipped around I didn’t see anything. Pete hadn’t said anything about there being guard dogs on site, but in my mind that only seemed to increase the chances. He probably felt that telling us about them would be another act of treason.

Grinding my teeth as I refrained from punching the wall, I moved along, testing the air as I went. The whiff of the dog was gone, but it hadn’t just been my imagination, I was certain of that. 

I wasn’t sure what I was looking for but doing something—anything—was better than waiting around while the city fell apart under the attacks. The next several offices were dark as well but when I got to the last one in the row I was surprised to see that the light was on and that there was somebody inside. He had his back to the door, but his hand looked normal. No blood film there.

He shifted in his seat and I could see that he was on the phone. Had this man come in as well because of the attack? Was he coordinating a response with the containment team? He spun around and I ducked back out of view, my heart pounding in my chest. What were the chances that he hadn’t seen me? I tried to replay the scene in my mind but it was all a blur. I hoped and prayed that he hadn’t spotted my head peering into his room.

After waiting several seconds without anything happening, I decided that it was safe and backed away from the door until I was certain I was out of the view of the man inside. After that, I decided to not push my luck any further and headed back to Pete’s cubicle. I walked up on an argument between him and Madelyn.

“What if your test rats have escaped and that’s why the blutom is currently loose in the city. Don’t you want to know?”

Pete shook his head. “We’re at least five miles from the Karrow hotel. No way would the rats travel that far in just one night. No, what’s happening outside was caused by something different. Besides, even if it is the rats—and I’m not saying it is—what difference does it make? It’s out already. We need to contain it. That should be our first focus.”

“We must find the source of the leak—”

“Hey guys,” I interjected. “We’re not alone on the floor.”

“What?” Pete hissed as he paled. I wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him. How could the man still be so worried about his job when it was the safety of the city and the nation he ought to be concerned about. “Who’s here? Where did you see them?”

I pointed at the office and Pete’s face paled even further, if that was possible.

“Director Pratt is here? You guys have to get out of here. He isn’t going to be—”

“Pleased to find that you brought a bunch of friends to work with you?”

We all turned. Pratt was a tall man with glasses. His lanky arms and bony shoulders gave the impression that he had very little muscle. His frown deepened when he took in the box Madelyn held.

“Mr. Sanders, is that blutom?” Pratt asked in a tight, clipped voice. “What is it doing outside of the lab?” 

Pete stood up. The two of them were about the same height, but Pete looked like he would be able to break the other man in half.

It was Pete that was cowering, though. “It’s not what you think. We were bringing it back.”

“Why did you take it out in the first place?” Pratt’s eyes narrowed as Pete broke out in a sweat. “You do realize this is treason.” His mouth seemed to stumble around the word as if he wasn’t sure on the exact pronunciation of it. I studied Pratt, trying to decide where he got his accent. It didn’t sound exactly Russian, but it couldn’t be far off. Perhaps he was from one of the neighboring countries. He motioned with his hand towards us. “All of you are in violation of federal law.”   

“It shifted into some people and they escaped,” Pete said, “chasing me all the way to my dorm.”

“Impossible.” Pratt’s face was devoid of emotion, but his eyes were burning.

“It’s true,” I said, trying to not cower as he turned his gaze on me. “We helped him kill the monsters.”