by Michael Todd
Which meant that she needed to locate every digital copy of it and erase it, as well as perhaps find someone in the company whom she could trick into destroying the physical copies. Didn’t Courtney work at that company, though? Wouldn’t she be in a position to do that?
Send me word when you can trace the payments, Anja messaged before she closed her end of the encrypted chat room and peeled away from the computer screen. She rubbed her eyes wearily. Her head reminded her that she had all kinds of work to get done, but her body told her that it was time to get some sleep. She decided to listen—this time, anyway.
Chapter Sixteen
Sal mumbled somewhat incoherently as he dragged himself out of the tent. His wide yawn prevented any further speech and he wondered vaguely if his jaw would break with the effort. The half-night of sleep wouldn’t help either of them much, but it had been necessary. The simple truth was that neither would actually have slept at all if they couldn’t trust that the other was keeping watch. The unexpected and unexplained presence of what they assumed was a merc hideout urged caution. With the Zoo on their other side doing what it did best, there was no assurance that their rough camp in no man’s land between the jungle and the wall offered any degree of safety
In the end, even with the noise coming in from the Zoo, no attack had come.
“Fucking premature cockblockers,” he grouched and stretched to ease the kinks out of his spine. “I’m happy that we weren’t attacked in the night but come on. If you interrupt a guy’s chance at getting laid, you have to give him something else to get his rocks off to, right?”
“You’re gross,” Madigan said but chuckled as she handed him a mug full of coffee, “but I happen to agree with you. All roar and no bite make Madigan a dull girl.”
He nodded and forced back yet another yawn before the powerful beverage hit his system with something close to shock. Coffee this strong would probably sap their resources quicker, but it was worth it. They wouldn’t be at the top of their game if they didn’t have some help. And considering what they had planned for the day, they needed an even stronger boost than usual and couldn’t be too picky as to where they found it. He might have gone with cocaine at that point.
A dawn start made very little difference and even though they’d located the Pita plants the previous day, they only managed to reach them close to noon. The heat was already oppressive despite the fact that they weren’t directly under the sun. By tacit agreement, they took another quick dose of coffee to dispel the drowsiness that slowed their responses once they reached the clearing.
A pack of hyenas slunk around and sniffed around at the plants as if to check that all was well. There weren’t many of them and all looked too young to want to initiate a fight. As the humans moved closer, they backed away quickly and yipped halfhearted defiance at the intruders as they disappeared into the dense foliage.
“Do you still think we should do this?” Kennedy asked. She removed the contraption from her pack and advanced cautiously on one of the younger-looking plants. Sal found a second.
“I’m still sure that this is a terrible idea,” he said with a nod. “But in a crazy place like this, though, fortune does tend to favor the bold. Exhibit A.” He pointed at himself. “My first trip into the Zoo ended up with me surviving someone’s attempt to get a Pita plant out and taking one myself. All while I ran for my life as a first-timer. I was bold, I got shit done, and I made it out alive. Which is all you can really ask for around here, I suppose.”
She nodded and settled the contraption carefully around the plant before she turned away. “So, do you still think we should wait until something happens to distract the animals before we do this?”
“Oh, definitely.” He grinned. “Just because I’m bold doesn’t mean that I’m stupid. Maximize our chances of survival while doing bold shit—that’s what I’m all about.”
She grinned and nodded. “We might need to set up camp then. There’s no way to know when a fight will start. It will have to be temporary, of course, so we don’t waste time when we take it down. Besides, we should probably catch a couple of winks here and there while we can. We’re not likely to have the opportunity once we’ve plucked these things.”
Sal agreed, and they set up a hasty camp at the edge of the clearing and close to the plants—which might also shield them from immediate notice of anyone who might come their way. That done, they simply enjoyed what little sunlight filtered through and alternated between standing guard and taking quick naps to try to rest up as much as possible. Nothing had happened by the time the sun started to set, so they fortified their camp somewhat and each managed their share of real sleep. There was no sudden urge to get into each other’s pants out there. They were still in danger and he had discovered that surviving danger was the true aphrodisiac, not the danger itself.
As night faded into morning, he faced his growing unease about their location. It was more than a little exposed, even though they had tried to be as inconspicuous as they could. While the creatures seemed content to avoid them for now, he knew they would get over it soon. The longer they remained in one place, the higher the chances were that the creatures would grow bold and mass against them.
He shifted his weapon irritably as mid-morning came around. Sleep had left him more rested than he had been the day before, but they’d used the last of their coffee. If ever there was a time to grab something and get out, it was today. Otherwise, they would simply have to pick the plants clean and come back another time.
“Fuck,” Kennedy exclaimed. “The plant’s outgrown the box.”
Sal turned quickly. The Pita plant she had encased had grown almost a full foot in one day and actually lifted the container off the ground a couple of inches.
While his partner disengaged her container and hunted for another suitable plant, he caught a glimmer of movement from the corner of his eye. He stopped abruptly and scrutinized the area where the movement had come from in an attempt to identify what it was.
At first, it seemed there was nothing there. The jungle darkness was too complete to really see clearly. It was impossible to make out anything other than shadows on shadows. He’d almost given up when again, something moved. The flicker of light caught a pair of eyes in the way that it did with animals that were naturally adapted to hunting at night. He squinted and finally made out a bulky shadow that seemed more solid than the underbrush around it.
He frowned and tried to focus in on the creature, certain that it was something they’d never encountered before. The eyes weren’t high enough to be a panther who watched them from an advantageous position as they all too often did, but about three quarters of the way up—perhaps twenty feet or so. Sal readied his weapon, pinged Kennedy on her comm, and without moving his gaze from the predator, he gestured for her to check her HUD. She did and immediately shifted into a defensive stance.
“Panther on a low-hanging branch?” she asked, her tone cautious when she contacted him through an isolated frequency.
“The eyes are too far apart for that,” Sal replied. He’d seen eyes that large, and while the darkness prevented him from being sure, there was still a small part of him that wanted to take his shot. This was easily one of the largest creatures ever recorded in the Zoo, and without any kind of footage, there would be no proof that he’d even seen it. He was recording, of course, but that would be of little help. All he could really see was the eyes, and those even barely. Rather, all he would capture was the reflection of indirect light on those eyes.
“Fuck,” his partner muttered. “Is it time to get out of here? There is no way we have enough firepower on us to deal with something that big.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Peel off and find another place closer to the edge of the Zoo. This clearly wasn’t our best choice.”
She took a breath to call it since she was the gunner in their little team, but suddenly, an uproar erupted around them. Monkeys triggered it, followed quickly by the loud calls of a nearby pack of h
yenas. He wondered if they had been made and were about to be attacked by a horde of monsters. To his relief, the clamor seemed to move away and the eyes followed as well. He heard and felt the thunderous footsteps of whatever it was that had watched them head off to the east.
“Do you still think we should get the fuck out of Dodge?” Kennedy asked with real relief in her tone.
“This is the opportunity we waited for, remember?” Sal said. “The conditions are perfect. We wait five minutes and take the plants.”
She paused. He could tell what went through her mind and he couldn’t blame her. She obviously questioned his call and it really was up to her. She had the most experience, and if she said no, he would drop everything and get out. All he did was give her his professional opinion.
“Five minutes,” she conceded finally. “Not mine, though. Only yours. This is a test run to see if these things work. There’s no need to get too greedy too fast.”
Sal nodded and moved as deftly and as rapidly as he could to scoop up the container she’d left behind before he located his own. The plant had grown as well, but not as much as hers. Maybe that was the lack of direct sunlight? He wanted to know but had no time to investigate.
“Three. Two. One.” She counted down calmly and gestured impatiently. “That’s five minutes. Pull it up and let’s go.”
He grasped the contraption and drew a deep breath before he pulled the lever to its full extent. The blades beneath cut effortlessly through the roots and with a soft tug, he raised the plant free of the ground. He knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help a quick pause to listen and look around for the usual signs that the jungle had suddenly turned from slightly angry to overtly hostile. It was always an instant and complete reaction that assaulted the senses and manifested in even the way the trees seemed to shift like they were as angry as the animals were.
“Are you good to go?” Kennedy asked impatiently when she noted his hesitation. “I have chatter on comms about a fight going down a few klicks east of here.”
“I’m good to go. Do you think we should head there and help them? We could maybe cut through some of the beasts that might turn on us when they’re finished with them.”
“It’s as good an idea as any,” Kennedy agreed. Now that they at least had the assurance that the pilfered plant was securely sealed, she’d relaxed a little. If even a whiff of the pheromones had reached the air, they certainly wouldn’t be able to stand and chat like this. “I do know that I don’t want us to be alone when we leave with something that could break and send the rest of the fucking Zoo down on our heads.”
“Give Gutierrez a little credit,” Sal said as he stashed the plant in his pack. They moved off in the same direction as the massive beast they’d seen before had taken. “She knows how to build stuff that don’t break.”
“True,” Kennedy admitted as she slowed her pace.
“Do you think we should circle to avoid running into what could potentially be a twenty-foot-tall monster?” he asked.
“About…what, five and a half meters tall?” she asked. “Come on, I thought all you geeky science dudes used metric.”
“Right. Force of habit. Anyway, about circling?”
“That’s probably a good idea,” she said. “The team under attack will be on the move too if they have any kind of sense.”
“Yeah,” he muttered as she adjusted their path around the very visible tracks of the monster that had run down this little trench in the jungle. “Because the guys running these ops are known for their good sense.”
Courtney leaned back in her seat and the old chair squeaked gently as she rocked back and forth in it. Her dad had bought it and while it was as comfortable as hell, she doubted it was accustomed to the kind of use she gave it, which was basically constant when she was home. There was something comforting about being in the study that her father had used to do all his work. From the notes she’d taken from the other scientists who had worked with him, she knew that he spent most of his days in his den and habitually returned to the office to deliver his own findings every Friday and have a long chat with some of the people involved. He would have a late lunch with the man in charge of the research project before he headed on home.
The fact that her father had died on a Thursday night was not lost on her, but she’d run that past the criminal lawyer who had helped her with the home invasion and the police themselves. There was all kinds of evidence but everything was strictly circumstantial. There was very little that they could actually do at this point until she unearthed something solid for them.
She looked up when the doorbell rang. Her first instinct was to reach for the gun she now kept close to her at all time, just in case. If anyone planned to attack, they would logically do it at night. Still, that wouldn’t stop them casing the place, though. They had to know what happened to the last team that tried something, so they would want to make sure nothing like that would welcome them too. She gritted her teeth and pushed away from her table.
Or it could simply be that Robinson had ordered pizza. It was about that time, and he’d made sure to stipulate that if he had to help her work from home, he would charge her for the lunch. And he’d mentioned that it would be pizza.
“Praise the lord for the wonders of modern technology.” She turned the computer screen and checked for the cameras that covered the front door.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” she hissed. An older woman in a dress that was way too tight for her age rang the doorbell again. She was about to key the speakerphone connected to the camera when the door started to open.
“Dammit, Robinson!” She was in the basement, so of course he couldn’t hear her shout, but the sentiment was appropriate. Her time was valuable and had to be focused on a matter that might end up a life and death situation for herself and people that she loved. Honestly, she didn’t have the time to deal with the woman.
She shoved out of the chair and jogged to the stairs without bothering with her shoes. It occurred to her that she wore a shirt that long since needed the washing machine and a pair of jeans with her hair tied up in a bun at the back of her head. Her glasses were in place but almost forgotten until they sagged too low on the bridge of her nose. She sighed and pushed them back up as she grumbled at the irony. For the first time in her life, she had the money to correct the shit out of her myopic vision, but who had the time these days?
On the main floor, Robinson seemed engaged in a pleasant conversation with the woman. The visitor was well past the age where her hair should be streaked with gray, but there wasn’t so much of a hint of it in the artificially blonde mess. Courtney ground her teeth in distaste. This was California, land of the prefabricated bimbos, but there wasn’t much the woman could do that wouldn’t piss her daughter off.
“Dr. Monroe,” Robinson said and looked more than a little relieved. He clearly disliked the woman as much as she did. “Your mother is here. I did try to tell her you weren’t available.”
He added that last part in almost a whisper, given the awkwardness of the situation and his obvious need to offer some kind of apology.
“Did she tell you to say that?” the visitor asked and leaned forward. “Do you hate me so much that you prefer to use your lackeys to keep me out than actually speak to me face to face? I’m your mother.”
Courtney took a deep breath and forced back a definite urge to lash out at her. “No,” she said and tried to keep her voice as low and calm as she could. “You simply happened to give birth to me. You never actually took the side Dad or I were on—unless it was to use us to benefit your grand social reputation—and basically left him to raise me on his own.”
“Oh, come on, that happened so long ago,” her mother drawled and shook her head as she took a moment to inspect Robinson. “Are you really mad about that? Your father wanted a child so I gave him one. You should thank me that I didn’t stand in the way of your ridiculous obsession with continuing his passion. You could have done so much bett
er for yourself.”
“You mean I could have done so much better for you,” Monroe snapped. “Your gold-digging ass realized that I was your passport to the good life. You certainly tried hard enough to mold me into a simpering little sorority sister and it so burned your butt when I didn’t play ball. But you couldn’t interfere, could you? Without me as your little trump card, Dad and his family would have cut you off without a dime.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I won’t have this conversation with you again, Jasmine.”
“Maybe I should…” Robinson ventured.
“I could do with some coffee, dear, if that’s where you’re headed,” Jasmine said with a flirtatious tilt of the head.
“Don’t bother,” Courtney commanded. “She won’t be here that long. I have some paperwork ready for you downstairs, Allen. Why don’t you pick that up and spell-check for me?”
“Of course, Dr. Monroe,” he said with a nod. The poor man felt the tension in the air and had needed any excuse to leave the conversation and never return. It had been cruel for her to keep him around this long.
Courtney drew a deep breath. She should have known that this moment would come. After all, she knew her mother well enough to know that it wouldn’t be long after her father died before she peeked in to see if anything was left over so she could slink off with a hefty bonus to the very comfortable hole her father had—too generously—provided for her.
“That was incredibly rude of you, Courtney,” Jasmine said.
“If you try to pull that parent shit on me, I swear to God, I’ll throw you out by those fake gold hoop earrings you have on,” she retorted in real warning. “What do you want here, Jasmine?”