“Your school?”
“Yeah. I mean, we have grease trucks, but they’re kind of a last resort. I’m pretty sure their cheesesteaks are just some moldy roast beef with a slice of American tossed on it.”
“Um, what college?”
“South Dakota State,” she replied nonchalantly, “but I’ve been taking online courses lately.”
“What’s your major?”
“Forestry and Conservation.”
“Really?”
“Why do you sound surprised?”
“It’s ... nothing.”
“Spill.”
“No, really.”
“Say it, or so help me, I’ll beat you unconscious with the rest of this sandwich.”
“Okay,” he replied, holding up his hands in surrender. “This is going to sound kind of douchey, but when you joined the show, I kind of figured...”
“That I was some airhead added for T&A value only?”
Arthur looked deeply embarrassed, but she nudged him to continue. “Well, yeah. I mean, some of us figured they fired Woodchuck so they could replace him with a spokesmodel.”
Danni dropped her gaze to the ground, the flavors of the sandwich immediately forgotten. The “official” story was that Chuck “Woodchuck” Wayans, the team’s former tracker, had abruptly quit and retired from public life. Some debate had arisen on their online boards over whether he’d been fired, which was exactly the type of misinformation their true bosses wanted. Only a few knew the truth: that he’d been a victim of the Bonanza Creek massacre.
Arthur, apparently misinterpreting her sudden solemnness, asked, “You’re mad at me, aren’t you?”
Danni looked up at him and quickly covered her thoughts with a smile. Now was not the time to wallow in the past. “Not at all. I mean, I definitely get that vibe from some of our fans. It used to tick me off, but I guess I should be flattered. I mean, I never really considered myself the glamourous type.”
“You could have fooled me. I have your poster hanging in my room and...” He stopped when she raised an eyebrow. “That’s TMI, isn’t it?”
“Just a bit.”
“So, um, how did it happen?”
“The poster?”
“No. How’d you join the team? I mean, no offense, but forestry doesn’t seem like something that would get a bunch of network suits knocking down your door.”
Danni stood up and stretched – not wanting to let her lunch cause any malaise to set in. “Come on, let’s walk off these sandwiches.”
Arthur’s awkwardness aside, she was enjoying herself. Back when she’d been a freshman, before her life had completely changed, she’d taken little things like this for granted. Now, a bit of normalcy, just a little thing like walking around campus with a guy, was a luxury, one that wouldn’t last for long. Depending on how things went, they’d either soon be deep in the Pine Barrens or hopping on a plane toward Wisconsin.
She realized she hadn’t answered Arthur’s question. The truth was out of the question, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t offer a version of it. “I helped them out on one of their hunts.”
“How so?”
“It was kind of a right place, right time sort of thing.” It had been, but more the opposite of right. “I was vacationing where they were filming and ended up helping them with some research. The next thing I knew, they offered me a chance to try out. The rest is history.”
“Talk about a lucky break.”
Lucky wasn’t quite the word she’d use. Still, it was the life she had chosen. No one had forced her to do this. There were also the benefits to take into account – all those they helped. “Yeah, I guess it was, in a way.”
“Fame and fortune are hard to beat when you’re a starving college student.”
“I wouldn’t go that far on either,” she replied with a laugh. “The Adventure Channel isn’t exactly HBO and we’re not Game of Thrones, but I get what you’re saying. As far as first jobs out of college go, one could do worse. Not to mention, there’s the people factor.”
“I can imagine. You probably meet a lot of guys.”
Danni had to suppress a sigh. Awkward Arthur might be, but he wasn’t afraid to cast his lure on a fishing expedition. She wasn’t really in the market for a boyfriend, but he was kind of cute in a dorky sort of way and seemed really nice. If she had to spend a few days on this campus, she could do far worse. Rather than shooting him down outright, as was her initial inclination, she decided to leave the door ajar. Who knew? Stranger things had happened. “I meet a lot of folks period, young and old,” she replied. “But that’s not what I meant. I meant helping people.” He glanced at her with eyebrows raised, which was not entirely unexpected. “I’m serious.”
“Okay. So how?”
“All right, I have a good example. About four months back, we were in Ohio filming a segment. There was this nice old lady who was scared out of her mind. Kept hearing screams coming from the woods near her home. She was terrified to step foot into her own backyard after dark. Turns out it was nothing more than some owls who’d nested nearby. They made a hell of a racket, but were far more interested in field mice than her. You have no idea how awesome it was to see the relief on her face when we showed her. Mind you, that part got cut for TV.”
Arthur laughed. “Sounds just like something a network would do. You know, I never considered that ... the stuff that goes on behind the scenes. I guess you have a good point about that. For all of us watching at home, chuckling when nothing is found, I guess I never considered the people who are relieved to know it was just their imagination.”
“Trust me, it can be annoying some days. To fit the show into an hour, lots of stuff has to be cut, and sometimes what’s left makes us look like morons who can’t tell a deer in the woods from sasquatch. Sometimes I just want to...”
Danni stopped mid-sentence as the phone in her pocket vibrated. She pulled it out and checked her texts. “Looks like we’re back on the clock. Derek and Frank are pulling in now. Time to head back and see what’s next on the agenda.”
Arthur nodded. “We can cut through the commons and get there faster.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go.”
“Thanks, by the way.”
She turned to him. “For what?”
“For ... actually being a cool person.”
She smiled back. “Likewise.”
“I’m still going to ask you to autograph my poster before you leave, though.”
CHAPTER 15
Danni could tell Derek was back from way down the hall, as she could quite clearly hear Eric Zeist yelling at him. She grinned as she approached the lab. Based on what was being said, he and Francis had managed to ditch Eric’s men.
“You’re here at the governor’s say so, nothing more!”
“Last I checked,” Derek was saying as she and Arthur stepped in, “this is a free country. We’re not under arrest, and even if you tried, I’m pretty sure you don’t have the badge to back that up.”
“One call is all it’ll take to...”
“To what?” Francis shot back. “Embarrass yourself? Feel free. Your buddy can pull whatever strings he wants, but all that’s going to do is get us fired, and you know what? If that happens, we’re out of here and your boss gets to go on Face the Press and explain why he’s okay with his state being a toxic cesspool.”
Danni looked off into the corner where Mitchell was sitting staring at a computer monitor and ignoring what was going on around him. She could tell he wasn’t completely zoned out, though, by the look of amusement on his face.
Before she could so much as say a word of greeting, Eric rounded on her and Arthur. “You ever think about knocking? That kid isn’t authorized to hear this.”
Danni narrowed her eyes, practically daring the larger man to step into her personal space. “That might be a better argument if you hadn’t been screaming so loud as to be heard from down the hall.”
“Authorized?” Arthur asked. “What are
you guys talking about?”
Danni shared a glance with Derek. His eyes said it all. The governor, in his attempt to cover up whatever was going on in the Pine Barrens, was instead shining a spotlight on it by insisting his men shadow them. Government intelligence at its finest.
Derek turned to Mitchell, having seemingly made up his mind. “Mitch, could you...”
“Already got them.” Without missing a beat, Mitchell spun in his chair and produced a stack of paperwork from the briefcase by his side.
Derek smiled as he took them. “I must be getting predictable in my old age.”
“You could use some new material.”
Derek turned to Arthur. “Take a seat, kid. There’s some stuff you have to fill out. Non-negotiable I’m afraid.”
“I already signed the waivers that Dr. Reingold...”
“These are a bit more far reaching than a typical NDA. And they have more teeth, too. Trust me on this. Oh, and don’t lie in the section about social media accounts. Everyone tries to be cute about that these days, and we always find out.”
“I’m not authorizing this,” Eric barked.
“And I’m not asking,” Derek replied, clearly annoyed. “Your boss might have some pull, but he’s not here. And if you want to test that, I have friends of my own who would be very happy to make your life difficult.”
Danni was amused to see Zeist shut his trap and back up a step. The guy was nothing more than a bully, but her team was a slightly different animal than what he normally dealt with. No matter how powerful someone’s friends were, the concept of messing with the feds tended to give people pause. She was less amused, however, to see that Arthur had gotten dragged into this, courtesy of her picking the wrong moment to return with him.
There was at least one upside, however. It would mean she’d have to watch her tongue a lot less around him. He seemed like a nice guy, and giving him bullshit story after bullshit story didn’t feel right.
Arthur, for his part, looked utterly confused. “What’s this about? Am I in trouble for something?”
“Not at all,” Mitchell said. “If anything, this just means you can help out more.”
Derek reached into his back pocket. His eyes met Danni’s again, and she could see the twinkle in them. He always liked this part. Claimed it made him feel like a little kid playing cops and robbers, except his badge was real.
He handed it over to Arthur who took a quick look.
“U.S. Forest Service, Department of Cryptid Containment? You’re kidding, right?”
“There’s a joke here, all right, and it’s...”
Derek cut the security director off with a glare. “Feel free to call and verify my badge number or any of my team’s. You’ll find we’re quite legit.”
Arthur turned toward Danni. She nodded back at him.
To her surprise, he actually smiled in return, albeit there was still a confused aspect to it. “And that paperwork?”
“Affidavits ensuring your cooperation and confidentiality. Don’t worry, nothing onerous so long as you realize that anything discussed with us from here on in should be considered classified.”
“Classified,” he repeated. “As in legal penalties?”
“Precisely,” Derek replied, clapping Arthur on the shoulder. “Welcome to the conspiracy, kid.”
♦ ♦ ♦
The next few hours were busy ones. Mitchell brought Arthur up to speed on what they were really testing and where the lab’s systems were actually VPN’d to. The boy was skeptical at first – not surprisingly – but Mitchell had a way of taking the fantastical and making it sound plausible. However, Derek suspected the presence of government personnel, people not known for being great practical jokers, helped impart their seriousness to the boy.
While this was going on, the rest of the team busied themselves with discussing strategy and next steps. Following a brief, but heated, call with Governor Yarlberg, Derek agreed to cooperate with Eric and his men on the condition that the governor’s people observe but not interfere.
As it turned out, another police report had been filed, a few days prior to their arrival, by the parents of some teenagers who’d gone missing. According to the teens’ friends, the couple had been planning an illicit rendezvous out on Swamp Forge Road, a claustrophobic stretch of asphalt not far from the route Derek and Francis had taken earlier in the day.
The missing count now up to seven, the added pressure on the governor had put him in a mood far more suited to negotiating – especially after Derek pointed out that his team was almost guaranteed to work faster if they were allowed to actually do their jobs.
After coordinating with Donald Krychech’s office, it was decided that Shilough made sense as the expedition’s kickoff point. From there, they would head into the forest, using their ATVs to connect with the same trail the AEP’s doomed expedition had used to get deep into the woods. The plan was to pick a spot close to where John Guiterrez’s truck had been found and establish a base camp. Rather than a multi-day hunt, though, the plan was to pack light.
Assuming their first night was unremarkable, as Derek fully expected it to be, they’d take a detour to Leeds Point the next day. He didn’t expect that to pan out, but Yarlberg’s press conference had made it a necessary evil. It would give them a confirmed public sighting for any fans in the area in a safe place, far from the scene of the actual disappearances.
Derek wasn’t happy that they’d already been tailed once by that reporter. He didn’t want it happening again and risk someone getting shot by accident.
Their plan set, they were finally able to turn to other topics.
“Any luck with that snot?” Derek asked.
Mitchell shook his head. “Still waiting on it. Probably going to be several more hours at the least.”
“Any initial theories?”
“It definitely came from something living, which I suppose is better than them handing me a canister of industrial waste. I don’t think you’re too far off, though. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s mucus, maybe pus. From what? No clue on that one.”
“Pus, eh?” Francis commented. “Just so long as you don’t share the wealth with the rest of us.”
“Oh please. I’ve seen some of the shit you eat.”
Derek tried to steer them back on track. “So how do you want to play this one, Mitch? I think we can handle it out in the field if you want to...”
“No chance,” the medic replied. “I didn’t like leaving you to your own devices up in Alaska, but those people needed help. There’s no reason to sit here and babysit a monitor.”
“What about Arthur?” Danni asked, pointing his way. He was almost finished signing the small mountain of paperwork that had been thrown into his lap. “He can keep an eye on things.”
Mitchell shrugged. “That’ll work. If anything of note pops up, he can phone it in.”
“All right,” Francis said, clapping his hands. “Let’s gear up and get back to the vacation paradise that is Shilough.”
“Oh?” Mitchell asked. “That bad?”
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