The next morning, Collin was sitting in the breakfast café on the first floor of the HGL building wearing blue jeans and a hooded T-shirt. So far his plan was working. He had been able to enter the building unseen by the receptionist who was busy at the desk. He had turned right as he entered and passed through the lobby to the side of the elevators and into the café. He purchased a latte and a bagel and sat down across from the entrance of the café in line of site of the lobby and the front desk beyond. He was tempted to snatch a badge from the pocketbook of the employee seated at the table next to him but he was afraid he would get caught. He waited a while then he got up and took his latte and a small bag he had brought with him to the counter where the cup insulators and the cream and sugar were available. At the moment nobody was standing near him so he bent down pretending to look at his shoe and opened the bag. He reached inside the bag and opened the small box that was inside. He quickly pushed the bag with the box inside back against the wall. The he stood up, took his latte and returned to his bagel.
It took a couple of minutes for the two white rats to exit the bag. Collin was trying to watch without actually looking. He saw them out of the corner of his eye. They moved away from the bag and he couldn’t see them anymore. He was munching his bagel when the screaming started. A woman had paid for her coffee and started toward the cream and sugar. She must have seen one of the rats and her scream alerted the entire café to the presence of the rat.
Just then more screaming started behind the counter where the register was. Collin guessed the other rat must have headed behind the register to where the servers prepare the orders. At this point people started running and screaming. Others not sure what the first people were screaming about became alarmed and got up to leave the café. Collin set off the second part of his plan, a smoke bomb.
He jumped up and yelled, “Fire! Fire!”
Now everyone was screaming and running. Collin exited the café and paused near the elevators. More people were yelling about a fire and the smoke was filling the café. The front desk security and the receptionist left the front desk for a minute to get a closer look. Collin carefully moved closer to the reception desk. He could see the badges he wanted in a rack near the back of the desk under the overhang of the counter. For just a split second nobody was near the desk and everyone was looking toward the café. Collin took the chance and reached forward ducking down and grabbing a badge out of the rack. He stayed low and duck walked a couple of feet away from the desk. He stood up his back against the wall and tucked the stolen badge into his pocket. Everyone was still in an uproar. The smoke filled the cafe, the screaming continued. People were all over the lobby and some were panicked enough to run out of the building. Collin joined the people exiting the building and walked out the front doors averting his face from the security cameras.
Collin could hear sirens wailing. Someone had called the fire department. As he walked to his car people began exiting the HGL building in large numbers. Collin was pulling out of the parking lot as a second fire truck was arriving. He hoped the badge wouldn’t be missed before Sunday when he planned to come back. Then perhaps he could return it so nobody would ever know it was gone. He was on his way to the county property office. He wanted to check out the land surrounding the Gene Search compound. Maybe there was a better way in than through the front gate.
The maps at the property office were helpful even though they were a bit confusing. Collin determined that there was a large tract of land adjacent to the Gene Search property. As he drove up he could see that it was an old, large cathedral. There was a large parking lot and he found a space to park. Collin didn’t see any other cars or people so he wandered around the back of the large stone building. Behind the cathedral was a beautifully landscaped property with pathways and benches. He followed the walkways in the general direction of the side of the property that eventually should meet up with the property the Gene Search compound was situated on. There was a cemetery and then the cathedral property became woods and the pathways stopped. Collin had a compass in his watch and entered the woods to see how difficult it might be to make his way through.
The brush grabbed at his jeans and the brambles left parts of themselves attached to his jeans and hooded T-shirt. Farther in under the trees the brush disappeared due to the lack of light. This made walking through the forest easier. Following his compass he continued for an hour. He figured he should be getting close to the Gene Search property. He would still have to travel about another two miles through the woods before he got near the compound itself. He had no idea what kind of security they might have set up in the woods. Of course it was possible that there was no security until you got right up to the compound. Out here in the woods the wildlife would be triggering the alarms all the time.
Collin continued for another hour and a half. Then he heard something up ahead. It was a man’s voice, “You’ve been told not to leave the compound. Come on, you’ll have to explain yourself to Doctor Phelps.”
Collin quietly moved forward. He could see through the trees a young woman and one of Gene Search’s security people. The man looked vaguely familiar. He was in uniform but he resembled the man that had broken into Collin’s office. As he watched, the girl moved forward in front of the guard. They walked until they exited the trees. Collin followed and now he could see the compound buildings beyond the tree edge.
The guard told the girl, “Go on over to the laboratory building. You know where the office is.”
The girl walked over to the same door Collin had entered before. She opened it and the guard followed her in. Collin looked around quickly and then followed them into the building. He knew the offices were down the animal room hallway and past the elevators. He opened the door and peeked inside to see the guard and the girl continue down the hall and turn right. Collin waited, and then he snuck down the hall and peered around the corner. The guard was standing outside the office of the director. The office door was open and Collin could hear Doctor Phelps talking to the girl.
“Shelby. I don’t understand why you keep leaving your dorm. I’ve explained to you the dangers of catching Lyme disease from the ticks in the woods. You are very important to us here at Gene Search. We want you, we need you to stay healthy. You understand that don’t you?”
Shelby made a response but Collin couldn’t hear what she said.
Doctor Phelps told her, “I know it is not very exciting at the compound. How about if we arrange a shopping trip to the mall on Saturday? Would you like that?”
Again Collin could not hear Shelby’s response. But it must have been an affirmative because Doctor Phelps then said, “Good. I want you to be happy here Shelby. Go tell the others that they can go too if they want.”
Shelby exited the office with a big smile and said, “Thank you Doctor Phelps.”
Doctor Phelps called out to her, “Go on back to the dorm now Shelby. Jack tell Patricia I need to see her.”
Collin was already headed down the hall to exit the building when Jack responded, “Yes sir.”
Collin hid in the trees and watched Shelby and Jack exit the laboratory building. She was very happy and practically bounced over to a neighboring building. Collin figured that was the dormitory. Jack watched her as she went then walked over to the security building. Collin guessed he was about to tell ‘Patricia’, whoever that was, about the trip to the mall. Collin turned and walked back through the forest property to the cathedral. He was tired and itchy by the time he returned to his car. He headed home for a home cooked meal and a bath. He wondered if Lily would like to go shopping on Saturday.
Chapter Eleven
Gene Search: A Collin Carter Mystery Page 10