"Sure," Maxwell replied. "But being dropped out of the FBI ended up with you falling into our little operation, so I guess you could say you fell upward?"
Niki shrugged. "Anyway, I'll need to talk to Speare about us getting involved with that, so if your friend is looking for immediate help, I'd suggest you sound apologetic but not overly so."
Jansen nodded. "Understood. I'll keep an eye on the situation as it develops too, just in case. This has the possibility of going very badly, very quickly. Many people have theorized the kind of damage the Zoo's goop can do if it's exposed to our planet's ocean in concentrated amounts. There's something about an island that's asking for something to go badly in a colossal way."
"Agreed." She rubbed her chin gently and scowled as she considered the frightening possibilities. "Keep me informed of any updates on the situation."
"Will do, boss."
"In the meantime, we have a problem to deal with on the Texas Panhandle. Maxwell, what progress have we made on getting that paperwork?"
The man was typing on his laptop but looked briefly at her. "I've already asked for subpoenas to be served legally, but depending on how long these people try to stonewall us from looking into their records, we might have to rely on your…less-than-legal friends to get us through a little more expediently."
She knew what that meant, of course. Desk waited for the opportunity to jump into the action to get them all the paperwork they would ever need with as much enthusiasm as Taylor showed when he was called in to deal with errant monsters.
"Okay, I'll make it happen."
Jansen looked at her. "Do you think we should have Taylor on standby in case we have critters that need dealing with?"
"I don't think that'll be necessary.” She shook her head. “We have our team ready if and when we need them. Besides, he should be on standby for the Yellowstone operation."
"Understood."
Niki turned to her laptop and activated the comm line Desk kept open for her. She did feel a little bad about keeping Taylor out of the operation—and only partially because she wanted to see him again. The guy was the best, but he was still recovering from a beatdown—even if he had won—and he had his business to keep an eye on in the meantime. Besides, it wasn't like he was aching to go up against cryptid monsters anyway. He only did it because he thought it was necessary.
"Good morning, Niki," Desk said cheerfully in her headset. "How can I help you?"
"Why are you asking questions to which you already know the answers?"
"Because humans generally feel uncomfortable with the knowledge that I keep an eye on everything they do. Jennie suggested that I start singing a song by the Police to reinforce the idea in a less overpowering manner."
"First of all, that song is as creepy as fuck. Secondly, I've already made peace with the fact that an AI created by my sister watches every step I take and every move I make, so we can move past that and into how you can help me. Do you think you can get your hands on that paperwork on…what's it called?"
"Vita Health Incorporated." The AI was already uploading files on the company in question to her laptop.
"You're the best, Desk."
"The compliment is acknowledged."
Chapter Eighteen
"We don't have time to call Jacobs’ expertise in on this." Jansen didn't look happy about the idea but he shook his head as if to convince himself.
"It doesn’t matter at this point," Niki muttered, moved away from the plane, and walked to where he had already set up a small operational area, complete with a full communications array, in the hangar bay.
The people who owned these airports were used to the agencies also using their hangars as temporary bases of operations, which explained why they were still in business.
Maxwell was focused on setting up his comm center. It was considerably less elaborate than his partner’s but it was more than sufficient. "I looked again at the paperwork Desk got for us,” he commented without looking away from his task. “The way they had alarms blaring, quelled those alarms, and immediately got in touch with local law enforcement to report sightings as well as calm the local population… It's damning stuff."
"Which means there's already a breakout and it's way too close to at least three different population centers." Jansen called a map up to display a trio of smaller towns in a rough triangle around the location of the lab. "And these creatures have been seen already. Of course, Desk's reports also say the bodies of the escaped creatures have already been turned in thanks to the efforts of hunters contracted locally."
"That's Texas for you," Niki muttered. "Still, we can't be sure these creatures didn't lay eggs somewhere. We'll need to do serious sweeps around the area to make sure nothing has appeared anywhere else."
"And in the meantime?" Maxwell asked.
"We need to pay a visit to the lab, make sure there weren't any more escapes that they didn't document, and take any other live cryptids off their hands."
"It sounds like a fun day."
They mounted the vehicle that had been provided. Everything was farther away from everything else in this area of the world, and she could feel the time ticking away with every second they spent driving toward the facility. The truck they had requested was large enough for them to bring their suits in case there was something that needed handling. She didn't want to have to drive back to collect the suits they had spent so much time training to use.
Neither Maxwell nor Jansen had anything negative to say about the decision. They had nothing to say about her vehicle requisition either. Maybe, like her, they were interested to see what the training Taylor had arranged would do for them out in the field.
Although that wasn't the only reason why she had made that choice, it certainly played a part in their situation.
"So," Jansen announced from the shotgun seat. "That subpoena came through a couple of minutes ago and their lawyers were on it a minute later to contest. I guess it's fairly safe to say they know we're coming."
"I wish we could do this without having to go through all that legal red tape," Maxwell commented. "Seriously, in what other arena of combat do you intentionally let people know you're coming?"
"This isn't an arena of combat," Niki replied. "Or, at least, it isn't supposed to be, so what ends up happening is like a nice little organized battle from the eighteenth century. Everyone gets all their musket men in a row, lines them up, sends a letter telling their enemy to bring their musket men or they'll be known as a nincompoop and a coward for the rest of their life, and they politely engage in warfare."
"I guess it was much less polite for the grunts on the front lines who had to do all the shooting," Jansen commented.
"It is an antiquated way of doing things but so far, it's the only way we know how to keep the government from turning into an Orwellian wet dream. We have to simply stick to it until some genius thinks up a new way to do things."
Maxwell opened his mouth to answer but decided against it.
Sure enough, a team of men in lab coats and suits—researchers and lawyers, respectively—waited for their arrival. It was the song and dance of people who were thoroughly trained to evaluate financial risks but let risks to human life fly completely over their heads. Maybe it was intentional or maybe they merely lived in a civilized society where death was such a foreign concept that it never occurred to them that their decisions would cost human lives.
Niki liked to see the best in people, which was why she tried not to lose her temper with the assembled group. They were caught between what was supposed to be their main priority and what had been drilled into them as their main priority for decades.
She was the first one out of the truck and slid on a pair of sunglasses when the heat and humidity slapped her in the face. The dry heat of Nevada was her preference by far.
"Gentlemen," she greeted them and withdrew her badge from inside her coat pocket. "I'm Agent Niki Banks with the DOD and I'm here to perform a spot inspection of your
facilities in accordance with the stipulation in your contracts with the US Government."
"We've already responded to the DOD subpoena of our files," one of the lawyers countered like he had prepared his response from the moment when he knew they were coming. "There were discrepancies with the petition and we will dispute it in court."
"This has nothing to do with the subpoena," Jansen interjected. "We're here to perform a spot inspection as stipulated in the contracts under which this facility is allowed to operate."
"Except that until the situation of the subpoenas is resolved, the contracts are under investigation. Therefore, any particulars for maintaining them are voided until a judge has been able to stipulate that everything in the contract complies with current legislation."
That sounded like another speech he had prepared beforehand, and she had to admit that he knew his stuff. It still wouldn’t stop her from getting in, though.
Niki gestured for the lawyer and the man who appeared to be the head researcher to approach for a more private chat between the three of them.
"Look." Her voice was hushed and nonconfrontational. "Regardless of the circumstances, we already know something broke out of the facility a few days ago. If you need to ask questions about that, suffice it to say that the members of local law enforcement are more concerned with protecting the people who elected them from an alien threat they don't know about. Word got out.
“The chances are, this lab will be shut down within a week, and all we're here to do is to neutralize any threats to the local populace that might remain. Do you see those crates in the back of our truck? Those carry three combat suits made especially for dealing with threats out of the Zoo. Now, we can leave and come back once everything is legally resolved, but we might have another outbreak with hundreds of people injured or killed.
“If you want to talk legal, any person injured by creatures that originate from this facility will hold you legally liable for their injuries, and guess what? Every single judge they go in front of will give them whatever millions they ask for. So you tell me—will you get a recommendation from me and my team about how you cooperated to reduce the threat to local citizens, or won’t you?"
She had rehearsed that speech for the last fifteen minutes of the drive, and from the looks on the faces of the two men opposite her, it was worth every second. The cogs turned almost visibly in their heads and her guess was that they considered how their company would declare bankruptcy and immediately leave them as the liable parties for any potential damages. They would be the proverbial scapegoats and take the blame for whatever consequences came from the situation.
"I…suppose…" The lawyer paused for a few seconds to confirm with the head researcher before he continued. "Well, as long as there are lives at stake, it would be best for all involved to be extra cautious."
"I'm glad you see it that way," she affirmed. "We'll need to have a look into any sections that were used for experimenting on live specimens."
"That…would be difficult," the researcher stated and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"Difficult?"
"The third sublevel was sealed off when some of our live specimens escaped containment. We were able to do so with all of our researchers already safe and were considering the options of cleaning it out. There was no…mass kill option already installed, so we called a freelance team that would be able to take care of it. Before they could be activated, we discovered a breach in containment, and they were sent to deal with that instead."
Niki took a deep breath, turned to face her teammates, and motioned for them to join in the conversation. "How far away is Reardon's team?"
"They're still in the air," Jansen stated and checked his phone to be sure. "Three hours away from landing, plus the two-hour drive, assuming their requisitioned vehicle is there and waiting for them."
"We don't have that kind of time." Niki hissed in annoyance, shook her head, and turned to the head researcher. "Can the third sublevel be unsealed?"
"Yes, but it would… Well, what if something gets past the three of you and attacks the people still working inside?"
Jansen snorted. "Jesus fucking Christ. You still have people working inside that fucking death trap?"
Neither the lawyer nor researcher knew what to say to that.
She sighed deeply. "Fine. Evacuate the building. Tell your people to take a long weekend or something because we don't know when this will be settled. Once that's done, hand the security controls to us and we'll seal the building before we go in there to limit any possible exposure to the rest of the world. In the meantime, we'll suit up. Does that sound good to everyone?"
The lawyer and researcher didn't look happy about the arrangement but they nodded reluctantly.
The latter pulled his phone out. "I'll work on transferring the controls of the building's security system to you."
"Good." Niki motioned for her team to join her at the truck, where they began to remove the crates and prepare the suits for use.
"Will we really let them off the hook like that?" Jansen asked.
She shrugged. "That depends. With full control of their security system, Desk will have access to every single file in their system, so I guess it depends on what she finds. It could be a whole chunk of nothing, but I doubt it."
"You know, calling an AI 'she' feels a little wrong, I won’t lie," Maxwell commented.
After a snort of amusement, she thought about it for a few seconds. "Yeah, it's a little weird but it fits for me now. I know it's not human, but we've anthropomorphized our toaster ovens for the past couple of hundred years so I don't see the problem with doing the same with an AI."
The man raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Okay, that makes sense. It’s still weird, though."
* * *
The fact that he was supposed to be at the beck and call of the people who needed him was one thing. They had dealt with small fires all over the country while Niki and her two men took a couple of weeks to learn how to properly use their suits, and he was used to it.
But the moment she returned, she called them to take a cross-country flight to fucking Texas, and that wasn't the best feeling ever. They knew what they were doing, of course, and it was his job to support her. A job he was very well-compensated for too.
But that didn't mean he had to like every decision that was made.
Reardon directed their driver to approach the building and park next to it as the blazing sun began to turn a bright orange on the horizon. He expected to see Banks waiting outside for him when he arrived, but all he could see were a couple of older men in lab coats. They looked about as scared as he expected from people who had been working with an outbreak of cryptid monsters only a few floors down.
He was the first one out of the truck and strode purposefully to where the scientists were huddled together. "Where is Banks? She was supposed to be here waiting for us."
The researchers froze, almost terrified of the new arrival, but one stepped forward. "Agent Banks is inside the building and said she would handle the situation in there and would contact you when you arrived. She's on the building's intercom."
"Shit." Reardon growled his annoyance and gestured for the three other men on his team to suit up as he connected to the intercom. "Banks, are you in there? If you charged in and got yourself killed, I'll fucking murder you."
"No murder required. Nice to hear from you again, Reardon," Niki answered and sounded a little out of breath. "I simply went in to handle the situation. Why don't you join us? I'll unseal the building and let you in through the second entrance on the right side of the facility. It's the closest."
He scowled and opened and closed his mouth a few times as he came to terms with the fact that she had almost simply dismissed him. There was no point in protesting, however, so he returned to the vehicle. He would need to get into his suit as well.
Shortly thereafter, the team was ready to start moving. They had been in the business long enough that pr
eparing to head into a fight was almost routine to them. It took less than five minutes before the group of four stopped at the indicated door a few seconds before it clicked unlocked.
The HUD on their suits directed them immediately to follow a path to the nearby stairwell and three levels down into the lab. It required a fair amount of navigation and Reardon could already see the effects of the monsters around them. More importantly, he noted the bodies that had been left by Banks and her team.
They were all piled together where they had fallen, which meant that they had died almost instantly. The shooting was effective and the aim was more than decent. Single-shot kills almost all around suggested ruthless efficiency.
The team passed a handful of other piled corpses before they reached Banks and her two men. All three wore full combat armor and stood armed and ready. Their suits were streaked with blood where they stood outside an isolation unit that held a group of a little over a dozen monsters.
"What the fuck is going on here?" Reardon asked in bemusement.
"Oh, hey there." Niki waved them closer. "We realized when we were attacking that the creatures were trying to escape through the tunnel they used to break out in the first place so we needed to isolate them from it and drive them back in. Setting this trap was kind of…improvised, but I think it worked out well, don't you?"
He looked around. "Uh…but what will you do with them now that they're all trapped? Hand them out as party favors?"
"Why not?” She snorted and shook her head. “We only managed to seal them in a couple of minutes before you contacted us, so we thought you might have a better idea of what to do with them now that they're all technically as good as fish in a barrel—which are supposedly so easy to shoot."
She waited for his response and he narrowed his eyes as he studied her. He appreciated her trust but it also looked like she had more than coped in the heat of what was a tough fight. Maybe the time spent training hadn't been a waste after all.
"We need to kill them and get the bodies out and incinerated before there's any possibility that they infect this place any further," Reardon stated finally after a few seconds of thought. "There are already cleanup crews on the way to make sure nothing dangerous is left here."
Monster In Me: Cryptid Assassin™ Book Eight Page 15