Chapter Eleven
Harrison
I arrived early on Monday morning. I took a long drive around the parking lot to make sure that I could see all the entrances and exits of the entire facility. There were more than I'd anticipated, at least thirty.
This place was huge. How they were managing with such a small security team I didn't understand. I knew about the video cameras and swipe cards, but they still needed higher level security than what they had. Unless they were hiding things here that they felt weren’t a big deal. After I parked my truck in employee parking, I walked around to the front of the building where I had come in for the interview just a couple days before. I knew I had to make a good impression right away. If I wanted to find out exactly what was going on here, I would need to make them trust me and fast.
I walked in to see the same secretary sitting behind the desk. She smiled at me sweetly. No one else was sitting in the waiting room. It was just us. It would be easier to persuade her to give up more information with it just being the two of us. I smiled at her warmly and waved.
“Morning! I guess we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other.”
“Yes, Mr. Green. We’re very excited to have you on board. I'm Clara. I work directly for the corporation.”
“Right, Purest. Interesting name.”
She smiled again. “We just want our clients to understand that our chemicals are only available in the best form possible. No additives or cheap knockoffs here. Only the best.”
She sounded like an infomercial. “Of course. I'm not used to working in a lab like this. I just hope I look okay.”
Bashful made women melt. I had on a black T-shirt and black pants that Penny had pulled out for me. I had felt strange leaving my gun and badge at home. I couldn't risk them seeing anything or something showing up on a metal detector if I had to go through security. I needed my cover to hold. I didn't know how long I was going to have to be here. Might take days or even weeks to get all the information that I would need to take them down. And if I didn't get it in enough time, I already explained to Sarge that I would take matters into my own hands. I had to, since my family was at stake.
“You look fine! Perfect for a security officer’s wear. You won't be seeing much action around here, anyway. Most of them spend their days eating doughnuts and drinking coffee.” She laughed to herself.
“Really? Your competitors don't want your information?”
She lowered her voice. “We don't really have many competitors. Our quality product is high-level, and no one really wants to deal with all the paperwork and the amount of clinical trials that we do here. Too much work.”
“And what is it exactly that they make sure?”
She furrowed her brow. She was almost cute in a way, the bridge of her nose pinched together to show that she was thinking about it really hard. It took me only a moment to realize that she didn't know. I wondered how many other employees here didn't know what they had signed up for.
“I saw them bringing in a lot of artificial formula once. So I think it has something to do with small kids and babies? But to be totally honest, none of us are really sure. Everything is just so hush-hush. And I don't really see many other people, being up front here. Everyone else is in the back, behind that door.” She pointed.
“Which is exactly where you’ll be going. Human resources has all your information? You filled out the report that we sent you?”
“Yes, of course.” That had been harder than we anticipated. They really dug into your background here. We had to not only fake my identity but then tech had to create an entire past life. Sarge had to pull some strings with the feds to get me high level security clearance. But they had hauled ass and made it look like I had been applying for jobs all over the place. It made it more believable.
“Excellent. Then I’ll buzz you through, and you go right back to the office where you met Mr. Sable the other day. Someone will be waiting for you there to give you the tour and assign you to your station. It's wonderful to have you here, George,” she added flirtatiously.
“You have no idea.”
I went back to meet with Mr. Sable, but he wasn't there. Apparently, nobody was running this place on a regular basis. Frank, the head of security, who introduced himself the other day, took me on an official tour of the labs. Last time, we had just walked around them, but this time, he took me right inside. There had to be ten to fifteen lab assistants and techs in each laboratory. And there were six of them in all. The whiteness and stillness of the environment overwhelmed me. My bear wanted to escape, as he could sense the danger. He also didn't like the feeling of being confined, and this place reminded me of a white prison.
“So that's the entire upper level. All the labs. Downstairs is mostly a warehouse, where they keep the shipment.”
“Shipments? You mean chemicals?”
“Something like that. But you have to have a higher security clearance to work down there anyway, so I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“You know I have a lot of experience. No need to worry about me taking your secrets.”
“I'm not worried about you, man. More about what's down there. I hardly go down there if I can avoid it. It's also where they keep the test subjects. Makes me uncomfortable.”
“Test subjects?” I tried to think back to what Clara had said. Formula and kids. I also thought of Camden. The rage boiled inside me, but I tried to keep it in the best I could. I was here for information, I couldn't make any further decisions without it.
“You mean the children? Do you have a daycare down there or something?”
“I wish that's what it was. No, it's nothing like a daycare. And how did you know about the kids?”
“Clara just mentioned something about it. She thought I was going to be working down there, I guess.”
“Oh, yeah. No, I’m the only one who has clearance down there. Like I said, I avoid it. There're no entrances and exits down there so we don't need heightened security. Everything that's important is up here.”
I didn’t push any further, I could tell he was getting suspicious.
“Okay so your post is next to lab B. You just stand here and let me know if any of these geeks looks strange.”
I nodded.
I needed to get downstairs, but that would take time.
Chapter Twelve
Harrison
The next day I was watching a lab tech take notes. He looked younger than me and kept swishing blood around in a vial. It was making me nauseous. I knew that must belong to someone downstairs. I had to find out more.
Frank was walking by me, doing his third round for the day.
“Frank,” I said, stopping him with my arm. “Do you know what they make here? That kid has been playing with blood for over an hour. It’s weird. He looks fascinated.”
“All these science types are.”
I had to keep pushing. “They’re weird. But really, what are they looking for? I mean if you’ve got some crazy viruses in here, we should know about it. Working here and all, I don’t want to get sick.”
He sighed and shook his head. “You’re curious, do you know that? But I guess you’ve got a right to be. Come on, I’ll show you downstairs. But don’t you dare say anything to anyone, or losing your job will be the least of your worries.”
I pretended to look afraid, but instead I was on high alert. I didn’t expect it to be this simple. This was too easy. Frank knew more than he was letting on. I couldn’t tell if he was showing me because he was proud of what they were doing here, or if it was a set up.
He took me down a long hallway, which looked like just like all the others, but at the end, there was a door that said biohazard. We walked through it into an elevator with the same symbol on it. When we entered, there were only two buttons, up and down. I balled my fists in preparation for an attack, what if he was taking me down here to test me? Had I blown my cover?
“Listen, you can't tell Sable that you saw any of this. But I get you wanting to know. You're going to be protecting these lab techs with your life, it's important to know what you're protecting.”
“What am I protecting?”
The elevator doors opened and I was horrified by the view in front of me.
He only said one word. “Secrets.”
For me, there were no secrets here. Just cages. What they contained was even worse. Down the right side of the long dark hallway were people, dressed in regular, everyday clothes for the most part. On left hand side? Animals, or people in hospital gowns looking gaunt and frail. I tried the best I could to hide my disgust. But it didn't go unnoticed.
“I guess you figured out by now?”
“Sure did,” was all that I said. I looked at him, examining his every move. This wasn’t a ploy to hurt me, but something still felt off.
“Fucking shifters. The subspecies. I hate being down here. Just smells bad. They don't live any better than animals do.”
He didn't know anything about us. All he knew was these people in cages, and the only reason they lived any less of a life than he did was because he was forcing them to. I could feel the bile coming up in my throat as I passed by the cage of a bear who looked just like me. As he prowled back and forth, he stopped directly in front of me and threw his nose into the air. He knew what I was. Part of me thought he knew what I was doing. He roared in anger, looking at me as a traitor to our own kind.
“I've never seen him do that before,” Frank said as he took out a baton and hit the side of the cage. So he didn’t know what I was, or he was just a really good actor.
“This place is insane.” It was the only thing that I could say that was both truthful yet playing along in my role. I had to keep my cover. I couldn’t compromise the mission just because of how I felt. And as I looked into the sad and almost empty eyes of that bear, I felt a kinship toward him. This just as easily could've been me. I mean, I would've been harder to take down, probably, but not hard enough.
“What are they doing with them here?”
“Testing them, figuring out a way to eradicate them. It's on the plan.”
“Plan?”
“The plan for humans to be the superior species once again.”