By the time they dragged the dead scientist to the lab, the others had gone on ahead toward the exterior door and the cave in the hill. Banks looked around, looking for somewhere, anywhere, to stash a body where it might be safe from predators. His gaze landed on a tall refrigeration unit. It only took a matter of seconds to empty it of its contents and strip out the shelves. They stood the man upright, leaning him against the far wall, and closed the door tight on his dead stare.
“He’s safe in there,” Banks said.
“Safer than us anyway, Cap,” Wiggins said with a whisper. “We’ve got company.”
The wolves were back, having followed them along the corridor from the aviary doorway. Now they stood between the two men and their exit to the rear of the lab. The big male was the closest, his mate just behind him. One of the two younger beasts hung farther back; this one breathed hard and heavy, its haunches trembling. Blood ran from a wound in its side; it had definitely caught a bullet in the earlier exchange, but Banks didn’t hold out that much hope of it having slowed the animal down much. The big male’s gaze was once again locked like a laser on Banks’ face.
And now it’s not smiling.
Banks moved, carefully and slowly, to fetch his rifle from over his shoulder. The wolf growled deep in its chest, rumbling like distant thunder. It crouched low, and sidled forward, its gaze never wavering. The others of his small pack came on behind him.
Banks took a step forward toward them, having to tell his legs twice before they agreed to move. He hoped to stop the beast’s advance, but the big male kept inching ahead; two more steps and it would be within range of a single leap, and Banks couldn’t allow that. The momentum of a beast that size would keep it coming, no matter how many bullets he put in it.
I have to put it down. And I have to do it now.
He knew Wiggins was right beside him, but couldn’t afford to take his stare away from the big male; this stand-off wasn’t going to last more than a few seconds, and maybe not even that long. The rifle felt like a natural extension of his hand as he swung it up, already firing before he’d got it aimed straight. Even then, the big male was too fast; it darted, sideward instead of forward, but Banks got lucky in another way, as three shots took the female full in the chest. The thunder of the shots rang in the confines of the lab. Wiggins joined in, spraying a volley into the two younger wolves. They went down in a heap beside their mother.
Banks turned quickly, looking for the big one.
It was already off and away; he only got a glimpse of a bushy tail as it fled, out of sight, back down the corridor toward the aviary.
Banks’ ears rang, and he felt the vibration hum in his wrist, smelled the burn from the barrel as he walked over to where the female wolf lay. She was still alive, barely, and attempting to crawl, not toward him, but heading for the place where her cubs lay, both clearly dead. She whimpered with every movement, leaving a trail of blood and mucus on the lab floor, inching painfully slowly. She let out a howling wail that was so full of pain and misery that Banks could only take it for a second before he stepped quickly over and put a single shot in her brain.
Out on the corridor, somewhere in the aviary, the big male responded with a howl of his own. The high wail of loss followed Banks and Wiggins all the way through the lab and outside to the cave in the hill.
- 17 -
McCally and Hynd stood at the external door, weapons raised. Hynd raised an eyebrow when he saw the three dead wolves.
“You didn’t get the big guy?”
Wiggins answered first.
“Naw, he’s a smart fucker that one, and legged it. But I think he’s got a hard-on for the cap, so he’ll be back.”
Banks looked to McCally.
“How’s Galloway’s ankle?”
“The prof’s helping him clean it. I don’t think it’s as bad as it looked—a lot of blood, but not too deep. I’ll see to the bandaging right now, now that I ken you’re both okay.”
Banks nodded, then turned to Hynd.
“Our job is to secure yon cave for a while, maybe all night. Let’s see if we can get the door back on its hinges and able to be shut?”
“We’re hunkering down?”
“Unless you’ve got a smarter idea? It’s going to be hours—at least—before they can get anybody else here, and there’ll be some debate about whether they should even bother, you know that.”
Hynd nodded, but Wiggins was not happy.
“What do you mean by that?”
“We’re Special Forces, lad, or had you forgotten? We’re supposed to get ourselves out of tight spots, not shout for the cavalry when things get a wee bit ropey. The colonel might decide to leave us to our own devices for a while and see how we get on.”
“How will we know?”
“We won’t. That’s the fun bit.”
“I’ve had more fun with the sarge’s wife,” Wiggins muttered, but none of them laughed this time.
Banks had a last look around the lab before turning away. A wind had got up, whistling through the broken glass of the dome. Discarded paperwork tumbled in the draft, and glassware rattled, but nothing else stirred. The big female wolf lay with her muzzle against the body of her cubs, blood pooled in a wide circle around them, and it was not satisfaction that Banks felt as he turned toward the cave in the hill.
It was disgust.
The metal door was so large and cumbersome that it took all three of them to heave it upright into the frame, and Banks and Wiggins had to put their backs to it to hold it in place while Hynd worked on the hinges and lock.
“Will it hold?” Banks asked when Hynd announced the job was done.
“Put it this way, Cap,” the sarge said. “It’ll shut. But if one of yon big orange buggers has a good heave on it, I can’t promise it’ll stay that way.”
“Fair enough,” Banks replied. “But if it keeps lions and wolves out, at least it’s good for something.”
All three of them went through into the cave. The door shut with a satisfying click as they drew it closed.
“Wait a minute, Cap,” Wiggins said. “Won’t we suffocate?”
“The hairy orange guys managed while being locked in,” Banks said. “I think we’ll be fine.”
They moved inside, and found the others in the central chamber. McCally had set his rifle light to shine on where Galloway sat with his back to the wall while the corporal bandaged up his ankle. The scientist smiled thinly, but looked pale and tired, and close to dismay.
“We got your man put away in a safe place,” Wiggins said to him. “Yon beasties won’t be bothering him—or us.”
Galloway perked up a bit at that.
“Thank you. I felt bad leaving him there like that.”
“Aye, you and me both, sir. But as the cap said earlier, he’s one of us, and we don’t leave anybody behind.”
Waterston was sitting against the opposite wall of the chamber.
“That shooting… you got the wolves?”
“Most of them,” Banks replied, but didn’t elaborate. He turned to his men. “We need to take stock. We’ve got water, something to eat, and ammo. I need to know if we have anywhere we can set a fire in here without needing to open the door, but Galloway’s Alma survived in here without extra heating, so we should be fine in either case. I could murder a mug of coffee though.”
McCally smiled as he stood from tending Galloway’s wound.
“Way ahead of you there, Cap. We’ve got a wee stove, a kettle, and some cups, as well as some of the coffee from the plane. One strong brew, coming right up.”
They quickly discovered that the Alma sleeping area was the best-ventilated chamber in the structure, and were able to get a fire going using the bedding material and some dry wood they were able to forage from around the outside of the door. The smoke from the fire hung overhead and could be tasted at the back of the throat, but it seemed to be escaping slowly through the small crevasses in the roof, and it also did much to mask the enduring musky stench left by the Alma. A little smoke inhalation was a small price to pay.