Tripp took one step closer to the bed, careful not to antagonize the woman. “Haloo?”
Her eyes opened the moment he called her name. She turned to him with a robotic movement and focused on his face. Her pupils were bright pink.
“Are you okay?” Tripp asked, cautiously.
“Tripp,” she whispered.
“Haloo. It’s me, Tripp. Are you okay?”
She burst out laughing and held her hand to her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry, Tripp.”
“Huh?”
“I’m feeling great,” she clocked Tor, Jaycee, and Wool. Aghast, they didn’t how to respond to the fact that their colleague was alive.
Tripp pointed out the obvious, “We thought you were dead?”
Jaycee lifted his gun and pointed it at her. “This is insane. She died right in my arms. Don’t go near her.”
Unmoved by Jaycee’s reaction, Haloo turned her attention to Jelly, who looked up at her from the ground.
“Ohh. I’m not dead,” she patted her lap, offering Jelly a hug, “Come on, girl. Come and give your auntie Haloo a cuddle.”
“Meow.”
Jelly hopped onto the chair, and then onto the bed itself. She confidently strode along the surface intending to take up Haloo’s offer of a hug.
“Meow.”
“Haloo? What are you doing?” Jaycee’s trigger finger grew restless. “It’s weird.”
“Mmm,” Haloo scooped the willing Jelly into her arms and planted her lips on her fluffy forehead. “You’re such a good girl.”
Wool blinked a few times, hoping she’d wake up from this bizarre daymare. It didn’t work – what she saw was very real indeed.
“Haloo?” Wool asked, sure that something bad was on its way, “Tell us what’s going—”
“—Mmm…” Haloo hugged Jelly as tight as possible and smiled at Tripp. Jelly loved every second of it. “She is a good little girl, isn’t she?”
“Okay, that’s enough.” Jaycee aimed his firearm at the sitting corpse. “You don’t just wake up from death like this, Haloo. We want answers.”
She giggled, enjoying how little the others seemed to understand. Suspense filled the room as a result.
“Oh, Jaycee,” Haloo swung her legs over the side of the bed, intending to stand to her feet, “Something fantastic is coming.”
CHAPTER SIX
Handax stormed across the metal veterinary walkway. The fluorescent bulbs emitted a white light that was initially blinding to those who’d never been inside before.
A distinct waft of something very familiar crept under his nostrils – like that of a hospital.
“Right, is this the place?” Handax turned to Moses’ guard. “Is it?”
“Yes, this is where they keep them.”
“Good,” Handax turned to Leif and Moses. “Now, no messing around. Once we’re in, we grab what we can. We’re looking for the release mechanism.”
“Release mechanism?” asked the first guard, who nearly soiled himself. “What are you going—”
“—Shut up,” Handax spat in the man’s face and removed his balaclava, “You don’t say a goddamn word, you hear me?”
“No, don’t show me your face.”
“Hey!” Handax grabbed the first guard’s chin and turned his face to his own. “Look at me. Remember my face, USARIC scumbag.”
“Okay.”
“We are going in there and doing what we need to do. Who’s in charge at Medix right now?”
“Wool ar-Ban.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Handax slapped the guard’s face and tightened the grip no his chin, “ar-Ban is on Beta along with the others. For the last time of asking, who’s in charge? Give me a name.”
The guard knew he had two options. He could tell his captor the name of Wool’s replacement, or head butt a bullet.
“Her name is Katcheena.”
“What a stupid name. How many people are in the compound?”
“I dunno, maybe twenty or thirty?”
“That many?” Handax pushed the man against the sliding door, “We need your palm print. Take your glove off.”
The guard did as he was told.
“Hanny?” Leif asked. “You want us to keep our guests, here, on display?”
“I want these two cowards front and center. Use them as body shields.”
“Oh, no…” the second guard burst into tears, “Please d-don’t—”
“—Hey! Stop crying,” Leif lowered her gun in an attempt to calm the man down, “As long as you do what we say, you’ll be fine.”
“B-But I d-don’t want—”
“—Bluergh, waaah!” Handax interrupted in severe mockery mode. “I don’t wanna die,” he finished and returned to his usual, venomous state. “Try telling that to the poor animals you bastards have locked up in there.”
Moses took this opportunity to play the hard man. “Yeah, shut the hell up.”
Handax turned to him. “Moses?”
“Yeah?”
“Be quiet.”
Handax turned to the first guard and grabbed his bare hand. “We good?”
“Yes.”
He grabbed the back of the guard’s hand and slammed his palm against the glass plate. The door flew open, inviting them inside the compound. Handax turned to Moses and Leif. “If they run, shoot them. I reckon we have about two minutes. Someone is bound to set off the alarm.”
“Let’s do it,” Moses jammed the barrel of his gun against the first guard’s head and walked in with him. Leif did the same with her guard.
Handax pulled his balaclava over his head and thumped the guard on his back. “Let’s go.”
Handax entered the room and took a look around. A vast laboratory, the size of a football stadium.
Dozens of medicians in white coats busied themselves at their computers to his immediate left. None of them saw him or his colleagues enter the compound.
To the right, a series of metal cages containing dozens of chimpanzees. Many of them hopped around and made a noise. The rest were asleep or covering their ears trying to get comfortable.
Dead ahead of them was the main console. A woman with red-rimmed glasses attended to the control bank. On the far wall behind her stood three doors.
USARIC medicians swarmed the place. It was hard to know where to start.
BLAM!
He fired a shot into the ceiling, startling everyone in the room. They turned in fright to see a masked Moses and Leif threatening to kill the security guards. “Good people, can I have your attention please?”
The medicians held their breath and threw their arms up in total and utter surrender. The woman with the red-rimmed glasses dropped her clipboard to the ground in shock. “Oh, my word.”
“Now, I know this looks weird,” Handax held out his arms and clutched his gun tighter than ever. “I can assure you we are not here to hurt anybody. In order to make sure none of you hit the alarm, I’m gonna need you all to get on the floor. Nice and slowly—”
The cheering and hollering from the caged chimpanzees threatened to overwhelm Handax’s statement.
“—Would you shut up, please.”
They wouldn’t shut up – they were chimps. If anything, the fact that a stranger had made contact with them exacerbated their excitement all the more.
“They’re chimpanzees,” said the woman with the red-rimmed glasses hit a button on the console. “Leave them alone.”
Pssscccchhhhh…
Handax swung his gun at the woman. “What did I just say?”
“It’s not an alarm, look,” she said, nodding at the chimp cages. A soft, pinkish gas emanated from the seams in the wall. One by one, the more excitable creatures slowed down and fell asleep. “I’m just quietening them down.”