Riley turned to his team. "T-bone, you go back with the doctor. When we hear the bird coming in, I'll send someone down to that open area to meet you and guide you back to wherever we're at." He pointed at his senior weapons man, Trovinsky. "Mike, check out that area where the collars were and see if you can find the monkeys' tracks leading away."
Trovinsky walked over to the bush, and Ward and T-bone took off to the east. Riley waited until they were out of sight before he turned to Freeman. "What were you two arguing about, sir? This whole thing is getting kind of flaky."
Freeman shook his head. "It doesn't make much sense to me either. That's what I was talking to Doctor Ward about. We don't know whether the monkeys escaped or if they were stolen. Who would have done that and why they would still be in the area, I don't know."
"Maybe one of those radical animal rights groups did it," Doc Seay suggested. "When I was going through the med lab portion of the Q-course at Bragg, some of those people tried to break in and free the goats we were using to study wound trauma."
Freeman shook his head. "The presence of monkeys at this lab is classified, as is everything that goes on there. I doubt if any animal rights group could have found out about it. Regardless, if you see the monkeys, you're authorized to shoot to stop them from escaping. Attempt to detain any people if they are involved."
Riley addressed the team standing around him. "I want everyone to lock and load. A round in the chamber and the weapon on safe. Like the man said: You see the monkeys and they try to get away, you shoot and stop them."
The air filled with the sound of magazines slamming into weapons and the slap of bolts being released.
Trovinsky yelled from his position, about ten meters behind the bush. "I've got tracks moving upstream. Same as the ones going in."
Riley led the team over. "Any sign of human tracks?"
Trovinsky shook his head. "Nothing. With the rain we had last night, there should be some sign if people were with the monkeys."
Riley gestured for the men to spread out in a wedge. "Let's move out."
Following Trovinsky, the team began moving up the east side of Williams Hollow Creek.
After reaching the dirt road, Ward had turned south, heading down to Route 64 and then following that up to the lab. Going that way instead of cross-country had saved a considerable amount of time. Ward had ignored the few questions that the Special Forces soldier asked when they first started out, and the rest of the trip had been made in silence. He was busy thinking, trying to figure out how the collars could have been cut off. He had to acknowledge the growing possibility that someone had survived the break-in. It would explain several of the more unusual factors they'd discovered so far. But the Synbats must have gotten away from that person, since there were no human tracks where they'd found the collars. But if no humans were present, how were the collars cut off?
Ward was still grappling with that problem when they turned into the lab parking lot. Two plain white vans with government plates had joined the other three vehicles there. The vans were unmarked and had tinted windows in the front, preventing him from looking in the vehicles. Ward told the soldier to stay with the helicopters and he entered the building.
Merrit was still at her position behind the counter. A tall man wearing unmarked khaki pants and shirt was with her. Ward didn't recognize the stranger. The man had dark hair flecked with gray, and a patrician face. His bearing and stance immediately suggested to Ward that this man was military. Merrit and the stranger turned from the portable computer and faced Ward as he strode in.
Merrit stood up and gestured. "Doctor Ward, this is Mister Lewis. He's — "
The man interrupted in a voice accustomed to command. "That's Colonel Lewis. I'm the DIA chief of CONUS security. I just flew in from Washington to Fort Campbell by military flight along with my team and our vans. My men are downstairs right now sweeping up."
Ward wondered what Lewis meant by "sweeping up." But he didn't have time to waste — he needed to get back out into the woods.
Ward stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you. You'll excuse me if I don't have time to talk with you right now. I have to get our tranquilizer rifles and go back out."
Lewis didn't shake the offered hand. "Slow down, Doctor. I thought the creatures were terminated by remote detonation."
"We did do that, but we just found the collars out in the woods and no bodies. It looks like the collars were somehow cut off prior to detonation. The Synbats are still alive. The soldiers and your man Freeman are tracking them. Now, if…"
Ward paused. Four men carrying a body bag pushed open the doors to the corridor and walked by with their bundle.
Lewis watched as the two men went outside and threw the bag into the back of a van. One of the men got into the pickup truck and the two vehicles drove off. Lewis turned his attention back to Ward. "Doctor Merrit has filled me in on what she knows. Perhaps you'd better give me your version, and then tell me what's presently going on out there in the woods."
Ward shook his head. "I've got to get back out there. The — "
Lewis held up a hand. "Doctor, let me explain something to you. This may have been your lab but I'm in charge here now. You've got a fuckup on your hands and my job is to clean up the mess. Freeman knows to kill those things if he spots them. In fact, he made a mistake by even allowing you to think we'd let you tranquilize them. Those things have already killed. If they attack some civilian, it will make the situation that much worse. Just their existence being discovered is unacceptable."
The colonel poked a finger in Ward's chest. "Listen closely. This is the way it's going to work from here on out. I've already explained it to Doctor Merrit. I ask the questions. You give the answers. I tell you what to do. You do it without question."
He stared hard at Ward. "If you have a problem with that, you can pick up the phone and call General Trollers. Let me warn you before you do that, though, that you're not a very popular person with the general right now. Congress is looking to kill the Black Budget programs, and your screwup here could hand them the scalpel they need."
"This wasn't my fault," Ward defended himself. "Those people — whoever they were — broke in and tried to steal the Synbats. The security — "
"Those people," Lewis interrupted, "were three convicts from Eddyville State Prison who escaped last night. We have a positive ID on the remains. We're holding that information from the local authorities because they're our ace in the hole in case your creatures do some more damage out there in the real world. Those bodies not being discovered gives us a very convenient cover story."
Ward seemed stunned. "But what about the security guard?"
"I don't know about that yet," Lewis admitted. "Those convicts had to have gotten down here from Eddyville somehow. Maybe they had someone else with them. I don't know. I've got people checking on that right now.
"We haven't had a chance to analyze everything yet, so we don't know what happened, but we'll worry about that when we get this thing under control."
Lewis sat on the edge of the desk. "Now. That helicopter isn't going anywhere until I say so. And I'm not going to say so until I know what's happening. So. Fill me in."
Kentucky State Trooper Mike Truscott had his service revolver lying in his lap ready for use as he slowly cruised down the road. The manhunt for the escapees from Eddyville was concentrated along the interstate, but Truscott had been detached to check out the area in the vicinity of the Land Between the Lakes. All morning he'd cruised the entire length of the Trace, the road running up the middle of the LBL, and now he was moving east, closer to the suspected path of the escapees. People in the local area were very nervous, because two of the three escapees — Billy Hill and Chico Lopez — were convicted murderers.