To his benefit, Perry knew how to manipulate people in order to get his way. It was this ability that allowed CERTA to maintain operations so undisclosed from not only society, but from the government that was supplying it.
Perry rubbed his temples. The pressure from the helicopter hadn’t yet subsided, and he was suffering from a headache, making him even more intolerable. The lab doors swung open and in walked Rick Danner. Danner was Head of Security at CERTA and had been with the company since its inception. He was a brute of a man and, upon first impression, his rippling muscles and short-cropped hair gave him the appearance of a meathead. However, Rick Danner was ex-Delta Force. He was strong, intelligent and infamously stubborn. He had been handpicked by Dr. Perry to lead security at CERTA.
“Dr. Perry.” Danner shot out a greeting to Perry, even though he knew it was useless. Perry was visibly angry.
“Rick, I want to know what happened,” Perry said in a firm but controlled tone. “I don’t want any excuses about protocol either. I want you to tell me what went wrong, and then I want you to tell me what you’re going to do to fix the mess you’ve made.”
Danner instantly became uncomfortable. The entire lab floor was listening in on his scolding and he wasn’t used to being the one getting the lecture. “I assure you that we are already taking necessary action to resolve the situation and make sure we cover our tracks,” Danner said as his eyes darted around.
Danner’s expression appeared pained, though it was hard to tell this particular expression from his others. His usual look was a wincing, sun-in-the-eyes stare, similar to Clint Eastwood’s coined grimace. Danner stared straight at Dr. Perry through narrowed eyes. He spoke slow and steady — as he always did.
“Please,” Danner said and gestured towards the hallway. “If you follow me over to the enclosures I will show you exactly what happened.” Danner was doing everything he could to divert his public admonishment over to a more private location.
“I’m following, Rick — go,” Perry demanded.
Danner led Dr. Perry out of the floor lab and down the long hallway. They paced down the outer corridor under the rows of pale, fluorescent lights towards the enclosure — also known as the “den”.
CHAPTER 5
Rick Danner touched his keychain to the receiver and the door hissed open. He and Dr. Perry stepped inside. Danner flicked on the switch that controlled the interior lights of the den. The two men watched as the lights flickered and sputtered to life. Soon the entire room was illuminated.
The enclosure, or den as they referred to it, was a large room with four containment factions on either side. The factions were ten by twelve foot stalls separated by concrete walls. The face of each faction was a double-reinforced, transparent sheet of ballistic glass that ran from the floor, up fourteen feet, to an exposed ceiling. A door was etched into the glass of each faction, held firmly in place by a large locking mechanism that ran the length of the door.
The entire room surrounding the factions had forty-foot walls that reached high up to a transparent A-frame ceiling. The A-frame was a series of crisscrossed beams that suspended a long scaffold walkway. This was used as an access platform to the retractable ceiling panels above it. The room was impressively designed. The whole ceiling acted as a giant skylight. Even with the ominous towering walls all around, there was some comfort in the view from above. Large Koa trees swayed high above the building, stretching their limbs out and creating a protective canopy high above the facility. Their shadows danced across the floor of the den and over Dr. Perry and Rick Danner.
Massive cables ran down from the roof and led to the control room adjacent to the den. These cables piped in solar power from the exterior roof and delivered it to the control room. The entire CERTA complex was 87 % powered by solar electricity alone — a fact Dr. Perry never ceased to mention whenever entertaining guests. He was determined from the start on utilizing the strong Hawaiian sun to fuel their efforts. Perry was a strong proponent of solar power technology, another reason why he chose to base CERTA in Hawaii.
Danner made his way to the middle of the den. His boots clicked against the concrete floor and the sound echoed through the big room as he walked. Dr. Perry followed close behind him, still agitated, wearing the signs all over his face.
“There,” Danner said pointing a finger up towards the right corner of the a-frame ceiling. “She got out through panel #18, used the scaffold as a jumping point, then out through the window.”
Perry squinted his eyes and stared up toward the corner of the ceiling where Danner was pointing. He noticed the pane missing from panel #18, a four-by-four-foot square of glass was completely gone. “You mean she got out — through that?” Perry asked.
“Wouldn’t believe it unless I saw it,” replied Danner.
“You watched her escape?”
“No. We captured it on the security camera.
“How on God’s earth did she get up there?” Perry asked, seemingly astounded.
“Come on, I’ll show you,” Danner said and directed Perry away.
Danner and Perry walked out of the den and entered the control room. They made their way to the back of the room where a wall of monitors displayed various scenes of activity going on all around the facility. One screen showed the front of the building, another showed the interior of the front lobby. A large monitor, placed directly in the middle, showed the scientists working in the lab. A few others showed an access door, kitchen and a training room. There were eight screens in all. Danner punched in a few commands and pulled up the footage on the big screen. The screen displayed a wide-angle view of the den at night. The footage was shot in hi-definition night vision, causing the picture to glow bright green and bathe the two men in fluorescence as they studied the screen intently.
The picture was still. There was no movement in the den. The time was displayed in the bottom right corner.
4:32AM
The footage rolled along.
The picture stayed the same — an empty room as seen from a camera placed high on the wall. It peered down into the den showing an elevated perspective of the large room and peeking down ever so slightly into each faction. Then suddenly a dark figure appeared in the right corner of the screen. It appeared quick, like film footage missing a frame — showing instantly. The figure was standing on top of faction #2. It was shaking slightly — appearing to be gathering it’s footing as it balanced on top of the wall.
“How did it ge…” Perry stopped.
What happened next prompted Perry’s eyes to open wide in astonishment. He reached out and grabbed onto the chair beside him, as if his legs were giving out.