“You only need the code.”
“I’m guessing this isn’t a closet.”
“Gatekeepers.”
“The what?”
“The containment area cells on level five require a two-person authorization to open. Personnel with clearance have to key in their code at the door downstairs, then again at the cells. The guards make visual confirmation with the cameras, and they okay the door release.”
“I’m gonna need those numbers again.”
Reese recited the digits. There was a faint beep, and Jones signaled his men. They entered. This time they took longer, but the room was significantly larger than some of the labs. The guards took ten-hour shifts broken by a two-hour break, so the observation room had everything from a small kitchen, private bathroom, and even cots for them to take naps during their downtime. No less than four men were ever in the observation room, and every corner of the entire facility could be viewed on the internal cameras.
Jones exited the room and waved Reese over.
“Two inside. The bodies are intact for the most part.”
“What do you mean?”
Jones stepped aside. Reese walked in. Drag marks painted in blood led to the cot where one woman and one man had been laid out. A half-eaten doughnut sat beside a cup of coffee. Another cup lay beside the counter with the coffeemaker. Its contents had dried into a brown stain on the floor.
Reese made sure to angle the camera in his hood to put everything in the field-of-view for the colonel.
“Looks like they were caught by surprise,” Harrington said.
“Yeah, it does.” And that made no sense.
“Why would the subjects cut the throats on the guards but slaughter everyone else on that level?”
“They wouldn’t.”
“And the other guards?”
“At least two are missing. Three if they were fully staffed.”
Reese returned to the hall.
Jones and his men waited at the threshold of carnage between the nearly pristine alcove and the deployment area. “The freight elevator gate seems intact. I’m guessing there was no sign of damage up top?”
“No. No damage topside.” Harrington said.
Jones headed around the corner.
Reese remained at the door to the observation room.
“Dr. Dante.”
“Yes, Colonel.”
“Is there any reason three gatekeepers would have left their post?”
“No, sir. I mean, perhaps if they heard something out here and thought they could help but… There were no tracks from the outside where there are bodies to the inside of the room. I’m pretty sure those guards were killed before the people on the outside were or the perpetrator would have tracked blood into the observation room.” The only tracks leading from the site of carnage belonged to Jones’s unit and Reese. Not even the two personnel people at the freight elevator had left tracks. So either they’d stood over by the door while their colleagues were slaughtered and the killers didn’t see them, or they were already dead.
Two intact, at least a dozen destroyed beyond recognition. Then the ones on the upper level untouched.
And why so much mutilation? It was extreme even for the subjects. They were efficient killers and the personnel, even with armed guards to protect them, would have gone down before they could have incurred defensive wounds. But the people weren’t just killed, they were shredded.
Again, Reese stared at the two at the end of the hall.