It took Reese a moment to process the change of topic. “I wasn’t sure at first when we were on level three. I saw… well, you know what I saw.” He erased the thought with a wave of his hand. “It felt wrong.”
The colonel nodded like he’d expected the answer. “We’re in the process of identifying the bodies, and so far there’s no sign of those three guards.”
With the degree of mutilation, if they were there, they’d be lucky to get a good DNA sample.
“The two we can identify were attacked and killed inside the room.”
“You think the other guards are the unknown Anubis.” Reese was afraid to say it because what it meant if it was true.
“Three missing, three unknown Anubis that didn’t come from the facility. The odds sure don’t look promising. I have a feeling if they hadn’t encountered one of Koda’s betas, we might have never figured out what happened. And if the other betas had been taken, then we probably would have placed the blame on them.”
And Echols was the only person capable of altering codes and authorizing someone for level five access.
“Why would Dr. Echols do it?”
“I don’t know yet, but I brought in a whole group of people who are going to do their best to help fill in the blanks.”
“The other scientists.”
“Some of whom are forensic accountants, data experts, and terrorism analyst.”
“You sure that’s wise. If they figure out what was being done here, it could hit the media.” The SUV dipped, and the roar of the tires on pavement rose.
“It may be too late for that.” Harrington tapped the driver on the shoulder.
“Fifteen minutes, sir.”
“Make it ten.”
The needle on the speedometer jumped.
Harrington sat back. “The Police in North Carolina responded to a crime scene two nights ago.”
A lead weight settled in Reese’s gut.
“It’s been all over the local news. One of our people saw it and called us.” The crow’s-feet around Harrington’s eyes deepened. “So far there’s the mutilated remains of a man, evidence of one or more unidentifiable animals, and one missing person.”
*****
Luca pulled into a rest stop advertising showers. There were only a couple other cars in the parking lot, and the owners seemed more interested in the bathrooms and snack machines than stretching their legs around the grounds.
Nox didn’t wake up, so Luca pulled out the laptop and tethered it to the Bluetooth on one of the phones. He typed in Dr. Dante’s name and waited for the results.
The search engine compiled a list. Now it was a matter of determining what was relevant or clickbait leading him to the next cure for baldness.
Luca read articles, useless blogs, and a few scholarly journals until his eyes burned and his feet threatened to go numb.
“Hey.” Nox’s voice jerked Luca’s attention from the screen.
“Oh, hey.” Luca closed the laptop.
Nox leaned forward in his seat and looked around. “Where are we?”
“Rest stop.”
“How long did you drive?”
“Two hours.”