“Then what?” Gray asked.
I exhaled a deep breath. “Then we break into the lab tonight and free the animals. Just like Barbie suggested.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Lexi
The air in the penthouse felt electric. Not panic, not excitement. Just intense focus. We’d already crossed the moral line. The break-in was happening. Now we needed a case strong enough to bury Tango Bio when the dust settled.
There was no time to waste, so I took a breath and started assigning roles. “Okay, guys. We’ve only got a few hours. We’re using every one of them.”
Everyone looked at me.
“Barbie, you’re building the legal kill shot. Reach out to every animal welfare contact you have. Advocacy groups, former inspectors, and whistleblower networks. See who is willing to help us bring down the lab. Also, I want confirmation that Tango Bio isn’t registered with APHIS. I need documentation that proves it. If we walk out of this with the animals and evidence, we need a federal hammer waiting to drop.”
Barbie nodded immediately. “I can get three organizations moving in the next ten minutes. If Tango Bio isn’t registered, I’ll give you a paper trail that will prove it.”
“Technically, I’ve already checked, and they aren’t registered,” I said. “I just need you to make it official, if you know what I mean.”
She nodded grimly with understanding. “On it. And I’ll see who’s on board to ready that federal hammer.”
“Excellent. Angel and I will handle the lab security for tonight,” I continued. “Cameras, door controls, and alarms. We’ll loop some camera footage to keep things safe, but we’ll also create a clean timeline. When Barbie goes in, the system will swear nothing happened.”
Gray let out a low whistle. “That’s impressive.”
“That’s cautious,” I corrected.
“Who’s Angel?” Barbie interrupted.
“My little sister,” Gwen said. “She’s a teenage hacker, but don’t let her age fool you. She’s really good at what she does.”
“Technically, Angel is a computer security expert who happens to have the knowledge and skills that would make her an excellent hacker if she elected to go over to the dark side,” I countered.
“Semantics,” Gwen said and I rolled my eyes.
I pointed at Gray and Basia. “You two get to purchase a white lab coat for Barbie and a GoPro camera. I need one of the high-performance models with real-time live-streaming capabilities.” I rattled off a couple of the models that would work, and Gray jotted it down on her phone. “I’ll also need a head mount for it. Ask the salesperson if you need help. Just make sure it’s something stable. I need eyes inside the building so I can guide Barbie through the lab. I’ll download the required app for it and make sure both Angel and I have it installed.”
Basia blinked. “We’re buying espionage equipment now?”
“We’re buying sporting goods,” I clarified. “They just happen to be multipurpose.”
Barbie looked around the table, impressed despite herself. “You guys have done this before.”
“Not exactly this,” I said. “We tend to make it up as we go along.”
Gwen raised a hand. “What’s my assignment?”
“Communications. Earbuds, phones, etc. We’ll need everything charged, ready to go, and in sync.”
“I can do that,” Gwen said.
For a moment we just looked at each other, and then Barbie flipped a page in her notebook. “Okay, let me make sure I understand what we’re building here,” she said, tapping her pen to the paper. “We’re not just rescuing animals tonight. We’re also documenting an illegal lab operating without local, state, or federal oversight.”
“Correct,” I said.
“So, that makes it even better that it’s me going in, since I know what to look for and how to build the best case against them. By the way, since Tango Bio is not receiving federal funds for research, they aren’t subject to the Public Health Service Policy regulations that require companies to follow rigorous federal guidelines regarding vertebrate animal testing. However, if they were legally working on vertebrate animals, there would be a paper trail with both the state and feds. The good news is I’ve confirmed Tango Bio Research Solutions is not registered with them.”
Basia frowned. “That’s good news…how?”
