Page 35 of Yankee in the Wind

Lilly was nervous, though she tried not to show it. She held a gun in her hand that she hoped she didn’t have to use. Jack had given her a brief lesson in handling a gun, but she knew she was woefully inexperienced and had no idea if she would freeze when presented with a situation where she had to fire it.

Ace and Jack were equally armed. Both carried Glocks, and according to Jack, they were both expert marksmen.

She found comfort in that thought.

Together, they silently approached the building. There were windows on the side that faced the street, but they were too high up, and prevented them from looking into the building’s interior. As they walked to the large door that appeared to be the main entrance, Lilly stayed behind Jack. When they stopped next to it, she peeked past Jack and saw that Ace had pulled out a listening device from the bag slung across his torso. He put a finger over his lips, cautioning them to remain silent, and placed the device against the door and leaned in, listening.

A moment later, he removed it, and whispered, “Not a sound inside, not even that of any machines.”

“Okay, I’ll deal with the lock. Cover me,” Jack said and pulled out some tools before he started working the lock.

“All clear from the skies,” Fox said into their ears. “Still no activity.”

“Got it,” Jack said and stepped away from the door. Then he turned to Lilly. “Stay back until we give the all clear.”

She nodded.

Then she watched them as they covered each other, their guns drawn, before Ace opened the door, and Jack rushed inside. Ace followed, and a moment later, she heard Jack whisper in his microphone, “All clear. Nobody here.”

Surprised at how quickly Jack and Ace had been able to determine that nobody was inside the large building, she peeked inside. Ace and Jack held flashlights in their hands and Lilly followed the beams of light.

The place was empty, not just devoid of people, but completely empty. Not a single piece of equipment, not even any trash was left in the warehouse.

Whatever had been here at the time Thomas had made the recording, it was gone now.

“Shit,” Jack cursed.

“Looks like we’re too late,” Ace added.

Lilly pulled out her own flashlight and began to shine it along the walls and floor.

“It’s a bust,” Jack said and turned around.

But Lilly couldn’t give up. She knew what it meant to move a lab or a medical facility. She’d done it once before when Delta Labs had outgrown their earlier facility, and knew that no move ever went without a hitch.

“They must have left something,” she said, and moved her flashlight yard by yard in a square pattern. “You can’t move all that equipment and those supplies without something breaking or falling.”

“It’s empty,” Ace said, “let’s go.”

“Let’s look around some more, just in case,” Jack said with a reassuring look at Lilly.

Just then, something on the floor reflected the beam of her flashlight. “There.”

She rushed to it and crouched down.

Jack and Ace were by her side in an instant, both shining their flashlights on the shiny item that was less than half an inch square.

“What is that?” she asked.

“Looks almost like an insect,” Ace mused.

“It’s a microdrone,” Jack said. “I’ve read about them. They’re being used to administer micro-toxins.”

Lilly shot him a look. “You mean to poison people, like the Kremlin does to their political opponents?”

“Exactly,” Jack said.

“If it was used to administer a toxin, there might still be traces on it. I can test for it,” Lilly said.