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Hunted

Page 68

by Arcadia Shield

“Keep checking. We don’t want any unwelcome surprises. That’s our only exit,” Cleo said.

“You got it, boss.” Ash headed back to the door.

“We’re in,” Georgia said.

“Let’s see what the Siblet are hiding down here.” Cleo scanned through the files listed on the screen. “There are reports on animal experimentations and the mutated creatures.” She clicked on a file marked shipping. Her stomach clenched as she read through the first file.

“What have you got?” Georgia looked up from her inspection of another computer.

“Details of orders placed for the poison.”

“Who hates us enough to do business with the Siblet?” Ash said from the doorway.

“Whoa! You really are unpopular,” Georgia said as she looked at the screen with Cleo. “There are dozens of orders. The Siblet have been spreading the word about their weapons.”

Ash growled softly. “Just because we bash heads and ask questions later, that doesn’t give anyone the right to poison us.”

“None of these orders have shipped. They’re all pending,” Cleo said. “But there are dates against all of them. The Siblet are planning to ship the first load of poison in three days’ time.”

“What about that file?” Georgia said. “The one marked Experiment Zero.”

Cleo opened the file. Her eyes widened as she scanned through the information. “Damn! They’re not just shipping poison. These assholes have taken orders and payment for their mutant beasts. And some of those have already dispatched.”

“Can you trace who placed the orders?” Georgia said.

Cleo nodded. “It’s all in here. Everything we need. The date of shipment, what was sent, and who received it. And the Siblet are getting rich off this.”

“Evil and rich. It’s the worst combination.” Ash continued to watch the corridor.

Cleo stepped back from the computer. “Georgia, make a copy of all of this. High Command has to see how big this operation is.”

“Already on it. It’ll take a while. I don’t want to miss anything important.”

“Grab it all. We can sift through it when we get back to the Apocalypse.” Cleo looked over at Ash. “How are we doing?”

“Still no company.”

Cleo rubbed her hands together. “We’ve got the Siblet. We have everything we need to prove this was a coordinated plan, and they’ve been selling off the poison and the animals to anyone wealthy enough and dumb enough to take a risk.”

“The Siblet are going down,” Ash said, a gleeful note in his voice.

After another half an hour of searching through the files and downloading all the data, they left the bank of computers and continued back along the corridor.

Cleo smiled. She’d forgotten how amazing it felt to be in the field. It would have been perfect if Hunter was with her.

“Hold-up a minute.” Ash raised a hand. “There’s blood on the ground.” He knelt and ran his fingers over the dirt. “Whoever was here, put up one hell of a fight.”

Cleo spotted smears of blood and torn up rock. Her head whipped around as she heard a small scuffle.

She crept toward a pile of rocks and peered behind them. “Oh! It’s a silver rodent.”

The creature backed away, a tiny whimper coming out of its mouth.

Cleo knelt and held out a hand.

“What have you got?” Ash strode over.

“Nothing dangerous. At least, it’s not dangerous unless it gets angry. This is a silver rodent. They’re mainly harmless, but they have bone spurs that jut from their paws. They usually use them for display, or to warn off other males. But when their back is against the wall, they’ll use them as weapons.” Cleo leaned closer. “And from the mess on this little guy’s paws, he’s recently used his spurs. There’s blood all over him, but I don’t see any injuries.”