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Then she heard voices. Male voices. It seemed like two or three. She dragged herself toward them.
“I’ve scheduled the vivisection for nine tomorrow morning.”
“Good. No use delaying the procedure longer than we have to. Especially with that damn alpha leader sticking his muzzle where it doesn’t belong.”
“He’ll be on the warpath already. Too bad we can’t do it tonight.”
“The stakeholders won’t arrive until tomorrow, so we have to wait. She’ll be fine overnight. The doctor gave her a relaxant. It won’t put her out or taint her neuro-reaction time tomorrow, but it will keep her from panicking.”
“Where did they put her?”
“Right across from Surgery One. They will just wheel her bed in when we’re ready.”
“Perfect.”
The voices stopped. Nora heard a door open and close. She pressed the mic button and whispered into the speaker. “I found the right area. Look at the GPS.”
Logan spoke back. “Hold your position. Can you see Hannah?”
“If I crawl farther, I’ll cross a hall. Maybe she’ll be over there.”
Nora heard Hudson. “Okay, be careful. See if you can reach her. Tell her to be still. Tell her we are coming for her.”
“I will. Over.”
Nora began crawling once more. A few feet forward, she looked down an adjoining pipe and spied low light coming through a vented enclosure. The rest of the rooms had been dark since most of the occupants were probably gone for the day.
She wiggled into a position to see down into the room. Sure enough, it was little Hannah, curled up on a cot, quietly sobbing. The sight broke Nora’s heart. Hannah didn’t even have her stuffed animal bear as a comfort.
“Psst. Psst.” Nora hissed. “Psst.” A little louder this time.
Hannah finally raised her head off the pillow and looked all around the room.
“No, here. Up here, sweetie. It’s me. Nora. Up here,” the nurse whispered.
Hannah looked up and beamed a bright smile at her nurse. She opened her mouth as if to speak.
Nora panicked and spat out a warning. “No. Stay silent. Stay still. Hudson is coming to rescue you. Don’t look at me anymore in case they have a camera on you. Just lie back and close your eyes. We’ll be with you soon. We promise nothing bad will happen to you. Hang on, sweetie.”
Hannah nodded, smiled again, and did what she was told. Nora watched Hannah fall back on the pillow and close her eyes.
Nora clicked her mic again. “I’ve found her. Mark this spot on the monitor.”
“Stay put,” Hudson said, “We’re coming in.” The earbud went silent. She let out a sigh. She had the easy part. But once again, the waiting would kill her.
She wondered if there was an exit of some kind nearby. When the guys created their distraction, maybe she could smuggle Hannah out before anyone knew she was gone.
Nora crawled back to the T-shaped intersection so she could look farther down the ducts. It took some effort. She was red in the face. But she kept pushing. She crawled farther along the original shaft, looking down each intersection for lights.
Faint voices carried to her from an opening ahead. A light snapped on in the room below, illuminating a small swath of metal vent, and she froze in place.
“… eliminated all of this had we got her and that Alpha Hudson on the plane. Sure, vivisection is better. But we could’ve dissected her and her parents in one go, and I could take next week off.”
“There’s nothing we can do about it now. The girl’s parents are toast. She’ll be toast before noon tomorrow. And you can still go on vacation. Concerning that Hudson asshole, all we’ll have to do is execute a home invasion and gun him down before he shifts. Then that will lead us to the rest of the clan.”
Nora listened as the men chortled. Her rage simmered, but she couldn’t make a sound and give herself away. It was all she could do not to pop the vent grate off and kill the doctors with her bare hands.
“Come on,” one of the voices said. “Let’s get out of here. I’m tired of not breathing fresh air.” The lights switched off, and a door closed. She let out a sigh and pressed her mic button. “ETA?”
