Page 11 of Captive Beta

The light in the first room is on and people move around inside, their shadows easy to track through the window. The windows are too high to see any of the kids, but a second room had light for a while, before being turned off and I don’t hear any of the kids’ voices anymore.

I suspect that they put the kids in the second room, maybe to sleep or simply to keep them out of the way. The three adults in gear didn’t look particularly happy to be around the kids, so they probably don’t want them around if they can avoid it.

That’s good for me though, because it means that I won’t have to worry about the kids seeing anything. One less problem to deal with.

Since I don’t know if the kids are going to stay here long-term or if they’re only waiting here for a short time before being picked up, I have to move quickly.

I can’t wait for Caleb and the others, the kids and my mate could be moved before they’re here. So I have to do this on my own.

I might have cursed the early morning workouts and all the shit that Derrick put me through since we joined Mathew, but I’ve picked up some new skills and I’ve gained quite a bit of extra muscle. Which means that I’m much better prepared than I’ve been before, so I better put that to use.

After a long steadying breath, I slip my gun and my knife from their sheathes.

I slip closer to door, but stop when it opens and one of the geared up adults comes out. Their caustic chemical pheromones make me uneasy.

This isn’t my mate. Good.

That makes things easier.

The people inside are quiet as the man outside starts to type out something on his phone, not paying attention to his surroundings.

Bad move.

I slip from between the containers, my shadow falling on him for a moment and he looks up. He seems surprised to see someone, but that doesn’t last long as I first cut one of the arteries in his crotch, making him buckle, before I cut his throat.

He makes a sound and I hear movement inside.

Crap.

Better move quickly!

6

Mathew

The map of the research complex that we got our hands on was very accurate, down to the details of the visibility angles of the cameras. We’ve just reached the point of no return in the mission without any problems.

Before now, if we were found out or if there was some other problem, we could still retreat. But from here on out, if we get into trouble, we’ll push through and complete the mission as best as possible. We’re now too far onto the complex to retreat in any orderly fashion. So, if we’re in trouble, we’ll probably have to fight our way out.

Something we’re hoping to avoid, of course.

But the mood definitely changed when Timothy confirmed that all the teams had reached their point of no return destination. My team is the one going into the building with the labs to grab the samples. The others are positioned so that they can stop anyone who might try to interfere.

Once I —or anyone else in charge— gives the sign, nobody will be able to get into or out of the complex, and all bets are off on how that’s achieved. We prefer to not do it that way, because it only brings more problems, but we will do it if we have to.

Causing as much chaos as possible to hide our tracks if shit hits the fan is usually the easiest way to get out of trouble, and to stop people from looking into things too much.

The police are much less likely to investigate when they think it’s some inter-organisation struggle, or two underground companies trying to take each other out. If we do our job correctly, and Derrick’s plans in that regard have never failed us before, nobody will ever think to look in our direction.

At the start of the mission, Riley seemed to have a moment where she went into solo mode, but it hasn’t happened since. It was comforting to watch her instinctively protect our team, that she was so ready to take those guards out if they made so much as a peep.

But taking them out would have meant aborting the mission, as that would reveal our presence much too early. Guards not returning from their fifteen minute round is kind of suspicious…

From now on, things are going to get tricky.

We’ve got to get into the building, which isn’t the complicated part, yet. After that, I’ve got to get to the right lab and then steal the samples. I have no idea where they’re stored, but I’ve only got a few minutes to figure it out and get the hell back out of there.

Inside the building are a combination of cameras and guards who are walking around.

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