Page 27 of Tracking the Alpha (Project Therianthrope #1)

Chapter Seventeen

Gas hissed from the vents, and there was little Barrett could do but curse as his limbs went limp and he slumped to the floor. He struggled to remain conscious, lambasting himself. He’d walked into a trap, and now, because he’d fucked up, he’d be a prisoner again.

When Barrett woke, face pressed to concrete, he assumed himself in his cell, only to realize he remained in the hallway for sublevel five.

He pushed himself to his knees and then unsteadily to his feet.

What happened? How long had he slept? Obviously not long or he wouldn’t still be in the corridor.

A glance showed Wendell passed out hard and drooling, but Freya twitched and stirred, mumbling in her sleep.

Had repeated dosages allowed them to acquire a resistance to the sleeping serum?

Did the why matter? He still had a chance, but he’d have to be careful because the fact someone turned on the gas meant someone was aware he’d infiltrated the operation.

He’d have to work fast, and for that, he needed help.

He staggered to Freya’s side and crouched to shake her by the shoulder. “Wake up.”

To his relief, she shook off the grogginess quickly at his touch and sprang to her feet with a snarl, ready to attack until she realized it was Barrett.

“What the fuck?” she asked as she glanced around with a frown. “How come we’re not in a cell?”

Barrett eyed the still-blowing vents. “I don’t know, but obviously someone wants to stop us.”

“And failed,” Freya crowed.

“We’re not free yet,” he murmured. A whirring noise drew his gaze to the elevator. “Someone’s coming up from the floor below us.” The one that Wendell claimed held those with the worst outcomes from the protocol. Fists clenched and ready, he and Freya watched as it rose past their level.

“Looks like we’re good for the moment,” he said, turning from the elevator to eye the corridor and the many doors. “But we shouldn’t waste time. Can you handle holding up Wendell to the scanners to free the others?”

“Yeah, why?”

“While you unlock doors, I’m going to check out that service shaft Wendell mentioned.

I want to make sure no one’s planning an ambush and see how well it will work as an escape route.

” He just needed Wendell’s face to open the access door first. Stupid electronic locks all over the place.

To ensure he didn’t get caught inside if the door shut, he wedged Wendell’s shoe to keep it open.

The vertical tunnel turned out to be a narrow concrete chimney with a C-shaped ledge and metal rungs embedded in the wall adjacent to the door.

The ladder went upwards but also dropped down a level.

Of more interest, the thick cables that ran inside the shaft.

Skinny ones that were mostly likely internet fiber optics and also thicker strands that he didn’t even have to touch to sense the hum of current.

Cutting them from this level would likely only disrupt power to the fifth and sixth sublevels.

“Sir?” Freya poked her head inside as she called out for him.

“What is it?”

“Idris, Phoenix, and Slater have been released. Idris is standing guard by the elevator, while Slater is opening the remaining doors. Freed Radley, too, but he’s refusing to come out of the cell. Keeps hugging his legs and rocking.”

“Tell him to snap out of it. We don’t have time for drama.”

“Will do.” Freya craned to look upwards. “Is that how we’re getting out?”

“Most likely. Wouldn’t want us to get trapped in the elevator if they shut off the power to it.”

“Not sure we should all be in one spot when we escape. Seems too easy to trap us.”

Barrett pursed his lips. “Good point. We should see about prying open the elevator entrance so we have a second option to climb.”

Something barked and snarled.

“What the fuck?” Freya glanced over her shoulder. “Gotta go. Looks like we found someone who’s cranky about wearing fur.”

One so far out of six. Not bad. Barrett had feared worse.

He glanced down where the supposed failures resided.

Did Wendell have a point about not releasing all the prisoners?

Barrett wanted to do the right thing, but that didn’t necessarily mean unleashing a menace upon the innocents who lived in the area.

Hell, letting them loose might put Barrett and those he freed in jeopardy.

After all, look at how rabid that coyote had been.

The situation reminded him of something a colonel once said when they were conducting a rescue mission.

Remember, you can’t save everyone, and it’s not selfish to want to live.

For the first time in months, living didn’t sound so horrible.

A new head poked into the shaft. “Captain, holy shit, it really is you.” Phoenix grinned, looking the same, if somewhat gaunt. “I knew you’d find a way to get us out of this shithole.”

“Sorry it took longer than expected.” Barrett climbed down until he stood on the ledge for level five.

“So, what’s the plan?”

“Don’t have one. Quick summary. We’re in a mini compound, as you already probably know. About a dozen soldiers total, with a possible five out of commission. Medical team numbers almost a half-dozen, including Wendell.”

“Who’s Wendell?”

“The guy whose face we’re using to open doors.”

“You mean the prick who likes to poke people with needles.” Phoenix’s gaze darkened, and his eyes flared amber, which was new. “I wonder how he’d like it if I poked him.”

“Revenge later. We need out of here, which means we could use any advantage we can muster since we have no weapons and I don’t know what kind of opposition we’ll encounter on the way out. It’s been a lot easier than expected thus far.”

“Not surprising with that few soldiers. Guess they figured their electronics were enough. Wonder how hard it would be to knock out the juice for all their cameras. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty good at seeing in the dark these days.”

“Me too. Turning off the lights could be to our advantage, as would be shutting down the elevator.” Barrett patted the bundle of thrumming cables. “I’m thinking if you find a way to cut these cables from the top it might disrupt everything below.”

“Your wish is my command.” Phoenix popped into the shaft and began climbing barefoot in only his pale green scrubs.

Barrett watched him for a second before glancing into the hall, where a stranger sat on the floor with a wolf in a headlock while Slater and Freya lay atop the wolf, which squirmed and growled.

They didn’t have time for this. Barrett stalked for the furry distraction and snapped, “I don’t know who you are, soldier, but you need to calm the fuck down. We’re here to help you.”

The eyes that turned on him had a wild light in them—and were familiar.

“Zendaya, you will stop your shit right now.” He didn’t use her last name and rank, choosing a more personal approach to try and reach the woman.

In reply, Zendaya turned her head and tried to bite Slater, who yelped as a tooth dragged across his arm, leaving a furrow. “Bitch!” he exclaimed.

“Let her go,” Barrett ordered.

“Are you sure, Captain?” Freya questioned.

“I’ll handle this. Let her go,” he repeated in a firm tone while pulling a utility knife from his pocket, the only weapon he’d managed to find while scouting.

Everyone scattered from the feral wolf. Zendaya stood, shook out her fur, and bared her teeth.

Barrett never once took his gaze from the wolf as he said, “Keep unlocking doors. I’ll handle Zendaya.”

“Yes, Captain,” Slater quipped.

“Are you in there, Zendaya?” Barrett asked.

Judging by the crazed gleam? No.

“What are you going to do? We can’t have her attacking us while we’re trying to escape and fending off the general’s forces,” Freya whispered. She’d stuck by his side, while Slater and the stranger grabbed a still-limp Wendell and followed orders.

“Agreed, plus there’s the fact that if she’s rabid, we can’t let her loose.”

“You’re going to kill her?” Freya squeaked before adding, “I guess it’s the most merciful thing you could do.”

“I’m not killing until I know she is well and truly gone.” Before Barrett could figure out what he should do, the wolf lunged. Only his speed allowed him to evade the snap of jaws and turn his defense into a counterattack. He slashed with the blade, opening a deep furrow across Zendaya’s flank.

As blood poured from the wound, Zendaya didn’t whimper, nor did the crazed gleam disappear. She attacked again, and this time, he managed to cut the tendon across her foreleg.

Zendaya collapsed. Bleeding. Grievously injured, and yet nothing happened.

Barrett crouched and watched as tremors shook Zendaya. She shuddered violently but remained a wolf.

“Come on,” he whispered. “I know you’re in there still.”

The body went limp as life left in a last exhale.

Barrett might have cursed himself for killing when he’d only meant to injure, but a new snarl had him whirling in time to see a tiger of all fucking things springing from a cell.

Unlike Zendaya, it didn’t attack but cocked its head and made a noise that could have been a question.

“Holy Tina the Tiger, I think that’s Takhi,” Freya announced.

“She’s the last one,” Slater announced, standing with the unknown man plus another male and female Barrett had never seen before. A wan-looking Radley stood in the doorway for his cell, hugging his upper body, looking pale and sickly. But at least he was moving.

Only Gage was missing of his section, dead because of the general. Including Barrett, there were eleven of them looking to escape. Better than expected.

“Okay, troop, I think it’s time to move out.”

“Captain, the elevator is on the move again,” Idris shouted, pointing to the flashing numbers of the descending cab.

“Everyone be ready,” Barrett stated as they rushed to flank the opening to ambush anyone that might emerge.

The elevator went past their floor back to B6.

“What the heck is down there?” Idris inquired. “Seems to be getting a lot of traffic.

“I dunno.” But Barrett planned to find out.

Phoenix suddenly appeared, looking concerned. “Captain, we have a problem.”

“What now?” Barrett held in an exasperated sigh.

“Bombs, sir.”

“What?” He couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Looks like bundles of C4 with timers. They’ve been placed at every level just under the ledges hidden by the cables. They must have activated while I was on the first level looking for something to cut the cables with.”

Barrett raked his hair. “How long do we have?”

“Just under eight minutes.”

“Fuck. Everyone move out,” he bellowed. “Follow Phoenix up the shaft.”

“What about Takhi?” Freya asked.

The tiger made a noise and padded for the wedged open door.

“If she can’t climb, help her.”

Seeing his people clustering around the exit, he worried they’d not have enough time to exit if they had to go single file.

“Wedge open the elevator doors,” he commanded. “We can climb up through there as well.”

It proved easier than expected to pry them apart, and soon everyone, even those he didn’t know, were climbing up the shafts, with those in the elevator using the cable. Dangerous if the cab suddenly came zipping back up.

“How much time left?” Barrett called out.

“Four minutes and still ticking,” Phoenix replied.

As the last of the rescues entered the shafts, Barrett followed, waiting his turn to climb the metal rungs. He glanced down.

“What’s up, Captain?” Freya asked, having hung back with him.

“I wanna see who’s on sublevel six.” Wendell had said only Dr. Levy and the general had access.

“We have only minutes to get out,” Freya reminded

“And assuming ten seconds per floor at most, I need only one of those minutes.”

As if Phoenix heard him—and maybe he did—he hollered from the top of the shaft. “I might be able to stop the bombs by cutting off the power going to them. I found an electrical panel. Don’t panic if it goes dark.”

Barrett eyed Freya. “Get everyone outside the walls just in case it doesn’t work.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be hopefully only a few minutes behind.”

“I should come with you,” Freya insisted. She’d always been one of the braver, more loyal soldiers in his section.

“No.”

“But, Captain?—”

“That’s an order.”

“Fuck your orders. I’m not a soldier anymore,” Freya sassed.

His lips curved. “You’re wasting time arguing. Get everyone to safety. I’ll be there with you before you have time to curse me out.”

Rather than climb, Barrett dropped down through the hole, bracing himself for the landing. The door on this side didn’t require a face to unlock. Much like emergency exits, the security only went one way.

He put his ear to the portal and listened. Heard a faint murmur of voices that seemed feminine. He cracked open the door, and her scent hit him.

Tanis.

She’s here!

Another smell hit him harder. One that raised the hairs on his body.

Danger.

As he bolted up the hall for the open doorway, the lights suddenly went out.

But of more concern than the guttural voice that said “Dinner,” was someone uttering a blood-curdling scream.