Bears of Burden: WYATT by Ayers Candace

Author:Ayers, Candace [Ayers, Candace]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Candace Ayers
Published: 2017-01-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

“You’ll do fine,” Robert patted Aubrey on the shoulder as they headed for the conference room.

“We still haven’t got the dragon specimens,” she reminded him. She stuck her trembling hands into her pockets. They were about to enter the weekly briefing conference. They would have to face their failure. They would have to face her father.

All the chairs around the table were full except Robert’s. This time Robert didn’t offer his seat to her. She sat in the chair by the wall.

“What about the new sample?” her father asked from the head of the table. Aubrey looked up.

“We, uh, still haven’t—” Robert started.

“You mean to tell me,” her father’s face reddened, “that I have the top two biologists in the country, in the whole damn country, and neither one of them can get a sample?!”

Her father rose, circled the table, towered over Robert.

“We—it—” Robert shrank into his chair. Raymond Moss leaned down toward him, placing one beefy hand on the table, the other on the back of Robert’s chair.

“Why don’t I have the damned samples?!” her father yelled, his face almost purple.

“It’s her. She’s—” Robert stuttered. Raymond turned on his daughter, eyes narrowing. She stared back, horrified, humiliated. She had though Robert was her friend. Now, he was turning his back on her.

“What about her?” he asked, glaring at Aubrey.

“The samples she’s giving me,” Robert said more confidently, shuffling through a file, “are completely inadequate. She’s wasted a week’s worth of testing. See, the blood sample here is too small. This one must have sat too long before she put it in the refrigerator. She been in there every day this week, and she hasn’t been able to get any dragon samples at all.”

“I knew you’d blow it,” Aubrey’s father spat, his face inches from hers. She tried to breath, tried to still her trembling hands, tried to hold back the tears that burned her eyes. “You have one more chance. If you can’t do this, I will fire you. I will make sure you never work as a biologist again. Now, go!”

Aubrey bolted out the door and ran to the locker room. Once inside, she leaned over the sink. She breathed in. She breathed out. She closed her eyes.

Don’t blow it, her father’s voice echoed in her mind. Then, another man’s words came to her mind. There’s nothing either of us can do except what we’re already doing.

With that thought, Aubrey splashed cold water on her face before drying it on a paper towel. Then, she stood straight and walked out the door, heading for the labs.

Aubrey was still working at ten o’clock that night. She had tested all the animals scheduled for testing on the day shift as well as the night shift. She had told Jeff, the guy who usually fed the animals on the night shift, to go home. She’d finish up for him. She had already fed most of them. Now, she stood beside a metal work table reading off the numbers for Bob’s food tray.

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