Return of the Fallen by Rita Vetere

Author:Rita Vetere
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Published: 2011-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Biodome Industries, Upstate New York

Jared’s limousine pulled up to the security gates of the sprawling steel and glass facility that housed his corporation, Biodome Industries. The massive research center was situated on fifteen acres of prime land, enclosed by a twenty-foot-high electric fence and patrolled by security officers and guard dogs.

Jared was big on security. Every employee at Biodome, right down to the cleaning staff, had undergone rigorous investigation before being hired. The research scientists in his employ were among the best in the world. But those scientists who worked eight floors below ground in the specially constructed laboratory were the only ones Jared visited regularly, the real reason he made his trips to Biodome. Those men were not only scientists but trusted members of the Order as well.

The driver flashed his ID at the guard and rolled the rear window down to reveal his passenger.

“Good morning, Mr. Crow,” the man said and pressed a button. The mechanical gate slid open and the limo entered the compound.

They drove along a concrete road, which forked halfway to the facility. There the driver took the fork to the left and pulled the limo in front of the south lobby.

“I’ll be about an hour,” Jared said to the driver before he exited the car.

Inside the lobby, a woman sat at a desk behind a wall of bullet-proof glass. She smiled broadly at Jared and activated the scanner, the only means by which entry could be gained to this section of the building. Jared remained still as the machine scanned him from head to foot. A mechanical buzz sounded, followed by a click as the locking mechanism on the single-entry door released. Jared stepped through and walked past the woman to a polished corridor that housed a single elevator. The doors pinged open as soon as he pressed the button then he rode the lift eight floors down. On exiting, he passed through yet another sensor.

Murmurs of “Good morning, Mr. Crow” and other words of greeting reached him from both sides of the room as he made his way down the center aisle to a single steel door at the rear of the floor. He rapped lightly on the metal. A second later, a section of surface slid back, and Jared allowed himself to be viewed by a security guard on the other side. The locking mechanism on the door released and Jared stepped inside the laboratory. As he crossed the threshold, the door hissed mechanically behind him, sealing shut.

Joseph Wurther, a high-ranking member of the Order and the scientist who headed Project Atlantis, appeared at his side. He looked at Jared through the lenses of his black horn-rimmed glasses. His trousers bore a razor-sharp crease and his gray hair was meticulously cropped and groomed.

“Morning, Jared.”

They walked over to three tubular glass constructions, each of which stood approximately twenty feet high. All three contained thick, rose-tinged fluid, within which grossly misshapen forms floated. The life forms displayed human characteristics, but were hideously deformed, no more than crude lumps of flesh that ended in malformed and twisted appendages.

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