When We Wake by Karen Healey

Author:Karen Healey
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780316200769
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2013-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

We Can Work It Out

“This was the place,” I said, staring at the screen. It was showing night-vision pictures of a bare asphalt parking lot, dusty offices upstairs, and a huge, concrete floor decorated only by a few huge scrap metal bins—also empty.

“Well, there’s nothing in there now. And the security’s totally minimal. It’s not what I’d expect to see at a secret facility.”

“Could it be some sort of loop? Could the cameras be showing us fake footage when there’s actually a whole ton of animals in there?”

“Animals?”

“It’s called the Ark Project,” I said. “My money’s on illegal animal testing of cryonic treatments, but I’m trying to keep an open mind.”

“I was thinking a gene bank of extinct animals that they’re exploiting for genegineered soldiers, but I might watch too many movies,” Bethari said. “To answer your question, no, there’s no loop; I’d know. What we’re seeing is the actual footage.”

“Why would there be surveillance cameras on an empty building?”

“To keep out squatters? I don’t know. It obviously belongs to someone. They might just check the feed every now and then.”

“I want to go inside.”

“Hacking the locks will be more difficult,” she said. “I’m not sure that—”

“Shhh!” I could hear the distinctive rumble of a truck approaching. The cats set up their screeching again, and we moved deeper into the alley.

Even back that far, we could hear the gates open.

“Tegan,” Bethari whispered. “Look!”

On the screen, the footage of the parking lot showed the gates opening and the truck driving in. The picture on the side of the truck declared it a humanure collector.

“This is not a compost treatment plant,” Bethari said.

“Holy crap,” I said as a man swung himself out of the passenger seat and dropped to the ground. “Bethari, can you get a close-up?”

She fiddled her fingers in the air. The camera zoomed in on the man’s face. I hissed.

“Do you know him?”

“That’s Colonel Trevor Dawson,” I said. “My keeper. And head of Operation New Beginning.”

“He’s not in uniform.”

That loose overall was definitely not approved army wear.

“Wait, what’s that?” I said.

Something was happening in the warehouse. One of the scrap metal bins was moving by itself, rolling away to reveal a large metallic rectangle set securely into the floor.

“A trapdoor?” Bethari said incredulously.

The rectangle rose. It was actually the top of an elevator, about the size of my underground bedroom, but we could only see the metallic back.

“The angle,” I said urgently.

“I’m trying, I’m trying. Okay, another camera in the corner… there.”

Two large containers were wheeled out of the elevator and into the yard, escorted by four people in equally nondescript black clothing. Dawson had opened the back of the truck and was saying something to one of the escorts, a tall woman with short brown curls.

“Can we get audio?”

“Um, if the cameras have mics, I can try a subroutine….” She did more magic with her fingers, but Dawson had stopped speaking. The only sounds were the grunts of the escorts and the scrape of the containers as they were gently slid into the back of the truck.

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