Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Lexi
The drive north to the lab was quiet because we were all thinking the same dangerous thing while pretending we weren’t. Gwen didn’t even insist on playing her music, which I was exceptionally grateful for.
Sunday morning traffic thinned as Atlantic City fell behind us and the roads narrowed into long stretches of pine forest and scrub. Barbie rode in the back seat, sandwiched between me and Gwen. Her arms folded across her stomach and her sunglasses were still on despite the gray sky.
“You’ll want to park off the access road,” she said at last.
“Am I close?” Gray asked.
“Yes,” Barbie replied, leaning forward in the seat and pointing. “Stay alert. It’s right there.”
Gray spotted it and turned, driving a little way before slowing and pulling into an empty gravel lot marked by a weathered hiking sign.
It was a good place to leave the car, since it would permit us to park and not be visible from the main road.
And, if anyone did spot us, they would likely assume we were just hikers.
Since the trail ran around the back of the lab, we could follow it for easy movement.
When we stepped out of the car, the wind hit us hard, cold, and sharp. November brutal. I immediately zipped my jacket to my chin and adjusted my laptop bag over my shoulder.
Basia wrapped her arms around herself and turned around and got back in the car. “Nope. I’m staying here.”
“Wise decision. It’s a good idea to have someone stay with the car anyway,” I said.
Gray got back in the car and restarted it. She handed the fob to Basia, who dropped it in the cup holder. Teeth chattering, Basia held her hands out in front of the blowing heater. “Thanks, Gray.”
“Keep a window cracked,” Gray instructed. “Doors locked and heater on. If anything feels weird, leave immediately and call the authorities.”
Basia raised an eyebrow. “Copy that. I promise to stay warm, aerated, and judgmental.”
I snorted before I could stop myself. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one thinking Gray had started to talk and act like a bit like Hands.
“Very funny,” Gray said, but I saw a smile cross her face. She didn’t seem to mind.
We left Basia and the car and headed down the trail. Barbie walked beside me. “So, what’s the laptop for again?” she asked, motioning to my bag.
“I’m going to observe their security system via their Wi-Fi and hopefully determine how easy it might be to get access to their internal network.”
We continued down the trail, pine needles crunching underfoot. A few minutes later, there was a break in the trees, and we were able to spot the lab about fifty yards away.
As the satellite view had shown me, it was a rectangular, two-story building with broad windows along the front and sides.
Dark siding and nondescript. But security looked tight.
From the front right of the building, I saw a chain-link fence topped with looping barbed wire that surrounded the perimeter.
Security cameras were positioned at the visible corners to monitor the fence line and interior yard.
I followed the fence line with my eyes and spotted the electronic gate near the parking lot. It was industrial, reinforced, and the kind that clicked and locked tight. The same kind of gate Ginger must have slipped through the day she found us. The fence had several NO TRESPASSING signs on it.
“Let’s get a look at the back,” I said.
We moved farther along the trail before my breath caught.
Behind the building stretched a wide grassy area, fenced separately from the outer perimeter.
An obstacle course with ramps, tunnels, and raised platforms dotted the field.
A dog run sat off to one side, enclosed and muddy from use.
Metal bowls glinted in the weak sunlight trying to penetrate the gray.
We left the trail and kept to the shadow of the trees, getting close enough to let me tap into the lab Wi-Fi.
“Okay, this is a good spot,” I said.
“Looks like they’re definitely keeping dogs back here,” Gwen said. “Possibly more than one.”
“They are doing some kind of training,” Gray commented. “Agility, maybe?”
“Who knows?” I said, my breath pluming in the cold.
I was freezing, and I didn’t want to tarry any longer than we had to.
I dropped to a crouch behind a fallen log and flipped open my laptop.
Thankfully, the tree line distance was workable.
It took me less than a minute to find the lab network and start probing the Wi-Fi.
“What exactly are you doing?” Barbie asked, looking over my shoulder.
“Testing things,” I said automatically, fingers already moving. “Give me a minute and I’ll be able to determine what they’re using for their security system, including the cameras.”
“A minute?” Barbie’s eyes widened. “Who are you people?”
“Just a few girls at a bachelorette party in Atlantic City,” I replied.
I didn’t say more as I opened my network scanning tools.
I quickly determined the lab maintained only a single Wi-Fi network.
My scanners detected multiple external transmitters, which I presumed to be fence cameras and other security remotes like the front gate.
Apparently, the lab’s isolation had made them less cautious about their security.
That was very good news for us.
However, I still needed to look at the security cameras to see if I could identify the type they were using, as that would help me pinpoint any known vulnerabilities. As I crept forward, keeping myself obscured in the trees and bushes, I realized that Barbie was following me closely.
“What are you looking for?” she whispered, though we were a good distance from any camera that might have a microphone.
“I want to get a better look at those security cameras. Knowing their type might help me break into their security system and perhaps see any internal cameras.”
“Would this help?” she offered as she pulled a compact set of binoculars from her purse.
Surprised, I took them from her. “You carry binoculars in your purse?”
“All part of being an investigative reporter.”
“Nice.” I held the lenses up to my eyes and adjusted them. I focused on the nearest camera and my heart leaped. “Bingo.”
“Bingo what? What did you find?” Barbie asked.
“Good news for a change.” I handed her back the binoculars and carefully headed back toward Gray and Gwen. “Guys, you’re not going to believe this.”
“Believe what?” Gwen asked.
“I know this security system. It a Supra Vision Technology system. That the same one they used at the Chinese compound in the Cook Islands that I hacked into during Slash’s and my honeymoon when we stopped the coup.”
Barbie’s eyebrows shot up. “Chinese compound? Coup? What are you talking about?”
I realized in my excitement I’d said more than I should have. A lot more. “Well, it’s a story. A long story.”
“I want that story later,” Barbie said.
I shrugged. “We’ll see. Anyway, I already know how to penetrate and manipulate this system. It took me fifteen minutes the first time. I’m betting it won’t take me half that now. It’s about damn time something went our way.”
At that moment, a door at the rear of the building swung open. A group of dogs darted out into the yard, barking and scrambling. My eye caught a flash of gold as one burst into the cold air.
My heart slammed into my ribs. “Ginger,” I breathed.
She tore across the grass, fast and fluid, ears pinned back, body low and purposeful. She made a beeline for the fence and ran along it as if desperately searching for a way out. The two scrawny scientists stepped outside with them.
“Well, well. Mr. Whiny and Mr. Skinny have entered the scene,” Gray said in a low voice. “We’re only missing Baldy. The three amigos.”
“Or three stooges,” Gwen muttered.
Beside me, Barbie gasped loudly, raising the binoculars to her eyes. “Oh my God,” she breathed, her hands shaking. “That’s Tootsie. That’s my dog there, the little one.” A small black-and-tan terrier trotted after Ginger, tail wagging cautiously. “I thought they killed her, but they kidnapped her.”
She started to surge forward, but Gray grabbed her arm. “No.”
Barbie turned on her, eyes blazing. “They kidnapped my dog. That skinny guy, he was the one that took her from my front yard.”
“I know. And we’re going to make them regret it,” Gray said evenly. “But not by getting arrested in the woods or giving them time to hurt the dogs while we’re incarcerated.”
Barbie dropped to her knees, tears starting to stream from her face. “I thought she was dead.”
“Why would they bring her back here?” Gwen asked, putting a gentle hand on Barbie’s shoulder. “This is awful.”
“I don’t know,” Barbie said. “Maybe to hold her for ransom or use her as some kind of bargaining chip to control me. If they’re torturing her again, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
I gently took the binoculars from her shaking hand and looked through them. “She seems okay,” I said. “Just a little limp on her right side. But she’s alive and that’s what matters. We’re going to get her out of there.”
“Do your business quicker,” Mr. Whiny suddenly yelled at the dogs, and our attention snapped back to them. “It’s freezing out here.” He walked around trying to kick at the dogs, who danced out of his way.
I gritted my teeth, glaring at him through the binoculars. I felt like marching across the field, jumping the fence, and kicking both of those so-called scientists in their private parts.
Hard.
“You!” Mr. Skinny shouted, approaching Ginger. “Quit messing around. You’re not getting out of here again, so do what you need to do fast or I’m dragging you back in by the tail.”
Now Gray had to grab my arm as I leaned forward. My jaw clenched even tighter.
“Easy, Lexi,” she murmured.
Mr. Whiny laughed. “She thinks she’s smarter than us. A stupid dog.”
Ginger ignored him and skidded to a stop near the fence, pacing, sniffing. Her head lifted, nose testing the wind. And then she turned…straight toward us.