[Veterinarian's Office]
Dr. Perkins began making the incision to remove the object from the dog's shoulder and held it out in front of him for a closer look. "What the . . . it looks like some sort of transmitter, but I've never seen one inside an animal before".
"Have you ever seen this device on any of the animals around here?" September asked.
"No. I don't think so. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before."
"I want to get a closer look." September said, putting on a pair of surgical gloves and reaching for the device. She had no medical training, besides a couple of basic anatomy, physiology and genetics courses in college; but she could work her way around a lab any day. She put the device under the microscope and began to adjust the intensity. "Kate, take a look at this. It looks like some sort of container, not at all like a tracking device. It's not pulsating and it looks hollow, like something may be inside."
Kate nudged September out of the way and began to examine the cylinder. The doctor watched from a distance as the two agents attempted to piece together this strange puzzle. September removed the cube, squinting she held it up to the light. "What is this thing? I guess we should send it along with Charlie's blood sample to the Bureau's lab."
"Okay, I just hope that we can get some fast results. We're getting nowhere and this case is getting stranger by the minute."
Charlie was still resting peacefully on the table and the doctor began to stitch up the wound, when the device began to beep. A soft low barely audible beep which escalated into a loud piercing sound.
"What did you do?", Kate yelled trying to be heard over the device. The other animals in the hospital all began to howl and bark. "I didn't do anything. It just started to pulsate on its own. Maybe it's not a tracking device, maybe it's a homing device."
"What?" Kate yelled, bending closer to September so that she could hear over the noise.
"I said, maybe it's a homing device?"
"A homing device?"
"Sure, don't you watch the Discovery Channel?" September said while smiling. "I think we should put it back inside the dog and see what happens. Maybe ET will phone home. . . Sorry, bad joke."
"Anything to stop this racket." Kate motioned to the doctor to put the device back inside the dog. Once inside the dog, the beeping resumed to a low soft hum. At least, the agents were hoping that it was barely audible and they hadn't sustained any type of permanent ear damage. The anesthesia slowly began to wear off and the dog opened its eyes and immediately jumped up on the table. "Okay, Charlie lead us to your master", Kate said and as if understanding every word, the dog jumped off the table and walked out of the room, through the lobby and over to the front door. Slighty embarrassed, the two agents walked through the lobby and September opened the door for the dog.
"That's some trained dawg", one of the people in the lobby said and everyone burst into laughter.
"Yeah, I guess he is", Kate said smiling and looked outside to see the dog running up the street.
The dog looked back at the agents as if to say, .
"Great!" September said and the two agents ran after the dog. The dog stopped every few feet to look back at the agents chasing after him. The dog ran until he reached an abandoned warehouse. There was no sign of activity. "I wonder if he's confused, this place looks deserted."
"Only one way to find out" and September started to follow the dog into the building. Kate grabbed September's arm and pulled her back. "Wait a minute. This feels like a trap. Let's just watch from out here for now."
The dog walked into the building. The infrastructure was massive, it resembled a factory with long rows of white tables with alternating computers and lab equipment. Against the wall was dozens of biohazard suits.
"Do you think this could be the control room that Flynn was talking about?", September whispered, peering through one of the bottom windows.
"It's possible. Wait a minute . . . look what Charlie's doing." The dog was sitting , staring straight ahead. It would tilt it's head occasionally from side to side as if listening to some unknown voice. September couldn't believe the dog's sudden change. He was almost catatonic. "He looks like he's in some sort of trance, just like when we found him"
The dog continued looking straight ahead and then slowly walked to the rear of the complex. September and Kate watched from a distance as the dog stepped onto a pad and two sliding doors opened. "Did you see that? These doors are just like the ones in the black building. You couldn't see those either." September said. Her pulse was beginning to race as it often did when she was on assignment in dangerous situations. At Quantico, it was one of the things that took the longest for her to work on – remaining calm and not overreacting.
Hesitantly, Kate decided to take a closer look. "I don't like the looks of this, but let's get a quick look inside and then go back for the others. That way we'll know what we're getting ourselves into". Kate had a feeling about this place, it was familiar, yet at the same time unfamiliar. September and Kate stayed low as they approached the black wall where the sliding doors had appeared. They ducked behind a steel beam and kneeled down to get a better look at the material. These walls did in fact resemble the other black walls in the forest. It was impossible to see through, but the sound was perfect and they could hear every word coming from behind the mysterious black material. There were two men inside, in the middle of a discussion.
[Conversation from behind the black doors]
"Well, well , look who's back, and where have you been fella?"
Although September and Kate couldn't see what was going on, Charlie didn't seem to be in any danger.
"How's the kid?"
"Okay, but scared. When do we start the tests?"
"Tomorrow morning. The dog survived and the others that were exposed are basically okay. We'll see what happens".
Kate and September turned and looked at each other, stunned at what they had just heard. "Well, at least we found the kid, but we've got to get him out of there tonight."
Kate looked around and began to take in her surroundings. This place was immense and they would need the help of the rest of the team. "Okay, let's go find the others." September and Kate slipped back out of the building and walked back to the café. The rest of team Delta had already left, so Kate and September got in their car and headed back to World's End State Park.
Back to mission logs.