Jane glanced up somehow still looking fresh after a night of staring into computer monitor and asked, "Ready for your next near-death experience?"
I couldn't help but chuckle at the use of the old movie line from the A-Team.
"I'm afraid!" I quipped back at her.
I wasn't really afraid, but well maybe I was.
Seriousness took over and I asked what I had been dreading to know the answer to, "So where to next?"
She seemed to pause before answering, "Wrangel Island."
I'd heard the name before somewhere in something I'd read one time. I searched for it in earnest and like a faithful dog my brain responded for me, "Isn't that where they think the last mammoths to be alive were?"
"Yes it is they were pygmy mammoths. The Soviets built a research facility on the island to study the biology of the place. It was abandoned and the Code took it over and expanded it underground more. It was where they did most of their testing on the humans that they turned into hybrid robots."
"So you know about them?" I asked in an effort to dig up information.
Jane's eyes flickered downward as she responded, "Yes I know about them and I think it was awful what they did to those poor people."
"Was that all they did there?"
"No, they had other experiments."
"Like what?" I asked not really wanting to know, but needing to know.
"I'm not sure. I was never there, but I heard vague rumors that it wasn't good."
She was lying to me again. I felt sure of it, but I didn't press it.
She spoke again, "One other thing you should know about the place. There was some sort of an incident that took place there shortly after the Code fell and before my facility was closed down. I doubt whether you'll meet with any resistance, but the facility due to its sensitive testing material was rigged to blow in the event of a security breach. Be careful not to activate any countdown procedures, as the whole facility will likely lockdown before it blows up."
I nodded my head, "A real walk in the park this time." I said sarcastically.
She countered with, "At least there shouldn't be any snakes this time."
No probably there wouldn't be, but what else would I find in a facility that had experimented on turning humans into hybrid robotic forms?
This trip would be somewhat colder so I outfitted myself accordingly and this time I made sure to pack more armament, but how I was going to get to the remote Russian held island without raising suspicion was a real problem. Planes were worth their weight in gold right now and while I had the funds to get one if I needed to I hated to waste so much money on something that would likely only have a one time use. I didn't like flying planes anyway.