Kate fought to steady her hand as she ripped her card across the slot. A different beep. A red light.
Beside her two more people swiped. Green lights, no beep, they were off.
The guard cocked his head and took a step toward her.
Her hands were shaking visibly now. Act casual. She got the card in the slot and ran it through, slowly this time. Red Light. Bad Beep.
The guards behind the fence had stopped talking. They were looking at her. The guard in her line looked back at the other guards.
She tried to line up the card for another try, but someone grabbed her hand. “You’re backwards love.”
Kate looked up. The blonde man. She couldn’t think. What had he said? “I work here,” Kate said quickly, looking around. Everyone was looking at them. They were blocking two of the three lines.
“I certainly hope so.” The man took her card. “You must be new,” he said as he perused the card. “Haven’t seen you befo—. Hey, this doesn’t look like you.”
Kate snatched the card. “Don’t— Don’t look at the picture. I’m, uh, new here.” She ran a hand through her hair. She was going to get caught, she knew it. The man was still staring at her. Kate tried to think. “They used an old picture. I’ve lost… some weight.”
“And apparently dyed your hair,” he said skeptically.
“Yes, well…” Kate sucked in a breath. “Hopefully you’ll keep my secret. Blondes have more fun.” She tried to smile, but she imagined she looked more scared than confident.
The man nodded and smiled. “Yes they do.”
From the back of the line someone shouted, “Hey Casanova, work your mojo on your own time.” Laughs rang out across the line.
Kate smiled. “How does it go?” She swiped the card again. Red, the beep. She looked up.
The man grasped her hand, flipped the card, and ran it through. Green. Then he turned to his post and swiped his own card. Green. He glided gingerly past the six scowling guards, and Kate chased after him.
“Thank you Doctor—”
“Prendergast. Barnaby Prendergast.” They turned another corner.
“Barnaby Prendergast. I was actually going to guess that.”
“Well you’re quite cheeky.” He looked over at her. “Quite quick on your feet for someone who couldn’t operate the card reader.”
Did he know? Kate tried to seem embarrassed — it wasn’t a stretch. “Guns make me nervous.”
“Then you’ll truly hate it here. Seems like everyone without a white coat is ‘packin heat,’” he said with an American accent. He swiped his card and pushed open a set of wide doors that might have divided sections of a hospital. “Guess they’ll be ready if the trees ever attack.” He snorted and muttered, “Bloody idiots.”
Ahead of them, several overweight men pushed rolling metal cages across their path. Kate stared. The cages were filled with chimps. When they had passed, Kate realized she was alone in the hall. She jogged down the corridor and caught sight of Barnabus, or whatever his name was. She rushed to catch up with him.
He stopped at the swipe terminal to another set of doors. “Where did you say you were going, Dr. West?”
“I… didn’t.” Kate tried to flutter her eyes at him. She felt like a fool. “Where… are you going?”
“Uh, to my lab in viral. Who are you working with here?” He looked at her, confused. Or was he scrutinizing her?
Kate panicked. It was so much more complicated than she had thought on the train. What did she think, she’d just walk in like it was a day care and say, “I’m here to pick up the two Indonesian kids?” David’s advice, “just tell them it’s above their pay grade,” seemed so simplistic, so off-base now. It was obvious now that he had only said it to put her at ease, to get her off the train and in motion. But her mind was blank. “It’s above your pay grade,” she blurted.
Barnaby was about to swipe his card, but he pulled up short, his card still dangling in the air. “Excuse me?” He looked at her, then glanced around as if trying to figure out which direction a sound was coming from.
Kate had the urge to run as fast as she could away from him, but she had no idea which way to go. She needed to figure out where they kept the children. “I’m doing autism research.”
Barnaby let his card fall to his side as he turned to face Kate. “Really? I’m not aware of any autism research.”
“With Dr. Grey.”
“Dr. Grey?” Barnaby’s eyes rolled back as he thought. “Haven’t heard of him…” His skeptical expression slowly faded as he shuffled toward a white phone on the wall beside the door. He reached back for it. “Maybe I should, ah, get you some help finding your way.”
“No!”
Kate’s outburst stopped him in his tracks.
“Don’t. I’m not lost. I’m working… with two children.”
He drew his hand back to his side. “Oh, so it’s true. We’ve heard some rumors but everyone is so hush-hush about it. So cloak and dagger.”
He didn’t know about the children. What did it mean? Kate needed to buy more time, needed to think. “Uh, yes. I’m sorry I can’t say more.”
“Well I’m sure it’s above my pay grade, as you say.” He mumbled something else, maybe ‘as if you know my bloody pay grade.’ “Honestly though, I have to say, what in the hell would you be doing with kids in a place like this? We’re talking about a zero percent survival rate. Zero percent. Guess your ‘pay grade’ justifies it. Is that it?”
But Kate didn’t hear his last words. A new thought gripped her, a terror she hadn’t considered: zero-percent survival rate. The children could already be dead.
“Did you hear me?”
But Kate couldn’t answer. She just stood there, frozen.
He could see it — the fear in her eyes. He cocked his head to the side. “You know, there is something off about you, something’s not right here.” He reached. He had the phone.
Kate leapt for him, grabbing the phone from his hand.
His eyes grew wide, a look of ‘how dare you.’
Kate looked around. David’s words “they could be listening” echoed in her head. It might already be too late. She hung the phone up and took Barnaby in a hug, whispering in his ear. “Listen to me. Two children are being held here. They’re in danger. I’m here to rescue them.”