Chapter 3

#4 scaled the tall tree across the road from the facility in the dark, overcast night. The rain slick branches didn't hinder the lithe and graceful yet deadly figure as #4 eeled upwards to the concealed camera that peered down at the innocuous seeming gates. #4 changed the memory for the smart-camera, which sampled changes, and only recorded when there was something interesting to see, conserving memory, and from the signal intelligence capture device, which monitored all electronic signals leaving the facility. The value of coded signals is that even if you don't know what the signals carry, you can determine changes to the routine, and if anything extra-ordanary was happening, even if you didn't understand yet what it was.

#4 was on a mission, and had been analyzing Sig Int from over a dozen facilities of dubious repute all across the eastern seaboard, from Georgia to Maine. It was slightly risky to physically replace the memory, but it was even more risky to do it remotely, and have the data broadcast so close to a secure federal facility. The devices were passive, and so very nearly undetectable, unless someone stumbled upon them. Not likely, 60 feet up in a tree.

#4 was dedicated to the mission, though, and having to return after a week and before two weeks, on no set schedual or in no predictable pattern to the dozen plus sites in staggered rotation, to say nothing of the hours spend analyzing the Sig Int for unroutine bursts was just the job that needed to be done. There was no way to crack the algorithmic encryption, so it had to be done this way. #4 was patient, very patient, and very focused.

Dr. Jasper had the feeling that he was forgetting something again. It was a constant nagging irritation, that there was something he had been meaning to do, but he could never quite think if it, like a word you are trying to recall that is just on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't grasp. He should have been used to feeling this way, since it had been happening for the past year, but instead of getting used to it, it was festering in his rotten soul like an infected splinter under his fingernail. It was nagging and itching in his mind, and he was determined to figure out what it was that he had so much trouble remembering. Now, what was it?

The breakout was timed perfectly, following the plan. Little Cindy opened all the doors and undid all the alarms, and they just left, walking past the cameras which were unmaned for just three minutes as the first shift left right on time, eager to return to his new bride, and the second shift took his time changing into his uniform, and preparing his cup of coffee just so. They reached the exit door just in time to prevent it from swinging shut and clicking locked, and held it barely cracked for the minute it took to let the first shift man rush off down the road. Stan found the hide-a-key under the front bumper just where Reb said it would be and where Tia had dreamed it would be, and they all piled into the car of second shift man, who was just then sitting down at his monitors. They drove out of the gate, which was still closing sedately, still plenty of clearance, turned right, and were lost in the gathering gloom of the evening. Bin, being the tallest, although still not very tall, had the drivers seat all the way forward, and stretched her toes to reach the gas. Luckily, it was an automatic- all part of the plan. They had to get somewhere where they would be able to blend in, hide, disappear. Tia said that was in a city, and so that is where they headed. They probably could make it to the city and lose the car where it wouldn't be found, before second shift ended and second shift man noticed he didn't have a car.

As Dr. Jasper arrived in the morning, he noticed that the car of the second shift guard wasn't in it's usual spot, and he felt vaguely alarmed. He carded himself in, and asked the guard if everything was alright. "Sure, they aren't even up yet, Why do you ask?"

"Because your car isn't here. Is it in the shop?" Dr. Jasper knew the answer from the look on the guard's face. He rushed through the security protocols, and burst into the children's room. There were bundles of objects under the blankets, but they were not children, there were no children. Suddenly Dr. Jasper remembered what had been niggling at his brain for so long. "Bin!" he screamed. Rushing back out past the useless locks, scanners, and palm readers, he glared at the grey faced guard, and hit the alarm button, for all the good it would do now. He got on the phone, and ordered the next kill team in rotation into action. Forget the experiments, it was Cover Your Ass time.