“What the hell was he doing here? I thought this base was secure.”

The base commander shifted his weight nervously. “The base is secure. However, we’d underestimated the containment measures needed in the kennel. I reviewed the security tape myself, it seems one of the experiments figured out how to open the latch to its stall. Once it escaped, the others managed to copy its actions. And before anyone could stop them, the animals had dug a hole under the perimeter fence.”

Hans kicked a stone off the rocky escarpment and ground his teeth with frustration. “A dead Marine is the last thing we need. How big of a problem is this going to be?”

The colonel’s discomfort increased. “The good news is, he was one of those disaffected types. No family, and it looks like he was out of a job. A wanderer who probably won’t have anyone searching for him, at least not for a while. We’ll deal with his remains.”

“And the experiments? Have they all been tracked down and decommissioned?”

“We tracked five of the animals through the signal coming off their PIT tags. We captured and disposed of them.” The colonel blew out a deep breath. “Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to locate the sixth. I’ve sent out the drones. They’re programmed to run grids across the terrain, looking for the animal’s signal. We’ll find it.”

Hans silently wondered how such an incompetent ass had come to be the base commander at a supposedly high-security location. “We don’t have time for a lengthy search, Colonel. We cannot have one of our experiments encountering civilians.”

“We’ll track the dog down—”

“That’s not a fucking dog, you moron!” Hans snapped. “It’s a specially bred nightmare with enough strength and intelligence to escape your so-called ‘secure’ kennel and take out an armed ex-Marine who got in its way.”

The colonel’s eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened.

“Listen to me,” Hans continued. “Both my neck and yours are on the line if any of this gets out. We can’t risk our arrangement being exposed. And let’s face it, your government has already proven itself incapable of keeping things out of Wikileaks.”

“Mr. Reinhardt,” said the colonel, “believe me, I know exactly what’s at stake. You do not need to remind me. This is a black operation, and it’s staying that way. I’m overseeing the cleanup personally.” The colonel pointed toward the nearby slope. “We found some blood that we believe is from the missing animal. It’s wounded, which will limit its ability to elude us. Between the contractors on foot and the drones in the air, we’ll find it.”

Hans glared. “You damn well better.”

###