Quadruple Duty: All or Nothing

The one thing I refused to think about however, was the message on my phone.

It had been there for days now, unanswered. A simple recording from Dr. Hill, asking me to come in right away to discuss my test results.

Right away…

The words had taken my breath away. They’d made my legs go weak, knocking me straight to my knees.

Discuss my results.

The phrase was ominous. He could’ve said things looked normal. He could’ve called me in for additional testing. Instead, he wanted to discuss results.

I could feel my heart pounding faster just thinking about it.

I’d never called him back. His office had left two more messages, and I hadn’t even listened to those. Thinking about them riddled me with anxiety. And there was just too much other stuff going on…

I went back to focusing on the binoculars. I still had no clue what I was searching for, but it gave me something to do.

“Shit, maybe we missed it,” Dakota murmured quietly. He sounded more than a little angry. “Either the info was wrong, or

Markus—”

Suddenly, motion. We all stiffened. Looking back at the house, I could see Markus now. He’d come out of the house, rather than go in.

“Damn!” Ryan hissed. “That little rat…”

Following him out was a tall, thin man with a grey mustache. The two of them were talking. Laughing. Having some sort of animated conversation between them. They paced back and forth in front of the house, speaking in low voices. But whatever they were saying, it was impossible to hear.

To my left, Dakota was still looking through some sort of sight-scope. On my right, Ryan was operating a small but sophisticated looking camera.

“Do you think he…”

I was shushed again, this time with another quick hand motion. It left me crouching in silence. Watching. Waiting…

Eventually Markus was gone. Inexplicably, so was Colonel Goddard. Not seeing either one of them gave me a queasy feeling in my gut.

Dakota and Ryan were staring at each other. They looked perplexed.

“Guys…”

Another hand motion, shushing me up. This time I ignored it.

“GUYS…”

I pointed to where the bushes were moving. A sweeping beam of light probed the darkness.

Then two beams of light. Three.

“SHIT!”

An alarm sounded, somewhere in the distance, and the whole house lit up. I heard crashing sounds in the forest. The snapping of twigs and branches. Voices. Shouts…

Then a hand closed over mine, yanking me forward…

And all hell broke loose at once.

Forty-Nine

SAMMARA