“We’re here,” Meghan whispered as they approached a giant black double door. She whispered a silent prayer and then entered her code. It flashed red. “No. No. No.” She typed it in again. Again…red.
“Meghan,” Reyna hissed.
“It won’t open.” Her eyes darted around the room wildly as if expecting a force to come down on top of them at any moment.
“Try one more time.”
Meghan swallowed and input the code a third time. Red. A fourth time. Red.
“We need to get out of here,” the other woman said. “You entering the password that many times is going to be a red flag. We can’t get out this way. We need to find another.”
“There isn’t another way,” Meghan snapped.
“Then we fucking find one!”
“Hey!” Reyna cried, shutting them both up. She knew that they’d only had a short window. She didn’t want to think what the consequences would be if they were stuck here. This couldn’t all be for nothing. “This isn’t helping anything. Let’s try one more time and then we’ll find a different exit.”
“You try it,” Meghan said, pushing Reyna toward the key pad. Reyna poised her finger over it and nodded. “0-7-1-5-0-1-1-0-9-2-1-5-2-1-7.”
Reyna’s finger moved to press the enter key, praying that someone was looking out for her, when the door suddenly slid open on its own. All three women jumped back, on guard. Then an Asian human man peeked his head around the corner.
“Tye!” Meghan said, launching herself into his arms. “I have never been happier to see you.”
“You took too long. Xavier didn’t want me to come look for you.”
“Bastard,” she hissed. Then she collected herself. “We need to get moving.”
Meghan ushered both of them forward and Tye took stock of the fact that there were two of them. “Pick up a stray?”
“That a problem?” their stray asked.
“Not at all,” he said with a bold smile.
She bared her teeth at him like a wild animal and he just laughed.
They all passed through the door and into a giant loading dock that was empty save for the enormous truck before them.
“Get in,” Tye said, opening the doors. “Xavier is driving and we need to get going.”
All three vaulted into the back of the truck, which was freezing and stocked full of blood.
“What the…,” Reyna whispered.
“Move to the front,” Meghan directed them without explanation.
Bypassing all the blood and supplies, they finally reached the front. Two sets of dark worker’s clothes were waiting for them. Meghan and Reyna quickly changed. She thought they were more believable as nurses, but this would have to do.
“What do I wear?” the girl asked.
Meghan frowned and then grabbed a bag. “Sorry to do this.”
“You’re putting me in a body bag?”
“Temporarily.” Then Meghan turned to Reyna. “I think it might be safer if you’re in one too. I’m sorry.”
Both of them looked at her in horror, but then Tye slammed the truck doors behind them, casting them into total darkness. Reyna took a deep breath and grabbed the bag. She shimmied into it and then lay on the floor. A body bag. She was being transported out of here in a body bag. It was logical yet terrifying.
She heard the other girl grunt and then slide into the bag next to her. Only their breathing could be heard before the rumble of the truck’s engine roaring to life drowned it all out. Reyna heard Meghan disappear through a door into the front cab and then they were alone.
Reyna’s heart rate accelerated. She wasn’t afraid of small spaces or the dark, but it didn’t make it any less terrifying. She couldn’t believe they’d even made it this far.
“Hey,” the girl whispered.
“Hey.”
“I’m Jodie, by the way.”
“Reyna.”
“Thank you for doing this.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” Reyna whispered. “We still have to get out of here.”
“But still…thanks.”
Reyna loosed a small smile. “You’re welcome.”
Then the truck was rumbling forward. Reyna clenched her hands at her sides and tried to breathe shallowly. This would all be over soon. Or at least that’s what she kept telling herself.
Only too soon the truck stopped again.
“Why are we stopping?” Jodie asked.
Reyna shushed her. She had no idea, but she strained to listen to what was happening.
“We’re right on schedule,” a male voice said from the driver’s seat. That must be Xavier. The one who’d wanted to leave them.
Someone must have responded, because Meghan piped up. “We’re all set here, boys,” she said in the flirtatious voice she’d used with the guard. “Have all the samples secure.”
Another voice entered the mix. “You’re going to need to open up the back. We’re on a high security breach.”
“Oh no!” Meghan gasped. Quite the actress that one. “And you think somehow we’re part of the breach? Aren’t we on your schedule?”
A rustling noise and then a grunt. Maybe that meant yes.
“Open the back.”
Reyna could practically feel the tension rolling off of the three in the front. Of course they couldn’t deny them access to the back of the vehicle. That would raise more flags than complying. But if they complied, would the body bags be opened?