“Unless, maybe, someone has?”
“Exactly,” he replied.CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVEThey were up at dawn, slipping out the back entrance of the property and stripping down to shift. Kay tucked their clothes away in a small backpack with expandable straps. It had been made especially for those instances when someone needed to shift and take their things with them. In this case, it would hold both of their clothes, shoes and flashlights.
Though daylight was breaking, the caves would be dim or dark the further you went into them. According to Bradley, they splintered off into dozens of smaller routes that would allow for escape from enemies, but only one led to a location large enough and dry enough for the kind of use they were investigating. He had wanted to come alone, but Kay had insisted on joining him. They could walk in, but the trip would be faster in bear form.
“Ready,” he asked.
“Ready,” she replied.
“Let’s do this, then.”
The pair of them quickly shifted. Bradley had already left a note letting anyone looking for them know that they’d decided to have a morning out. He was careful not to offer up any more detail than that, so that they could formulate whatever story they needed to later on. It was a slow day for the ranch, so they probably wouldn’t be missed. The note was just a precaution.
Running through the cool forest, Kay was quick to note that the fields that had been burned were once again freshly plowed. She wondered if Bradley had already known and if they had been freshly sewn again, but surely, something like the crops they were trying to raise would be plants and not seeds? In all honestly, she had to admit that she had no idea how such crops were raised. It was worth noting and something she would ask about later.
For now, they had something more important to worry about. Kay wondered if they would find the girls there and, if so, what sort of mess they were really getting themselves into. This could turn out to be a lot more than either of them bargained for. Her heart raced beneath her fur as she anticipated what might befall them in the caves.
The entrance was covered over with tree branches. They made quick work out of pushing them aside and then making their way inside, winding slowly through the large tunnels while still in bear form. They remained that way until they arrived in the large center cavern, the place Bradley had said was the only place large enough to hold such an operation.
The sounds of bones dislocating and tendons repositioning echoed throughout the chamber as they began shifting back into human form. Rather than bothering to get dressed again, they walked through the opening in the nude, retrieving the flashlights to look around.
“Over here,” she told him.
Bradley walked over and observed the tables that had been set up to one side. They were now empty, but there was a box sitting nearby that gave away previous activity. Inside were broken beakers and bottles, smelling of chemicals and dirt.
“It’s not a very clean environment for making meth, is it?” she asked.
“I’ve only seen labs in movies and such, but I always thought they had to be fairly clean,” he replied.
“Here it is,” she said, noting a stack of folded plastic laying beneath one of the tables.
“I suppose that would help, but hardly going to be enough, I’d say.”
“Well, they said the drugs were tainted with another street drug that was fatal in a lot of cases. I’m guessing they weren’t all that concerned with things being perfect.”
“Still, that’s bad for business if you’re killing off your customers, I’d think.”
“You would think so. At any rate, there is no sign of the girls here and it looks like they’ve shut down operations.”
“Looks that way,” he replied idly, looking through the broken glass in the box they had found. He pulled out a larger piece and looked at it, shining his flashlight on the printing along one side.”
“What is that?” she asked.
“Looks like a piece of one of the larger beakers,” he said.
Kay shined her flashlight on it. “H.L. Lili,” she read aloud. “What is H.L. Lili?”
“Chemical company on the outskirts of town. It’s been closed for several years now. It got raided and shut down by the government for continued failure to meet EPA standards. They’ve got a padlock on it. Been in court for years.”
“Still?”
“Yeah. My guess is that whoever did this broke into one of their labs and lifted some supplies.”
“Makes sense. Seems like they’d have just set up a lab there if it’s abandoned.”
“Yeah, it does. All right, let’s get back home then.”
Shifting back into bear form, the two of them wound their way back out of the cave. They pushed the branches back over the opening before heading back into the forest and out the other side toward home. They quickly dressed by the back door and went inside the house, making their way to the kitchen for a late breakfast before tending some late morning chores on the ranch.