She glanced down at her phone, where the timer displayed the minutes left. “Understood. Just give me a few moments to send you these photos for safekeeping.”
She took less than thirty seconds to choose the photos and text them to me. My phone dinged and a quick glance confirmed I had them.
“I’ve got them,” I said. “Now go find Tootsie and get the hell out of there.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Lexi
There was no key code, no special lock for Ginger’s enclosure, just two buttons. One to open and one to close the door.
“Press the open button,” I instructed Barbie.
She pressed the button and it slid into the wall like a pocket door. Ginger didn’t bolt out of the enclosure; instead, she stepped forward, slow and deliberate.
“Hi, Ginger,” Barbie said cautiously. “I’m a friend of Lexi’s. I’m going to get you out of here as soon as possible.” She reached out a hand, and when Ginger didn’t pull away, Barbie gave her a light pet on the head. “You know, it kind of feels weird talking to a dog like she’s going to understand everything I say.”
“You get used to it,” I said. “Now take off her collar and vest.”
Barbie worked quickly to release both. Barbie tossed them aside and Ginger shook a few times like she was happy to shed herself of them. “Now, Ginger, can you help me find my Tootsie?” Barbie asked.
Ginger turned without hesitation and headed a bit farther down the hall. Barbie followed her. When they reached an enclosure with several tiny dogs, Barbie came to a full stop. There were at least a dozen dogs yapping and dancing about inside the enclosure, but Barbie only had eyes for one small black-and-tan dog.
“Tootsie!” she yelped, and the little dog raced to the glass, pawing anxiously at it. Barbie opened the door and Tootsie, as well as all the other dogs, rushed out, barking, scrambling, and crashing into things. She scooped up Tootsie, and I presumed she was raining kisses atop her head because all I saw was black and tan fur.
Ginger suddenly gave a soft woof, not alarmed, but insistent enough to catch my attention via the camera. “Barbie, release the other animals and get going,” I said. “We’re running out of time. The arrival window is closing fast.”
“I know. I know,” she repeated, hurrying down the hallway, opening cages and enclosures as she passed by, causing more chaos as dogs, cats, and the big pig spilled out into the lab. Barbie opened the cage with the chimpanzee and it leaped from its enclosure with a scream that made my blood run cold. Barbie backed up in terror as the chimp scrambled up onto a rolling cart, knocking equipment to the floor and chattering incessantly. To her credit, Ginger placed herself between Barbie and the chimp and growled warningly. The chimpanzee glanced once at Ginger and disappeared down the corridor.
“Maybe we should have thought about releasing the chimp at a later time,” Barbie said with a shaky breath. “Oh, well. Too late now. Hope it doesn’t attack me. We’re on the way out now.”
I watched the camera bob up and down as Barbie rushed to the lab door with a good majority of the animals on her heels. From the camera view, I could see there was no interior keypad. No reader. No code. Just a handle.
“I’m ready to leave,” Barbie said over the noise. “Am I good?”
“Angel?” I asked, tapping my earbud. “How do we look on the door alarm?”
“Should be suppressed,” Angel replied. “It’s a go.”
Barbie immediately pushed the door open.
A full, facility-wide shriek tore through the building, red lights strobing to life.
“Houston, we’ve got a problem,” Barbie said.
“Oh, hell,” Angel shouted in my ear. “That wasn’t my fault. They must have had a secondary alarm placed on the door, separate from the security system.”
Klaxons echoed through the mostly empty facility as the animals spilled into the corridors through the biocontainment area door that Barbie had left open in the excitement. They were like a living, organic flood, sloshing down the halls and disappearing into the depths of the lab and beyond.
Barbie started to run for the main building exit when she passed the rear door to the exercise area. She paused long enough to open and prop open that door with a doormat to give some of the animals another place to go. Then she followed my directions in her ear as she raced to the main entrance.
Animals ran around her, and some split off down different corridors as the entire lab exploded into frenzied noise and motion. From her camera view I saw a few people tentatively peek out of doors, which then quickly closed. Barbie still held Tootsie in her arms, but I couldn’t see Ginger. I could only hope she was staying close to Barbie.
My camera view was extremely shaky as she booked it down the last hallway to the front. Two small monkeys streaked past her low to the ground. In the intermittent flashes where I saw them, I couldn’t tell whether they were being chased by dogs or just escaping on their own.
As Barbie reached the lobby, the dogs’ barking increased as they scrambled for purchase on the slick floor. The pig, bless its heart, charged past her, headed toward the doors, bowling over anything in his path. I didn’t see the chimpanzee anywhere. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.
“Lexi,” Gray said urgently, tapping my arm and pointing at her timer. “Two minutes and counting. I already see headlights.”
