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Georgia allowed him a second to touch her before she shrugged him off. “I’m good. It just makes me mad that someone believes this is fine to do.” She walked over and looked down at the body of the cat she’d killed. “We have to record this. Take pictures and send all the information back to the Apocalypse.”

“Do you think these were genetic experiments?” Ash knelt and examined the body.

“I’m not the genetics expert. It’s possible. Dallin will know more.”

“It looks to me like these animals were sliced and diced back together to create a walking nightmare.”

Georgia kept picking over the corpse, examining the claws and inspecting the teeth. “It could be a combination of both. The muscle growth is abnormally large for this specimen, but there’s also been enhancements added.” She blew out a breath and looked up at Ash. This time, instead of tears, there was anger burning in her gaze.

“We’ll get them,” he said.

“I have no worries about that.” Her gaze skittered over him, and she looked away. “And thanks for the helping hand. Although I had everything under control.”

“Any time.” He smiled at her. It was rare to get a thanks from Georgia, so he knew she meant it. “Let’s gather the intel and then get out of here.”

They spent the next two hours scouring the caves, taking recordings, measurements, and any fragment of information that could be useful.

Ash noted the droop in Georgia’s shoulders as she stood looking in the tank at one of the dead animals. He walked over but didn’t touch her.

“We should get these remains shipped out,” she said.

“That’s a bad idea.”

“I’m not leaving them behind, Ash. We’re way past being discreet and covering our tracks. Whoever’s been using this site will know someone has been in here. There are four corpses in the other room that give us away.”

“We’ll move the bodies, and we can hide the evidence of our visit.”

“We should take at least one of the bodies back to be examined. It could give us information.” She placed a hand against the glass tank. “I just... I don’t want to leave these animals in the tanks. It’s not fair to them. Two are still alive.”

Ash touched her shoulder. “We have to. Think of the bigger mission. If we mess up now, more animals will be harmed.”

She huffed out a breath then nodded. “I’ll make sure they’ve got plenty of food and water before we go. It’s the least we can do.”

“You got it.” Georgia may have an exterior as tough as granite, but there was a softer side to her when it came to animals. She may prefer the more venomous creatures, but she hated seeing any in distress.

Once the animals were taken care of and they’d removed the carcasses, they headed back along the tunnel with a single bagged-up dead mutant cat.

“We did well on this mission. This is progress,” Ash said.

Georgia nodded.

He sucked in a breath, knowing the signs only too well that she was withdrawing from him. She often retreated into herself after a tough assignment.

“We’ll find out why these experiments are happening,” Ash said. “With everything we’ve collected, this will lead to a breakthrough.”

“I will find out who’s doing this. And when I do, they’ll regret ever starting this sick operation.”

“We will. As a team,” Ash said, determined to make her see they were in this together.

She glanced at him and nodded again.

It was a small gesture of acceptance, but he’d take it. He wasn’t letting Georgia battle this alone.