Species Unknown [Book 2: Pisces)

24. PLAYING ALONG

WITH THE FOLDER tucked neatly under my blouse, I walked up to the compound's entrance.

The burly security guards were caught off guard by my early arrival, and they regarded me behind the throughly tinted lenses of their sunglasses.

Today, I wore a tight black pencil skirt and a matching pair of black heels, different from my usual blouse and loose black dress slacks. It was a strategic choice that I only hoped would work.

Fortunately, my outfit had the intended effect.

I smiled inwardly when I noticed that the guards were more focused on glancing at the bottom half of me than my top, effectively hiding any hint of the papers beneath my blouse.

"Access badge." The dark-haired guard spoke finally, after not having found anything suspicious about me.

As usual, I unclipped my badge from my blouse and handed it over.

The guard took it and quickly scanned it before handing it back to me. I reclipped it to my blouse and looked up to see both guards had stepped aside.

"Go ahead." The dark-haired guard barked, crossing his arms across his chest.

I muttered a quick 'thank you' before making my way inside the entrance to the compound. It seemed that after weeks of going through the same process, the security guards seemed less suspicious of me and less focused on intimidation as they had been on my first few days.

If only they knew they had every right to be suspicious...I thought, pleased with how my plan was unfolding so far.

Once inside, I noticed that the compound was far more barren than I had ever seen it. Typically the main dome room had numerous groups of people walking quickly across the floor and down various hallways. However, since I was so early, I only saw maybe two or three people walking about the halls.

Internally, I was cheering for how smoothly everything was going so far. But I refused to show it in fear of drawing any unwanted attention.
Keeping a neutral face, I found myself casually making my way toward Flip's old office.

Once I approached the door, I slowed down my pace, waiting for a pair of researchers to pass me before quickly slipping inside Flip's office. The door was unlocked as always, and I found myself questioning how easy it was to sneak into a place with such valuable information.

Not having time to give it much thought, I immediately went over to the filing cabinet. Opening the drawers, I slipped on a pair of latex gloves I had stored in my skirt pocket before taking the file out from my shirt and placing it back where it belonged.

Quickly, I shut the cabinet door, slipping my gloves back into my pocket. Once that was done, I made my way toward the office door, waiting to be sure I did not hear anyone walking by. When I was sure nobody was near, I opened the door, and quickly slipped out of the office, closing the door behind me.

Looking around, there was nobody nearby to have witnessed it. So, I casually walked away from the office and began making my way back toward the research section of the compound.

Back to where the creature was being held in chains.

The thought made me quicken my pace, and I found myself in the elevator leading down to the creature before I knew it. The elevator doors opened with a ding and suddenly I was accosted by the sound of panicked voices and screams of agony.

Fearing the worst, my heart dropped and I took off running toward the sound. I made it to the tank just in time to see a lab-coat-clad man flung into the glass wall in front of me.