Page 66 of Marc
Roth’s deep voice made us both look up.
Colbie glanced my way for a microsecond, gave me a friendly smile, before she focused back on the screen on the wall.
We joined the group. Sasha was beside me, eyeing me like I was a lab specimen that had just climbed out of a dirty Petri dish.
“Right,” Avery said. “Thanks to Colbie and Marc, we know that Blue Mountain Base seems to be a concentration point for the threaders.”
“There are lots of them there,” Colbie said. “And they seemed to be communicating with each other.” She pulled a face. “And we heard them mimicking human speech. One was making a noise that sounded like the wordhelp, and for a second, I thought it was someone calling out.”
“Hell,” Jameson said.
The generals looked unhappy. We all knew the threaders must have heard the word a lot to learn it.
“Our plan is to catch a threader alive,” Avery said.
Roth nodded. “That way, our scientists can run tests on it to discover more about them, and the cocoons.”
“And find a way to stop them,” Avery added.
“There are lots of cocoons at Blue Mountain Base.” Colbie wrapped her arms around her middle. “Probably more humans in there too. Suffering.”
Avery nodded, her face serious. “Hunter Squad has been authorized to destroy the cocoons.”
Jameson lifted his chin. “We’re going to load up the flamethrowers.”
“We can’t try and rescue anyone?” Colbie asked.
Maxim Ivanov stepped forward. His longish black hair was pulled back from his face today. He was tall and lean, and didn’t look like any scientist Marc had ever worked with. He looked like he should have a knife in his hand, hiding in the shadows, ready to assassinate someone.
“It appears any prolonged exposure to the cocoons is a death sentence,” Maxim said. “Destroying the cocoons is the only way.”
Colbie’s feelings of horror and sadness were clear on her face, and I desperately wanted to go to her and wrap my arms around her.
“The threaders are damn strong,” Jameson said. “We can’t risk getting too close.”
Jess nodded. “Capturing one isn’t going to be easy.”
“We have a plan,” Avery said. “Maxim?”
The scientist nodded. “I have two things to help. I’ve been working with the medical team, and we’ve developed a sedative we think should work on a threader.”
“You think?” I asked.
Maxim shrugged. “Without testing on a live one, there are no guarantees.”
Great.
“And I’ve developed this.” He held up a black device. It looked like a large flashlight and was conical at one end. He aimed it away from the group and pushed a button.
A net flew out and snapped into place around a chair.
“Nice,” I murmured.
“The net launcher is powered by compressed air. The netting is reinforced with titanium. Nothing can break out of it.”
Okay, get a threader in the net, and sedate it.
Walk in the park.
