Page 65 of Grizzly Sleuth
“Facial recognition. All the doors have scanners.”
“Don’t they also require codes?”
“I hacked in and got a set ahead of time,” a reply given with a grin tossed over her shoulder.
“Ah, yes, Idris mentioned you were good with computers.”
“Idris has a big mouth,” she muttered.
“Don’t blame him. He was trying to charm my sister or make her jealous by talking about another woman.”
“Idris is too clueless to think of something like that.” Takhi reached the elevator and glanced at him. “What level do they keep the shifters?”
“Second floor.”
Her brow lifted. “Try again. We’re on sub-level two.”
He pointed overhead. “We were kept above ground.”
“Really? Didn’t expect that. Last place we were all in the basement.” Takhi hauled Becky high enough to face the screen and then dropped her to punch in a sequence of numbers.
“If you could hack the codes, why not put your face in the database too?”
“Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to add everyone. I only managed to get a few installed and dumbly didn’t make sure mine was first.”
They entered the elevator, with Becky, and hit the button to go up. The gunfire appeared to have died down.
“I’m surprised you don’t work in pairs.”
“We usually would, but I lost Morton to a headshot.” Her lips turned down. “Shame. He was a good guy.”
“So how many are involved in this rescue mission?”
“Enough.”
A non-answer, but Yuri didn’t care. Freedom beckoned—soon as he found his sister. They emerged onto the second floor to find a woman alongside a wolf about to open a door with the severed head of a lab worker.
Hard to feel sorry for the prick who’d taken glee in slicing Yuri’s flesh to test how much he could be hurt before the shift forced him to heal.
“Hey, Takhi. Any trouble?” asked the woman with the wolf.
The little woman shook her head. “Nothing I couldn’t handle. Found this guy in a lab on sub-level two. Name of Yuri. He’s a bear like Idris.”
“Really?” The woman’s brows arched. “Idris will be glad to meet another.”
“Already met,” Yuri replied. “My sister, Svetlana, is a bear, too, which might explain why they like each other.” He flared his nostrils. “By the smell of it, they’re on this floor.” He pointed up the hall and tried to contain his impatience at seeing her.
“I’m Tanis, not a shifter,” the woman stated. “And this is my husband, Barrett.”
Takhi glanced at him. “Recognize anyone else on this floor?”
He shook his head. “Lots of scents, but nobody I’ve met. They kept me isolated since arrival.”
“They do that so we can’t conspire,” Takhi murmured.
“Enough talk. We need to get these doors open. I did the first room already, and judging by the still-damp floors, it wasrecently cleaned out. The second Barrett wouldn’t let me open, meaning there’s most likely a feral inside.”
“A feral?” Yuri questioned.
