James Rollins - Altar Of Eden

She pictured Duncan’s map of scars. “Is that what happened to his face? Was he attacked?”

“Duncan?” Bennett shook his head. “He was injured much earlier, back when we were first salvaging specimens. Got badly mauled. Spent a week in a coma and countless hours under a surgeon’s knife just to get back some semblance of a face.”

No wonder the bastard hates them so much, she thought.

Bennett continued: “But that’s the nature of the beast. I personally believe our aggression problem here at Eden arises because our test subjects have an unnatural connection to wild animals. Such contact defiles God’s plan. Corrupts what little bit of humanity remains in them. If we could purge that, we’d be better off.”

“And I can’t discount that,” Malik added. “There remains a feral edge to them that we can’t tame. Maybe it does rise from this merging of animal and man. To that end, we’ve restricted our next phase of research to human studies only. It’s why we need plenty of fresh genetic material.”

Lorna didn’t like the sound of that. The ache in her ovaries reminded her where they would harvest the new genetic material.

“But we’d appreciate hearing any insight you might have in regard to the serpent in our midst,” Malik said. “Mr. Bennett and I have already discussed utilizing your talents.”

Lorna suddenly sensed all this was some sort of test, a practical exam of her usefulness. To survive, she had to prove herself. If she failed at any point, her life was forfeit.

“Perhaps it would be best if you showed what we’re working on now,” Bennett said.

In other words, part two of her exam was about to begin.

Lorna eyed the center monitor. The village was covering the pig with leaves and stones. She watched a version of Igor up in a tree, cutting down palm fronds with his beak. The sight of the featherless parrot reminded her of all she’d lost, of the hopelessness of her situation.

Something in the forest must have made a noise. Suddenly all eyes-dog, cat, bird, man-snapped in that direction, shifting like a single organism. The entire habitat froze in place. They all seemed to be staring directly at the camera, straight at her.

Her body went cold.

Malik placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. As if that contact broke some spell, the village snapped out of its fixed focus and resumed their coordinated effort. But Lorna could not shake the menacing intensity of that attention.

“Don’t worry,” Malik said. “You won’t have anything to do with them. That place is off limits. Isolated to their habitat, they’ve become progressively insular, dangerous to anyone outside their interconnected family. It would be suicide to step foot in there.”

Despite the danger posed, she could not stop staring at the screen. Still, she understood the security issue. Having been involved with the New Orleans Zoo, she knew the obstacles and challenges when it came to safely housing wild animals, especially predators.

She was glad someone was keeping a close eye on that place.

Duncan stood on the stretch of sand that connected the two islands. He sucked on a cherry Life Savers, but not even the sweetness could dispel the bitter taste at the back of his throat. He hated to put his men at needless risk, especially when Malik couldn’t recognize a failure when it was biting him in the ass.

Across the sand, a trio of his commandos approached the forest on the far side. They were armed with XM8 lightweight assault rifles outfitted with 40mm grenade launchers.

Duncan wasn’t taking any chances.

He never did.

Malik had thought him overly paranoid when he designed the security measures to isolate the other island. A twelve-foot electric fence split the land bridge in half. Coils of concertina barbwire topped the gate and rolled out into the water. He’d also mined the seabed to either side with antipersonnel charges that would explode and shred the shallows with razor-sharp flechettes. Additionally, he’d tagged all the beasts over there and monitored their movements around the clock. There should have been no accidents, no surprises, certainly no deaths.

Duncan had seen the body on the beach. The man’s face was gone, stripped to the bone. Staring at the mutilation, he had flashbacks about his own attack-and that only stoked his anger to a hot fire. Even his own men gave him a wide berth, seeing something in his face that scared them.

And he was okay with that. He wanted his men to remain wary.

Across the way, the trio of men vanished into the forest. Duncan listened to their chatter. He didn’t have to be down at the beach, but he felt it was his duty. He wanted to be here in case there was trouble. He never sent his men into a firestorm that he wasn’t willing to follow them into. It was why his men respected him, were loyal to him.

He listened to the men’s chatter over the radio in his ear. They kept their talk to a minimum, but he wasn’t satisfied. He touched his throat mike.

“Keep silent out there. Hand signals only. Sound out if there’s trouble.”

He got confirmation from all three.

He resumed his pacing as he waited. Each minute dragged. His jaw muscles began to ache.

Finally, a new voice spoke in his ear. “Commander Kent, the team is about to enter the blacked-out zone.” The speaker was posted back at the villa’s security nest, monitoring all the camera feeds. “I’ll lose them from here, but I’ll keep tracking their ID tags.”

“Understood. Keep me updated.”

Duncan kept his gaze fixed on the forested hill across the way. During his engineering of the compound, he had installed an additional precaution in case of emergency. He had sowed the island with napalm bombs. With a press of a button, he could burn the other island down to the dirt. At the moment he was tempted to do that.

Fry the whole place. Be done with it.

The security technician spoke again in his ear. “The team has reached the tree blind where the broken camera was posted.”

Impatient, Duncan pressed his throat mike to open a channel to his team. “Report in. What’s going on out there? What did you find?”

The voice came back in a wary whisper. “Camera’s trashed. Looks like someone took a rock to it. Smashed it to bits.”

So he’d been right all along.

A mechanical glitch, my ass.

Duncan planned on laying into Malik once he got back to the villa. But that could wait. He didn’t want his men out there any longer than necessary.

“Replace the camera,” he ordered. “And hump your asses back here double time.”

“Will do.”

Before he could even sign off, the security nest cut in. “Commander Kent, I’m receiving a distress call from a commercial charter boat. They’re reporting an engine fire.”

He closed his eyes and sighed heavily.

Like I need this now…

He spoke into his radio. “Where are they?”

“The beach patrol says the boat’s about half a klick from the cove, blowing black smoke. How do you want me to respond?”

Duncan didn’t like this. Warning bells rang in his head. He wanted to check this out himself.

“Hold tight before responding to the boat. I’ll be right up.”

“Aye, sir.”

Duncan stared at the dark forest beyond the gate. The others should be heading back by now. The security nest could continue monitoring their status until they were safe.

He turned his back on other island and headed up the stone stairs toward the villa. He wanted to see this foundering boat for himself. By maritime law, they could not ban the ship from seeking shelter. To do so would only draw attention to the island.

Still, that didn’t mean he had to roll out the welcome mat.