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McBrid raced out of the Aranea lab. He had to find Charlie. The damn kid should be in the barracks by now, not creeping around Level Five. He ran down the hallway and stopped. He had no idea if he was going in the right direction. He sniffed, trying not to raise his head. Usually, the cameras in the hallways weren’t monitored but he couldn’t risk being questioned. Almightys did not sniff out scent. A slight scuffling sound came from the Phasmatodea room.
“No. Not the Brush–Men.” He should’ve known better than to let Charlie work with them. Those things were extremely sneaky and Charlie was too trusting. He burst through the door.
Charlie was in the back of the room on his knees by the cabinet. The kid stared up at him, eyes wide. “McBrid?”
“You okay?” The enclosures were sealed. Everything looked good.
“Ah, yeah.” The young Guard stood.
“What happened?” His heart was slowing to an almost normal rate.
“Nothing.” Charlie stared at his feet.
“You yelled.” And scared him to death.
“Did I? Sorry.”
“What’s going on?” The young Guard was acting suspicious.
“Nothing. I...ah...dropped something.”
“What?” He moved toward the Guard. Charlie was not a very good liar. “Maybe, I can help you find it.”
“No.” The kid almost yelled again.
“No?”
“I mean, thanks but that’s okay. It’s not important.”
“It was important enough to make you scream and to cause you to crawl around on the floor.” His gaze roamed the room. “Why are there two beakers out?”
Charlie hurried to the counter, grabbing the glass containers and carrying them to the sink. “I was getting ready to wash them.”
“Wait.” But it was too late, the young Guard splashed water into both, wiping away whatever had been staining the bottom of the larger one. “What was in there?”
“I don’t know. I found them like this.” He shoved the scrub brush inside, cleaning the jar thoroughly.
“Charlie, you need to tell me the truth. I didn’t leave them dirty. I need to know if someone else was in here.” He wouldn’t put it past Scottsmoor to sabotage the experiment. Although the other scientist had been glad when this project had been reassigned to McBrid, Scottsmoor certainly didn’t want anyone else to succeed where he’d failed.
“Ah...” Charlie’s eyes darted between the door and the cage.
“If someone is coming in here, we could all be in danger. You. Me. Your brother.” Louis was Charlie’s weak spot.
“You’re gonna be mad at me.”
“I might be, but I promise you won’t get in trouble. Just tell me the truth.” The scientists were all competitive which could explain someone sneaking around his project, but it also might be Conguise and that was infinitely more dangerous.
“You swear you won’t punish me?”
“I swear. We’re friends. Aren’t we?”
“I guess.”
That hurt. He considered the two Guards more like family than friends, but the feelings obviously weren’t returned. “I’m trying to protect you. To protect all of us.”
“That’s all I was trying to do too.”
“Did someone threaten you?” He couldn’t allow that. He wasn’t always around to watch over the young Guard.
“No.” The Guard shook his head. “Nothing like that, but...” His eyes glanced to the newly replanted Brush-Men cage where the smallest of the creatures scurried around the bushes and grasses.
“Did something happen when you and Louis fed the Brush-Men? Did some escape?” Araldo, he was dead if anyone found out about this.
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?” He wanted to shake the young Guard, but that’d make the kid shut up faster than anything. Guards, like Charlie, saw more abuse from Almightys than caring. He pushed aside his impatience. “Please, tell me exactly what happened.”
“Well....” Charlie backed away a step. “We were done feeding them. Louis left and I was tidying up when....when they started attacking a smaller one.”
“Dear Araldo, what did you do?” He grabbed a chair and sat. This couldn’t get worse, but he was pretty sure it would.
“I didn’t think. I just ran into the cage and–”
“They didn’t attack you?”
“No. Yes. I mean, at first, they scattered and I was able to grab the little guy. By the time they regrouped and came at me I was almost to the door.”
“You grabbed one?” His voice rose.
Charlie’s big, brown eyes pleaded with him. “They were going to kill him. They’d already bit off most of his hand.”
“That’s the stupidest...” He stood. Fury, fear and relief that the kid was okay raged through him. “How in the name of Araldo have you managed to live this long. You’re too stupid to work here. You’re going to get us all killed.”
“Sorry.” Charlie stared at his feet, his shoulders drooping.
McBrid took a huge breath, calming his fears. “No. I’m sorry. You’re not stupid but damnit, Charlie, you have to think with your head”—he tapped the young Guard on the temple—“and not with your heart.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” There were tears in the Guard’s eyes. “I just felt so bad for him. He was screaming and those other ones were all over him.”
“What did you do with it?” He looked around the lab. Those little things could hide almost anywhere.
“I put him in a container.”
“He needs to go back inside with the others.”
“They’ll kill him.”
“Maybe, but maybe he’ll be smarter this time and stay away from the bigger ones.”
“How’s he supposed to do that? They’re all bigger and now he’s hurt.”
“I’m sorry about that, but he has to go back with the others. He’s not a pet. He’s dangerous.”
“He understands me.”
“Charlie...” Now, the Guard was being fanciful.
“I’m not lying. I talked to him. I can’t understand him but he understands me. He tries to talk to me but all I hear are chirps and clacks but sometimes he shakes his head yes or no. I understand that.”
“Don’t lie to—”
“I’m not. I swear.” When Charlie lied, he usually looked away. Right now, his brown eyes were locked with McBrid’s.
“Where is he? I need to see this for myself.”
“Ah...” Charlie glanced away.
“Please tell me you didn’t remove him from the lab.” If the Guard turned the little Brush-Man loose, Araldo, help them all. Those things would annihilate the population. They bred like crazy and were both voracious and aggressive.
“No. Nothing like that.”
“Good that would’ve...It wouldn’t have been good.” McBrid could breathe again.
“Ah, this ain’t so good either.”
So much for breathing. “What happened?”
“The little guy had dirtied in his container and I needed to clean it so...I...ah, I put a pencil inside to lift him out and he...ah...he jumped.”
“Jumped where?”
“To the counter and then the floor.”
“You lost him?” This couldn’t be happening.
“Kind of.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“He ran under the cabinet.” Charlie pointed to where he’d been kneeling. “I was trying to find him when you came in.”
McBrid hurried across the room and dropped to the floor. He couldn’t see a thing under the counter. “We need a flashlight.” He sat back on his feet. “There’s one in that drawer.”
Charlie grabbed the flashlight and handed it to McBrid before kneeling next to him. They both ducked and peered under the cabinet.
“I don’t see him, do you?” McBrid moved the light, looking in every crease.
“No,” said Charlie.
He searched again and again, but there was no Brush-Man to be found. He sat up. “He could be anywhere by now.”
“We could set a trap. He was really hungry and thirsty when I found him.”
Great, now he had to try and trap a Brush-Man.