Revolution Read Free Page B

men.”
    “Budget cuts,” said Farrell with a slight
shrug. “We do what we can.”
    Anastasia continued to giggle. “Harry and I
go for runs at night and we see your men either sleeping on the job
or looking the wrong way. And they’ve got night vision goggles,
too.”
    Farrell’s face became a deep red, which soon
turned purple with rage. If he was angry, though, his expression
didn’t show it. His voice, though, betrayed his feelings, as it
came out low with a hint of danger in it. “I’ll have a word with
them about the patrols,” he said. “Excuse me.”
    He stalked off and thirty seconds later, the
sound of shouting and expletives echoed over to their position. “I
guess we’ll have to be more careful when we go out at night,”
Anastasia remarked as she hefted the bags and sniffed the contents.
A look of satisfaction spread across her face. “Hey, he brought a
couple of filet steaks this time. I think grilling is on the menu
tonight.”
    Inside the kitchen, she started to put the
groceries away and a few seconds later, Farrell walked in. “I had a
word with my men,” he announced. “And I apologize for that.”
    “Have you found anything?” asked Harry. He
sat at his workstation, performing computer simulations on DNA
transposition. The program he’d installed was running. Whether the
computer was on or off didn’t matter. He’d know the results in
roughly two days, so he closed the lid.
    “No,” Farrell said and scratched his head in
what had to be a gesture of frustration. “We know there are roughly
thirty-five transgenics in and around Eastern Europe. We learned
that from our Russian friends. They’ve had numerous sightings
lately, not only in their country, but in other former Bloc
countries, and each one has been more definitive than the
last.”
    “How bad are they?”
    “Bad,” Farrell affirmed with a sigh. “We’ve
had reports of people being savaged, bitten up and torn apart. The
police there are publicly treating it as attacks by wild animals.
That hasn’t stopped the local media from sounding a warning
note.
    “They also had a number of kidnappings in the
same time period. Mostly young people, but some older ones as well
and the police are checking that as well.”
    Kidnappings... Harry didn’t want to think
about the reason why, but the answer knifed into his head anyway.
Anastasia’s gaze met his and she gave a faint nod. Clearly, she was
thinking the same thing. Whoever was kidnapping these people needed
subjects. “I’m going to go out on a limb here,” began Anastasia,
cleaning her claws with a rag, “and say that the kidnappings and
murders were linked.”
    Farrell eyed them both and finally nodded.
“My guess is that they are. We’re crosschecking our references.
We’ve coordinated our efforts with the Russians, the Serbians and
the Hungarians. Those three countries have had the most sightings
and killings.”
    “How many so far?” asked Harry, half-afraid
to hear the numbers.
    In a far from surprising move, Farrell pulled
a folded sheet of paper from his breast pocket, carefully unfolded
it and proceeded to read out the facts. “Fifty-eight so far from
Hungary, mostly random citizens,” he said. “Russia has had over a
hundred and Serbia around thirty. These are known incidents. There
may be others that have gone unreported. Like I said, we’re still
crosschecking the data with our allies.” Facts given, he refolded
the paper and tucked it away in his pocket.
    “Do you trust them?” asked Anastasia, with a
note of wariness in her voice. “I don’t.”
    Farrell offered a grunt, which sounded like
he was admitting defeat. “I don’t have much of a choice. Part of
the deal we made was to share information. So far, they’ve given us
possible locations and sightings. We’ve been checking them out.
I’ve had to share a couple of tips with the Russians and the
Hungarians. As for Serbia, no, not yet, and none of them has asked
for any scientific