Free The Island Project: A Thriller by Taylor Buck Page B

far down the structure.
    “Did you see something?” Kelly asked.
    Bennett unstrapped his bag and began assembling his camera, fitting together the body and the lens. He screwed his telephoto lens into place and held the camera up to his eye. The side of the building reached high up to the trees. Kelly could see he was focusing in on a large convex mirror perched high on top of the wall. It looked to possibly be a security camera.
    “Tom, are you sure we should be out here in the open?” Kelly asked nervously.
    “That mirror is facing down directly into the building. I can see the entire room from here. It must have a skylight on top,” Bennett said.
    “Anything good?” asked Kelly.
    Bennett focused in on a corner of the room and his attention was immediately drawn to something. Kelly could tell he was concentrated in on something because of the look on his face.
    “Ah…Kelly?
    Click. Bennett fired off a frame.
    “What is it?” Kelly asked with anticipation.
    Bennett lowered the camera away from his face and looked down at the screen. Kelly moved in close to see what he had captured. The screen displayed an amazingly detailed photo of the interior of the room. She could see a large, horizontal glass window on the far end with a door next to it. The floor revealed dark, abstract shadows cast down from the trees above. Both sides of the room held four rows of glass paneling that appeared to be smaller rooms. She could see into two of them. As she studied the rooms, she soon realized what Tom was referring to.
    “No… way ! Are those…?
“Panthers,” Bennett said finishing her question.

    RICK DANNER SAT up in his chair slowly and peered up at the monitor displayed above him. The video feed was being pulled from the east-facing exterior surveillance camera. The screen showed a man and a woman standing next to each other. The man was holding something they both huddled around, seemingly interested in. The unexpected company came as a surprise to Danner. There were no guests listed today. The entire facility was on lockdown, and there was no way anyone should have been able to get in.
    Not a good day for uninvited guests.
    Danner grabbed his shotgun and headed for the door.

CHAPTER 19

    CERTA FACILITY GROUNDS
    15 OCTOBER, 1:00 P.M.

    “How many of them are there? Kelly asked.
    “It looks like there must be one in each cell. Probably seven or eight. They must be breeding them here,” replied Bennett.
    “They’ve got them locked in cages!” Kelly gasped. “And what are those? It looks like tubes, or something attached to them—like they’re hooked up to machines!”
    “Well, it’s hard to see what those are exactly,” said Bennett.
    “Those cats are big, easily full-grown adults. They don’t belong out here. They need to be let back into the wild—or at the very least, a wildlife refuge in their respective habitat. Not here though! ” she said angrily.
    Kelly was getting visibly enraged. She didn’t deal well with animal cruelty. She was strongly opposed to abuse and happened to be an activist for animal rights groups.
    “Kelly, hold on. We don’t know what they’re doing out here,” said Bennett.
    “Tom, we need to call the police. If there were sanctioned wild cats here on the islands, you can be certain I would know about it.” Kelly started to pull her phone out.
    “Don’t move!”
    Bennett and Kelly swung around and looked in the direction of the voice. A muscular man, dressed in military cargo pants and a dark brown, sweat-drenched tank top was walking slowly toward them—gun pointed straight at Bennett.
    “This is private property, and you are trespassing.” The man paced forward slowly, his body tensed. “Now explain to me how you got on the premises.”
    Bennett stepped forward to approach him, shuffling in front of Kelly.
    “I said to stay where you are!” The man barked at Bennett and brought the gun up to take aim.
    “ Ok! You got it. We’re not moving.” Bennett raised