The Midnight Watch: A Sigma Force Short Story Read Online Free PDF

past another fence, the main park beckoned.
    “My office is in the second building on the left.”
    It appeared to be the only one lit up this night. A lone figure stood limned against that glow.
    “That’s Jill Masterson,” Sara said, sighing out her relief, plainly happy to see a familiar face. “She’s a lieutenant with the park police.”
    Kowalski drew alongside the officer, still searching for any threat. As he kept the engine idling, he could make out the nighttime cries and calls of the neighboring park’s denizens. The breeze carried the scent of cherry blossoms, along with an underlying heavier musk blowing from the grounds.
    The lieutenant approached. She appeared to be in her midthirties. She was fit, dressed in a crisp park uniform with her auburn hair tucked into a cap. From the scowl fixed to her face, she was not happy about this midnight assignment.
    She introduced herself, then added, “I’m not sure why my boss roused park services to open the gate and secure this building. Everything’s been quiet.” She offered a brief smile toward Sara. “But it sounds like you’ve had a rough night, Dr. Gutierrez.”
    “And I’ll be happy when it’s over.”
    They all unloaded and headed toward the office building.
    “I thought there would be more boots on the ground here,” Jason commented.
    Masterson cocked an eyebrow at him. “At this hour? We’re not DC Metro. With budget cuts, we barely have enough staff during the day. Still, I managed to corral three officers to canvass the building and make sure everything is secure. I still have a man inside.”
    “What about the other two?” Kowalski asked.
    “Once we had matters in hand, I sent them back into the park. We got a glass-breakage alarm at the front gate’s kiosk a few minutes ago. They went to check—” From their expressions, she must have known something was wrong. “What?”
    “It’s like back at the museum,” Sara moaned.
    Jason forced them to move faster. “Everyone inside. We need to secure that computer and set up a defense. Radio your man, Lieutenant.”
    She obeyed, confirming that all remained quiet inside.
    Still, Kowalski pulled out his Desert Eagle, which earned a double take from Masterson. Jason took out his cell phone and called Painter, filling him in on the fly. As they entered the front door of the building, Sara guided them in a rush toward her lab offices at the back.
    “Help’s coming,” Jason said as he hung up.
    Let’s hope they get here in time .
    As they crossed the lobby, a loud roar echoed to them.
    Kowalski froze, but Sara smiled nervously back at him. “That’s Anton, a Siberian tiger caged in the neighboring Reproductive Sciences Department. They’ve been collecting semen from him this week as part of an endangered tiger breeding program.”
    Lucky him .
    She glanced down a side hall. “Anton’s generally a pussycat, but he’s notoriously cranky when woken up early.”
    Me, too .
    They hurried to the back of the building and found Masterson’s other man waiting inside Sara’s office. He introduced himself as John Kress and joined his boss in guarding the hall as Jason followed Sara into the depths of her lab. The small space was cramped with stainless steel equipment, shelves of glassware and pipettes, tall freezers, and a workbench holding a trio of computers.
    “Mine’s in the center,” Sara said.
    Jason pulled out a portable thumb drive. “If you can get me access, I need to copy the root directory to capture any malicious executable code and get a record of the night’s TCP/IP connections. After that, I’ll try to—”
    Sara cut him off. “Do anything you have to.”
    She woke up her computer, typed in the long string of a password, and lifted a wired blue puck toward her face. A small light flashed across her left eye, then the blank login screen cleared, revealing her desktop.
    She stepped back. “All yours.”
    Jason took her place and slipped his drive into a USB port on the