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((The Mon/Wen/Fri Double -- page 1 of 2))
"Frankly," said Secretary Karr, her voice suddenly wavering, "ah... no, I probably should not be here at all. I only meant to greet you upon your arrival. I did not think that once I came here, I would be trapped."

Hector blinked. "Trapped?" And he noticed her gaze as well, going back and forth, as if watching for something.

"As I said, the storm yesterday knocked out most of our electronics. We lost all ability to communicate with the outside world until only a few hours ago. It was quite a frightening ordeal, I must say."

Stoutamire chimed in again. "Oh, indeed! We were worried that the Beast would attack at any moment! So you can be sure that I am not exaggerating or merely being polite when I say that we are quite pleased to see you now!"

Damn. Hector eyed the distant treeline in the darkness. The airport was fairly large, but it still seemed to be surrounded by forest. The monster could literally appear from any direction, in that case.

So far, these people didn't sound that scared, but maybe they were just trying to remain professional and not panic their subordinates.

If he were in their shoes, he would probably be pretty fucking terrified. He could only imagine what they must have gone through in the last day.

"Is someone coming to pick you up?" said Hector.

"Yes, we received word that a Special Operations team was being deployed here over two hours ago," said the Secretary. "They have... yet to arrive."

Hmm. Hector eyed their small group another time. It was just the Secretary, the Ambassador, and three apparent attendants. "Did you not have a security team escort you here?" he asked.

"We did," she said. "However, they went missing about ten hours ago. We have no idea where they are."

Holy shit.

Hector stopped walking, which made everyone else do the same. "Well, we have an airplane and a spare pilot," he said, very calmly. "Why don't you take them both and go somewhere a bit safer?"