Chapter 13 - THE GHOST OF THE LAB
Two months after Director Kincaid’s arrest, the Serengeti was peaceful again. Or so we thought.
The night air was unusually still, heavy with the promise of rain. I was sitting at the control terminal in our sanctuary office, reviewing the satellite tracking tags on our lion’s pride, when a sharp, red alert flashed across my screen.
[WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED FREQUENCY DETECTED IN SECTOR 4]
My hands froze over the keyboard. Sector 4 was an isolated canyon near the border of the park.
"Leo, look at this," I called out, my pulse instantly quickening. "A secondary transmitter signal just activated inside the sanctuary. But it’s not from any of our ranger gear."
Leo leaned over my shoulder, staring at the glowing code scrolling down the screen. His eyes widened in absolute horror. "That’s... that’s not a standard GPS signal, Maya. That’s an automated recall beacon."
"A recall beacon?" I turned to face him. "What does that mean?"
"When Dr. Vance and Kincaid developed the behavioral modifier compounds," Leo whispered, his voice trembling, "they programmed a deep neurological override into the subjects' brains. A specific sonic frequency that forces the animals to drop everything and return to the signal source."
Suddenly, a loud, distressed roar echoed from the direction of the canyon—a sound so full of pain and confusion it shattered the quiet night.
"It’s him!" I gasped, jumping up from my chair. "The signal is affecting our lion!"
We grabbed our gear and tore out of the station on our all-terrain vehicle. As we sped through the dark savannah toward Sector 4, the roaring grew louder, more desperate.
When we reached the mouth of the canyon, I slammed on the brakes.
Standing in the center of a dry riverbed was our lion. His massive body was rigid, his muscles locked in violent spasms as his head thrashed back and forth. His golden eyes were wild, bloodshot, and filled with blinding agony as a high-pitched, invisible sound tore through his mind.
A few yards away, standing near a sleek silver drone hovering just above the ground, was a woman dressed in a white tactical lab coat.
She turned around as our headlights illuminated the canyon walls. She pulled off her protective visor, revealing a cold, calculating face framed by dark hair.
Leo gasped, almost dropping his rifle. "Dr. Sarah Vance..."
My blood ran cold. "Vance? But Dr. Vance died in the facility explosion!"
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"That was my twin brother," she replied coldly, her voice echoing through the canyon. "He was the reckless visionary. I am the executor. And you two have something that belongs to my family."
🔥 FACEBOOK HOOK: Dr. Vance had a twin sister! She's back with a high-tech sonic weapon that can control the killer lion's mind... Can Maya save him before he's turned into a monster again?
