“No, goddamn it!” Siegfried snapped. “The animals stay on the island. If they’re brought in, you won’t be able to keep it a secret. Even if they don’t use fire, we know they’re cunning little bastards from the problems we’ve had during retrievals, and maybe they’ll start doing something else equally as weird. If they do, handlers will start talking. We’ll be in worse shape.”

Bertram sighed and ran a nervous hand through his white hair. Reluctantly, he admitted to himself that Siegfried had a point. Still, he thought it best to bring the animals in, mainly to keep them isolated from each other.

“I’ll be talking to Raymond Lyons tomorrow,” Siegfried said. “I tried to call him earlier. I figured that since Kevin Marshall had already talked to him, we might as well get his opinion about what to do. After all, this whole operation is his creation. He doesn’t want trouble any more than we do.”

“True,” Bertram said.

“Tell me something,” Siegfried said. “If the animals are using fire, how do you think they got it? You still think it was lightning?”

“I’m not sure,” Bertram said. “It could have been lightning. But, then again, they managed to steal a bunch of tools, rope, and other stuff when we had the crew out there constructing the island side of the bridge mechanism. No one even thought about the possibility of theft. I mean, everything was secured in toolboxes. Anyway, they might have gotten matches. Of course, I have no idea how they could have figured out how to use them.”

“You just gave me an idea,” Siegfried said. “Why don’t we tell Kevin and the women there’s been a crew going out to the island over the past week to do some kind of work like cutting trails. We can say that we’ve just found out that they have been starting the fires.”

“Now that’s a damn good idea!” Bertram said. “It makes perfect sense. We’ve even considered putting a bridge over the Rio Diviso.”

“Why the hell didn’t we think of it earlier?” Siegfried questioned. “It’s so obvious.”

Ahead the LandCruiser’s headlights illuminated the first of the animal-center’s buildings.

“Where do you want me to park?” Siegfried asked.

“Pull right up to the front,” Bertram said. “You can wait in the air. It will only take me a second.”

Siegfried took his foot off the accelerator and began to brake.

“What the hell!” Bertram said.

“What’s the matter?”

“There’s a light on in my office,” Bertram answered.

“This looks promising,” Candace called out as she pulled a large folder from the top drawer of the file cabinet. The folder was dark blue and closed with an attached elastic. In the upper right-hand corner it said: Isla Francesca.

Melanie pushed in the drawer of the desk she’d been searching and walked over to Candace. Kevin appeared from the outer office and joined them.

Candace snapped off the elastic and opened the folder. She slid the contents out onto a library table. There were wiring diagrams of electronic equipment, computer printouts, and numerous maps. There was also a large and lumpy manila envelope that had the words Stevenson Bridge written across its top.

“Now we’re cooking,” Candace said. She opened the envelope, reached in, and pulled out a ring with five identical keys.

“Voilà,” Melanie said. She took the ring and began to remove one of the keys.

Kevin peeked at the maps and picked up a detailed contour map. He had it partially unfolded when he became aware of a flickering light out of the corner of his eye. Glancing at the window, he saw the reflections of headlight beams dancing along the slats of the half open blinds. Stepping over to the window, he peeked out.

“Uh-oh!” Kevin croaked. “It’s Siegfried’s car.”

“Quick!” Melanie said. “Get this all back into the file cabinet.”

Melanie and Candace hastily crammed everything back into the folder, got the folder into the file cabinet, and closed the drawer. No sooner was it closed than they heard the rattle of the front door of the building as it was opened.

“This way!” Melanie whispered frantically. She motioned toward a door behind Bertram’s desk. Quickly, the three went through the door. As Kevin closed it, he could hear the door to the outer office being pulled open.

They had entered one of Bertram’s examining rooms. It was constructed of white tile and had a central stainless-steel examining table. Like Bertram’s inner office it had windows covered with blinds. Enough light filtered in to allow them to rush over to the door to the hall. Unfortunately, en route Kevin kicked a stainless-steel pail standing on the floor next to the examining table.

The pail clanged up against the table leg. In the stillness, it sounded like a gong at an amusement park. Melanie reacted by throwing open the door to the hall and racing toward the stairwell. Candace followed. As Kevin dashed into the hall, he heard the door to Bertram’s office slam open. He had no idea if he’d been seen or not.

In the stairwell, Melanie descended as fast as the moonlight would allow. She could hear Candace and Kevin behind her. She slowed at the foot of the stairs to grope for the door to the basement level. She got it open none too soon. Above they heard the first-floor stairwell door open, followed by heavy footfalls on the metal stairs.

The basement was utterly black save for a dim rectangular outline of light in the distance. Holding on to each other, they made their way toward the light. It wasn’t until they had reached it that Kevin and Candace realized it was a fire door with light seeping around its periphery. Melanie had it open with her magnetic card once she’d located the slot.

Beyond the fire door was a brightly lit hallway which allowed them to run full tilt. Melanie pulled them to an abrupt halt halfway down the narrow passageway. There she opened a door marked pathology.

“Inside,” Melanie barked. Wordlessly, everyone complied.

Closing the door, Melanie locked it with a throw bolt.

They were standing in an anteroom for two autopsy theaters. There were scrub sinks, several desks, and a large insulated door leading to a refrigerated room.

“Why did we come in here?” Kevin said with panic in his voice. “We’re trapped.”

“Not quite,” Melanie said breathlessly. “This way.” She motioned for them to follow her around the corner. To Kevin’s surprise there was an elevator. Melanie pounded the call-button, which brought forth an immediate whine of its machinery. At the same time, the floor indicator illuminated to show the elevator cab was on the third floor.

“Come on!” Melanie pleaded as if her urging could speed up the apparatus. Since it was a freight elevator, it was agonizingly slow. It was just passing the second floor when the door to the hallway rattled on its hinges followed by a muffled expletive.

The three exchanged panicky glances. “They’ll be in here in the next few seconds,” Kevin said. “Is there another way out?”

Melanie shook her head. “Only the elevator.”

“We have to hide,” Kevin said.

“What about the refrigerator?” Candace offered.

With no time to argue, the three darted to the refrigerator. Kevin got the door open. A cool mist flowed out to layer itself along the floor. Candace went in first, followed by Melanie and then Kevin. Kevin pulled the door shut. It’s hardware clicked soundly.

The room was twenty feet square, with stainless-steel shelving from floor to ceiling that lined the periphery as well as forming a central island. The hulks of a number of dead primates lay on the shelves. The most impressive was the body of a huge silver-back male gorilla on the middle shelf of the central island. The illumination in the room came from bare light bulbs within wire cages attached to the ceiling at intervals along the walkways.

Instinctively, the three rushed around to the back of the central island and squatted down. Their heavy breathing formed fleeting spheres of mist in the frigid temperature. The smell was not pleasant with a hint of ammonia, but it was tolerable.