CHAPTER 301
"So, what do you think now?" Smith turned another toothpick with his tongue.
He and Thorne stood by the sonic device watching Dodgson, Howard, and the others depart toward the building marked as the nursery. Reuben and Sparrow were standing by as well, both looking at Thorne expectantly.
"You heard that shit in them trees," Smith pointed his toothpick. "Ain't nothing like it before in my life. That's for damned sure. This shit is next level."
Thorne was still trying to process what had just happened. Smith was right about one thing. What they had witnessed was unlike anything they had ever experienced before.
Thorne looked at the jungle. Then he looked at the sonic deterrent device. The words that Dodgson had said echoed in his mind. What dangerous things were in that jungle? What had he gotten himself and his team into?
The instructions that King had given him about the device floated in his short term memory like lifting fog. He was grasping now at the information before it faded away. It seemed easy enough. There was a trigger on a handle on the right side of the gun. It was powered by a battery pack on the back. There was a power chord that had to remain plugged in at both the battery and the device in order for it to work.
Thorne heard a soft ticking. He looked up.
Reuben was dangling his watch by its chain. It hung near the side of his jaw, and he seemed to be in mid conversation with it. Reuben's eyes were on Thorne, but his lips were angled at the watch and murmuring. Thorne had caught him doing this before, and he always thought it strange, to say the least.
Reuben met eyes with Thorne, made another utterance to the watch, and lowered it into his pocket somewhat conspicuously.
Sparrow tilted her sunglasses down so she could peer at Thorne over the rims.
Thorne looked at the group that was still embarking toward the nursery. He watched them for a moment and then said, "wait here."
He marched off.