With there being little hope of getting to question Alex and the other captives - between being sedated and Dr. Kahn always ready to give them more injections when they began to cry out - Hunter was going to have to rely on the tape recordings and any other evidence he might be able to procure.

He had a hunch that Alex might have done what he’d done at his apartment, tape something under his desktop at work… but Hunter had to locate it.

After taking two boxfuls of odds and ends from the offices to the incinerator, Hunter came back to the ground floor and went to the last office nearest the reception desk. Flipping on the light switch, he gazed over the dozen or so desks crammed to one side of the room. One desk immediately stuck out - laminated to its top was a yearly calendar with a sports emblem, a thick green circle with the letter A on it. The Oakland A’s was Alex’s favorite baseball team.

Hunter saw he could go underneath the first row of desks and be able to see under the second row perfectly easily. He did so, then strained to reach for Alex’s desk, which was against the wall.

He saw two USB sticks clearly underneath a hastily-torn piece of cellophane tape. It took a few more reaches, but Hunter was able to grasp the tape and yank it free. Holding the tape under the light, he could see there were labels on each thumb drive. One was marked ‘My PC.’ The other was labeled ‘CANDCEXE.”

Without time to figure out what that might mean, Hunter put the tape with the drives still attached and stuck it underneath his T-shirt. He then filled the box with what few items were left in the desks on the first row of the bunch, reached to peel off Alex’s calendar, added it to the box, and exited the room.

As he walked towards the elevators once more, Dr. Kahn exited the one locked room, which Hunter had already learned thanks to his trip to the security room held his examination table.

“After you’re done with that,” Kahn said, never slowing his stride, “come straight back here.”

“Yes sir,” Hunter said, ignoring the urge to ask why. 

Inside the elevator car, he fidgeted as he figured out what to do. When the bell rang, he stepped out and walked almost hypnotically to the incinerator with the box of junk.  He counted each door, noted the number of offices, utility closets, bathrooms, before he reached the incinerator chute.

He emptied the contents, saving the Oakland calendar for last. He gave it a wistful look. “I’ll figure out a way to fix this, Alex,” he said as he put it down the chute.

In a moment of clarity, he figured out what to do. He went to the far wall, took out his smartphone, and took a picture of the incinerator, making sure to get the door to the men’s room in the shot as well.

Going inside the restroom, he saw that it was a simple layout. One urinal, one toilet stall, and the sink. He took a photo of the urinal and stall together. Going inside the stall, he set the phone down on the toilet seat and opened up the  lid to the tank. He removed the tape containing the USB drives and pasted it to the inside of the lid. He took a picture of the lid with his phone before closing the lid.

Hunter turned to leave. Before doing so, he paused momentarily, took his phone, and made a few more taps on its screen before sliding the phone in the lower, zippered pocket of his cargo pants. With a deep, long breath, he trotted back to the elevator and went back to the ground floor.

Kahn was waiting by the door to the exam room. “Take off your lab coat and sit on the table,” he instructed. His face was stoic, his voice low and steady.

“Uh-alright,” Hunter said. Remember, he told himself, you can appear hesitant, but don’t refuse at this point. He took off the lab coat and folded it neatly on the exam table. Dr. Kahn went to his array of strange looking devices and took out what at first glance appeared like a penlight with a purple glow stick attached.

“You’ve had no adverse effects from that injection?” Kahn asked.

“Nope. Like I told you, there was no redness, no pain at the injection site. And it was so long ago…”

“Nothing… Not even in the last several weeks?”

Hunter slowly shook his head. “Nothing.”

“That’s very interesting,” Dr. Kahn said. He pressed a button on his device. The attachment began to glow, the purple light washing around his hand. “Because you should have been experiencing something. A vibration, a small prickling sensation. And it should have been intensifying, the longer it went on.”

Kahn passed the device over the area he had given Hunter the injection so long ago. Hunter waited for something to happen. A sound, a flashing… but nothing.

Hunter took a chance, thinking now would be as good a time as any to begin the “interrogate” clause in his scroll. “Why, doctor,” he said, with overtly false innocence, “you speak as if there was something more than a vaccine in that shot you gave me.”

Kahn switched his device off. “Don’t be cute,” he said. He didn’t raise his voice, but he spoke with a degree of severity Hunter wasn’t expecting. “I know you know. Now where did it go?”

Hunter glanced behind Kahn’s shoulder. There was another flip clock on the wall, next to the security camera, which was not powered on. The clock read 4:27 PM. Too early for Kai. Hunter continued to stall by withholding a response.

“Answer me!” Kahn slammed his hand on the exam table, which made Hunter jump. He bucked his leg back against the side of the table. He felt the special leather anklet under his denim vibrate in response. It didn’t seem if Kahn took it to be anything other than a nervous reaction.

“I wouldn’t know,” Hunter offered. “Perhaps it dislodged and left my system?”

Kahn scoffed. “Unlikely. Well, I suppose I’ll just have to give you another one,” he said. He visited the gadget counter again, set down the light device, and picked up a syringe. The sight of it alone caused Hunter to tense. How long would it take the team across the street to deploy once they got the signal? Did they even get it?

Kahn knelt to one of the many small fridges and opened a door, revealing dozens, if not hundreds, of identical looking glass vials. He stuck the syringe needle in one of them and began to draw out the contents.

“There… there has to be another way,” Hunter said, genuinely frightened. He couldn’t shake away the fear of the needle, no matter how many times Kai and Calhoun had said it may be necessary to endure.

“Afraid not,” said the doctor. “Well… I suppose there is, but I doubt you would like it.”

Go on, say more, Hunter thought. Make it a threat. Give me an excuse. But Kahn put the needle down.

“Try me,” Hunter prompted.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Kahn said. “We’ll go upstairs straightaway, but only if you promise that you won’t try anything cute on the way up. Be a good boy, do as you’re told, and you’ll make it out of this just fine.”

That still wasn’t a direct threat. He didn’t say he would do anything specific. 

“Fine.”

Hunter’s mind was racing - try to run now? Follow through and let Kahn take him upstairs? He looked at the time again. Just past 4:30, and still at least a half an hour before Kai would be able to venture outside.

They walked to the elevator car, and Kahn pressed the button. Hunter continued to think as they stepped inside and Kahn pressed the button for the top floor. He had to think about this carefully. He could hit the emergency stop and try to escape up the elevator shaft… but that would take time. He could make a break for it as soon as the doors opened, but he didn’t know the layout of the top—

Kahn pressed a moist cloth against Hunter’s face. It smelled a lot like the handkerchief the doctor had let Hunter wipe his sweat with. But much stronger, and so potent that in one muffled breath, Hunter was knocked unconscious.