Caitlin's heart fell through the floor. The jig was up; they had been caught! What would happen to them now?
Next to her, Randi gave a little cry of despair. The reaction from Tania, however, was much more pronounced. She yanked open the side door, ran around the SUV, and grabbed hold of the white-haired little man with both hands. Violently, she slammed him back against the hood, her face contorted in anger. "You bastard!" she yelled at him. "You don't know how much I've been waiting for this!"
"Gackk!" he choked, futilely trying to dislodge her grip.
Caitlin rushed out of the car and grabbed hold of Tania's shoulders. "Wait!" she insisted. "Tania, wait! He's not worth it!"
"Yes he is!" she yelled. "You know what he did! He killed Kevin!"
The old man shook his head. "No!" he managed to gasp. "Not--dead--!"
"Let him go!" ordered Caitlin. "At least hear him out! He could have brought armed guards along, if he knew we were here."
Randi came out of the SUV now, and walked around to where Tania could see her. "She's right," Randi said quietly. "Besides, you can always waste him later, you know."
Tania held on for a moment longer, then finally threw the old man away from her. "Bah!" she spat. "The only thing she was right about is that you aren't worth it!"
John stood there for a moment, gasping and massaging his throat. "I did not kill Subject Theta--Kevin, that is," he said after a moment. "We terminated his experiment. He has been restored."
"You're lying!" Tania insisted. It was a statement, not an accusation.
"Believe what you will. However, your experiment is also ended. It was over as soon as I found you here. And," he added for good measure, "it was more successful than I could possibly have dreamed."
"What are you babbling about?" said Caitlin. "Was this all some kind of stupid test?"
"In a way," he answered. "Not the way we had planned, but just so, nonetheless. If you will accompany me to a more secure location where we can talk, I will explain everything to your satisfaction."
"No way," Tania said angrily, her arms crossed in defiance. "I'm not going anywhere else with you. The last time we did that, we ended up three inches tall!"
"Very well, we can talk here, if you wish," he replied. "And you can leave at any time. The exit is through that door. There are no guards."
"Oh, God, you're going to kill us, aren't you?" Randi asked suddenly. "As soon as we go outside, you're going to shoot us!"
"No, of course not," he replied, aghast at the suggestion. "No, and I will accompany you to prove it, if you wish."
"Good idea," Tania said. "Let's go outside, and you can come along."
"Very well," he agreed, and they walked across the open parking area. When they came to the door, the director opened it and they all went through.
They emerged in a mostly empty parking lot. The door shut behind them, and they saw that it had a keycard lock and retinal scanner, like the one that led to the restoration machine. The air smelled fresh and beautiful, the smell of freedom. No one else was around; even the security shack on the opposite side of the lot was unoccupied.
"As I said, you may depart," he told them. "Your cars, as you can see, are over there." He pointed away from them, near the edge of the building.
It was true. All three of them immediately recognized the cars they had driven to the initial meeting at the casting call across town.
"They were brought here the first day," he explained, "along with your personal effects from our lockers. If anyone came looking for you, we did not want any evidence at the site. Understand, we did not want any interference from the outside world, if at all possible. In any case, the keys are under your front seats."
"It's too easy," Tania argued. "You probably planted bombs in them or something."
"Tania Peterson!" he exclaimed, shaking his head. "Your suspicions probably served you well these past few days, but now, they are groundless. If we wanted you dead, there are many other ways we could have already accomplished that."
There was something sincere in what he said. "You mean, we can just leave? Just like that?" Randi took a couple of tentative steps towards her car, then looked back doubtfully.
"If you wish. But please, at least let me tell you some things, and ask you some questions. An information exchange, if you will. And then, when I'm done, you can go, and you will never see or hear from us again, if that is your desire."
"That'll be a relief," said Tania, but she no longer seemed quite as angry or upset.
"All right, say what you want to say," Caitlin told him, curious despite herself.
"Very well, but first, I need to know why you escaped from the field office."
"Oh, it was easy," Caitlin replied. “We went out a window.”
"No, not how," he answered. "Why."
"Duh! We didn't trust you!" Tania told him sarcastically. "Now, I wonder why that could be?"
"We knew you weren't really filming a movie," Caitlin explained, shrugging. "Your guards started me thinking about it. It was too military. Why were people like that helping you, and taking orders from you? It didn't make sense. We wanted to find out what you were really doing, and we went through the vent and found Kevin."
"Yeah," Tania interrupted. "Where is he? What did you do to him?"
"He is safe," the director replied. "I will explain everything in due time. Please continue."
Tania looked somewhat relieved, but still doubtful. Ignoring her, Caitlin went on. "He told us about what you had done to him, and we were afraid you were going to use us in the same way. I wasn't sure, though, until we read the memo in the computer."
"Ah, so you did read it," he said, nodding. "There was no evidence that you had used the computer, but I suspected as much."
"We knew we had only two choices. We could trust you, or get away and try get back to normal size on our own. You had already lied to us about the movie, so we didn't trust you, and we left."
"But how did you know how to find this place?" he asked with great interest. "If you had used the delivery truck, I would have understood, but you didn't. We checked for that."
"Well, we heard the name 'SciTek,' and were going to try to take a bus to this building," Caitlin told him.
He looked surprised. "Heard it? From where?"
"You," put in Randi. "You said it."
"No, I couldn't have," he replied, shaking his head. "Everything I was to say was specifically written on my notes."
"Well, you said it, at least once," Caitlin insisted. "Where else could we have gotten it?"
He frowned, but seemed to accept her at her word. "Very well. As you say, then. But please, go on. The bus trip did not work for some reason?"
"No, we never got there," Caitlin replied. She decided to avoid mentioning the help they'd received from Don, not wanting to get him into any trouble. "Instead, we mailed ourselves."
"Yes, I saw the box in my trash can," he replied. "We will need to improve our security measures. That was very, very ingenious of you, I must say. To say I am impressed is not a strong enough sentiment."
"Glad you're happy," Tania said scornfully, but there was a hint of pride in her voice.
"All right, you have answered all my questions," he went on. "Now I will do the same for you."