Unmasking Kelsey by Kay Hooper

Kelsey kept his voice low as he reached his partner; they had both spent the past hour slowly moving around the fenced perimeter of Meditron, taking care to stay out of range of the cameras.
    Derek, dressed like Kelsey in dark clothing, shook his head. “Nothing. They work three shifts; all the buildings are lighted. There’s no way to tell from out here if any one building is holding something it shouldn’t.”
    They stood in the shadows of trees thatcompletely encircled the fenced compound; there were some thirty feet between the trees and the fence all the way around the perimeter. There were several floodlights placed strategically about the six buildings, numerous cars in the parking lots, and the usual industrial noise escaping whenever a door was opened.
    A normal industrial plant to all appearances. Except that security was unusually heavy, in the form of an electrified fence, perimeter cameras, two pairs of very alert patrolling guards complete with leashed and very alert dogs, and three armed guards standing watch inside what looked very much like a bulletproof gatehouse.
    “I think—” Kelsey began, then broke off abruptly as he felt a sudden itch between his shoulder blades. He had come to respect and pay attention to that sensation over the years, since it usually heralded trouble.
    “Over there,” Derek murmured, pointing toward a point in the trees about fifty yards away from them. “We’ve got company.”
    “I’ll go.”
    “Yes,” Derek said. “I think you’d better.”
    Alerted by something in that mild voice, Kelsey looked harder at the distant movement, then swore violently and vanished into the trees.
    Derek made himself comfortable on the ground, leaning back against the trunk of a tree and thoughtfully studying Meditron. But his mind wandered a bit.
    It seemed that Kelsey wouldn’t find it easy after all to get some time away from Elizabeth Conner.
    Not if the lady had anything to say about it.

F IVE
    “W HAT THE
HELL are you doing here?”
    Elizabeth nearly jumped out of her skin, even though the furious demand was whispered. She was dragged quickly back into the trees before she could respond, and even though the iron grip on her arm wasn’t especially painful, she struggled. “Let go of me!” she whispered fiercely.
    “No!” he snapped softly, continuing to drag her unwilling body until they were almost at the main road. His battered car was parked in the shelter of the trees, and he opened the back door and pushedher unceremoniously inside, climbing in after her too quickly for her to escape.
    Elizabeth had taken just about all she was going to take. Her anger had grown all day, until she had finally decided she would be out of her mind if she just sat around any longer and waited for either Blaine or Kelsey to do something to free her sister. Until she had reached Meditron and seen the formidable barriers she would have to cross, she had not fully realized the imprudence of her action; she had simply acted because she had grown very tired of doing nothing.
    Now she stared at Kelsey in the dimness of the car’s interior and felt like a fool. It just made her madder. “Let go of me!” she whispered fiercely again.
    Kelsey cursed violently. “Do you have any idea how close you came to getting yourself electrocuted—if not shot?” His voice was hard and hoarse.
    She went still, and swallowed with difficulty. “I wouldn’t have touched the fence; I saw the signs.”
    “What did you plan to do? Walk up to the gate and demand to see your sister?”
    “I don’t know!” She began struggling again. “Damn you, I just wanted to
do
something! You and Blaine just talk and talk—neither of you will do anything—and Jo’s being held in there somewhere.”
    “I’m trying to do something,” Kelsey told her harshly. “Dammit, Elizabeth, let me do my job!”
    “It isn’t a job to me!” she cried softly. “It’s my sister!”
    He tried to get a grip on his temper. “I