Razzy Scott slowed the speedboat and drifted into the berth at the Verdanx Pharma facility on Live Oak Key. Danno checked the girl's pulse to make sure she was still okay. She remained asleep during the journey. He worried Claudia may have given her too large a dose of tranquilizer.

Doctor Armando stood at the dock wearing a wide smile. Danno couldn't ever recall seeing a smile on the man's face. As soon as they moored the boat, Armando jumped aboard, a stethoscope around his neck.

He rubbed his hands together in what looked to Danno like a little boy's glee over receiving a favorite Christmas present. "Where is the specimen? Let me see it."

Claudia held open the door to the small interior cabin and motioned for the doctor to step inside. Danno followed behind.

"Oh!" Doctor Armando exclaimed. He held both hands against the sides of his face. "What a perfect specimen. It's young and healthy. Perfect!"

He took a moment to check the girl's heartbeat with his stethoscope. "Bring it in," Armando commanded and ran from the boat back up the ramp to the lab.

With undisguised contempt showing on her face, Claudia asked, "Does anybody else think his attitude is a bit too orgasmic?"

"He's an asshole," Razzy uttered, "but he pays well."

Nico bent over and picked up the girl. "Cut the man some slack. He's patiently waited five years to get his hands on her."

Claudia held the cabin door open for Nico. "Yeah, that's right. Her.  It grates on me when he refers to the girl as an it."

Danno followed behind his team as they walked up a paved ramp into the double doors at the rear of the facility leading directly into Doctor Armando's private lab. He contemplated the big bonus they would all be receiving now that the job was finally done.

Once inside, Armando waited beside a stainless steel operating table with a built-in drip tray. Dials and gadgets attached to sensors connected to the base.

Two male lab assistants stood beside the doctor. One security guard sat on a stool leading from the lab into the front of the facility. The door they had entered leading to the dock was unguarded but heavily secured with a crossbar.

"Lay the specimen here," the doctor barked to Nico.

After Nico did so, the doctor looked at Claudia. "Take off the specimen's clothes."

Claudia scoffed. "Sorry Doc, that's beyond my scope of work."

"With all the money I've been paying you, you're going to quibble over some minor chore?"

"Why? Are you afraid to touch her?"

The doctor's face twisted in rage. "You will damn well do as I tell you."

Claudia jabbed a finger into his chest. "You need to be more racially sensitive. I'm nobody's slave."

Danno stepped between them to defuse the situation. "She's right, Doctor Armando. Our contract is now completed. We're done here."

The doctor grumbled under his breath and told one of his lab assistants to undress the girl.

"Let's go," Danno said. He and his team started for the door.

"Wait," the doctor yelled, sounded frantic. "Where are you going?"

Danno shrugged. "Like I said, we're done here. We brought you the girl as we were contracted to do."

"But...but..." he sputtered and pointed toward the girl. "Do you think anyone will come looking for it? Did anyone track you here?"

Danno gave it some thought. "Bruce Webb will know exactly where she is, and yes, he will come for her."

"Then you can't leave. We never needed heavy security to defend against a potential attack. All I have are a man stationed at the front desk, a man at the entrance gate, and this guard at the back door."

Danno delighted in watching Armando squirm. "There's nothing potential about an attack. Our former team member will be coming, and he is highly skilled. You have two choices, relocate to a different facility unknown to Webb, or hire us to spend the night until you can make other arrangements in the morning."

Armando gave a dismissive wave. "Relocation is out of the question. All the equipment I need is right here." He sighed. "Very well, your team can stay. I'll hire you."

"Not until we're paid our bonus for delivering the girl."

"What? Now?"

"Why not?" Danno pulled his phone. "Transfer payment to the Tipstaff Security account in Bitcoins as agreed."

Armando huffed. "You're taking advantage of me and quite frankly causing me to waste valuable time better spent analyzing the specimen. This is highly unprofessional."

Danno nodded to his team. "Sorry you feel that way. We're outta here."

"Wait," the doctor squeaked. He pulled his phone and completed the transaction.

Danno verified from his phone. "Pleasure doing business with you." He turned to his team. "Any of you want to work extra hours tonight?"

"Not especially," Claudia said, "but we all came here on the boat, so I guess I'm stuck."

Razzy offered her his car keys. "Since I drove here to get the boat, you can take my car back to Tarpon Springs."

Nobody else jumped at the chance to leave. Claudia sighed, "I don't want to be accused of not being a team player, so I'll stay."

"Okay, then, let's deploy," Danno said. "There are two ways into this facility. Nico, station yourself on the mainland side of the causeway leading onto the key. It's private and after hours, so there should be no reason for anyone to access the lab overnight. Call if any vehicles approach the security gate. That'll give us plenty of warning."

He addressed Razzy. "The only other way in is the same way we got here, by boat. Make yourself at home on the speedboat. Call if any watercraft approaches."

As the two men walked away, Danno turned to Claudia. "You're with me."

She spoke to him softly so as not to be overheard. "Four of us and three in-house security staff. Will that be enough? Webb is older, but I have no doubt he's still formidable."

"Unless he comes with an army, we should be able to handle him."

Lying on her back on the steel table, the naked girl began to whimper. She tried curling into a fetal position.

"She's coming around," one of the lab assistants said.

Claudia scowled, "Put a damn blanket over her. Now that you've removed her clothing, she's cold."

"I need to get some vitals first," Armando said. He walked to the table, inspected some gauges, and turned on a camera and microphone.

He spoke his name and the date. "Homo sirenas  specimen number three has been delivered to the lab on this date, alive and apparently healthy. It is white, Caucasian, initial weight of 48.2 kilograms and length of 157.5 centimeters from sole of foot to top of crown. Exact date of birth is undetermined. As evidenced by news reports that led to the specimen's capture, it has already undergone metamorphosis."

Armando turned off the recording equipment and turned to Danno. "A damn shame. If you would've brought it to me before the change, I could've learned so much more by studying the process."

Claudia glanced at Danno and rolled her eyes.

"Where am I? Where's Rafe?" The girl spoke, but she had trouble keeping her eyes open. "I'm so cold."

Armando ordered one of his lab assistants to start an IV. "Administer a bag of Descansar. It will keep the specimen calm and inhibit its ability to transform. I can't allow that to happen yet until we complete the baseline scan."

The girl made a pitiful mewling noise when the lab assistant stuck the needle in her.

"IV is secure and operational," the assistant said.

Claudia got Danno's attention. She looked at him with eyes narrowed and spoke so only he could hear. "I was aware Armando would study her, but torturing children is not what I signed up for when I joined Tipstaff."

She was starting to sound like Webb. "Have you suddenly grown a conscience?"

"Descansar is a pharmaceutical I developed," Armando pointed out. "The patent has just been approved by the FDA and I'll make millions off it."

Both Danno and Claudia said nothing.

The doctor inspected a specimen of the girl's blood under a microscope. "Unbelievable. Red blood count is five times higher than a comparable human female, and the cells are densely packed and vibrant. She could probably hold her breath underwater for at least ten minutes. I can't wait to study her bone marrow and liver."

He looked up from the microscope. "Get it on a gurney. Quickly! Imaging is next."

The two lab assistants moved her from the hard steel table onto the soft gurney and covered her with blankets.

"Thank you," the girl mumbled, her words barely audible.

Doctor Armando stood by her side. "Hello, number three. Are you conscious? Can you hear me?"

"What are you going to do to me?" She sounded groggy.

The doctor flinched as if he hadn't expected such a coherent response. "Why, I'm going to mine every molecule of your body for synthesis into the next generation of wonder drugs."

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