Read Online The Island Project: A Thriller by Taylor Buck - Free Book Online

and felt the glow of the spotlight warming his face. He smiled at the audience…and began.
    “Ladies and gentlemen. We are ascending the Everest of prosthetic advancements. And we are climbing it with the help of robotic technology.”
    The crowd roared with applause.

CHAPTER 16

    OKOLE VALLEY FARM
    15 OCTOBER, 10:30 A.M.

    Detective Lee was back at the pineapple farm, the scene of the crime. After receiving the news of the Pentothal present in the victim’s body, he had come back to see if he could find any evidence. This time Chief Terry Sullivan had come along with him. Sullivan was pacing around the crime scene, studying the prints. A gentle rain from the night before had softened the tracks somewhat. However, they were still clearly visible in the sunlight. A man’s boot prints followed by deep oval tracks spaced evenly apart.

    “Did we get any leads on the surrounding areas?” Chief Sullivan asked.
    Lee nodded as he took a few pictures with his cell phone. “Yes. Well, sort of. The neighbors down the road claim they saw a dark figure along the hillcrest over there.” Lee pointed out toward the hillside backing the house. “They said it was dark out and hard to determine, but that they could see reflections of light in its eyes.” Lee hand signaled with rabbit ears the word “reflections”.
    Sullivan rubbed his hand over his white chin whiskers, pensively. “Could be anything though. Especially out here.”
    “Right. Outside of these three houses, there isn’t another home in site for a good ten miles. The hills here separate the city to the east and the forest reserve over there covers pretty much everything else. And who knows what’s living in there?”
    “So your animal attack theory survives for now, Jimmy. But we still need to get some traction on the Sodium Pentothal.”
    “I called my guy at the University to get more background on Pentothal. It turns out that Sodium Pentothal is used in lethal injections. It’s part of a three part cocktail of barbiturates that are delivered consecutively,” Lee said and glanced at his phone, wherein he always left his notes. “The three parts include sodium pentothal, pavulon and potassium chloride. The Pentothal alone is extremely fatal in large doses. In small doses, however, it can be used as truth serum. The CIA uses the stuff, or at least they used to, to extract info from their detainees.”
    “Truth serum? You think this guy was being pumped for information?” Sullivan asked skeptically.
    “No. This guy didn’t know anything. I talked to his family, he’s been a farmer his whole life. The guy was clean.”
    “So why the Pentothal?”
    “Who knows? It was probably convenient for a quick kill. The stuff is fairly easy to come by. Anyone in the medical field could get access to it. It’s also available on the black market for anyone resourceful enough to know where to look.”
    “I’m impressed Jimmy. Maybe I should use that stuff on you to tell me how you keep beating me in the football pool.”
    “Right! There’s no way a serum would get me to give away my secrets,” Lee said smiling.
    Sullivan erupted in a wheezy laugh, which ended in a coughing fit. His body was still haunted by years of chain smoking. Even with the therapeutic island air in which to rehabilitate, Sullivan’s body had taken years of alcohol and smoking abuse as he climbed ranks in the Los Angeles Police Department Central Division, also known as “The CD”.
    “So what about the tracks? Has anyone followed these out to see where they came from?” Sullivan asked.
    “Yeah. Forensics covered the place. They searched a good two miles out in either direction. But there’s no sign of which direction the animal came from. The prints come directly out from the pineapple field, which as you can see is bordered by the forest there.” Lee pointed out over the reserve.
    “And we’ve checked all through there?” Sullivan asked.
    “It’s protected land. We already went