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forwarded the board reams of reports on how such confinement of primates can retard mental growth. Primates are intelligent creatures. They’re self-aware, able to comprehend past and future, able to think abstractly. For such creatures, isolation and confinement can inhibit healthy psychological development, which in turn can lead to stress-induced disorders, if not full-blown psychosis. That’s the greater occupational safety issue.”
    “The board took in your concerns and made their judgments. You have forty-five days to implement the new restrictions.”
    She knew the board was little more than a group who rubber-stamped Trask’s will. Before she could argue further, Trask turned his back on her and headed out. She let him leave, knowing this harassment was born of professional jealousy. The amount of grant money flowing into her project dwarfed the rest of the research studies currently under way at the center, and as a consequence sucked up a lot of the resources here, including space.
    She had heard Trask wanted to expand his own program involving transplant research, using chimpanzees as test subjects. She had read his grant proposals and found them lacking. Not only did they repeat work already performed elsewhere, but they were unnecessarily cruel.
    All the more reason to hold my ground here.
    She returned her study to Baako, who cradled Tango in his lap. He had grown quiet during their argument, plainly sensing the tension, perhaps even understanding that he was at the center of this dispute. She glanced around the suite of rooms that made up his domicile, trying to imagine confining him at night.
    But is this space any less of a cage already?
    A familiar twinge of guilt flared through her. She sensed that much of the rancor she directed at Trask was the result of her own inner conflict concerning the ethical nature of her own work. She certainly did her best to minimize any stress to Baako. She refused to allow anything invasive to be done to him, nothing beyond blood draws and scans. Additionally, she tried to keep him exercised, stimulated, and entertained.
    Still, is it right?
    Many countries had research bans on the great apes: New Zealand, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden. The United States had no such restrictions in place. This unique study could be performed only in a primate center such as this one.
    Baako huffed softly at her, perhaps picking up on her distress. He hugged his fists to his chest, trying to reassure her with this sign.
    She smiled. “I love you, too.”
    Baako pointed to Tango and repeated the gesture.
    “Yes, and I love Tango, too.”
    Satisfied, Baako rolled to his legs, snatched an old blanket, and began a tug-of-war game with Tango.
    With Baako’s earlier fears mollified for the moment, Maria headed out with a firm goal in mind.
    To call Lena.

3
    April 29, 12:45 P . M . CEST
    Karlovac County, Croatia
    Lena lay flat on her belly on the mud-slick rock. Beside her, Father Roland Novak kept to her shoulder, breathing heavily. Both of them hid in a horizontal crack off the main cavern. The opening to their hiding place was low to the floor, offering only a knee-high view beyond where they lay.
    In the pitch-darkness, she strained for some clue as to what was happening outside. Thunder rumbled as the threatening storm broke over the mountains. Behind her, she heard the telltale roaring of water, echoing up from some subterranean river. She swore the noise had grown louder since the two of them had crawled in here. She pictured that stream surging with floodwaters draining from the higher elevations.
    Or maybe it only sounded louder in the darkness.
    As she waited, all her senses had sharpened to a razor’s edge. The coppery taste of terror filled her mouth. Her heart hammered against her ribs, against the rock floor under her chest.
    “What is going on up there?” she whispered breathlessly.
    The question was rhetorical, but Father Novak answered it. “Maybe the attackers are