It was slightly ajar. ‘Jesus,’ said Cleary as he pushed it fully open and entered. ‘All gone.’ Giles noted that the door lock appeared to be undamaged as he joined Cleary inside. ‘How many?’ he asked. ‘Six,’ said Cleary. ‘Tim told me a couple of weeks ago that the primate house was full.’ There were three large cages along each side of the room: their iron-barred doors hanging open apart from one at the far end which was still closed. There was absolute silence in the room apart from the hum of a ventilation fan but the smell of the previous inhabitants lingered on. Giles wrinkled his nose as he turned to Cleary and said, ‘We can’t take the chance. I’m going to call a major alert.’ ‘I really don’t think . . .’Cleary was interrupted by Morley, who had walked up to the far end of the room. The Sergeant suddenly let out a yell followed by, ‘Jesus fucking Christ! What the . . .’The two men spun round just in time to see Morley throw up on the floor. They hurried up to the cage with the closed door.
