The cargo hold of the International Exterminator Corporation's heavy transport plane was freezing, vibrating with the constant, deafening hum of its massive engines. Erin Volter sat huddled behind a large, reinforced steel crate marked with biohazard symbols, her knees pulled tightly to her chest.
She shivered, her breath pluming in the frigid air, but a fierce, triumphant smile played on her lips.
She had actually done it. Bypassing the security grid at the Area 5 Airbus terminal had been surprisingly easy for someone who had designed half the encryption protocols for the NEA's internal network. Slipping into the cargo hold of an IEC transport, however, had required a significant amount of luck and a hastily forged maintenance clearance.
But she was here.
