In the moonlight, Jackson stood under a rustling old tree in a farmer's field. A warm summer's night breeze caused the tall grass in the field to sway gently as he pulled a black face mask down with his leather gloved hands. He put a worn satchel over his shoulder containing "scientific equipment" and took a deep breath.
The truck was parked down the dirt road a mile away, locked. He carried no identification, it wouldn't be day break for hours yet. He ran a mental check list of everything he had done so far and then once he was done with that he did it again.
There was nothing to chance.
He crouched down in the tall grass in front of him and began moving among the shadows of the moonlight. His target was the large mare standing in the middle of the field. He saw her silhouetted against the moon a yard away and gulped.
It had started as curiosity, now it had developed into an obsession. All the experiments before had lead to this. She was the one, the animal he was destined to change with his unproven technology. And tonight had to be the night. Tomorrow the lab would terminate his position due to lack of funds, and 7 years of research would be sold to the highest bidder. He scoffed under the mask, knowing he had burned his notes and deleted the files on the lab mainframe. Imagine, selling history.
Desperate. That didn't even cover it. Slowly, Jackson drew nearer to the mare, downwind of the darkened animal, and with practiced calm he withdrew a small box from his satchel. He unfolded the five foot tripod attached to the box and opened the lid. A strange assembly of buttons and a small screen buzzed to life. The mare turned her head towards the sudden noise, ear flicking. Jackson froze in mid-movement and waited.
The mare turned her head back and lowered it. The breeze blew her long dark mane into the night. Jackson smiled at the image against the moon as he raised a small microwave dish from the middle of the box and took a deep breath. Ready.