by Carmen Faye
“What research? What does he think you have?” I asked. “What does he think you created?”
“What do you mean short life expectancy?” Catarina asked, her face expressing great worry.
He slowly and steadily walked toward me. He carefully lowered himself into the chair nearest me. Catarina looked concerned, but also began to show a touch of anger. Ali had not answered her.
“The focus of my work these past several years has been in regenerative biology,” he said. “Do you understand? I have been studying the parts of the human body that already show regenerative properties such as the skin, liver, and uterus as well as animals with more advanced regenerative capabilities, like regrowing limbs and internal organs.”
I sank deeper into my chair and eyed him carefully. He was unreadable. I couldn’t register an emotion to know how to interpret the information he was giving me.
“You mean you have been comparing a starfish regrowing a leg or a lizard growing a new tail to amputees regrowing lost limbs?” I asked, hoping he was going to tell me something positive and not world threatening.”
“Have you found a way to do this in humans?” Catarina asked.
“I have been studying what we have in common with other metazoan creatures, to deduce the regeneration of organs with specific attention to the brain,” he said, beginning to look back and forth between us.
“That is what you have been working on?” Catarina asked. “What’s really going on with you? I want answers. Why have you been locked away?”
“Because I am dying and Tarek still needs someone to help him channel his anger,” Ali said, finally revealing himself.
His face looked like a broken man as he turned to face Catarina.
“What?” she said softly, stepping forward to come to her boss’s side.
He took her hand, and she kneeled beside him. He continued to explain.
“I have Huntington’s Disease,” Ali stated, holding Catarina’s hand tightly in his. “I received the diagnosis when I was twenty-seven; that was ten years ago. It’s a hereditary disorder that causes parts of the brain to shut down. It reduces life expectancy greatly and has a variety of cognitive and psychiatric disorders associated with it that basically mean I’m going to steadily become a more and more forgetful, angry asshole.”
“So, you were looking for a cure?” Catarina asked.
“Does Tarek know? Is he dying too?” I added.
“I was looking for a cure, but nothing I found was permanent. Some things I created had side effects that exacerbated the existing symptoms and sped up the onset of others. If anything, I have only made my life that much shorter,” he said softly, seeming humbled at the thought of his mortality. “My body and mind fail me regularly. I would only make matters worse if I tried to take on Hamilton. Tarek would do better - to be the man I have held him back from being all these years.”
“But you said this is hereditary,” I repeated. “Does Tarek know? Is he dying too?”
I felt bad for Ali, but my worry about Tarek being at risk in a way he didn’t even know about felt like too much.
“I have never been able to find a way to have the opportunity to test Tarek. Simply based on heredity, his chances are fifty-fifty as to whether he also has the disease. It’s part of why our father left,” Ali responded, looking solemn. “Typically, the disease presents itself in one’s late twenties and early thirties. My father learned of his condition right around his thirtieth birthday.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head and gripping the arm of the chair.
Catarina shook her head as if she was still uncertain about some of the information as well.
“My father began having symptoms of the disease. When his doctor informed him of the reduced lifespan he faced, he left our family. With a life so short, he did not want to be tied down or bound to anyone,” Ali said.
“There was a photo of a boy with his parents at an apartment I stayed in with Tarek. It was in the home office. If that was you, your mother must have loved again because Tarek was born,” I said, hoping there was something good that came with his father leaving.
“That photo is the last photo of my family together. My mother did not know she was pregnant at the time it was taken. My father made his decision and left before she could tell him about Tarek,” Ali said.
Catarina had been silent but finally spoke up.
“Ali, you should have told me,” she said. “You should have told your brother.”
“Why? What would that have done but give you both reason to worry?” he threw back.
Unfazed, Catarina replied, “We worry about you anyway. All these years we worried about the reclusive way that you lived and how you were so absorbed in your work. We could have helped you. I would have done anything I could for you.
Catarina had begun to sob into Ali’s lap. He seemed touched and surprised, as he delicately placed a hand on her shoulders. They bobbed up and down as she wept harder at his touch.
“I love you, Ali,” she said, taking breaths to calm herself. “I worked and worked hoping you might notice me as more than just your assistant. I should have been paying closer attention and making you talk about the changes I was seeing in you.”
He held a stiff upper lip only a moment longer. He looked at the woman clinging to his lap and ran a shaky hand through her hair. He didn’t cry, though it seemed it was taking everything in him to keep from doing so.
“I love you, too. I had hoped to take you to dinner once I cured myself. I hoped we could have a happy life and that Tarek would find a girl of his own to settle down with. I wanted to tell him the truth once I knew that I could treat him should he carry the disease as well,” Ali said, stroking Catarina’s hair. “I was a fool. I should have spent my time making the most of you.”
“That’s real touching and all, but what does this mean for Tarek? Is there nothing that can be done to save him?” I cut in.
“Nothing that I can do,” Ali replied.
“No, there has to be something you can do. Tarek believes in you,” I pleaded. “He seems to think you can solve any problem. You must have done something for him to have that impression. You have as much money, power, and pull as Hamilton. You have to be able to do something, anything.”
***
Tarek
“Nurse Fleiss, you are the last person I would have expected to be a turncoat,” Perry Hamilton said. “Fortunately, the cameras here and at all my businesses tie back to each other.”
“Perry,” Nurse Fleiss replied, “You made a lot of promises you never intended to keep. Someone needs to make sure you pay for that.”
“And I suppose that will be you?” Perry asked, spreading his legs where he stood and blocking the path and men behind him. “I know exactly how to deal with you.”
“No, Perry,” Nurse Fleiss began to say, stepping back as two of Perry’s men stepped forward toward her.
As they drew close enough to actually place a hand on her, I stepped in front of her, taking a similar stance as Hamilton in opposition.
“Oh, you think you can save her?” he asked, smiling mockingly. “You are going right back into your room. I need to teach you obedience like I would any other dog.”
“I’m not going with you or doing anything you say. Neither is Nurse Fleiss,” I said, stepping closer to her.
She seemed surprised that I was still defending her and smiled at me a moment. She appeared to be grateful, but now that she wasn’t pretending it was very hard to read her.
“Tarek, you don’t have to defend me. I’ll be fine, really,” she said softly. “I’m glad we even got this far.”
“Well, I’m not satisfied until we are out of this place, all of us,” I replied. “The only ones who deserve to rot here are Hamilton and people loyal to him by choice. Thank you for trying to save me.”
“Well, isn’t this just the sweetest thing,” Hamilton said, clutching his hands to his heart and then spreading his arms wi
de in exaggeration. “Why, I think this must be love! Gasp, but I thought Tarek Poole was already spoken for by a strawberry blonde that he met recently. Now you are being defensive and protective over this defective piece of ass? Ha!”
“I am not defective!” Nurse Fleiss yelled. “I have a problem, and you said you could help me. Instead, you exploited my condition for your own sick pleasure and forced me to do the same to other people. Well, that spell is broken, and I will do whatever I can to help this man escape and bring you down.”
“And I will do everything in my power to kill you both,” Hamilton replied coldly, first eyeing the nurse and then stepping closer to eye me. “Then I will kill the playmate you escaped the Gala with that was so helpful in your capture.”
“Then I suppose you will kill my brother and take over his company,” I said, assuming what he intended to say.
“That’s the plan,” Hamilton said with a wide smile. “First, I want the miracle drug he designed. Then, I want his company and his life. All these years, I worked and climbed to end up second to Ali Poole. I don’t think so. I will be number one even if I have to steal his research and push it as my own. I will be the man who ends the suffering of the human race, and you two will be my guinea pigs. In the years to come, I will be seen as a genius and a god. Hell, I’ll make man each man his own god.”
Before I could comment, Nurse Fleiss placed herself between us.
“Perry, you don’t need this man. He doesn’t know anything about his brother’s work. I can be your guinea pig,” she volunteered. “Just do whatever you want with me. Think of me as your first worshiper. Tarek really serves no purpose, and you always tell me all the other people you spend time with are one and done. I’m the only one you can have fun with again and again. I’m special, right?”
She smiled at him sweetly and touched his arm. She tried to play to the side of him that must have usually given into her feminine charm as well as the sadomasochistic side that enjoyed their twisted relationship. He seemed enticed for a moment as he slowly stepped forward and leaned into her. He leaned in close and breathed deeply, inhaling her scent.
Then I heard her grunt and saw her slowly crumple into his arms. He seemed to let her rest on him until she was still. Then he rolled her body off his, and she fell to the floor with a needle, he must have hidden somewhere, sticking out of her chest.
“You will always be special, but right now I don’t need a worshiper. I need a sacrifice,” Perry said, looking at Nurse Fleiss almost lovingly. “A belladonna kiss should always be laced with at least 150 mg of cyanide.”
He stooped beside her and brushed away hair that had landed on her face as she’d fallen. He hummed softly, but it was a tune I didn’t recognize. I wanted to slip away while he was lost in his revelry, but he had arrived with four men that I could see in the hall. I wasn’t sure if there were more behind him. It was evidence to the amount of threat he thought I posed. Clearly, he had already made his mind up about the fate of Nurse Fleiss before he entered the room.
“Well, I guess we should get this show on the road then, shouldn’t we?” I said, stepping toward the guards.
“Have you no respect for the dead!” Perry craned his head, yelling at me.
He looked back to the nurse and rubbed her hand, then her leg. I used the opportunity to try to see if there were more guards in the hall, but there were none. They blocked my path but were all focused on Hamilton. They were not going to move until he gave the order.
Hamilton lifted Nurse Fleiss into his arms and made his way into a medical examination room similar to where she had helped me escape. He laid her flat on the table in a nearby room and removed his coat. Then he grabbed a tray and gathered a variety of tubes, lubricants, and medical cutlery. He rolled his sleeves and unbuttoned an additional button on his shirt.
“Men, return Mr. Poole to his room,” he said as he stood, lifting Nurse Fleiss in his arms again. “I would be remiss if I did not say goodbye to my dear Nurse Fleiss properly.”
Chapter 21
Annie
“I can contact the Underground. I can let them know you are coming and need their assistance,” Ali said, struggling to move quickly to his own chair behind the desk again.
This time, Catarina did not hesitate to assist him; Ali did not refuse the help. Between the two of them, they managed to move like a person with an injured leg being assisted. It was awkward, but certainly an increase in speed.
“They told Tarek they couldn’t help because of you,” I said.
“That was before,” Ali replied quickly, as Catarina helped him take his seat. “I recently told them to end all contact with my brother. The TRU Body Gala was supposed to be a turning point where I presented my research and made amends with my brother for the hand we have been dealt over the years. Although, overall, until now I would say that we had played it well.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
He was typing up a storm and writing on various documents on his desk. He would point to things in the room, and Catarina would bring them to him hurriedly.
“Annie, I believe we can be on a first name basis here,” he said, occasionally making eye contact with me during his frantic efforts. “Due to not having a father in our lives, I have been a father, brother, protector, and friend to my brother. But as we have gotten older, I have realized in some ways he has been the same to me.”
“Well, that’s a very sweet thought, but I don’t think it will help us at present,” I said, tapping my fingers on the arm of the chair impatiently.
“Our mother worked hard so that we could each attend college in America. She gifted us each ten thousand dollars to invest in our futures here,” he replied. “I waited until I was working on my third degree and used my funds as the down payment of my very first pharmacy. The beginning of all this. My brother attended culinary school and squandered all his money on the motorcycle you two have gallivanted around town on.”
“We weren’t gallivanting,” I said defensively.
“Our childhood was spent being home just the two of us most of the time. I made sure we bathed, ate, went to school, did our homework, and kept house. Mom made sure we had food in the house, clothes on our back, and a better opportunity for our futures,” he said, becoming somewhat emotional but not slowing in his work. “We were picked on for so much, and Tarek developed a festering resentment for the world that led to a bad temper and acting out. College was the best and worst time in our life in a lot of ways.”
“I suppose that is where most people come into their own,” I replied.
“Tarek got into bar fights, hung around with motorcycle gangs, and eventually quit culinary school. Briefly, he also got into drugs that landed him some jail time, but in repaying his debt to me, he is learning that fighting should have a purpose or be a moment of life or death. He’s learned to sort of turn his tendencies on and off. He’s learned to value his own life and potential,” Ali said, pausing in his work to smile. “I was so glad when he came to me for a loan, but he got into a fight and destroyed his restaurant the first night. I wouldn’t repair it until we found a way to deal with his anger. Now, even when he works for me, he does not let anything get more out of hand than it has to be. He never swings first, and he never loses control of himself in the heat of the moment.”
“So, you found a way to tame the lion?”
“I showed the lion that life is more than just a fight. Now, he understands responsibility, leadership, accountability, dependability, and sees that life is bigger than his own feelings and his own life. But his life can add value.”
“That sounds like the man I was getting to know,” I said softly, “I guess I didn’t understand your hand in it. Tarek never had the opportunity to explain.”
“Tarek and I have spent time together outside the office. I can tell you he thinks just as highly of Ali,” Catarina said, placing a hand on Ali’s shoulder as she addressed me. “As someone on the outside looking in, I promise you they
have each other’s best interest at the root of everything they do. Their mother is on a pedestal in their lives for how she turned their world around, but they have a bond that is unlike anything I have ever seen.”
“I believe you,” I said warmly.
At that moment, Ali seemed pleased with what he had accomplished and began handing me documents across the desk.
“The Underground is a group of scientist and academics that work together protecting the well-being of humanity. We are sort of a committee attempting to guide the research released to the government and the world, ensuring that the will of nature be corrupt,” he declared.
“What does that mean? You all have the solutions to all of man’s ailments and problems and decide when and if we can have them? You rich snoots really are worse than I thought,” I said loudly, standing and beginning to pace with my arms folded. “Big Pharma really is controlling it all. The conspiracy theorists are right.”
