The Immortality Code

by Douglas E. Richards

  Only three people had this number. Colonel Hubbard, Major Hoyer, and Allie Keane. That was it. Yet the incoming call was unidentified.

  He considered ignoring it, but solicitors shouldn’t be able to dial this number, either. There was only one way to solve the mystery. “Reed here,” he said, taking the call.

  “Hello, Commander,” said a male voice. “Nice to make your acquaintance.”

  “Who is this?” he demanded. “And how did you get this number?”

  “My name is Bryce Aronson,” said the man calmly. “And how I got this number isn’t important.”

  Reed’s breath caught in his throat. “Why are you calling?”

  “Interesting. I see you know who I am.”

  “Of course I don’t,” said Reed, manipulating an icon on his phone that ensured that both sides of the conversation were recorded from here on out.

  “I’m not buying it, Commander. If this were true, after I introduced myself, you’d have demanded to know who the hell I am. So I guess Tom Hoyer brought up my name, after all. I didn’t think he would. And speaking of Hoyer,” he continued, “if you’re staying in one of his facilities, you’re being listened to. If you’re in one now, I’ll call back when you aren’t. Just let me know a date and time when we can speak freely.”

  “I’m alone now,” said Reed. “In the great outdoors.”

  “Outstanding,” said Aronson. “So what did Hoyer have to say about me? I’m sure it was nothing but glowing praise,” he added wryly.

  “Yeah. I can tell you guys are besties.”

  “Know anything about nanotechnology, Commander?”

  “More all the time.”

  Aronson laughed. A warm laugh that sounded genuine and good-natured rather than maniacal and evil. But of course it would. Charm was his stock-in-trade. Psychopaths personified the old saying: “Sincerity: if you can fake that you’ve got it made.”

  Aronson cleared his throat. “I’d like for us to meet, Commander.”

  “Sure,” said Reed sarcastically. “I suppose you want me to arrive unarmed and wrapped up with a bow.”

  Aronson laughed again. “You can wear a bow if you want, as long as that isn’t the only thing you’re wearing.”

  “As much as I appreciate the invite, Dr. Aronson, I’m afraid my social schedule is pretty full.”

  “Please, call me Bryce. And I promise you that no harm will come to you.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t trust you . . . Bryce.”

  Aronson sighed loudly. “I don’t doubt it, Commander. I’m sure Hoyer has filled your head with all kinds of lies. All I want to do is set the record straight.”

  “If you have something to say to me, say it now. This line is secure, and I’m alone.”

  “Very well, Commander. I’ll start talking. My hope is that at some point you’ll trust me enough for a face-to-face. But that’s your call. I’ve studied your record extensively over the past few days, and I’ve come to believe you’re a very good man. And I think I can convince you I’m not the monster Hoyer paints me to be.”

  “I’m sure you can,” said Reed, flashing on the face of Aronson’s flunky, Rico Gillespie, who had decapitated four men in Aronson’s name, and would have decapitated three more if not for Hoyer’s nanites. A man who had been manipulated into believing Aronson was practically a god. “I understand you’re quite the charmer.”

  “Yeah, tell that to all the women who refused to go out with me over the years,” he said in amusement. “Although it’s possible that beautiful women are just naturally immune to these charms you say I have. Which is really depressing, because in my book, that’s the entire point of having charm.”

  Reed couldn’t help but smile. The man’s delivery was so genuine and self-deprecating, Reed was already finding himself drawn to him. Given that he had been forewarned about his charm, it wouldn’t work, but he appreciated the effort.

  “Are you going to talk about your love life?” said Reed. “Or are you going to say something worth my while?”

  “Oh yes. Very worth your while. In fact, you can’t possibly imagine what’s at stake here. And as cliché and dramatic as that sounds, you’ll come to see it as the greatest understatement you’ve ever heard. So are you willing to give me your attention?”

  “By all means,” said Reed. “You had me at hello.”

  36

  Reed awoke feeling amazing. Giddy, even. He had been single his entire life, but suddenly, after a few days, his instincts were telling him he may have met his future wife. It was the most ridiculous thought he ever had.

  He had known Allie for all of ten minutes. So how could his gut possibly have decided she was the one?

  Regardless of the how or why this had happened, sleeping with a woman he was protecting was an unpardonable breach of ethics. And he had raced across this line as if it didn’t exist. But what he had told Allie was the truth. He hadn’t had a choice. She really had cast a spell on him.

  He was in the same clothing he had fallen asleep in the night before, the same clothing Hoyer had given him upon arrival at the safe house, and his gun and combat knife were on his bedside table, where he had left them. He quickly showered and threw on a fresh change of clothing, identical to what he had slept in. He then exited the room and walked the short distance to where Allie was now sleeping.

  Except that she wasn’t.

  The door was open, the bed was made, and the room was notably absent of any fetching, brilliant, personable physicists. He proceeded to the kitchen, expecting to find her there, but it, too, was empty.

  Surprising. Without Eve or a cell phone, he had no idea of the time, but he never overslept. So where were Allie and the major to bid him farewell?

  He searched through each room on the ground floor, and was about to descend to the basement when Allie emerged at the top of the stairs. She saw Reed and a delighted look came over her face. “Zach!” she said excitedly. “Great to see you.” She threw her arms around him, and seconds later they were locked in a passionate embrace.

  Now that was more like it, he thought as they kissed. The kind of temporary farewell the relationship deserved.

  “I’ve really missed you,” she said. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

  Reed squinted. Was this some kind of weird joke? He decided to ignore it. “You’re up early. Couldn’t wait to see your new lab?”

  Allie blinked in confusion. “What new lab?” she asked. “It hasn’t changed. And it sure isn’t early.”

  “We seem to be talking past each other,” said Reed. “Our conversation is a bit . . . off. I’d like to think it’s because you don’t want me to leave,” he added, forcing a smile. “But I don’t have any choice. I have a date with a park bench in Salt Lake City.”

  “Again?” said Allie in disbelief.

  “What do you mean, again?”

  “Zach, you’re starting to scare me. I’m not sure what joke you’re playing at, but this is a lot creepier than it is humorous. You did the park bench thing over a week ago.”

  “What?”

  “Actually, it was about ten days ago. You spun a tale for Hubbard, and she assigned you to lead the charge to find me.”

  “That isn’t funny, Allie.”

  “Good. Because I’m deadly serious.”

  Reed studied her in alarm. She looked as serious, and as troubled, as he had ever seen her. “That’s impossible,” he whispered. “What’s the date today?”

  She told him, and then held out her cell phone, which displayed this same date, along with a time of five fifteen p.m. It wasn’t even morning.

  Reed gasped and stumbled backwards. He hit a nearby wall and rested his back against it as if he needed it to prop him up.

  “Zach?” said Allie anxiously. “You look sick. What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know,” whispered Reed as if he had seen a ghost. “The last thing I remember was Hoyer telling us about the nanites, about Bryce Aronson. Then he went downstairs to upg
rade security, so we could relax up here. We watched TV, talked, and then made love to each other. Then I left to go to my room. And then I woke up—just a little while ago.”

  Panic flashed across Allie’s face. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes to calm herself. When she opened them seconds later her expression had become all business, clinical and dispassionate. “Everything you just described did happen,” she said evenly. “But again, it happened almost ten days ago. We did make love as you describe. I awoke, went to the kitchen, and you and the major were already there. We said our goodbyes, and Hoyer’s helicopter pilot flew you close to Salt Lake City. From there you made your way to a park bench. You told your pre-planned story to Colonel Hubbard. She assigned you to lead a team and gave you wide access to use every resource in the entire US military to find me. Not knowing, of course, that you were really searching for Aronson.”

  Reed looked completely blank.

  “None of this sounds familiar? Not at all?”

  He shook his head. “What you say tracks with what I intended to do. But I don’t remember doing it. I awoke just now feeling great. To my mind, I slept so soundly, it seemed as if I left your bed just minutes earlier, after we had made love a second time.”

  Reed’s gut was now tied into knots. How could this be?

  “Do you think you might have suffered a concussion?” said Allie. “Maybe your memory came back temporarily, you made your way here, and then collapsed on the bed, losing your memory again.”

  “But how could I have made it inside without sounding an alarm?”

  “Hoyer upgraded security just a few days ago. An upgrade you suggested. The drones are now equipped with programming and sensors that can take biometric readings of anyone approaching. On the way in. So friendlies can come and go without sounding an alarm.”

  Reed shook his head miserably. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

  “Do you have a headache?” asked Allie. “Does your skull hurt anywhere?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Tilt your head down for me,” she said. She took a few steps to where he was standing with his back to a wall and gently and methodically walked her fingers through his hair, exposing tiny section after tiny section of bare scalp. She looked and felt closely for blood, a welt, or any other sign that he had suffered a head injury.

  “No evidence of any damage,” she said after several minutes, backtracking away from him.

  Reed lifted his head and nodded. He didn’t know whether to be relieved or even more disturbed.

  “How about drugs?” said Allie. “Have any black labs perfected anything that can selectively wipe memory like this?”

  “No. Several are working on it. But I studied the progress of these programs when I joined Tech Ops, and they aren’t there yet.”

  “Doesn’t rule it out entirely. When you joined, you weren’t aware of room temperature qubits or alien nanofabricators either.”

  Reed frowned. “But even if such drugs were available, what would be the point of erasing my memory?”

  “Good question.”

  The commander paused in thought. “I assume I checked in from time to time. What was I like?”

  “You seemed normal. You called in several times even during the past few days. You were mostly professional on the phone with me, but when you knew Hoyer wasn’t listening you said some really sweet things.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like you thought what we had was special.”

  “I do,” said Reed. “I don’t need my future memories to know that.” He paused in thought. “Was I making any progress finding Aronson?”

  “No. You were frustrated. Dead end after dead end.”

  “When I woke up I was wearing the same clothing I had on the night we made love,” he said. “Even the contents of my pockets were the same. Why would that be?”

  “I don’t know. But it’s clothing you’re comfortable in, I know that. And Hoyer has made you a number of copies.”

  “I still don’t have my smart contacts, either.”

  “When we spoke yesterday, you said they were still several days from being ready. You told me that cold turkey was still a problem, but that you were missing me a lot more than you were missing Eve. Which I was surprised to find actually meant a lot to me.”

  Reed nodded, deep in thought. “Is this the first time I’ve returned here?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you’ve been here working in your lab the whole time?”

  “Ever since you left.”

  “How could I have lost almost ten days of my life?” he spat in frustration. “It’s maddening. Eerie.”

  “Alarming is the word I’d use,” said Allie. “Maybe we should take you to a neurologist.”

  “Maybe,” said Reed. “But I have a feeling this has nothing to do with my physical health. Somehow, this was done to me on purpose. And I need to figure out how. And why.”

  He sighed. “But in the meanwhile, I need to catch up on what I missed. Maybe it will spark a memory. How have things been going for you?”

  “Well. Very well. The lab is as spectacular as Tom promised.”

  “Tom?”

  “After a few days of working together, he insisted I use his first name.”

  “Right,” said Reed, still having trouble wrapping his head around the gap in his memory. “Of course.”

  “The nanites whipped up a batch of the impossible-to-make molecule I need,” continued Allie. “As if this was less challenging than the recipe for ice cubes. And I just finished confirming that the molecule has the exact properties I calculated.”

  “That’s great to hear, Allie. I only wish you’d be able to get the recognition you deserve.”

  “I’ve gotten plenty of recognition,” she said with a sad smile. “Just mostly from people who want to capture or kill me. Not exactly what I was hoping for.”

  Reed was about to respond when the major appeared, just having arrived from the basement. “Commander,” he said happily upon noticing Reed, shaking his hand warmly. “Great to see you. This is a nice . . . surprise.”

  Hoyer paused, and then squinted in confusion. “Not to sound critical,” he added, “but why is it a surprise? I know security is set to allow the three of us to come and go as if there is no security. But next time you’re planning a visit, maybe give us a heads-up.”

  “Yeah, sorry about that. Not sure why I didn’t.”

  “Well, no matter, Commander. It is great to see you. What brings you back to our neck of the woods?”

  Reed blew out a long breath. “I have no idea,” he muttered miserably.

  37

  The trio returned to the furnished break room in the basement and took up the same positions they had taken the first time they had visited the safe house, with Reed and Allie on a couch, and Hoyer facing them in a reclining chair.

  Reed described what had happened, and the major grew more alarmed by the second. “This is insanity,” he said when Reed had finished. “I’ve never heard anything like it.”

  “You and me both,” said the commander.

  “Do you remember anything? Even if it’s hazy and amorphous.”

  “Not even the hint of a memory.”

  “What about your cell phone?” said Hoyer. “You were issued one until your smart contacts were ready. So check that. It’s bound to give you some idea of what you’ve been up to.”

  “Assuming I had one as you say, I don’t have it now. It wasn’t in any of my pockets when I awoke, or on the end table. Or anywhere else. My room here is pretty barren, and I would have seen it if it was there.”

  Hoyer digested this information. “Okay, then,” he said. “So what do we do now?”

  “I need to get back out there and learn what happened,” said Reed. “Retrace my steps.”

  The major frowned. “I couldn’t disagree more. I think you need to stick tight to me and Allie until we find out what happened.”

  “If I don’t do any leg work, we n
ever will.”

  “I’ll put my best people on the case. But until we know what’s going on, we have to assume the worst. That whoever got to you, whoever did this, can do it again.”

  “So I just sit on my thumbs?” protested Reed. “What about finding Bryce Aronson?”

  “As much as it pains me to say this,” replied Hoyer, “that will have to wait.”

  “What about Colonel Hubbard? What do I tell her?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll think of something. For all we know, Hubbard is behind this.”

  Reed shook his head adamantly. “Impossible.”

  “Oh really?” said Hoyer. “Didn’t you tell me at the start that you trust no one? All we know is that something fishy and alarming has happened. That’s it. We can’t rule anything out. How many parties out there would do anything to get their hands on Allie? Maybe China has found a way back in for all we know.”

  “I agree with the major,” said Allie softly. “I say you don’t step a foot outside this house until we figure out what happened.”

  “What if we never do?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” said Hoyer. “In the meantime, we need to evacuate. Sooner rather than later.”

  “Are you sure?” asked Allie.

  “If he isn’t,” said Reed, “I am. My memory loss is alarming. Someone got to me. Who knows what I told them? I could have compromised our entire operation. Hard to imagine I did. There isn’t a scratch on me, so I wasn’t tortured. And because of my past with the SEALs, and my work with Tech Ops, I’ve been conditioned to resist drugs that might loosen my lips. Still, we have to assume the worst.”

  “Here’s the good news,” said Hoyer. “My nanites and I just set up a new safe house.”

  Allie looked surprised. “Is that what you were doing while you were gone earlier this week?”