The Leaves in Winter

by M. C. Miller

  “Maybe you could do some remote work by computer; we’ll get a laptop you can use sitting up in bed. There’s ways to do this!”

  Faye despaired. “What can I do to help sitting in bed?”

  “The work will go on,” asserted Janis.

  “But what’s more important? Like you said, there’s no coming back from extinction. What good is bringing a sterile baby into the world the way it is?”

  Janis stiffened. “This doesn’t sound like you. Who else knows about this?”

  Faye hesitated. “…Colin.”

  “I thought so,” snapped Janis. “I don’t know what he told you. I don’t want to know; I think I can guess. But you can’t listen to any of that. You hear me?” Janis moved in and held Faye by the shoulders.

  Faye answered with a weak nod.

  Janis leaned in, took Faye in her arms and hugged her.

  “We’ll get through this,” whispered Janis. “You’re going to do what the doctor said. Don’t listen to Colin. The baby will be fine. The work will go on. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. We won’t let it. You’re not being selfish.”

  Faye leaned into Janis shoulder, releasing into the consoling embrace.

  Janis tried lightening the mood. “I’m surprised you put any stock into what Colin says at all. It was strange hearing him use the word BIOPONORE like that. Did you also tell him about our other word?”

  Faye wiped her tears. “What word?”

  “You know, the one you used to tease me with all the time?”

  “Teased you? You’re the one who liked to tease unmercifully.”

  “Don’t tell me you don’t remember.”

  “I remember BIOPONORE.” Faye tried to chuckle, “How can I forget? I remember you wouldn’t let me forget my biological clock was ticking…”

  “Yeah, and to get even, you had your own special word for me. Maybe you didn’t use it as much but when you did you made it count.”

  Faye’s interest was piqued. “So what is it? Tell me…”

  “You really don’t remember? I’m surprised…”

  “It must have been good if it bothered you,” remarked Faye.

  “It made its point.”

  Faye sat up. “So are you going to tell me?”

  Janis grinned. “I don’t know…”

  “Why not? What’s the big deal?” Faye sighed. “You’re acting just like you did in college, being a little shit.”

  Janis looked past the tears and wonder on Faye’s face. In the instant, she saw the girlfriend she’d once shared classes and dorm rooms with. The feeling took her back and suddenly she was that mischievous classmate once again.

  “I’ll make you a deal…,” offered Janis. “You get Colin to get us GenLET and my files from NovoSenectus. When I finish synthesizing 2GenGen and everything’s done, I’ll tell you the word.”

  “Promise?” demanded Faye.

  “I promise. It’ll be our codeword for success.”

  Chapter 48

  Marie-Louise Square

  European Quarter, Brussels

  Javier Francisco stood at the upstairs window looking down on an anxious world. An occasional snowflake fluttered by, headed for the busy street. Thoughts of other days standing in the same place, waiting for Eugene Mass, were inescapable.

  To protect the necessary work that had to be hidden, Mass never hesitated to sacrifice the artifice of propriety. In return, the rabid press never failed to provide a plausible but scandalous cover for what was really going on. It was the perfect partnership between adversaries who seemed to be forever at odds with one another. The tabloids profited off the salacious innuendo about Mass’ occasional rendezvous in Marie-Louise Square with Javier, his suspected lover.

  And Mass got his dirty work done in broad daylight.

  Javier watched as the black Bentley Mulsanne pulled to the curb and parked. It was a familiar sight but the circumstances made all the difference. Stepping from the car was not Eugene Mass, but his wife Leah. She was accompanied by one guard, a well-heeled and suited veteran of Marie-Louise Square, today in topcoat and cap.

  There was nothing Javier could do. He watched as they crossed the sidewalk and ascended the short flight of stairs to the front door. They turned the key in the lock and made their entrance four flights below. The moment of truth was about to arrive. At the mercy of fate, Javier kept his gaze fixed and downcast on the snowy park across the street. The scent of fresh-brewed espresso tormented him with visions of better times.

  There was no commotion downstairs. None was expected. No doubt, the way it would all work out had been too well planned to let such a thing happen. Whatever was about to occur could only be guessed. He only hoped it included his survival.

  Muffled voices and hurried steps on the staircase preceded a burst through the door. A gloved man led the way brandishing a gun equipped with silencer. Behind him was Leah Mass followed by another man who guarded the doorway.

  Javier turned to catch the terror in Leah’s eyes. At the same moment, both of them turned their attention to a third man lounging on the sofa. He had been in the room with Javier for quite some time, waiting.

  “Well, well, look who it is…Leah Mass. I’m so glad you could join us.”

  The man on the sofa set down his cup of Jamaican Peaberry.

  Leah turned to Javier. “Javier, what’s going on?”

  Javier’s embittered expression told all even before he spoke.

  “There was nothing I could do. They took me in Marseille…”

  Leah demanded of the man on the sofa, “What’s the meaning of this?”

  The man leveled a steely glare at his guest. “You took the words right out of my mouth? What’s the meaning of this? Why are you here?”

  “Why shouldn’t I be here? I own this place and I don’t remember inviting you. What do you want? Is this a robbery?”

  The man stood. “Hardly. One might call it an intervention. I call it justice. You’re the one who’s guilty of robbery.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The future.” He strolled closer and let the word hang. “You and your husband have robbed humanity of its future. That in my eyes is a capital offense.”

  Fear shot through Leah’s face. “Who are you?”

  “You don’t recognize me?”

  Leah glanced back at the other armed accomplices. “No…”

  “I’m surprised…” He sauntered around her. “Eugene and I go way back. In fact, I didn’t realize how far back until I had a chance to talk with our friend here. It’s been over ten years…back when I was helping out the Friends of the Ocean in the North Atlantic; Eugene had Javier track my efforts to form a new group. But you knew that already, didn’t you?”

  Recognition widened Leah’s eyes.

  “New Class Order…?” gasped Leah. “You’re André Bolard!”

  Snow began to fall on the slanted windows in the vaulted ceiling.

  André stepped to the window next to Javier and looked out at passing flakes.

  “I remember back then…the thought of life extension was a dream. Reducing the population to save the planet was offered as a noble but lofty goal. Eugene wanted to help. He bought NovoSenectus. He made himself beloved by spending a fortune distributing free vaccines to the world…”

  André turned back to glare at Leah. “But I saw through it. Even back then, I knew if he had his way it wouldn’t end well, at least for people like me. When your husband first started lecturing on the utopia of his New World Harmony, I knew it was a sham, a cover for a new class order. Eugene Mass wanted two kinds of people; the elite class who would live hundreds of years in positions of power and privilege, and the rest of us, the second-class survivors he’d manage under an all-encompassing net of global governance.”

  Leah saw the fear in Javier’s face. Desperate, she tried to speak up.

  “You’ve got it wrong…”

  “No!” shouted André. “You got it right, didn’t you? Everyt
hing is happening just as Eugene planned. And now that he’s gone, you think you’re going to finish what he started. You’re dead wrong!”

  The reference sent chills through Leah. She realized the next few minutes would mean her life one way or another. The invitation from Javier to meet had been a ruse, a desperate attempt to entrap whoever showed up. Javier had obviously been kidnapped and forced to send the message. Having her show up was nothing less than the grand prize for New Class Order. There was low probability she could talk her way out of this and yet with no other option she had to try.

  “You’re a smart man; you’re quite aware that things are not always as they seem. I would be surprised if you’d accept conspiracy theories on face value.”

  André leaned back on the window. “I don’t have to see the spider to know it’s there; all I have to see is the web.”

  “A web of lies,” asserted Leah. “You must admit there are other parties at play. The media exaggerates and fabricates; business competitors smear and conspire. Some are merely envious, others deranged by greed. Do you really think in the swirl of all of that you could possibly know what’s really going on?”

  André stared back. “GenLET is a fact. So is GGD3. What people say about them is one thing. Regardless they exist, all according to plan, your husband’s plan. Don’t try denying it. I didn’t come here to debate it with you.”

  “All right, then what do you want? Eugene is gone. I am heiress to his estate, not his way of thinking.”

  “Then why are you here?” snapped André. “Why did you show up expecting to meet with Eugene’s underworld lapdog?”

  Leah hesitated as Javier traded glances. She stood stern and defiant.

  “I came here to arrange justice for the man who poisoned my husband.”

  André jerked away from the window and lit up with sarcasm.

  “Arranging justice are we? How decent and gallant of you. One man dies and you are compelled to deliver justice.” André’s tone soured. “Well then, tell me… what would be justice when billions of people are murdered?”

  Leah felt a surge of panic. André was only toying with her. Any idea of talking him out of whatever he planned faded. She rushed to his side.

  “I also came here to arrange the release of a vaccine…”

  Blurted out, the statement was as much a confession as a plea for leniency.

  “Vaccine for what?” snapped André. His skepticism showed.

  “GGD3.”

  “Amazing! The smartest minds are frantic in their search for such a thing. How could you have it so quickly? Are you admitting you and your husband are the ones who started the plague?”

  “No. I’m telling you I have a vaccine for it.”

  “If that was true, why not simply give it to the world? News like that would be momentous; you’d be the savior of mankind. But no, you sneak around and come here.”

  Leah’s attempt to use the truth had trapped her. If her story of a vaccine was true, then André was right; giving it to the world openly would be the thing to do. That is unless she needed to hide her complicity in creating GGD3. If André believed a vaccine didn’t exist, her excuse failed. But if she tried any harder to convince him, she’d only be admitting her attempt for an anonymous release of the vaccine was necessary to avoid the presumptive guilt for GGD3 that would surely follow.

  She couldn’t defend her excuse without incriminating herself.

  She tried to stall. “There’re reasons for everything. Don’t presume you know the way things work.”

  “Admit it; you’ll say anything to save yourself.” André stepped closer to her. “No doubt you’ve already received GenLET. Look at you – you stand there smug, thinking you’re going to outlive me by a hundred years.”

  Her desperation turned frantic.

  “We don’t have to be enemies; I am not Eugene,” offered Leah.

  “After twenty years of supporting him? I saw the two of you standing side-by-side at Oxford when he gave his speech. What did he say? ‘Necessary actions might seem severe. But without them and our resolve to see them through, none of us will reach the distant shore.’ You said nothing against his call for ‘severe action.’ Now, I’m afraid, I have to take mine.”

  André signaled the man with the gun with a jerk of his head.

  The man grabbed Leah by the shoulders and pulled her back.

  “What are you going to do?” wailed Leah.

  The doorway guard left his post and shoved Javier onto the sofa.

  André stepped to the open doorway.

  “What did you say earlier? The media exaggerates and fabricates…”

  Javier tensed, preparing to bolt, but the guard held a gun on him.

  “This makes no sense, André. This won’t stop anything…”

  “Maybe not,” answered André. “But it will be justice.”

  “Tell me what you want, anything,” pleaded Leah. “You have to listen to me – the vaccine is real. Let me give it to you!”

  “As they say, the cat is out of the bag. You can’t give me what I want. I want all of what you’ve done taken back. I want it undone. Can you give me that?”

  “I can give you extended life. I’ll give you the vaccine,” yelped Leah. “It’s real. Take it. You can be the savior of humanity.”

  André was unyielding. “I have no reason to believe you. Besides, this isn’t about what you can do for me. This is about what you’ve already done.”

  “You won’t get away with this,” shouted Javier. “How do you think this is going to look?”

  André put on his winter coat. “A love triangle is a sad thing. No matter how good it is or how long it lasts – someone always gets hurt.”

  Javier became frenzied. “Wait, think about it. I’m just a mercenary. I did what they paid me to do. I can do the same for you…”

  André ignored the plea. “I can see the headlines now…” He stepped to a table and picked up his cup of Jamaican Peaberry. After downing the last sip, he put the cup in his coat pocket and took his fingerprints with him.

  “Grieving Billionaire Heiress Shoots Dead Husband’s Gay Lover then Herself. Read all about the Love Triangle Murder/Suicide.”

  Leah was frozen in fear. Javier wanted to run but knew his slightest move would trigger the gunman. André gave one more look around the room. His eyes lifted and considered the snow now covering the vaulted ceiling’s slanted windows.

  “Javier…what did you say this room used to be?”

  “Eugene told me – it was a children’s bedroom.”

  André took a moment before settling, subdued. “Hmm…what a shame.”

  He turned and walked out. On his way out he closed the door.

  On the way downstairs he heard the silencer go off. A few moments later, it went off again. He knew the gloved one would place the gun in Leah’s dead hand.

  Downstairs, the body of Leah’s suffocated guard awaited removal. It would be incinerated and the ashes scattered at sea, probably near the Frioul Archipelago.

  The plan was working. New Class Order was fighting back.

  A serious blow had been landed against the New World Harmony.

  Not since the windswept decks of the research ship PaxTerra years before had André felt such a surge of satisfaction. If he had his way, it wouldn’t be the last.

  Chapter 49

  Turnberry Tower

  Rosslyn, Virginia

  Colin left the Metro Station five stops from National Airport and set out on foot. The early evening air was brisk but it felt good to exercise his legs after the flight in from Puerto Rico. The neighborhood was new to him but he stepped confidently, guided by classified instructions given to him back at GARC.

  He was on time, reporting to an address he was warned to keep to himself.

  It didn’t take long before the lights of the porte-cochere came into view. The building’s front entrance was resplendent and bright. Passing gleaming pillars and a lit fountain, his steps slowed on cobbled st
ones. He’d expected something else.

  It seemed unlikely that The Project would schedule an important meeting at a luxury residential high-rise. He glanced up and followed the span of twenty-six floors reaching for an overcast sky before pulling out his phone.

  He dialed a private number. A quick call as a heads up that he’d arrived would give him a chance to verify the location.

  “This is Colin. I’m at the address. It’s Turnberry Tower.”

  A woman’s voice answered. “Go on in. I’ll meet you in the lobby.”

  The call ended. Colin stepped through the entrance to find a woman approaching him from an opulent side seating area. She acted like she knew him but in fact he had never seen her before.

  Dressed in silk floral lounge pants and matching top, her casual elegance and upscale beauty took him by surprise. She hooked his arm with hers and led him past the concierge and security desks. The suited attendants gave her a glance and the polite wave deserving of a well-known tenant.

  “How was your flight?” She smiled without introduction.

  “Smooth as silk,” mused Colin, falling into character.

  She led him past the main elevators to a more private access area. Only after they had stepped into their unit-numbered elevator car and the doors had closed did she card-key the ride to begin.

  With the car in motion, she turned to look Colin up and down.

  “You seem surprised…” She traded her hostess smile for a cunning smirk.

  Colin admitted, “It’s not what I expected.”

  “Good. That’s the idea.”

  Taken with her charm, Colin added. “It’s a long way from Stark Road.”

  She had already turned away. She turned back, “Ah…Stark Road?”

  “The dirt road leading to Granite Peak,” explained Colin.

  “Oh…yes,” she turned away and waited for the elevator car to stop.

  When the doors parted, they opened directly into a top floor luxury suite.

  Stepping forward, the woman caught Colin’s eyes watching her walk.

  She gave him a knowing glance that stung. “Don’t let the trappings fool you; we all have a part to play, no matter where we find ourselves. Even here…”