But first she needed his help rebuilding all the research the terrorists had deleted when they’d infiltrated the New York research facility eleven months ago. A large chunk of Protected research data, spanning decades, had been accessed through a security weakness in that location, and all back-ups had been corrupted or deleted permanently. Including all video footage and data on the terrorists who had done it, much to Katherine’s vexation.
One of Dalton’s own test subjects had, with the help of the terrorists, infected Dalton with a virus in a sadistic murder attempt. Luckily, Dalton had received the antidote before the infection could do permanent damage.
Katherine resisted the urge to tap her foot as he input a second series of codes. Her gaze moved to the large portrait on the opposite wall. The caption below the forty-year-old photo read The Protected Project Founders: Dr. Rab Phan, Dr. Avia Sherman, and Dr. Oliver Dalton. It was one of the only photos of the trio of scientists that Infinitek had sanctioned for release.
Phan had died a very old man, loyal and hard-working until the end. Sherman had made the initial discoveries, but when the birth defects came to light, the cowardly bitch had wiped much of her own research and offed herself. Which made Dr. Dalton the last living founder of the Protected Project. Only he could reconstruct what the terrorists had destroyed, and the bastard knew it.
The access panel beeped, finally verifying Dalton’s credentials, and the steel doors slowly slid open, revealing the heart of the facility.
They walked one more long white corridor and turned down another. Glass windows lined the walls, periodically broken up by more hallways that led deeper into the research area.
Behind each viewing pane was a fully stocked lab and diagnostic pod, and each lab was capable of adhering to the highest level Pandemic Control quarantine protocols.
Izzy slowed as they passed the first lab, her eyes riveted to the activity inside. Research personnel stood around a diagnostic pod in full hazmat suits, peering down at the occupant.
This pod held an adult Protected male who appeared to be sedated. His tan skin looked sallow beneath the rainbow light shimmering over the thin gown he wore. Katherine put her hand on the small of Izzy’s back and shoved her forward, so they could walk past a dozen more occupied labs.
In this facility, researchers injected Protected test subjects with some of the most virulent diseases on the planet. Out in the real world, a Protected’s immune system kicked into high gear almost immediately, destroying a threat with almost no effort. But by raising the dose of the disease far past lethal levels for any normal human, researchers were able to force a Protected’s immune system to create measurable levels of antibodies.
And once that happened, Infinitek was able to use their blood to develop and synthesize cures and create vaccines faster than would otherwise be possible.
Dr. Dalton turned down a corridor, still limping, and stopped in front of another lab. He leaned against the glass to catch his breath and looked at the activity going on inside.
Katherine had had enough. She stepped closer to Dalton, forcing him to look at her. “I do not have time to watch you conduct research. We came here to be briefed on the status of the cure. Pandemic Control needs that medication, and they need it now. You said you had the antidote, so why haven’t you sent the required doses?”
Dalton stood straighter. “Every Protected subject we have is currently being prepped for injection with PA2. But so far, subjects have only exhibited a significant immune response when we inject ten times the usual dose of infectious disease directly into their bloodstreams. Dr. Farrow is about to inject this one right now.”
Dalton narrowed his eyes and tapped the small earpiece in his ear. “Yes,” he said, looking into the lab again. “Thank you, Doctor Farrow. I’m here to observe.” He turned back to Katherine. “Perhaps this will help to illustrate the problem we’re facing.”
Katherine pressed her lips together and looked into the lab.
This time, it was a woman in her twenties inside the clear glass diagnostic pod. But she wasn’t sedated. Her face shone with sweat, and her blond hair stuck to her forehead. She resisted, pulling weakly against her straps as the research personnel readied her injection and plunged it into the port in the diagnostic pod.
The Protected girl’s mouth opened in a silent scream as the needle hit its mark, and she began to buck against her straps violently. Sweat poured down her face, and the team inside calmly watched her heart rate and vitals data on the 3D display.
It went on for what seemed like forever, the girl bucking against her straps, slowly growing weaker. Her eyes rolled into the back of her skull, and her mouth frothed.
Katherine clenched her jaw tighter, getting ready to fire Dalton on the spot for insubordination. Other brilliant scientists would leap at the chance to head this sector… if they knew about it.
Inside the lab, the heart rate monitor suddenly flat-lined. The Protected girl was dead.
Izzy glanced at Katherine with a blank expression, then stared back into the lab.
Inside, the leader of the research team shook her head and gestured.
Katherine narrowed her eyes at Dalton. “What the hell just happened?”
The doctor shook his head. “I was afraid of that. We lost that one’s sibling yesterday, so Dr. Farrow suspected we’d lose it, too. Thirty percent of the Protecteds immediately experience full-blown autoimmune attacks and die within hours—or minutes—of receiving the first dose.”
Katherine’s muscles went rigid, and her pulse skyrocketed as a new team of workers wearing Hazmat suits arrived to dispose of the Protected girl’s body. “And the rest?”
“The rest are able to fight the PA2 and recover. We harvest their antibodies, and when the immune response ceases, we inject them again to trigger another response. They’re viable subjects. I’ve managed to create a few hundred doses of the serum so far; however, many of the subjects are already showing signs of autoimmune attacks. But the serum does work. None of our antibiotics work on this, but the serum can cure the infection in genetically pure humans, and it can prevent first infection or reinfection for up to twenty-four hours, even if PA2 is found in the environment at high levels.”
“Can she infect one of us?” Izzy asked, her voice cold.
“It. Not she. That abomination in there is not human.”
“Can it infect us?” Izzy asked flatly. “Answer the question.”
Katherine gave Izzy a slight nod, approving of the tone she was taking with Dalton. Much better than the weak way she spoke at home.
Dr. Dalton coughed again. “Yes, it could infect us. We give test subjects high enough doses to trigger a significant and lasting immune response. They can be highly contagious until their immune systems eradicate a disease. But we adhere to strict Pandemic Control protocols.” He gestured toward the lab again. “They’ll burn that test subject’s body immediately.”
“Good.” Izzy squinted at the dead girl as the workers dropped her body into a bag and zipped it shut.
Katherine’s heart rate slowed, and she folded her damp hands together. Enough of this. “Where is the order, Dr. Dalton? Why haven’t you sent the full shipment?”
“As I said, thirty percent—”
“I don’t care about your percentages. Have you seen what we’re dealing with? In two weeks, we’ve lost seventy-five percent of the infected in Alabama near where the mutated version of P. Aeruginosa first originated. The remaining twenty-five percent are still ill, and none have recovered.”
“What are you not—?” Dr. Dalton cut himself short and let out a sigh. “The data is in my office.”
Dalton led them further, turning down another corridor. His office was a small, cramped room, and Izzy and Katherine sank down in uncomfortable metal chairs across from his desk.
Izzy twitched in her seat, looking like she wanted to open her mouth again and waste more time.
Katherine reached out and
covertly pinched Izzy’s thigh, forcing her to go still.
Dalton winced as he sat, and his gnarled hands shook as he tapped the air to bring up a graph on his holo display.
Katherine leaned forward. “We need 100,000 doses of serum for the infected, at least. But Pandemic Control requested 200,000 to be safe. When will they be ready?”
Dr. Dalton gave her a level gaze, and she almost detected a smirk.
“Never, Katherine. Not with my current resources.”
Never.
“Failure is not an option.” Katherine’s voice rose, and she sat taller, gripping the arm rests. “If you can’t do this, I’ll find someone who can.”
Dalton didn’t even try to hide his amusement at her threat. “This is nothing like the diseases we’ve fought in the past. You would need to send me at least twenty-five hundred Protecteds immediately. I’d likely lose thirty percent, leaving me with just enough alive to possibly procure your 100,000 doses of the cure.”
Katherine let out a harsh laugh. Removing twenty-five hundred Protecteds from the district would cause riots and reveal the existence of this facility. Was Dalton going senile?
Dalton grunted and pointed at the graph. “Look at the data, Katherine. I’m down to only two hundred viable subjects, and you have limited me to only a few dozen new subjects per month. I might be able to get sixty doses of serum from each of them before full-organ autoimmunity is triggered. Then we have to euthanize.”
Katherine’s internal sense of control slipped just enough to make her feel dizzy. One hundred thousand infected… and no cure. This wasn’t part of the plan. They had a cure. The AP2 was contained, the quarantine zone was holding, and the infected had been placed in holding areas. Pandemic Control was going to cure the infected, remove them from the zone, and then burn every square inch of infected land. They’d run the projections. The plan would work.
Problem solved.
The last piece, the only piece missing, was enough doses of the serum.
“We need that cure,” she said, her mouth going dry. “There has to be a way to keep the test subjects from dying—or a way to stretch the serum or synthesize the cure. You’ve done it plenty of times before.”
“I’m working on that, but synthesizing the cure takes time, and stretching it has made it ineffective.”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses,” she said, her voice hard. “Didn’t you hear me the first time? Failure is not an option.”
“You want to find someone else, Katherine? Maybe someone who performs magic tricks instead of research.” Dalton jabbed the holo display, shrinking it. “If so, be my guest. Every time we try to dilute the serum, it fails to cure. Dr. Phan was reconstructing Dr. Sherman’s research on Protected antibodies when he passed away… but it’s not complete, and half of it went missing—”
“I’ll get you more scientists.” Katherine’s voice sounded far away, like it was coming from someone else.
“And where will you get me more Protecteds?” He narrowed his eyes and gave her a slight nod. “More scientists will help. But this time, try not to issue security clearances to terrorists.” His tone was biting, and he tapped his finger on the desk. “I’m still waiting for you to track down ‘Michael Monroe’ and the test subject who tried to murder me.”
Katherine took a deep breath and stood, staring down at the old man. “How many doses can you get to the zone in the next forty-eight hours, with the two hundred test subjects you have?”
“Enough to cure the Pandemic Control troops. But that’s it.” Dalton flicked his wrist and gestured, bringing up a new image. It was a map of the world with the current quarantine zone shaded red, with the title Projection for Quarantine Zone Failure - AP2.
The sight of it made Katherine’s entire body go cold.
“I’m sure you’ve seen this,” Dalton said carefully. “Pandemic Control sent it over in a bid to encourage me to work faster. Should even one infected individual escape the quarantine zone… it spreads quickly. Within just a few months…”
He tapped the air several times, and the red expanded, spreading across the continent, inching toward Washington state. In four months’ time, it had reached most parts of the world.
“We are working on a vaccine for the uninfected,” Dalton continued, “but even with our advantage vaccines still take months, if not years. Every hour you do nothing about that quarantine zone is one more hour you risk infecting the entire planet.”
He met her eyes, and there wasn’t the slightest hint of amusement left on his face. “All plant life would be at risk. Every human on Earth. If you want my advice—”
“I do not.” Katherine snapped. She had already seen this projection. But it hadn’t been relevant when she believed Dalton had the cure. “You’re telling me, with one hundred percent certainty, that you cannot cure the infected within the quarantine zone unless I give you twenty-five hundred Protected test subjects?”
“I am telling you, with one hundred percent certainty, that I cannot. Not before most of the currently infected one hundred thousand die…” He waved at the red map. “Or worse.”
“Thank you, Dr. Dalton. Get back to work, and call me immediately with any updates. Tell security we’re letting ourselves out.” Katherine strode into the empty hallway without waiting for his response.
Izzy followed, shutting Dalton’s door, and stepped in front of Katherine, gently touching her arm, searching her face. “Mom? Are you okay?”
Katherine pushed past her without a word.
They headed back the way they’d come in, past busy researchers, past men in hazmat suits, past empty, dim labs where rainbow light cascaded over infected subjects in diagnostic pods.
As she walked toward the double doors at the exit, Dalton’s words echoed through Katherine’s mind on a loop.
One hundred thousand infected. According to Pandemic Control, most, if not all, would die without the cure. And it would only take one infected escaping containment… for it to become a pandemic. A pandemic that currently caused death in 75% of subjects within two weeks of infection. With time and more test subjects, Dalton should be able to synthesize a cure or create a vaccine that worked. But that quarantine zone and all those infected… They were a dangerous liability.
The Protecteds were an asset of immeasurable value.
She could not lose control.
What would her father do? What would his answer be?
He would end this. Now.
Katherine jabbed the button beside the steel doors, letting security know they were ready to be buzzed out. As they waited for the doors to slide open, Katherine turned to Izzy. “Do you know what mistakes really are?”
Izzy stayed silent, her expression sullen.
“They’re opportunities. And what do we do when we find an opportunity?”
Izzy’s eyes narrowed, meeting Katherine’s. “We take it.”
“And why? What does every lost opportunity represent?”
“Lost profit.”
“Yes.” Katherine inhaled deeply, and her heart rate began to slow. “Infinitek has survived through economic collapse, pandemics, and natural disasters that destroyed every nation. Do you know why we succeeded where everyone else failed?”
The color began to creep back into Izzy’s cheeks. “Because the Raines family never quits. We do whatever it takes to create a better world.”
“Yes. When circumstances change, we must evolve with them.” Katherine caught her reflection in the steel doors in front of her and smoothed a loose strand of brown hair back into her bun as a feeling of calm flowed through her once more. “If we win today, we own tomorrow.”
Izzy nodded, her face flushed.
“Whenever there’s a problem,” Katherine continued, “there’s always a solution. And…”
“Infinitek provides it,” Izzy finished.
Katherine let out a breath and threw her shoulders back as the double doors slid open. She
stepped into the corridor beyond, sweeping a gaze across the three founders of the Protected Project once more.
All of Infinitek’s projects, including this one, had faced innumerable setbacks, but the net result had always been positive. This was just a setback. Nothing more.
Katherine strode past the portrait, and Izzy kept pace beside her.
“When we get home,” Katherine said, “you’ll call Stephen and Arissa and tell them we’re having a meeting. Quietly. This meeting only involves Calliope6 and MetaTransport. I’ll bring in the other eight corporate heads when the time is right.”
“Mom?” Izzy stopped walking and grabbed Katherine’s hand. “What’s our solution this time?”
Katherine gave Izzy a small smile, her confidence fully restored. Then she gently traced a finger down Izzy’s high cheekbone and tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear. “You already know the answer to that. Don’t you, Isabela?”
Izzy’s mouth turned up in a hesitant half-smile, and Katherine nodded, encouraging her to speak the words.
“Of course I do.” Izzy’s blue eyes shone, displaying nothing but trust and faith. “Progress requires sacrifice.”
As soon as Anders and his uncle reached the homestead, Uncle Jay yelled out the window to remind him to go into the house, then drove down the dirt road toward the back of the property.
Anders’ heart rate picked up again as he strode toward the farmhouse. As he climbed the stairs and reflexively brushed the star engraved in the post, the old thrill raced through him, but it felt more real this time.
More dangerous.
Anders had a new urgency and determination inside him as he pushed through the front door and headed back to his uncle’s office.
Even the house felt different. The windows were unshuttered, and the LED globes were off. Natural light flowed through the house, illuminating the dust motes in the air. The books seemed to hold knowledge he could actually use now and understand, and even the boards creaking beneath his feet seemed more welcoming somehow, like they recognized he finally, fully belonged here.
Defective (Fractured Era Book 1) Page 25
