Disturb

by JA Konrath

  He stared at the tube, curious. It was filled with foul smelling liquid the color of cola. The open end dripped onto the floor. David watched as the hole in his stomach closed like a tiny mouth.

  Barry made a gagging sound. The elevator stopped and the doors opened.

  “Thanks for the ride.” David smiled at Barry and handed the mute guard the drainage tube. Then he stepped out of the elevator.

  The hallway was quiet, serene. Dr. Nikos sometimes piped music through the intercom speakers, but now the only sound was the hum of the neon lights.

  David hated this place. It was worse than prison. Terrible as doing time was, it had a tangible ending. You could dream about getting out. Here, at DruTech, there was no end in sight. And the only dreams you had were of other people's deaths.

  David went into his room and took off his shirt. Finding Theena and Bill asleep on his bed was a delicious surprise.

  He changed into a sweater and sat down next to Theena.

  She was really quite beautiful. He could see why Manny was in love with her. David touched her smooth cheek, then let his hand slide down her neck, past her shoulder. He cupped a breast. Squeezed.

  Theena didn't wake up.

  David took her pulse, watched her breathing. She was having a little N-Som siesta. Bill's pulse was also weak, his wrist cool to the touch.

  So... what-to-do, what-to-do? David took the scalpel from his back pocket. Two quick slices, and they would never wake up. He touched the blade under Theena's chin. She whimpered, her eyes rolling back and forth under her lids.

  Bad dream.

  “Sucks, doesn't it?”

  He put the scalpel back in his pocket. This wasn't the right time. David wanted her to be aware when she died. She had to know what was happening, and why.

  “See you soon, sleeping beauty.”

  He gave Theena a lingering kiss, forcing his tongue between her lips, licking her teeth. Then he got off the bed and left his room, on the prowl for Dr. Myrnowski.

  The hallways hummed. David moved cautiously, even though he had no need to. It made him feel like some jungle beast, stalking prey. He was the master of his domain. The top of the food chain. Unstoppable.

  He found her in the kitchenette. She was sitting at the breakfast bar, nibbling a bagel. Pudgy, blonde, shy Julia Myrnowski. He hoped she was enjoying her last meal.

  “Hi, Julia.”

  Dr. Myrnowski almost fell off her stool.

  “Manny. You startled me.”

  Why was everyone calling him Manny? Was there some big joke going on that he didn't know about?

  David sat next to her.

  “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

  She nodded, but her body language didn't concur.

  “You've tried N-Som, right Julia?”

  The chemist shifted, leaning slightly away from him.

  “Hmm? No, I've never tried it.”

  David sidled closer. “Why not, it's perfectly safe, right?”

  Julia was visibly uncomfortable. She'd always been a real wallflower. He wondered if she were still a virgin. He wondered if he should check.

  “Yes, I guess it's safe. But I'm not big on taking drugs, I guess.”

  “I see.”

  Julia offered a meek smile, then got off her stool and put the remainder of her bagel in the refrigerator.

  “I'm, um, going back to the lab.”

  “No you're not.”

  Julia had no idea how to respond to that. She just stood there, stupidly, a deer in the headlights.

  David was next to her in two steps. The chemist shivered, tried to make herself smaller. David fed on it like junk food.

  “You're afraid of me.”

  A small whimper.

  “You're afraid, because you know what N-Som has done to my brain.”

  “Please don't hurt me...”

  David let the anger wash over him. This feeble, cringing, pathetic creature was earning her salary by torturing him to death.

  He put his arms around her, sympathetic. She started to sob.

  “I won't hurt you, Julia. Unless you think this hurts.”

  The scalpel slid into her back, up under the shoulder blade.

  Julia went rigid, and then collapsed onto herself like an old building.

  A keening wail escaped her lips, and her arms flopped and twitched with a mind of their own.

  “Well, I guess it hurts after all.”

  David knelt next to her. He cradled her head in his arms and gave her the sweetest kiss, amused at how her lips trembled while he jammed the blade in and out.

  Chapter 30

  Bill woke up first. This was the second time he'd undergone another person's death, and it hadn't gotten any easier.

  The experience was so much stronger than normal dreaming. While under N-Som's influence, Bill had not only relived Nikos's final thoughts, but also the man's feelings and senses. The bathroom smelled like lemon disinfectant. Nikos's voice sounded different, because he'd heard it through the ears of the man speaking it. Worst of all, Bill felt the scalpel enter his neck, the blood leaking down his throat like hot acid.

  No wonder Manny was so messed up. He'd taken N-Som how many times? Add to that the organic brain damage...

  Bill knew enough psychology to be familiar with Disassociative Identity Disorder—what used to be termed multiple personality. He never bought it. Supposedly, children who were abused retreated into an alternate personality within their minds as a way of escape. Bill viewed it with the same disdain as so-called Repressed Memory Syndrome. A shrink could very easily, through inadvertent suggestion, implant these beliefs in a person's head during therapy.

  But Manny was something different. He'd been chowing down on brain chemicals for so long a schism had formed between his left and right hemispheres, dividing them. Through Dr. Nikos's eyes, Bill saw Manny change into someone else.

  And Bill was converted into a true believer.

  He glanced at Theena, lying on the bed next to him. Her face was glossy with tears. He felt a knot of pity.

  Not only did she experience her husband's death, she was also privy to his thoughts about her. Thoughts that were neither loving nor pleasant.

  Bill looked around the bedroom for a box of tissue. They were in Manny's pseudo-apartment, the only place in DruTech with a bed. After extracting the brain matter from Dr. Nikos's head and processing it into N-Som, they came here. Bill had almost balked at taking the drug; knowing where it came from, knowing what it did. But he wanted to learn the truth as much as Theena, and she had made trusting her impossible. So they'd taken the plunge together.

  “Nikos...”

  Theena opened her eyes. There was no Kleenex, but Bill found a roll of paper towels by the dresser. He tore one off and offered it.

  “He thought I was a whore.” Her voice was soft, small.

  Bill didn't say anything. Theena had made some big mistakes, because of love. He'd been captaining that same ship for over a year.

  “You saw what I saw.” Theena's face flushed, and she hid behind the paper towel. “You saw what he thought of me. A man I devoted my whole life to. I was a regret. His last thought was regretting me.”

  Bill juggled embarrassment and compassion.

  “He didn't think that. He regretted leaving your mother.”

  “Same thing.”

  “Theena...” Bill chose his words carefully. “Your husband, he wasn't a very good man.”

  Theena took a while to respond.

  “I know. You won't believe me, but I didn't know anything about the fetal experiments. I also had no idea Manny was this bad. I showed him his CTs, tried to get him to quit. But Manny was just as obsessed as Nikos. Blind. Both of them were blind.” She let out a slow breath. “Me too.”

  Maybe it was because he'd felt her husband's thoughts, but Bill wasn't angry at Theena anymore. He couldn't condone what she'd done, but he hadn't ever truly forgiven himself, either.

  “You can make it right. We
can make sure this drug is never put on the market.”

  “We can't go up against Albert. He's too powerful.”

  “He may have some friends in high places, but if we go to the media with this, the public will demand recourse.”

  “How about Manny?”

  How about Manny? He was truly screwed up, possibly beyond any help. Bill pitied him. But he'd also seen the cold blooded way he killed Dr. Nikos.

  “We have to let the authorities take care of Manny.”

  “It's all my fault.”

  “We can't handle him ourselves, Theena. He's too far gone, and too dangerous. You know what he's capable of, physically. It would be like trying to catch the Terminator.”

  “THEENA? BILL? YOU AWAKE?”

  Bill jumped at the sound. A man's voice, coming over the intercom speakers. Mannny. But Bill knew that even though the voice matched, this wasn't Manny at all.

  “YOU'VE GOT TWO WAYS OUT, THE ELEVATOR AND THE EMERGENCY STAIRS. I CAN ONLY WATCH ONE. SO HERE'S THE GAME. IF YOU CAN MAKE IT TO ONE OR THE OTHER, YOU'LL GO FREE. BUT IF I CATCH YOU... TELL THEM, JULIA.”

  The shriek was the most frightening thing Bill had ever heard. It went on and on, raw terror and extreme pain, like the bleat of a tortured animal.

  The awful sound was cut short with a gurgle and some bubbly coughing.

  “IF I CATCH YOU, YOU GET TO JOIN DR. MYRNOWSKI HERE. THE CLOCK IS TICKING. GOOD LUCK.”

  “Julia...”

  Theena was two steps to the door when Bill caught her wrist.

  “Hold it. We have to think.”

  “He's killing her.”

  “She's already dead, Theena. We go rushing blindly into the hall, we're next.”

  Theena's face was distilled anguish. Bill could guess his expression was the same. They both fought to keep cool heads.

  “Okay...” Theena's brows scrunched up. “The elevator is down the hall, to the left. The emergency stairs are to the right.”

  “Where is Manny?”

  “He could be anywhere. Every room has an intercom next to the door.”

  Bill looked around the room, saw the phone. Theena intercepted him.

  “Doesn't dial out. It's a direct line to the lab.”

  He took out his cell phone, but again Theena shook her head.

  “Too far underground. No signal.”

  “Are there any damn phones down here?”

  “No. Nikos wanted us to be isolated, shut off. No interruptions.”

  “How about security?”

  “The lab has a link to the security desk, but Manny knows that too.”

  Bill wanted to rip out his hair. “How about a fire alarm?”

  “There's a box in the kitchen. It can be pulled.”

  “Then the fire department would come?”

  Theena nodded, but neither of them moved. They weren't anxious to go out into the hallway. Bill scanned the ceiling for a sprinkler. There was one over the bed, but he had no way of setting it off. For this first time in his life, Bill wished he smoked.

  “Maybe I can talk to him.” Theena chewed her lower lip. “Manny and I have an understanding.”

  “That's not Manny.”

  “I can try anyway.”

  “First let's do something about this door.”

  Theena helped him push the dresser up against it, snugged tight underneath the knob. For good measure they put the desk behind that. Bill gave the door a firm tug, but it didn't budge.

  “That should be okay. Now what?”

  Theena pressed the intercom button on the box next to the light switch.

  “David? It's Theena.”

  “HI, THEENA.”

  “We want to help you, David. We want you to get better.”

  “I'M TOUCHED.”

  “I mean it. I know that this experiment hurt you. It's not your fault.”

  “I'M GLAD YOU THINK SO. OPEN THE DOOR, WE'LL TALK.”

  Theena threw Bill a desperate look. He joined her by the intercom.

  “David? It's Dr. Bill May from the FDA.”“

  “HELLO, BILL. HOW'S THE INVESTIGATION GOING?”

  “It's over. N-Som won't get approval in this country.”

  “TOO BAD. WE'VE ALL WORKED SO HARD. MANNY WILL BE CRUSHED.”

  “Can we speak to Manny?”

  “I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS.”

  Bill took a shot. “David, you're Manny. He's inside you. You're the same person.”

  No response. The silence stretched. Theena tapped Bill on the shoulder.

  “Is it smart to confuse him like that?”

  “As far as we know, Manny's not a killer. Only his alter ego is. Maybe a catharsis will snap him back to normal.” Bill hit the intercom button. “Manny? Are you there? Hello? Manny?”

  “I JUST PICKED UP A NEW CD. WANNA HEAR IT?”

  A groan came over the loudspeaker. It was feminine, undeniably sexual, and Bill could identify it from experience.

  Theena looked mortified. The female voice was joined by a male one, the sounds of two people making love filling the entire underground complex.

  Bill was confused. Was it a recording? How?

  “I REALLY NEEDED THAT.”

  Theena's voice. That was what she'd said after she and Bill had sex the first time. But the voice that answered didn't belong to Bill.

  “MARRY ME, THEENA.”

  It was Manny. Out of breath, vulnerable.

  “YOU'RE SO SWEET, MANNY.”

  Theena blushed furiously. She lowered her head, refusing to look at Bill.

  “PLEASE, THEENA. YOU'RE THE ONLY REASON I STAY HERE. THE N-SOM—SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME CRAZY.”

  “YOU KNOW IT'S SAFE, MANNY. DR. NIKOS AND I WOULDN'T MAKE YOU DO THIS IF THERE WERE ANY POSSIBLE DANGER.”

  Theena put a hand over her face. The playback ended, and the room got eerily silent.

  “Nikos told me to sleep with Manny. To keep him on the project.”

  “Even though it was hurting him?”

  Bill felt bad right after it left his mouth. They both knew what her mistakes were, and he shouldn't keep rubbing her nose in them. But hearing her with Manny stung. It was more than jealousy. Being with Theena had made Bill feel special, and he'd hoped the feeling was mutual.

  She started to cry, but caught herself. Bill could sense the courage it took her to meet his gaze. “What you and I did, yesterday...”

  “Theena, don't.”

  “I need to say it, Bill. For what it's worth, no one made me do that. I did it on my own.”

  They stared into each other's eyes. Maybe it was ego, maybe it was gullibility, but even after being lied to so many times, Bill believed her.

  “DO YOU STILL THINK THERE'S NO POSSIBLE DANGER, THEENA?”

  Theena jerked her head up at the speaker, and then launched herself at the intercom.

  “Manny, I know you can hear me. You and David are the same person. I know you're inside him, somewhere.”

  “IT SOUNDED LIKE HE WAS INSIDE YOU A MINUTE AGO. DID YOU ENJOY THE RECORDING? I GOT IT FROM THE LATE DR. FLETCHER. IT WAS MARKED 'MANNY AND THEENA #7'. YOU SURE KEEP BUSY.”

  “Dammit, Manny! You're not a killer! You're my friend, and you can fight this!”

  They waited for a response. None came.

  “Manny?”

  Silence. Had Theena gotten through to him? Was he in some grand conflict with his other self, fighting for control.

  BAM!

  The knock on the door startled them both. They exchanged a frightened glance.

  “Theena? Bill? It's Manny.”

  His tone was meek and submissive. Theena put her hip against the dresser and began to push.

  “That's him. We can open the door.”

  Bill held her back. “He could be faking it.”

  “How do we know?”

  Bill wished he'd paid more attention to psych class in college. He knew that all DIDs had a core personality. Manny was the core. Did the core ever know about the other identities?

/>   Bill didn't think so. He recalled that old Sally Field movie, Sybil. She didn't know that people existed inside her.

  But it went beyond that—Manny and David thought they were separate people.

  “If that's Manny, how did he know we're in here? David knows we're in his room. But if Manny just woke up, he wouldn't know what was going on. Right?”

  Another knock. “Theena? Bill? I'm okay now. Open up, I'm scared.”

  Theena edged the desk back into place.

  “We can't, Manny. We don't know if we can believe you.”

  The room shook with a massive WHUMP. Bill and Theena jumped back and stared with horror at the fire ax blade poking through the door. It worked itself free, and David winked at them through the newly made hole.

  “Hi, guys.”

  Bill spun around, frantically looking for something he could use as a weapon. He picked up a floor lamp with a heavy brass bottom, ripping the cord out of the wall.

  David chopped away at the door, making fast progress. The upper half was quickly full of holes, and every whack connected more of them together. He soon had decent sized opening.

  Bill moved closer, holding the lamp like a baseball bat. When David reached his arm through to push back the dresser, Bill swung.

  He connected solidly with David's shoulder, the metal lamp vibrating in his hands at impact.

  David howled like a kicked dog, his arm snaking back through the opening. They watched him move away from the door, out of view.

  Bill's breath was coming out in pants. His whole body shook with adrenaline. Theena put her hand on his back and he jumped in surprise.

  “I think he's gone.”

  Bill tried to open his hands, but they refused to let go of the lamp. He took a cautious step towards the opening, trying to get a better view of the hallway.

  “Is he there?”

  Bill couldn't see David, but he wasn't going to stick his head through the hole to be sure.

  “I don't know.”

  “We should make a run for it.”

  “I'm not sure that's a good idea.”

  “THAT WAS A NICE SHOT, DOC.”

  Again, they both were startled by the intercom.

  “I THINK MY SHOULDER IS DISLOCATED. IF I ASK REAL NICE, WILL YOU OPEN THE DOOR AND FIX IT FOR ME?”

  Bill saw no reason to answer.

  “I THOUGHT DOCTORS TOOK AN OATH TO HELP PEOPLE.”