by R. D. Brady
These last few years had been the happiest of his life. When he’d met Danny, his life had improved more than he ever thought possible. Danny was another lost soul like him. But then Laney had arrived. And she’d brought with her Jake, Lou, Rolly, Jen, Cleo, Max, Patrick. All of a sudden his tiny, lonely little world had exploded with people. And he hadn’t been scared. He’d embraced them. All of them.
Slowly he felt the change inside him. The recognition that maybe, just maybe, the world was better than he remembered. And even though he’d never told anyone, he thought that maybe he could start joining in again. He wasn’t planning anything big. Maybe having dinner one night at Patrick and Cain’s or walking around the estate with Cleo. Just small little journeys that for him a few years ago would have been the equivalent of manning his own rocket to the Moon.
But then Elisabeta had begun her reign of terror. Dom could read the winds of change. He didn’t need Max’s abilities to see what was coming. He could tell the governments would want more once the Fallen were discovered. They would want the Omni.
He didn’t regret making it for Laney. She had brought so much into his life. He could see now how empty, how quiet it had been before. She had given him a chance to be important, to make a real difference. He had helped her protect people, people he didn’t know and would never meet and people he would die to protect. When Mustafa had arrived with the request, he’d immediately known that the government would one day come for him. Part of him had thought that Laney and Henry would be able to keep him safe, but he knew that more likely than not, one day, they would get to him. But he still would have made the same choice.
He knew the formula for the Omni. He forgot nothing. And like so many other facts, that information was locked away in his mind. But he would never tell them. He would never betray Laney’s trust. It was the least he owed her for all she’d brought into his life. So he would lock it away, just like he’d locked himself away from the world.
He’d lock it away. Lock himself away. Away from the pain, away from the hurt. The buzzing grew louder as he pulled his knees to his chest and rocked back and forth.
Lock it away. Lock it away. Lock it away.
CHAPTER 87
Shremp had booked a hotel near the facility. He didn’t want to make the long trip back to D.C. only to have to turn around and return, because he wanted to be there when the man finally gave up the information he was looking for.
Agent Frankel had asked him to hold off returning until later. She wanted to give the doctor a chance to work and allow the techniques he employed the time they needed to be effective. But with the condition the guy had been in, Shremp wasn’t sure it would ever work. And that was not acceptable. He had lost the McAdams girl, so this little scientist was going to have to make up for that loss.
But now as the elevator took him to the lower levels, he worried this might just be a great big waste of time. Frankel stood waiting for him as the doors opened. She smiled.
“Good morning, Senator.”
“Agent Frankel. Any progress?”
“Actually, yes. The doctor asked to speak with you before you go in.”
Shremp frowned. “Fine. Where is he?”
“This way.” She led him past the door they had entered yesterday. She knocked. “Come in,” came the muffled reply.
The agent opened the door, stepping aside to allow the senator in. “Major Gina Carstairs of the United States Marine Corps, this is Senator Bart Shremp.” Frankel didn’t wait for a response, she simply closed the door behind him.
The African American doctor looked up from the desk, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail.
“You’re young,” Shremp said, taken aback.
“And you’re not.” Carstairs didn’t smile. She gestured to a chair in front of her desk. “Take a seat.”
He bristled at her tone. “See here, I am a United States senator, not one of your patients. And I will be shown respect.”
The doctor studied him, her gaze making him uncomfortable. “You see here. I have taken an oath to do no harm. And I am not completely convinced that what you want falls under that umbrella.”
“You have been ordered to make the subject comfortable. Surely you can manage that.”
“Do you know who you have in that cell?”
“That is of no concern to you.”
The woman’s eyes blazed. “Of no concern? That is Dr. Dominic Radcliffe, one of the greatest minds of our time. And a very delicate mind at that.”
Shremp waved away her concerns. “Please. He was removed from his home for failing to comply with—”
“He suffers from agoraphobia. He has not left his home in close to two decades. And you yanked him out without concern for his mental state. I have medicated him to help his emotional state, but let me be clear, I did that for him, not you.”
Shremp narrowed his eyes. “Let me remind you, you are under the command of the CEI as well as being under a strict nondisclosure agreement. You cannot speak of any of your activities here.”
“That’s not entirely accurate. You mean I cannot speak without penalty. I can speak if I am willing to accept the cost of those words.” She met Shremp’s gaze without a flinch.
He swallowed.
Finally, she broke off her gaze. She stood and strode past him for the door. “I will take you to the patient. But you are not to upset him. I am going to check on him, and you may observe, quietly and unobtrusively, but you are not allowed to speak with him until I give you permission. Is that clear?”
Shremp glared at her back. Obviously Frankel had chosen the wrong specialist for this particular assignment. He’d have to have to her watched.
Shremp expected Carstairs to head to the same room as yesterday, but instead she headed down the hall. Shremp glanced at Frankel, who fell in step with him. “He was moved?”
“Yes, the doctor believed the other room held too many bad memories. She thought a fresh start might help him recover.”
He shook his head. For God’s sake, they were talking about a man, not a child.
The doctor stopped at the end of the hall. Hennessey was standing guard outside the door. Carstairs glared at Shremp, warning him without words to behave before opening the door.
He glowered. That woman really needed to learn the pecking order around here, and she was way below him. But before he could inform her of this, she stepped into the room.
Shremp stopped in the doorway. This room was much nicer than the other one. A door in the corner led into a private bath. A real bed, not a cot, was pushed against the wall. A table to its left held a pitcher of water and some plastic cups. And there were even flowers, yellow daisies, on the table.
The doctor was kneeling down next to the bed. “Dr. Radcliffe? It’s Dr. Carstairs.”
The man on the bed flickered open his eyes.
Carstairs smiled. “Good morning.”
His eyes grew wide.
“No, no, it’s all right. No one will hurt you. I’m Dr. Carstairs. We met yesterday. Do you remember?”
Radcliffe nodded, some of the tension draining from his face.
“How are you feeling?”
Radcliffe started to shake. “Th-thirsty.”
“Of course.” Carstairs quickly walked to the table and returned with a glass of water. “Let me help you.” She gently helped Radcliffe sit up. He took the glass with two hands, the way a child would.
Shremp tamped down his annoyance.
Greatest mind of our time. Please. The man had soiled himself yesterday. He was hardly a great mind. He stepped in. “All right, we need some answers.”
Carstairs whipped around. “He is not taking questions right now. He needs to eat. He needs to take his meds. Your questions will have to wait.”
Frankel stepped in, touching Shremp’s arm. “Perhaps we should let the doctor complete her work. I have a breakfast set up for you down the hall.”
Shremp glared at the doctor and then at Frankel, who smiled at
the man on the bed. He turned on his heel and strode down the hall. Frankel hurried to catch up with him.
He glared. “Perhaps you are not as up for this task as I thought.”
“Don’t doubt my dedication, Senator.” She glanced over her shoulder at her partner down the hall. “Ever heard of good cop, bad cop? Well, Roger is horrible at good cop. And this particular subject may need kid gloves to get any information from him. But I assure you, if the gloves need to come off, I will happily remove them.”
He read the commitment in her eyes. “Good. Now what are we having for breakfast?”
Breakfast had been all right, just egg sandwiches. Then Shremp had been shown to an office down the hall where he had worked for three hours, mostly on the phone with Adam. Frankel had brought in BBQ takeout for lunch, which had more than made up for the sad little breakfast.
He wiped the last remnants of sauce from his face. “That was good.” He glanced up at Frankel, who had joined him for lunch. “And as enjoyable as your company may be, I think it’s time we spoke with the good doctor.”
Frankel nodded. “I spoke with her before I went to get lunch. She should be ready. I thought you might want to read her preliminary report.” She slid a manila folder toward him.
He opened it, quickly reading the two-page report inside. He glanced at the comments—high empathy and strong protective qualities. He laughed. “Strong protective qualities? She can’t be serious.”
“I believe she is. There are different ways to protect people. But if she is correct, and he feels the answers to our questions will harm those he cares about, he will shut down. He won’t answer them.”
Shremp dropped the file on the table. “Then how the hell are we going to get the answers out of him?”
Frankel smiled, reminding him of a shark. “You brought the doctor in to make him capable of answering questions. You brought me in to make sure he answers them. Have a little faith, Senator. Now, shall we go see what Dr. Radcliffe has to say?”
CHAPTER 88
Hennessey was standing outside yet another door. Frankel strode right up to him. “Well?”
“The doctor’s been in with him since this morning. They just finished lunch. And then I had them brought here.”
“And how are they getting along?” Frankel asked.
Hennessey smiled. “Extremely well.”
“Excellent.” She turned to Shremp. “Senator, I’m going to ask you to observe from the room next door. It is the same setup as the other observation room.”
“Very well.” Shremp opened the door in front of him and stepped in. The ceiling lights were a low wattage, casting a shadowy light across the space. A coffee machine sat in the corner. Shremp made his way over, pouring himself a cup. He walked back to the window, blowing on the coffee. Taking a seat on one of the chairs set up in front of the window, he placed his coffee on the table next to it.
In the room, Carstairs sat at a table with Radcliffe. Her hand held his as he shook his head. Shremp walked over to the panel he’d seen Frankel use and turned up the volume.
“—all right. I’ll be right here the whole time.”
“I want to go home.” Radcliffe’s voice was soft.
“I know, Dom. Just a little longer, and I’ll make sure you get home, okay?”
Apparently the doctor was the one who was suffering from a protective complex. He worried she might interfere with the questioning. He should have picked a man. They would have been less likely to sympathize with Radcliffe.
But after reading Carstairs’s file this morning, he could see why Frankel had chosen her. She had an incredible record of getting through to difficult patients and in some incredibly difficult situations. She’d once talked down a soldier who held a live grenade in the middle of a forward base in Afghanistan. He threatened to blow himself and everyone else up. Command had wanted to evacuate the base, but it wasn’t possible due to a report about snipers in the area. Carstairs had stayed with the man for three hours, even as the camp suffered a mortar attack. She finally got the soldier to hand over the grenade and the rest of his weapons, saving dozens of lives in the camp.
In the other room, the door opened. Frankel walked in, smiling as she nodded at Radcliffe. “Good afternoon, Dr. Radcliffe.”
He didn’t respond but shrank back in his chair as Hennessey followed Frankel in. After closing the door, he leaned against it with his arms crossed.
Frankel moved forward. “I’m not sure if you remember me, but we met yesterday. I’m Agent Frankel, and this is my partner Agent Hennessey.”
Dr. Radcliffe spoke to the table. “With the CEI.”
“Yes, that’s correct.” Frankel beamed at him like he was a star pupil before glancing back at Hennessey. “I told you he’d remember, didn’t I?”
Hennessey just grunted in response.
Frankel took a seat across from the two doctors, placing her hands on the table in front of her. “Now, Dr. Radcliffe I need to ask you a few questions. On behalf of your government.” She looked at Dom, but he said nothing, just stared at the tabletop.
“The government knows you have been working for the Chandler Group for, oh my goodness, seventeen years. That is a long time.” She smiled.
Radcliffe continued to stare at the table.
“We know you are very close with Henry Chandler, Danny Wartowski, Jake Rogan, his head of security, and of course, Delaney McPhearson.”
Radcliffe’s eyes darted up at Frankel before he shifted his attention back to the table. But Shremp could see his trembling had increased.
“I have seen the news coverage of Delaney McPhearson. It is hard to believe all the things she can do. I’ve heard she can control the weather, is that true?”
Radcliffe’s gaze seemed locked on the table in front of him.
“That’s not a hard question, is it, Doctor? Can McPhearson control the weather?”
Carstairs rubbed his arm.
Radcliffe nodded. “Yes.”
Frankel sat back, acting stunned. “My goodness. That must be something to see. And animals? She can control them too?” She stared at Radcliffe expectantly.
Radcliffe shook his head. “No.”
This time, even Shremp could tell her surprise was genuine. “She can’t control animals?”
Radcliffe shook his head, his voice quiet. Shremp leaned forward to hear him better. “No. She doesn’t control them. She only communicates with them.”
Frankel frowned. “So why do they do what she asks?”
Radcliffe looked up. “Because they want to.”
“Huh. I did not know that.” Frankel sat back in her chair, her hand at her chin. “And the cats, are they normal leopards?”
Radcliffe didn’t look up.
Frankel leaned forward. “We know about Ruggio Labs and the experiments.”
“Then you don’t need Dr. Radcliffe’s input.” Carstairs stared daggers at Frankel.
Frankel smiled. “Dr. Carstairs, you are allowed to be here as an aid to Dr. Radcliffe. However, if you interrupt me again, I’m afraid you will have to leave.”
Carstairs nodded, but her look stayed angry.
“Now, Dr. Carstairs is right. We do know all about the cats. Honestly, I did not know something like that was possible. But it has gotten the government thinking about what else is possible. Because we know, actually the whole world knows, that Delaney McPhearson’s powers have expanded. That she now has the same powers as the Fallen, the speed, the healing, the strength.”
Radcliffe’s chair began to rattle as his shaking increased.
Frankel spoke louder to be heard over the vibrating metal. “And we know that she gained those powers through a substance called the Omni. But someone had to make it for her. Someone she trusted. Someone incredibly smart. We think that someone is you.”
She stared at the man.
“I didn’t hear a question in there,” Carstairs said.
Frankel smiled. “True. There was no question. So here it is: Di
d you make the substance known as the Omni for Delaney McPhearson?”
Radcliffe shook his head, beginning to hum.
“Is that a no, you didn’t make it or no, you refuse to answer?”
Carstairs leaned closer to him. “Dom? Are you all right?”
Frankel stood up, pulling a slim plastic case about the size of a pencil case from her jacket pocket. She opened it and pulled out a syringe. “Dr. Radcliffe, you are not cooperating.”
Carstairs leapt to her feet, placing herself in front of Radcliffe, who now sat rocking back and forth. “What are you doing? What is that? I will not allow you to inject him with anything.”
Frankel’s voice was ice-cold. “You are obstructing my interrogation, Doctor. Hennessey.”
Hennessey sprang from the wall, grabbing the doctor’s jacket. Carstairs reached up, grabbing the fist that held her and twisted it. Hennessey yelled, his knees buckling. Carstairs twisted his arm, slamming the large agent’s head into the table.
“Don’t touch me,” she growled. Then she went still before she started to shake.
Shremp gasped. What the? That’s when he noticed the small device in Frankel’s hand and the wires extending from it to Carstairs. A Taser. Hennessey leaped to his feet, this time slamming Carstairs’s face into the table and holding her there.
Radcliffe had fallen off his chair and was scurrying away. Frankel walked around the other side of the table toward him, reminding him of a predator going after its prey. “Look at me, Dr. Radcliffe. Look at me!”
Radcliffe kept shaking, but his gaze darted to her before returning to Carstairs. “Good. Now you need to listen. The U.S. government has sent me to retrieve the formula for the Omni, and I will do my duty, by whatever means are necessary.”
Hennessey pushed his forearm against Carstairs’s neck. She grunted, gritting her teeth.
“L-let her go,” Radcliffe begged.
“Well, that’s up to you. I will let her go as soon as you tell me the formula.”
Radcliffe shook his head.
“Don’t tell them, Dom,” Carstairs spit out. Hennessey slammed a huge fist into her kidneys. She cried out.
