Discovered

by E. D. Brady

  “They were trying to flush us out,” Ben added with disgust. “We held on to each other, grabbed Issy and made our way blindly to the underground tunnel.”

  “The dining room was in flames when we pulled up,” Jay informed them. “They must have hit every angle of the house simultaneously, pumping as much crap into the house as possible for optimum effect.”

  “They’re upping their game,” Ben said. “It’s only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt.”

  “I know,” Jay replied.

  “Why don’t you just call the police?” Layla questioned.

  “I can’t,” Jay said. “It’s a little more complicated than that.”

  “I think it’s time you told me what you’re working on,” Layla said pointedly. “I think I have the right to know what I’ve gotten into.”

  Jay pushed a hard breath through pursed lips and ran his fingers through his hair. He nodded reluctantly. “Understand, Layla, this is something so advanced that it could have negative repercussions if the news got out.”

  Layla narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Tell me,” she demanded.

  “We’re working on a serum that could wipe out most deceases and possibly even prolong the average human life by quite a few years,” he said, staring into her eyes to gauge her reaction.

  “Really?” she questioned, shock registering on her face. “How is that a bad thing?”

  “We are not the only pharmaceutical company in the world, not by a long shot,” Jay replied. “There are many others. If this news got out, many of those companies’ stocks would plummet instantly. And then there are the hundreds of insurance companies, hospitals, and heaven knows what other organizations tied to the health-care business that would take a direct hit financially. This could cause a stock market crash of major proportions, making the 1929 crash look mild by comparison. Many people have their retirement funds tied to these various stocks. The news could wipe billions out of the stock market in less than a day. Then that would trickle down to other organizations. People are not so keen to buy the latest flat screens when they’ve just witnessed their retirement fund evaporate. Not to mention the many jobs that would be lost. If I was to go to the police, a thorough investigation would be conducted, and sooner or later, the truth of what we’re working on would be uncovered.”

  “Then why are you pursuing this?” she questioned, seeing the logic in keeping it quiet.

  “It’s a question of what’s ethical, I suppose,” Jay replied. “While people have the right to live a long and healthy life, I’m not so sure that they should under dire circumstances. What good is being decease free if you’re jobless and poor? I guess we figured that we’d just complete the research then sit on it until we found a way to incorporate it into the current financial market without causing a catastrophic situation. If no such time arises, then no one would be the wiser. However, it seems that the secret may have leaked out.”

  “It makes sense,” Layla agreed. “But if we can’t involve the police then what should we do?” she questioned.

  “We’ll stay here for the night at the very least,” Jay responded. “There is no way possible for anyone to get in here. Then we’ll just keep doing what we have been doing. We’ll try to stay one step ahead of this group for the time being.”

  “If only we knew who was behind this,” Joey moaned. “We have nothing.”

  Suddenly, something dawned on Layla. “Didn’t you say that if you got some DNA, you would be able to analyze it here and more than likely come up with an identification?”

  “Yeah, that’s true, but we’ve been unsuccessful in getting anything off them,” Issy stated.

  “I saw one of them throw down a cigarette butt,” Layla said, a smile forming on her face.

  “Seriously?” Jay asked.

  “Yeah, did you see that one that was standing in front of the house?” she pushed.

  “The guy that was halfway down the driveway?”

  “Yes,” she nodded. “He flicked a cigarette. I noticed because he yelled something to the others as we approached.”

  Jay looked over at Joey. “Do you think you could get something off that?”

  “Are you kidding me?” Joey barked. “I could get everything off that.”

  “We’ll go back to the house in the morning,” Jay said.

  “Jay, we can’t leave it that long,” Ben warned. “By now, the fire department will be all over the place. By tomorrow, it will be a crime scene, and every little thing will be snatched up by the cops.”

  “You think we should go now?” Jay questioned.

  “I don’t think we have a choice if we’re ever going to know who these people are,” Ben said.

  “Alright,” Jay agreed, nodding. “You, Joey and I will go now.” He turned to Layla. “You stay here with Issy. We won’t be long.” He walked over to the doorway that he and Layla had entered through and placed his thumb against the security scanner.

  When the boys had left, Issy sat on the couch next to Layla. “Are you alright?” she asked.

  Layla nodded, not bothering to divulge how strange it all seemed to her. “I just wish I had something to change into.”

  “I’ve got a bunch of scrubs in a locker right outside the door,” Issy stated. “I’ll go get you a pair.” She left the room but returned moments later with a set of light-blue scrubs and a pair of brown crocs. “Not exactly glamorous, but you’ll be comfortable,” she said, handing the clothes to Layla.

  “No, this is great,” Layla replied. She slipped out of the dress and threw on the scrubs quickly. “Much better,” she said, sitting back on the couch. She placed her head on the armrest.

  Issy took a fleece blanket that rested over the back of the couch and arranged it around Layla. “Here,” she said, “stretch out there. You must be exhausted, not to mention a bit overwhelmed.”

  “Thank you,” Layla responded. “You’re too good to me.” She knew that Issy replied, but was almost asleep, and the words didn’t quite register.

  Chapter 19

  When Layla opened her eyes, she felt much too rested for just a catnap. She sat up quickly, trying to take in the unfamiliar surroundings and saw Jay sitting at the far end of the couch, staring in her direction. “How long was I asleep?” she questioned.

  “All night,” he replied, gazing sadly in her direction. “It’s after ten o’clock in the morning.”

  She rubbed sleep from her eyes and yawned. “Did you get the cigarette?” she asked.

  “Thankfully, yes,” Jay answered. “The police were already there when we arrived, so of course we had to pretend that we had just arrived home and had no idea what happened. I was being questioned by the police when Joey purposely dropped his wallet next to the cigarette butt and bent down to pick both up unnoticed. Luckily, the police didn’t see him picking up the butt with a plastic baggy attached to his hand.”

  “What happens now?” Layla questioned.

  “I’m not sure if he’s up yet, but Joey was going to run the diagnostics after he’d slept for a while,” Jay answered. “I wish Issy had brought you to a room to sleep,” he added.

  “There are rooms down here?”

  “A couple, and nothing very fancy. We spend the night if we’re working late sometimes.”

  “This was comfortable enough,” Layla said. “In fact, it’s the best sleep I’ve had in days. Did you sleep?”

  Jay shook his head. “I came here to see if you were alright and decided to stay with you in case you woke up and didn’t know where you were. I didn’t want you stumbling in the dark looking for a way out of here or anything.”

  Layla suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that Jay had watched her sleep all night. “So you just sat here?” she pushed.

  “My priority is to make sure that you’re safe,” he replied.

  “Your priority is to find out who’s after you and to do something to end it,” she argued.

  “True, but none of that seems important anymore if
you’re not with me,” he answered shyly. “Are you hungry?” he asked, suddenly shaking his head as if he was debating whether or not to say something else on the subject of her whereabouts.

  “Yes,” she said. “A little.”

  “Okay, then, let’s get you something to eat.”

  They walked out of the door that Issy, Ben and Joey had entered the room through the previous night, into a long, dark-gray hallway with lockers on one side and four doors on the other. It was a dingy looking place that Layla assumed was similar to a morgue in a hospital.

  Jay pushed open the furthest door, next to a freight elevator, and gestured for Layla to enter before him. The inside of the room looked like a typical cafeteria with four small plastic tables and a few vending machines up against the far wall. Issy, Ben and Joey sat around one of the tables, eating food from Styrofoam cartons.

  “What would you like?” Jay asked, walking over to one of the vending machines.

  Layla sat down with the others and shrugged her shoulders.

  “The French toast is good,” Ben said.

  “Is that fresh?” she questioned, wondering how a hot breakfast could possibly come out of one of the machines.

  “The food is put in there every morning at around eight o’clock,” Ben explained. “The vending machine is equipped with special heaters. Whatever is not eaten by eleven is taken out and brought to the closest homeless shelter, which is a good thing since we’re hardly ever here.”

  “Amazing,” Layla said in wonder. “I’ll have the French toast then, I guess.”

  Jay placed the styrofoam package in front of her. “So what’s the plan?” she asked, ripping open the plastic wrap that packaged a disposable knife and fork.

  “Coffee?” Jay called over.

  “Yes, please,” Layla replied.

  “We’re going to head up to the lab in a little while to see if we can get a face behind the DNA on the cigarette butt,” Joey explained.

  “How does that work?” she pushed.

  “It’s pretty simple,” he answered. “I’ll get the DNA off the butt then run it through a special computer I have that has listings of many DNA samples. If we’re lucky, we should have a picture with complete personal details in no time.”

  “Why am I thinking that’s illegal?” Layla said, smirking in Joey’s direction. “Sounds like some kind of FBI technology or something else that you probably shouldn’t have access to.”

  “We have DNA samples of every employee we have or have ever had,” Joey explained. “And we have them with their complete consent.”

  “But what if this person has never worked here?” she asked.

  “Ah, well, see, that’s where I might just bend the rules slightly,” Joey answered smugly. “You don’t really want to know the full details, do you?”

  Layla shook her head. “Nope, as a matter of fact, I don’t,” she responded, tucking into her breakfast.

  “How did you sleep?” Issy questioned.

  “Good,” Layla replied.

  “You couldn’t bring her to one of the rooms?” Jay asked in an annoyed voice.

  “She was asleep in seconds,” Issy answered defensively.

  “Leave her alone,” Layla butted in. “I was alright where I was.”

  Issy stuck her tongue out at Jay and sneered.

  When she was finished eating, Issy escorted Layla to a bathroom where she could clean up, and handed her a fresh pair of scrubs. It was a basic looking shower, but did the trick, and the shampoo and conditioner were to die for. Layla pulled her wet hair into a ponytail and walked out of the tiny room to meet the other’s back in the cafeteria. She flattened down the front of the top and frowned.

  “You look beautiful,” Jay said.

  “Yeah, right,” Layla replied, rolling her eyes.

  “Think what you want,” Jay stated. “But as far as I’m concerned, you could wear a black hefty garbage bag and still be the most beautiful girl in the world.”

  Layla smiled at him and mouthed a silent ‘thank you’.

  Issy glared at Jay with eyes wide. “Wow, Jay, I never figured you for the romantic type before,” she said.

  “I’ve taught him well,” Ben piped in, blowing on his nails and then rubbing them on his shirt in a smug gesture.

  “That was me being honest, not romantic,” Jay claimed. “Would you disagree?”

  Issy eyed Layla from head to toe. “Not at all, she’s lovely. But I’ve been telling you that all along.”

  Layla put up both hands. “Okay, that’s enough. While I’m flattered and all, I think there’s more pressing things to consider rather than how cute I look in an oversized pair of scrubs.”

  Joey laughed. “Layla’s right. We should head upstairs now.”

  They took the freight elevator up one flight into a marbled, brightly lit, white corridor. “This is lovely,” Layla commented, walking past rows and rows of large windows that looked into clean rooms with many modern-looking machines and computers. “So this is what Vallen Enterprises looks like. I was beginning to have my doubts judging by the floor we just left.”

  “Actually, this isn’t technically part of the main corporation,” Joey explained. “Very few of our employees ever see this part of the complex. These are our own personal labs. We’re still beneath ground level.”

  “So only you four ever come down here?” she assumed.

  “Basically,” Ben said, nodding, “apart from the occasional cleaner or electrician or whatnot. And those people are chosen very carefully to ensure that the public never finds out what we’re working on down here.”

  “How do you manage that?” she asked.

  “We choose laborers who do their job well but have very little interest or knowledge in science. And we make sure that none are ever associated with our regular employees.”

  “Let me guess,” Layla said. “Joey’s computer files.”

  “Yep,” Joey replied, winking at her. He pushed open the door to one of the rooms and marched in ahead of the others.

  “How long will this take?” Layla questioned quietly, as though it was somehow not polite to speak at a normal volume inside the lab.

  “If all goes well,” Joey shouted over, making her assumption seem silly, “less than ten minutes.”

  Joey slipped on a pair of latex gloves and placed a small glass slide, two inches by four inches, on the middle of the far counter in front of a telescope. Layla watched with fascination as he took the baggy out of his pocket and turned it inside out so that the cigarette butt slid effortlessly onto the clean marble table. He dabbed a cotton swab in some kind of fluid and wiped it over the tip of the butt, then rubbed it against the slide. Seeming satisfied with his progress so far, he took another piece of glass and placed it over the original, then slid the little package into a slot in the microscope. Looking through the eyepiece of the telescope, he nodded. “Look’s good,” he said aloud. He slid the glass back out and carried it over to a large, white computer at the far end of the room. Once again, he slid the glass into a slot in the computer that had a small round nozzle on top. Layla understood that this was some kind of camera.

  Joey punched a few keys on the computer, bringing it to life, then typed frantically at the keyboards. When a bright light emanated from the little nozzle above the slide, he turned his back to the computer and folded his arms over his chest. “Now we wait,” he said.

  They stood around in silence while the computer did its thing.

  Within less than two minutes, a bleep from the computer had them all moving forward.

  “So our cancer courting friend is none other than Robert Schroder of Jackson Heights, Queens,” Joey stated, reading from the screen.

  Layla looked over Joey’s shoulder and gasped, putting her hand over her mouth.

  “What?” Ben asked, looking suspiciously in her direction.

  “I know him,” she stated. “He is an associate of James.”

  “Are you sure it’s the same Robert?” Jay quest
ioned.

  “I’m positive,” Layla replied, dumbstruck.

  The other four looked around each other, then Ben nodded slightly in Jay’s direction.

  Jay let out a loud sigh. “Layla, there’s something I have to tell you,” he said, looking suddenly guilty.

  “What?” she demanded, feeling dread well up.

  Jay rubbed his palm against his forehead. “I know James,” he said. “It’s the reason I’ve never wanted to go to your house.”

  “How?” she demanded.

  “James used to work here some years back,” he admitted. “I avoided him because he would have known who I was in a heartbeat.”

  Layla quickly replayed every scene in her mind where James was obsessed with the story of Arthur Vallen. And then the words she’d heard him say the day she overheard him and Robert talking in the kitchen, “If I got my hands on Orton, I could use him as a bargaining chip.” She turned to Ben. “Is your last name Orton?” she questioned.

  Ben bit on his lip and nodded with a strange, unreadable expression on his face.

  “Is James behind this?” she asked, turning to Jay. “Is James one of those masked men?”

  Jay shrugged his shoulders. “I have no way of knowing for sure, but I really don’t think so?”

  “Did James know what you were working on here?” she pushed.

  “James is one of the very few people who figured out the basic concept behind our research,” Ben said. “But if I had to wager a guess, I would say that while he may have been behind the initial attempt to grab Jay, I don’t think he’s still in control.”

  “What do you mean?” Layla demanded.

  “It’s possible that James originally hired those four men to find out where Jay was keeping the research, so to speak, but once they found out what it was that James was after, they may have decided to take things into their own hands for their personal gain. Remember, James was in North Carolina when the first attempt to snatch Jay occurred. I think it’s more than likely that they were just supposed to trail Jay, to try to uncover what James wanted without violence.”