“I told you I hate it when you call me Dee.”
“What can I say? I have bad manners. My father seems to think I was born in a barn.”
DeeAnn reached down and depressed a button on the front of her vest, muting the microphone. “I suppose it just took a little time for me to come around. But I get it. This isn’t about us. Ali told me about what you guys found, and she’s right, there has to be a link to Dexter.”
“Let’s hope so. And let’s also hope he’s easy to find.”
She watched pensively as Caesare dropped his gaze briefly back down to Dulce and gave her a quick peck on the top of her head.
“Well, even if he is hard to find, he won’t be hard to spot when we do.”
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you hear how Alves and his men came across Dexter?”
“I thought it was your researcher friend that found him.”
“It was. But it was how they spotted him that made them realize there was something unique about Dexter. It was at a poacher’s camp. They’d caught dozens of capuchins and were packing them in cages, getting ready to ship them to the coast. Capuchins fetch a high premium on the black market.”
Caesare continued listening.
“You see, Dexter wasn’t caught with the others. He was caught after the fact when they spotted him in the darkness trying to get the ropes securing the cages undone. And apparently he’d almost succeeded.”
“What?”
DeeAnn caught herself smiling. “That’s when they knew.”
“He was trying to spring the others?”
“Evidently. Don’t get me wrong, primates are smart, but not like that. This monkey is damn smart, which is what I meant when I said you’d notice him when you saw him. There’s something different in his eyes. Something almost eerie.”
“How is it eerie?”
“More like he’s watching you. Even more than you feel it with Dulce.”
“That should help. And hopefully we’ll have a little luck on our side.”
DeeAnn grinned and reached out for Dulce. “Let’s hope. Alves was lucky to find Dexter, twice. I helped him the second time, but I’m sure this time is going to be much harder. It isn’t just his smarts that make him special. It’s his age. He’s older than he’s supposed to be, a lot older, which has only added to his intelligence.”
Caesare watched DeeAnn, noting a momentary change in her eyes. “What is it?”
She blinked and looked back at him. “I’ve been thinking. It’s the DNA we’re after here…but we also need to find Dexter for a very different reason too.”
“And what is that?”
After a quiet moment, she continued with a question. “Do you know who Lucy is?”
Caesare thought about it and grinned. “Like from Peanuts?”
“I mean Lucy as in the nickname for Australopithecus. The skeleton found in Ethiopia in the 70's.”
“I’ve heard of it.”
“Lucy is the skeleton of the first bipedal, small-brained hominin that lived about three million years ago. The first one found with a small brain like primates but one that walks like us. It’s pretty well accepted now, at least genetically speaking, but the fact is that it’s still technically a hypothesis. Of course, a lot of scientific hypotheses were like that; theories that weren’t proven correct until years later. Sometimes decades.” She took a deep breath. “But here’s the thing. To many, Lucy is the missing link. The link in our own evolutionary path where things…changed. She represents an important threshold, a time and place where the most significant leap in human history took place. The catalyst.”
DeeAnn paused momentarily, a thoughtful look on her face. “What I’m saying is that Lucy is arguably the most important thing to have happened to us. All of us. Imagine how profound it would have been to have witnessed that incredible evolutionary moment. The single lifespan of a primate that changed everything.”
Caesare’s face was serious as he listened intently.
“Steven,” she said. “Dexter is that moment! Or at least a re-creation of it. Dexter is the modern Lucy. A primate who’s made the same leap across an evolutionary gap. We’ll never know exactly how it happened with Lucy, but we can watch it unfold with him.” She watched the expression change on Caesare’s face. “Do you see what I’m getting at? We have a chance to witness the equivalent of our evolutionary birth firsthand! It’s a scientific opportunity of almost unimaginable significance.”
Caesare was staring at her. This went way beyond anything he’d even considered. “Wow.”
DeeAnn grinned. “Wow is right. But that’s not all. It’s not just that we have the opportunity to observe this…but now we also have the technology to actually communicate with him as it’s happening!”
Caesare’s jaw suddenly dropped. If he had been surprised by her last point, he was now completely stunned. It was a moment Clay and Borger would have given anything to witness. Steve Caesare was…speechless.
DeeAnn continued staring at him while he processed it all. The moment reminded her of why, deep down, she liked him so much. Inside, beyond his gruff and boisterous exterior, Caesare was smart. Smart enough to appreciate such an earth-shattering possibility.
As they stood together in silence, the sound of voices approached from the main hallway leading out from the lab. Dulce immediately jumped from DeeAnn’s arms and ran several steps back to the glass wall. She turned and spoke excitedly but nothing could be heard with the vest’s speaker still off. A few seconds later, Juan Diaz and Lee Kenwood emerged into the warm sunlight.
Caesare turned and watched them approach. He spoke to DeeAnn in a lowered tone. “I take it that’s why Juan agreed to go back too?”
“No,” she replied. “Juan agreed to go back for a very different reason.”
24
By the time they had arrived back at the airport, the late afternoon humidity had tapered off, thanks to a heavy cloud cover crawling across the Puerto Rican sky. A strong scent of dew hung in the air, warning of approaching rain. Light drops were already forming on the taxi’s windshield as it came to a stop.
After putting the minivan into park, the taxi driver promptly pushed his door open and climbed out, sliding back the rear left side door. Caesare stepped out from the front passenger’s seat and did the same on the passenger side, allowing DeeAnn to emerge still clutching Dulce’s furry hand.
Simultaneously, Juan stepped out on the driver’s side. Each took a deep breath with the same feeling of apprehension. A sense driven home when DeeAnn felt Dulce’s grip tighten around her own hand. Apparently Dulce was feeling it too.
Neither she nor Juan spoke. Instead, they merely stood gazing at the small aircraft. Even Alison, after climbing out behind them, realized what it was. The C-12 Huron was in almost the exact same spot on the tarmac where Mateus Alves’ private jet had been just a few weeks before. A plane both DeeAnn and Juan wished they had never boarded.
“Are you okay?” she whispered.
DeeAnn fought to suppress her anxiety before managing to nod her head. “I’m fine.” She swallowed hard and then grabbed her heavy backpack, slinging it over a shoulder. She tugged Dulce’s hand reassuringly and stepped forward. Behind her, Caesare leaned inside and grabbed her large bag.
Juan Diaz wasn’t so eager. He reluctantly pulled his heavily padded duffel bag from the back of the taxi, placing it on the ground. He watched as the others approached the airplane and as Caesare climbed a short set of stairs, ducking his head inside the oval doorway. Several moments later a man emerged from the darkened interior.
Juan’s mouth dropped. If Caesare was big, the man in the doorway was enormous. So large that he had to duck down and squeeze his shoulders forward just to step through. And not only was he huge, but he also looked to be made out of pure muscle.
Behind him, two more men came through the door, descending toward the tarmac behind Caesare and the hulk. The other two were both Caesare’s height, or maybe slightly
shorter, and had strong yet slimmer builds. The one in the rear looked like he was barely out of his teens. What struck Juan immediately as he picked up his bag again and approached was that all three men exhibited an unspoken but very distinctive edge, just as Caesare did.
At the base of the metal stairs, Caesare introduced his men. The hulk was a man named Corso and shook Juan’s hand with what felt like an iron paw. The two others — Tiewater and the youngest looking SEAL, Anderson — seemed more approachable but with handshakes just as strong.
Juan watched as Corso’s gaze moved between each of them, stopping on Dulce. He studied the small gorilla in DeeAnn’s arms with a glowering expression, eventually turning back to Caesare when he spoke.
“We don’t have a lot of time. Have we missed anything?”
“We’re ready,” DeeAnn said, turning back toward Alison. She and Dulce both hugged their friend, then headed promptly up the stairs.
Tiewater smiled at Juan and reached to take his duffle bag. “Can I get that for you?”
“Thank you.” With heavy steps, Juan followed him up. The last thing he wanted to do was go back, but he had to admit, having Caesare and the other SEALs helped. If he had to go, he was glad it was with them.
At the base of the stairs, Alison remained next to Caesare. Together they watched Juan and DeeAnn disappear with the others, one by one, through the open door to the C-12’s cabin.
“They’re afraid to be going back,” she offered.
“Yes, they are.”
Alison looked up at him. “You’re not going to let anything happen to them, right?”
A smile spread over Caesare’s tanned jawline. “Not a chance.”
25
Later that evening, Alison watched from inside as the Embraer 190 touched down on the single runway of Mercedita Airport. There, it slowed and eventually turned toward the small terminal, located within the Vayas barrio. Outside, the rain was finally beginning to let up. Much like Miami, the smaller rainstorms usually moved through quickly and that evening was no exception.
Flight 667 was the last for the airport that night and most of the local employees had long since headed home. Alison was one in only a handful of people — just a few small families — waiting inside the terminal. She watched with an amused expression as two young children ran back and forth giggling in a game of tag.
Once the airliner began de-boarding, it took less than five minutes for Neely Lawton to appear through the double doors, pulling a large suitcase behind her. She was dressed in shorts and a dark blue tank top with no indication she was anything other than a tourist on vacation.
Alison smiled and closed the distance, meeting her with a warm hug. “How are you, Neely?”
“I’m okay, thanks. How about you?”
“Busy but good.” She glanced at the suitcase and then around the room. “Do you have any more bags?”
“Nope, this is it. Got everything I need.”
“Excellent. Follow me then.”
Once outside, the two walked briskly through the drizzling rain to a parking lot which appeared long overdue for repaving. Neely’s mouth curled into amusement when Alison stopped and opened the back of a white Nissan Leaf.
“Electric, eh?”
“Don’t tell me you’re surprised. An environmental girl like me?”
Neely chuckled and lifted her suitcase in. “Not surprised at all.”
Alison grinned, closing the trunk. The rain began to pick up, prompting them both to open their doors and climb in.
Inside, Alison relaxed and turned in her seat. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I guess I’m as well as can be under the circumstances. Thank you, though. To be honest, I think your call was just the distraction I needed.” She leveled her eyes at Alison. “Even if a little cryptic.”
“Sorry about that. I wasn’t in a position to say much on the phone. There’s something important I need your help with.”
Neely brushed a strand of damp hair away from her face. “What kind of work? You said it was something similar to what was aboard the Bowditch.”
“I think so.”
Neely’s voice rose with some excitement. “Where did you get it?”
“Well, that’s where things get a little…interesting. I don’t actually have anything per se. That’s what I need your help with.”
“What does that mean? You don’t have anything?”
“I don’t have an actual specimen. But I think there’s a strong relationship here.”
Alison could see the look of excitement on Neely’s face begin to fade.
“I don’t understand. If you don’t have a specimen, what exactly do you think is related?”
Alison bit her bottom lip momentarily, thinking. “I think I need to explain a few things first. To catch you up.”
“Okay.”
“It’s not a sample exactly. It’s more like…a reaction.”
“A reaction.”
“Right.”
“A reaction of what?”
“It’s a reaction to something,” Alison replied. “It’s the reaction itself that’s similar. When we were on the Bowditch, that sample you had was growing. Faster than normal, right?”
“Much faster. The growth rate was remarkable, and it had a DNA sequence we’d never seen before. But the sample was lost when we were attacked.” She then looked at Alison curiously. “Where exactly is this going?”
“Neely, when you were explaining to us what the DNA did to the plant, I believe you said it was actually regenerating.”
“That’s right.”
“Which no other plant can do.”
“Not to that extent, no.”
“Regenerating as in healing, correct?”
“It was more than just healing. The entire structure was being regenerated by cells that were lost or nearly dead.”
“Like cancer cells.”
Neely raised an eyebrow. How did Alison know that? It was a comparison she’d used on a call with Admiral Langford.
“Not exactly like cancer cells. Regeneration implies a coordinated function of cells and tissues with a goal of restoring form and function. Cancer cells don’t do that. They destroy the cells. But they can, however, live for a very long time. Some even live forever under the right conditions. What was similar in those plants wasn’t necessarily their cellular restoration but their growth rate. Those plant cells were growing almost exponentially. Faster than most cancers.”
Neely stopped to consider something. “Actually, I suppose cancer cells do have a sort of healing effect, which is the constant creation of newly infected tumors cells. So in a strange way they could be healing, but they’re healing the tumor, which in the end is trying to kill its host. The healing properties of the plants we found were much more powerful, and they were far more constructive than destructive.”
Alison nodded. “That’s what I thought. And that’s why I asked Admiral Langford for your help.” She sighed. “Okay. Now what I’m about to tell you might sound a little strange, so hear me out.”
Neely raised her eyebrows but said nothing.
“A couple weeks after I got back, a woman named Lara Santiago came to our lab. She was almost in tears. Her daughter Sofia has leukemia and asked if we could arrange to have her in for a private visit.”
“That was nice.”
“It was nothing,” Alison shrugged. “Well, maybe not nothing, but arranging for her to swim with the dolphins was worth it. This is where it gets a little strange though. Sofia came back a couple days later. And when Dee and I saw her, we were shocked.”
Neely’s eyebrows suddenly furrowed, curious. “Shocked good or shocked bad?”
“Good! Really good,” she said. “Almost…too good.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means when she came back, she was noticeably better. And stronger.”
Neely thought it over. “Well, that’s not overly unusual. Partial remissions are well-documented in cance
r patients. Short windows of mental clarity, improved dexterity, and even a sudden surge in strength are very common.” Neely frowned. “Is this related to the healing effects you were asking about? If so, then what you saw in the girl’s condition may not be what you think it is.”
Alison considered Neely’s point. The last thing she wanted was to be wrong on this. Eventually though, her head began to shake. “No, this is not a temporary remission. I’m sure of it. I’ve been doing research and this is beyond any of the similarities I’ve read about. She wasn’t just more coordinated or clearheaded. When she came in the first time, she was in a wheelchair and had to be lifted in and out of it. But when she came back, that little girl was standing.”
“Standing?”
“Standing,” Alison confirmed. “On her own.”
Neely was surprised. “Are you suggesting something happened when the girl was in the water?”
Alison absently rested a hand on her steering wheel and nodded at Neely. “I think so.”
“Like what?”
“Before I answer that I need to tell you something else. Something that may actually shock you.”
Amused, Neely gave a slight smirk. “Okay, let me have it.”
Alison took another deep breath. “You remember what happened to our boat not too far from Trinidad?”
“Yes.” Neely’s nod was slow. She hadn’t been there, but she’d heard what happened to Alison and her team. Pirates had savagely beaten both Chris and Lee before turning their attention to Alison and her colleague, Kelly. If it hadn’t been for John Clay and Steve Caesare, things would have no doubt turned out very differently.
“The reason we were out there in the first place was because of Dirk and Sally.”
“Your dolphins?”
“Yes. We were following them to a place they wanted to show us. We thought it was something nearby, like a local habitat or migration. But it wasn’t. It was much bigger.”
Neely continued listening.
“About a hundred miles east of Trinidad, we found something we’d never dreamed of. By then, we were expecting a large breeding ground with maybe a couple hundred dolphins. What we found was something else, and instead of hundreds there were thousands.”
Catalyst (Breakthrough Book 3) Page 14
