Catalyst (Breakthrough Book 3)

by Michael C. Grumley

  He explained that in the final days, those memories were all that enabled him to get out of bed in the morning. To continue on, accompanied only by desperation and the fear that he would run out of time.

  He never revealed to her that he’d been in charge of a project investigating a unique discovery deep in the jungle. One that proved to be as important as they hoped. And just as dangerous to the world as he feared. Something utterly miraculous.

  Alas, to use the discovery meant erasing every link or reference to it that he could, including himself to her. It was why he sought out Dr. Lee and secretly moved Li Na from her hospital in Beijing. It was why he destroyed much of the information and falsified the rest. And ultimately, why he took his own life, returning to the eternal arms of Li Na’s mother. He died just for the hope that his precious daughter might live.

  Some Chinese fathers were bound by honor. Others were bound by love.

  Finally, he told her to remember how much they both loved her, what an amazing young woman she was, and that one day she would change the world. The greatest honor of his life had been as her father, and he would be grateful for eternity for that distinction.

  Li Na kept her head against the headboard and slowly opened her eyes. “I don’t want to live,” she said, shaking her head. “Not without either of them.”

  Lee didn’t answer.

  She brushed several strands of wet hair out of her face and stared at Lee. Parents were the only true anchors a child had to the Earth. And now…now she was cast adrift. What did anything even matter now?

  As if reading her mind, Dr. Lee cleared his voice. “This might be difficult for you to hear, but your father was proud to do what he did.”

  She laid a hand back over one of her eyes. “I know.”

  “I learned something, Li Na, when my father died several years ago. He was very old, but I was happy to spend time with him before he passed. We talked for hours, and I told him the most important thing to me, as his child, was to know that he was proud of me.”

  She lowered her hand and blinked. “I know he was proud of me.”

  “Do you know what my father told me?”

  She shook her head.

  “He told me that the most important thing to him, as my father, was to see me live.” Lee thought for a moment before his eyes returned to hers. “I’ve been a doctor for many years. I’ve seen a lot. And still it’s hard to explain. Understand, Li Na, that when a man loses a spouse, it destroys his heart. But when a father loses a child it destroys his soul.”

  Across the bed, her bottom lip began to tremble.

  “I can promise you, there was nothing more important to him than saving your life.”

  She didn’t speak again for several minutes. Finally she asked, “What exactly did he do?”

  Dr. Lee shook his head. “I have no idea.” When she looked puzzled, he continued. “He wouldn’t tell me. He said it would only make things more dangerous. That no matter how thorough he was, someone would still find out what he had done. Of that he was sure. The discovery was so important to the government that they would never give up.”

  “I can’t stay here, can I?”

  Lee was hesitant but shook his head. “Not for long.”

  “How long?”

  “That depends on you. On when you’re ready. I personally think you have a lot more healing to do, but then again, I don’t know the things that your father did.”

  “Neither of us does.”

  Lee’s lip curled slightly. “That’s true.”

  The room fell quiet before Lee promptly stood up.

  “I have some things for you. From your father.” He left the room and returned a few minutes later. In one hand was a soft leather satchel. In the other was a square case made of metal. Lee put them both on the bed within reach of her good hand.

  “Take your time. These were left for you and they have not been opened.” He walked to the door where he turned back to her. “Don’t try to figure everything out today. We have time, and I’ll help you.”

  Li Na watched him pull the old wooden door closed behind him. She peered down curiously at the two items resting on her bed and picked up the leather satchel first. She began to open it but paused. Her emotions might not be ready for what was inside.

  She set it back down and instead pulled the metal case closer. After studying it, she tried one of the clasps which promptly sprung open. She followed with the second, which opened just as easily.

  Slowly, Li Na lifted the cold top, pushing it up and away. The contents were surprising given the bulkiness of the case’s exterior. Inside were three large vials fitted neatly into a hard interior gel.

  One was filled with a frozen, pinkish material. The other two were empty.

  39

  In South America, just over the Peruvian border, another wind shear hit the C-12 Huron hard, sending everyone in the cabin sideways and clinging desperately to the arms of their seats.

  They were less than fifty miles from Iquitos and running on fumes. The pilots fought to keep the plane’s altitude level as the pounding rain reduced their visibility to what was directly in front of them. They were now fighting for a controlled descent.

  Communication from the small airport in Iquitos was now constant, feeding the pilots information from the ground and waiting for visual contact.

  In the cabin, DeeAnn was desperately trying to maintain a grip on Dulce’s hand, which was now covered in sweat. She hadn’t said a word in the last thirty minutes. Instead, her young hazel eyes were wide with fear, squeezing DeeAnn with one hand and her chair with the other.

  “It’s okay, Dulce. We’re okay.” DeeAnn kept talking loudly through the speaker on her chest, trying to calm her. She lowered her face, trying to get the small gorilla to look at her. Unsuccessful, she spoke over the noise to Caesare. “How much longer?!”

  “Ten minutes!”

  Caesare watched DeeAnn roll her eyes and turn back to Dulce, who he realized was obviously having trouble. But he was focused on something far more critical –– the sound of the engines outside, or more specifically the sound of sputtering. The fearful sound that would tell him the last of their fuel was gone. As long as he could hear their high-pitched whine, they still had a chance. But if they lost the engines at this distance, even a decent glide ratio wouldn’t get them far enough. And now, deep over the rainforest, there were no open areas for an emergency landing. It was the runway at Iquitos or nothing.

  Another sudden plunge tested their seatbelts, and a loud whimper was heard from Dulce. Behind DeeAnn, Juan had both eyes closed. If they crashed, he didn’t want to see it coming.

  Caesare tuned out the voices of the two pilots in the cockpit and pressed to find the engines again amongst the noise. But instead he heard the sound he had been dreading…a sputtering engine. The left fuel tank was now empty.

  The voices of the pilots turned to shouts as they tried to restart the engine. No dice. They redirected everything to the right side, fighting even harder to keep the craft level.

  Caesare felt the nervousness and fear coursing through his veins. He tried to concentrate as if to will the second engine to keep turning. He couldn’t let everyone die.

  He checked his watch again…eight minutes.

  40

  The right engine began to sputter. Just twelve seconds before their forceful impact onto the Iquitos runway.

  The sudden reverse thrust of the right engine caused everyone to lurch forward. But the uneven reversal resulted in the aircraft veering hard to the right. Suddenly they were off the wet runway, careening into a field of tall wet grass and mud.

  The soggy ground grabbed the wheels instantly and pitched the Huron sideways, causing its left wheel to buckle and its struts to smash into the black asphalt. A shower of sparks erupted under the plane as the struts dug into the asphalt, continuing over the edge and into the mud.

  With a thunderous shaking, the plane slowed and its large nose crashed into the ground, plowing
to a violent stop.

  Caesare was instantly on his feet and across the aisle, pushing DeeAnn and then Dulce back in their seats, checking for injuries. Both stared back at him, alive but in shock.

  “Is anyone hurt?” He unbuckled their belts and gently searched DeeAnn first. She shook her head and he turned to Dulce, who immediately leaped into his arms, soaking wet and clinging as tightly as she could.

  No like bird.

  With Tiewater already pulling Juan from the seat behind them, Caesare could only laugh.

  The large wooden door burst open and Wil Borger stuck his head into the conference room, interrupting Langford, who was seated with several other men.

  “Sir! Steve Caesare and the others are on the ground in Iquitos!”

  Langford took a huge breath and leaned back in his chair. “Thank God. Any injuries?”

  “None, sir. Everyone is fine.”

  Langford looked across the table with relief. Secretary of Defense, Merl Miller, smiled. “That was damn close.”

  All of them broke into laughter and Langford slapped the table. He then turned to Borger. “You tell him if he does that again, I’ll court-martial him.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  Langford turned to Douglas Bartman, the Secretary of State, sitting across the table and to his right. The man was smiling under a head of dark brown hair. “The Peruvian government assured us they will keep the incident quiet. And it’s a hell of a lot easier to maintain our cover of a humanitarian mission now without casualties.”

  “Any cooperation from Guyana yet?”

  “No. Not from any of them yet.”

  “What about Brazil?”

  Bartman frowned. “Brazil has severed all communications with us. As has Venezuela.”

  “Well, Venezuela isn’t a surprise.” Miller shrugged.

  “Agreed. Brazil is surprising though. Then again, their Union is coming apart at the seams so we don’t know what the hell is going on in there.”

  “Or,” Langford replied, “it could mean they know more about our involvement than we think.”

  “You think they know why the Bowditch was sunk?”

  “They might.” Langford turned to Borger, still at the door. “Keep us posted, Wil, and provide whatever help you can to Caesare’s team. We’ll work on things from here. If you find any indication that someone knows what we’re up to, tell me immediately.”

  “Yes, sir.” Borger ducked back out and closed the door.

  Langford returned to Miller. “You were saying?”

  “We have three full ranger teams ready to go in if Caesare’s team fails. There will be no secrecy at that point, just a fight to take the primate back from the Brazilians, assuming they find it first. We’ll get it, I can promise you that. But it will be messy, both militarily and politically.”

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  Across the table, Bartman shrugged. “Your man Caesare is not only outmanned but taking in two civilians and an ape. I’m betting we’re gonna need those Rangers.”

  Langford’s phone rang and he leaned forward to fish it out of his pocket while replying to Bartman. “You might be surprised.”

  He answered his phone. “Langford.”

  “Admiral Langford? This is Alison Shaw.”

  Langford looked around the table with a mild look of surprise. “Ms. Shaw. What can I do for you? I trust Officer Lawton has arrived.”

  “Yes, she has,” Alison answered. “She’s with me on this call. We have some important information.”

  “Okay. I’m listening.”

  On the other end, Neely leaned closer to the phone. “Admiral, we think we may have a lead on another biological source.”

  “What kind of source?”

  “Plants, sir. With similar characteristics to those in Guyana.”

  Langford’s expression froze. “Repeat that, please.”

  “We may have another source, sir. Like the others. But in a different location.”

  Langford stood up out of his chair and stared at the other men in front of him. “What do you need?”

  Leaning onto her desk, Alison glanced at Neely. “Funny you should ask, Admiral.”

  In a pressed white button-down shirt, Captain Emerson was standing quietly aboard the U.S.S. Pathfinder’s bridge, reviewing a report on a thin computer tablet. He calmly flicked his finger, scrolling the screen, and continued reading even after he was interrupted by his communications officer.

  “Captain?”

  “Yes,” Emerson answered without looking up.

  “Sir, I have an urgent message for you.”

  “From who?”

  “From the Pentagon, sir.”

  Emerson stopped reading and looked up. The officer rose from his seat and handed the captain a folded piece of paper. Emerson lowered the tablet and took the paper, flipping it open with one hand.

  He read the short message and blinked at the white paper. He read it a second time, more slowly.

  “You have got to be joking.”

  41

  “Hello, Sally.”

  Hello Alison. Sally’s eyes moved to Neely. Hello friend.

  Neely smiled. “Hi, Sally.”

  “When will Dirk be back?”

  Dirk back tomorrow.

  “Hmm,” Alison paused, wondering how on Earth she knew that. “Sally, we’d like to ask you some questions.”

  Yes. Sally answered, thrusting her tail and gliding in toward the edge of the tank. We talk.

  “Sally, we’d like to take you and Dirk back to the place you showed us. The beautiful. Will you come with us?”

  Yes. We go happy.

  “But we need to go quickly. On the metal. Like the first time.”

  Okay.

  Alison opened her mouth to speak again but stopped. She waited several seconds for Sally to say something else, but there was only silence. She half expected Sally to ask why they were going back, but she didn’t. Alison glanced briefly at Neely as if to say, that was easy.

  She then turned back to the tank. “Sally, you told me that dolphins remember a lot. Like a history.” Before she could continue, IMIS emitted a loud sound from the computer screen. It didn’t have a translation word for “history.”

  “Do you remember telling me that?”

  Yes Alison.

  “You also told me you were happy for us to talk again.”

  Very happy Alison. You happy too.

  “Yes, I am very happy. Just like you. But this is the first time we remember talking to dolphins. With the help of our metal. Do you remember talking to us?”

  Yes. We talk Alison. Far ago. You no remember.

  “No. We don’t. How do you remember?”

  Heads.

  Alison turned to explain to Neely, who was still wearing an expression of mild amazement. “Heads means their elders. We met some near Trinidad. From what we can gather, their lineage resembles some of the early cultural histories of humans. Passing down history and knowledge through verbal communications.”

  “Fascinating.”

  “It really is. It suggests a certain evolutionary commonality across species. Chris thinks it’s where instinct leaves off and cognition begins.”

  Neely nodded. “It would explain an awful lot.”

  “I agree.” Alison continued. “Sally, do you know how long ago humans and dolphins talked?”

  No. Heads know.

  “Do you think we can ask them?”

  Yes. Them very talk. Heads very happy for Dirk and Sally.

  “Your elders are happy for you?”

  Yes.

  “Why are your heads happy for you?”

  This time, Alison could have sworn Sally smiled. Alison. Humans happy you and Chris make talk.

  She nodded. “Yes, they are. Chris and I are the first.”

  Dirk and Sally first two. A moment later IMIS changed the word “two” to “too.”

  Alison stood motionless, staring at Sally through the glass after h
er words reverberated over the computer’s speaker. She was overcome by a revelation followed by an odd feeling of embarrassment. She suddenly realized how one-dimensional her thinking had been this whole time.

  She should have been looking at the tank’s glass as a mirror.

  Alison, Chris, and Lee had garnered a small amount of notoriety for being the very first and only humans to break the language barrier. What she had never considered until now was that it was exactly the same for Dirk and Sally. To their own culture, they were the ones who broke through to mankind. As excited as Alison was, her dolphin friends were clearly just as excited.

  Alison pushed her office door open with her shoulder and stepped inside, carrying two cups of coffee. She placed one on the desk in front of Neely before stepping back and sitting in a second chair.

  Neely took a sip and watched her with a bemused grin. “Quite a day, huh?”

  “God, you can say that again.”

  “How are you feeling?”

  Alison almost laughed. “Elated. Shocked. Exhausted.”

  “Amazed.”

  “That too. And maybe a little obtuse.”

  “That was quite a conversation to witness. I’m guessing you had no idea that was coming.”

  Alison shook her head. “No. But talk about big!”

  “I would say so.”

  “There are so many implications to all of this –– biology, evolution, anthropology. The things we’re learning by finally being able to communicate with another true sentient being are staggering.”

  Neely sipped her coffee again. “They certainly are.”

  At that, Alison paused to study her colleague. “Given what we just learned, you seem a tad calm.”