Sato took his Micro-Uzi out by the barrel, and held it in front of him with the handle pointed downwards.
“Put it gently on the ground and step away from it.” Fox kept his Sig on the imposter, as he did as he was told. Sure, it would’ve been simpler for him to toss the Micro-Uzi to his feet, but the impact on the ground would cause the weapon to fire uncontrollably.
As Sato backed away, Fox walked forward and picked up the weapon. He then holstered his Sig, keeping the Micro-Uzi aimed at him. “Get against the car and spread your arms and legs.” Sato obeyed and Fox frisked him. There was nothing much but the car keys and a money clip with a few bills. He backed off, told Sato to turn around, and then tossed him the keys. “Get behind the wheel. We’re going for a ride.”
Chapter 26
Parris jumped out of her slumber, only to find she was held in place by metal clamps. She tried to look around, but her head was held in place also, leaving her to stare at a plain, white wall. She knew where she was. The featureless white walls and the strong lemon-scented cleaner the janitors used were common throughout the sub-basements of Hexagon. And she was in the chair.
The door swung open and a blonde woman entered, followed by Hashimoto. She was much taller than Hashimoto, who only came up to her shoulder. The fact that she was the first to enter the room, gave Parris the impression that she was a major player in what was going on. Her complete disregard for even holding open the door for Hashimoto even hinted that she was an authoritative figure. The woman held a metal box similar to the one used earlier when Parris had experimented on both Dewan and Eva.
Hashimoto walked up to Parris. “I see you’ve rested well.”
“You had me zapped, what do you expect?”
“For that I must apologize. The guards tend to go overboard at times, I’m sure you understand. You might find this hard to believe, but we’re actually here to help you.”
“Help me?” Parris rolled her eyes. “Now that’s news.”
The blonde woman placed the metal box on the table and turned to Parris. “You could use the help.”
“Why’s that?” Parris looked at her. “And who are you supposed to be?”
“I’m Dr. Tabitha Marx, Dr. Parris. Assuming that’s your real name, of course.”
“It is, Dr. Marx. Assuming that you’ve actually earned your doctorate, of course.”
Marx crossed her arms and leaned against the edge of the table. “Drop the pleasantries. You’re probably thinking that somehow some form of outside help will arrive.”
“Outside help?” asked Parris. “Why would I be expecting help from the outside? I’m an employee of Hexagon Pharmaceuticals. There’s been a big misunderstanding.”
“Really? Because it so happens that our guards found two dead bodies. Two men were shot to death. Are you sure you wouldn’t happen to know why they tried to access Hexagon’s security? Not to mention why you were caught in a restricted area?” Marx leaned so close to Parris’s ear that she felt her breath tickle the surface of her skin.
“We know of the files you’ve accessed. So drop the act.”
Marx’s last words went through one ear and out the next. Dobbs and Levickis were dead and the thought of it caused tightness in the back of her throat. “What?”
Marx backed away from her. “Your accomplices, I presume.”
“You had them killed?”
“Actually, we didn’t,” said Hashimoto. “We both have a common enemy. And they were after the same thing you were.”
Marx crossed her arms again. “That’s why you’re here, because you’re going to help us stop them.”
“By turning me into one of your brainwashed slaves?” Parris snapped. “Go ahead. Just make sure you stand close enough so that I can do to you what Dewan did to me.”
Hashimoto raised an eyebrow and smiled. “My, my, what a temper.”
“Indeed.” Dr. Marx walked to the table. “We still don’t know why Dewan reacted the way he did. We were hoping you’d be able to shed some light on that, since you were the last person in contact with him.”
Parris glanced at Marx. “If you believe that, then what’s your guarantee that once you begin the procedure on me that I won’t do it to myself to escape?”
“Please. You’re completely strapped in. Even if, by some miracle, you were to break free, you wouldn’t be able to do it quick enough before the guards came in and subdued you.” Marx slid the metal box closer to her and opened it. She took out a syringe with its hypodermic needle and cap.
Parris wasn’t planning on being injected by anyone today. She kept forcing the clamps in the hope that they might loosen, but it was pointless.
Marx paused and chuckled, as she stared at Parris. “Go ahead. You’ll only tire yourself out and be easier to control.”
Parris continued to force her bindings, but Dr. Marx got closer with the syringe. Hashimoto watched from a few feet back.
Marx pinched an area at the side of her upper arm, quickly jabbed in the needle and pushed down the plunger. “That’s it, keep at it. It doesn’t bother me one bit.”
Parris breathed hard and stared at Marx with narrow eyes. “Why don’t you remove the bindings? You’ve done what you came to do.”
“No, I think we’ll leave you just the way you are.” Marx pulled out the needle and lowered the visor over Parris’s eyes and ears.
“Dr. Hashimoto,” said Marx. “Please go check on my team in the other lab. Get them anything they ask.” There was silence for a few moments.
“As you wish,” came Hashimoto’s reply.
Parris couldn’t help notice the ambiance in the room between both Marx and Hashimoto. All along she had thought that Hashimoto was in charge, and now this woman comes along, as the obvious leader. It almost appeared that she was controlling him. Could Hashimoto be on Clarity? If he was, it would be poetic justice, considering that he created the drug.
She heard footsteps, then the swinging of a door as it opened and closed. Next came the dragging of the metal-backed chair beside her, just before Marx sat down. “It’s just you and me now, Nita. We’re going to go to a very comfortable place we can both enjoy.”
Parris saw the first few images flash in front of her eyes.
Chapter 27
Parris lifted her hand to her forehead, the visor and her bindings were gone. She felt her head spin a bit. Marx stood in front of her flanked by two dark-suited men. Parris looked Marx in the face, there was definitely something different about her. Her hair appeared lighter than it was earlier-in fact her entire face seemed to glow. It was as though Parris were watching Marx through a plasma screen. The two dark-suited men didn’t appear to have the same glow, she couldn’t figure why. When Marx extended her hand, Parris was more than anxious to take it.
“I hope you rested well.”
My god, she even sounded different. She couldn’t imagine anything malicious coming from her anymore. It was a wonder how she could’ve been so mistrustful of her before. She touched her forehead as she closed her eyes and lowered her head. “How long was I out?”
“Not too long,” replied Marx. “But you had a lot to say while you were in the chair. You’ve had a very eventful life. Come with me.”
Parris followed Marx out of the room and into a hallway with the two dark-suited men behind them.
“Now that you’re one of us, you will be able to appreciate our group’s fundamentals.” Marx led her around a corner. “For the years that The Promise has existed, we’ve spent time recruiting and saving young individuals from themselves, and from each other. This is the first step in changing the entire world. The biggest problem in the world today, is that when you have different religions and political ideologies, people will never be able to coexist. Think of Dewan and all of the others. They’re all victims of what society has produced-the unfortunate leftovers.”
They came to the end of the hall where Marx opened a door. Parris followed her inside and saw Hashimoto, and three other men dressed
in white lab jackets. What they worked on she didn’t know. The room was a typical laboratory with all the usual equipment found inside one. This lab had an adjoining chamber, separated by a fifteen-by-ten-foot shatterproof glass wall. Inside the chamber, Parris saw a mechanical arm attached to the ceiling.
Hashimoto turned around to greet them. “Welcome back, Dr. Parris. You’ll be among the first to witness the new and improved variant of Pandora.”
Parris looked at Marx. “New?”
“Yes,” Marx replied. “This is where we come to the second step in changing the world. Thanks to the resources of Hexagon Pharmaceuticals, and my research, we have ourselves the perfect weapon that will bring about the change we want.”
“With Pandora?” asked Parris. “If we used this we’d also destroy the animal kingdom. There’d be no food.”
“That’s with the old variant of Pandora. That one was believed to have wiped out populations a few millennia ago, and was what was brought back from the Canadian Arctic,” Marx replied.
“Where did the new variant come from?” asked Parris.
Marx smiled. “You’ll know soon enough, after the demonstration.” She gestured towards the window and looked at Parris. “Take a look behind the glass and tell us what you see.”
Parris walked up to the window, as Hashimoto stepped aside. Inside, she saw two men whose faces were so bloodied and mutilated that they were unidentifiable. But then she noticed their different physiques-Levickis and Dobbs had similar physiques. She put both hands to her mouth at the revelation. Oh my God, it’s them. But there was also a third person beside them, an Asian man. Only he was not in the same condition as the others. Then, there was the small cage beside him, with four mice-the only active ones in the chamber.
She dropped her hands and looked at Marx. “Those are my colleagues, I mean, were my colleagues.” Something then caught her eye, it was the Asian man. His stomach moved…he was breathing. “That man’s still alive.”
“Yes.” Marx walked up and stood beside Parris. “For now, anyway. But it won’t matter. Pandora works just as well on the living as on the dead.”
Parris looked up at her. “Who is he?”
Hashimoto approached Parris on the opposite side. “He’s a Boeisho agent who infiltrated our group-one of three. The other two have been disposed of. I wanted to have him executed in a traditional style, decapitation by sword, but Dr. Marx thought it best to use him for live human testing.”
Marx pointed, with a smirk, to the man. “Your other former colleague, Ridley Fox, thinks that he’s with this man as we speak. Now you’ll get to see how Pandora’s been improved to our standards.”
Marx looked at Parris and gestured to a red button on the console. “Would you care to do the honors?”
Parris went up to the console, and she saw some movement in the chamber. The Boeisho agent sat up and looked around him. When he saw Parris, she took her hand off of the red button. Moments later he noticed the corpses and jumped back. Several hours ago she would have done everything to save this man’s life. Now she didn’t feel the same way. That scared her.
“What’s the matter?” asked Marx.
“I…I don’t know,” she answered.
“There’s no court of law that’ll punish this man. The world doesn’t want us to exist, that’s why this man was sent to spy on us.”
Parris’s hand moved closer to the button.
“This man represents everything we’re against,” said Marx. “He must be punished. Push the button.”
She’s right. He’s guilty. And without another moment’s hesitation, she pressed the button.
Parris felt the button vibrate under her hands and she immediately stood back from the console. Red-fluorescent smoke began to blow inside the chamber, from a ceiling panel. An uncomforting hissing sound soon followed. As the smoke became thicker it also got brighter. The hissing got louder. The man looked up and saw the cloud descending on him. He backed away until he bounced into the window, scratching his arm and chest. When Parris saw him turn around, she gasped at the sight of blood pouring out of his eyes, and then she jumped back. The man screamed and pounded violently on the window, but it didn’t give way. He then threw his weight on it, twice, before falling to the ground in convulsions.
When Parris looked behind, she saw that Dr. Marx’s assistants had turned away. Hashimoto had his arms crossed while he stared at the floor. Marx, however, watched the entire show without any signs of trepidation. In fact, Parris thought that she saw a hint of a smile curve up on one corner of her mouth. The man’s screams were garbled, and when Parris turned back to him, she was in time to see his eyeballs burst from their sockets, spitting out a bloody ooze that rolled down the window like egg yolk.
Parris stormed away, past Marx and Hashimoto, and turned around. “Why me?” she screamed. She caught everyone off guard. Marx’s two guards were about to intervene, but Marx raised an open palm to face level, stopping them.
“Why was I allowed to live? I’m far worse than any of the others in The Promise.” A few tears rolled down Parris’s cheeks.
Marx shook her head. “You must not say those things.” She then took Parris by her forearms. “Now look at me. Those men in there who died, they were beyond saving, but you weren’t. I believe in you, do you understand me?”
Parris didn’t want to understand. Just give me a scalpel for me to slit my wrists. That should make things even.
“Nita!” Marx said this louder and got Parris’s full attention. There was something about those eyes of hers that she couldn’t ignore.
“Yes, Dr. Marx.” She nodded. Marx then smiled as she put one arm around Parris and walked her back to the window as she wiped away her tears with her sleeve.
By this time, the entire laboratory had a reddish glow. The cloud on the other side of the window was so dense that nothing could be seen inside.
Hashimoto went to the console and pressed another button. There was another vibration and loud noise that sounded like a series of fans. Less than five minutes later, the cherry cloud thinned out and was sucked into three separate vents above the chamber.
When Parris looked inside the chamber, the bodies of Levickis, Dobbs, and the Boeisho agent were also gone. Only their clothes remained, in a sticky, dark pile of slime. But in the cage, the mice continued to play around. She looked at Marx. “You’ve genetically engineered Pandora to specifically target human DNA.”
Marx smiled with a chuckle. “Human protein chains derived from DNA to be precise. This is the one thing Ares couldn’t accomplish.”
Marx took her hand off Parris. “When it fell into their hands, they did a lot of research on it. With help from a former member-you should know him as Mr. Valerik-I was able to monitor their progress from a safe distance, while I kept my cover as one of the head scientists working for the CDC.
While Ares played with their samples, I covertly worked on a theoretic approach to engineer it so that it would target humans specifically. It was also important to increase its virulence so that it attacked faster. Once that was done, I needed the original Pandora back, in order to finish my work on it.”
“That’s when we raided their facility in Belarus,” said Hashimoto.
“And now they’re going to try to take it back from us.” Marx walked slowly away and then stopped.
Parris smoothened out an eyebrow and turned to Hashimoto. “If they murdered my former colleagues, then they’d have a lot of info on Pandora. That’s what my former colleagues and I were trying to steal.”
“Exactly. Now we have another crisis on our hands,” said Hashimoto.
“Calm down.” Marx rolled her eyes and turned to Hashimoto, keeping her composure. She then turned back to Parris. “Who else knew of your whereabouts?”
“Walsh knew. In fact, he was in charge of the operation, only he wasn’t on site. Levickis and Dobbs were pros. If anyone had hacked our phone calls or bugged them, they’d know. Walsh must have sold us out.”
/> Hashimoto walked away and then turned back, pacing back and forth. “That means they know the location of our bunker.”
Parris turned to Hashimoto. “Yes, but if Walsh set us up, then he and his group either think I’m dead or being held hostage. We can exploit that.”
“How?” Marx asked.
Parris looked at Marx. “I can meet Walsh, give him a story that I escaped. Then I put a gun to his head and threaten to blow his brains out unless he takes me to the rest of his group.”
Hashimoto stopped pacing and faced Parris. “That’s risky. You could be killed.”
“I’ve risked my life for the sake of National Security. This wouldn’t change anything.” Parris then looked at Marx. “Let me go in alone and confront Walsh. He won’t be expecting me anyways.”
Marx looked at Hashimoto. “I don’t have a problem with that. But should you be overwhelmed, I have something special for you to use that will take care of all of them once and for all.”
Marx looked her straight in the eyes. “Hopefully you won’t have to use what I’m about to give you. But should you have to, you’ll always be remembered as a martyr.”
Parris remained silent for the next few seconds. She knew what had to be done, regardless of the outcome. It was, after all, for the greater good. “I’ll do anything that’ll benefit the cause.”
Marx smiled as she backed away from Parris and stood slightly in front of Hashimoto with her arms crossed. “Excellent. Then let’s begin.”
Chapter 28
Walsh’s Hotel Room
Walsh paced up and down in front of the television, not caring that Pyotr tried to watch the Japanese game show that was on. He was on the phone with Pyotr’s boss, getting an earful, while Pyotr shifted back and forth on the bed trying to see around him.
“Hey, stop blocking television,” said Pyotr.
Walsh ripped off his tie, threw it at Pyotr, and missed. Don’t you start with me too, asshole. “No, I haven’t heard anything from him yet. He’s been like this ever since we left Uganda. I bugged his watch, what more do you want?”
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