by Regan Black
"You all right?" Brian asked.
Gideon shook off the melancholy. They were here for a reason and he'd best get at it. "I'm fine. Let me talk this through. You take down Albertson and sic the dogs onto Kristoff, who immediately disappears." He ruffled the stacks of paper and pointed to the open laptop. "Where's the connection between Kristoff's med career and Albertson's perv action?"
"Maybe they worked together on the white slavery angle, but I wouldn't bank on it. I think that was all Albertson."
Gideon agreed. Slavery would've brought in cash, but there was more than money motivating Kristoff. "Is there any evidence that Kristoff supplied Albertson with victims?"
Brian looked away. "Albertson found his victims just fine on his own."
Gideon pushed his fingers through his hair. "Okay. Square one. How could Albertson supply Kristoff with test subjects?"
"Prisons would be the obvious and easy resource. Let's assume the Judge offered reduced sentences to men who'd volunteer. I saw the orders for a facility transfer on Albertson's desk when Jaden was liberating the train."
Now they were getting somewhere. This was the link Nate needed for his leg of the investigation. For the first time in weeks, Gideon felt like he was back on a real case. "We're missing something critical." He flipped through Lorine's notes again and then scrolled through the endless list of websites mentioning Kristoff. He paused to rub his eyes and gaped when Brian hauled up two cases of portable hard drives for the electronic binder already on the table. "More reams of scientific studies? Why?" Gideon asked.
"An outside chance you could tell where Kristoff's studies were performed. It would give us a major break and possibly a lead to his whereabouts."
Gideon had been asked to perform miracles before, but this was extreme. A quick perusal showed all the hardware was generic and the headers were wiped of any tags indicating the hosting lab and funding grants. A detailed analysis could take days, if not weeks. Time he instinctively knew they didn't have. "How did he smother all those egos who insist on the most miniscule credit for a discovery?"
"You should ask the psychic," Brian said.
"You mean empath, dear, and she's working on other stuff." This from Jaden, who'd snuck up behind them. "What wisdom are you bringing to light for us, Gideon?"
"None it seems. But I brought you Petra in one piece."
"I think she would've found us on her own," she countered, taking a seat next to Brian.
Gideon frowned. Unless he poured over the mass of information on the table, he really didn't have anything to add to the capture of Kristoff. Not without speaking to his superiors, who appeared to be missing in action or otherwise unable to help him now that he'd removed his sub-dermal pager. After years of griping to be on his own, to run his own missions if not his own life, here he was without a clue to the right direction.
Even with circumstances leaning toward the unbelievable, Gideon trusted Jaden. Regardless of how many lives she thought she'd lived for whatever purpose, she'd never left anyone hanging if she could help it.
He closed the binder with all the evidence refuting the safety of juicing and pushed it away.
"I told you Kristoff's been on the radar for years." They just stared at him. "Lately, things escalated and I was assigned to gather evidence to put him out of work." This time when he thought about it, the pain was gone. Even the frustration. For the first time since the night that wrecked his shoulder, Gideon could consider the mission objectively. He wished he could credit anything other than Petra, but even he didn't put that much stock into coincidence.
"Someone tipped them off and we got screwed over. Nearly everyone was injured, two fatalities. I got one sample and passed it up the line to the Commandant, but that's all I know. When I was quasi-healed they put me on Petra with a standard twelve hour report schedule."
"You had no idea who she was?"
"Nope. I watched her on a few cases but wasn't ordered to interact with her until she was trying to read a murder scene at the Hammond Street Docks."
"The train engine," Jaden and Brian said in unison.
"That was you?" Gideon shook his head. "Should've known. I really pissed her off there. She's cute when she's mad." Gideon felt a grin creep over his face at the memory.
"Aren't they all?" Brian laughed at the bad cliché, giving Jaden's knee a squeeze.
Jaden just shook her head. "Men," she said, grumbling despite the grin on her face. "I've been looking back a bit." The change of subject changed the mood. "I have evidence she's my sister from the mid 1900s, though I don't expect you to believe that, yet."
"If ever," Gideon admitted, but he shut up when Jaden scowled at him.
"My mother's name that time was Patricia Neiman."
Gideon felt his mouth drop open, but was frozen in place while Jaden continued.
"I found Patricia's diary a few years ago in an estate sale. The diary gives an extensive accounting of the woman's grief over her two daughters. The youngest was kidnapped and later found dead, the oldest killed in an effort to avenge the little sister."
Dumbstruck, Gideon resented Brian's smug look. He couldn't shake the coincidence of the names. "Where's the diary?" he asked.
"Tangible and quantified," Brian muttered to Jaden.
She sent Brian a quieting look, and spoke to Gideon, "I gave it to Petra. She touched it and it moved her–in a good way, I think."
Gideon rolled his eyes and admitted defeat. "I can't pretend to buy into this. If she got anything it was probably just a connection to her mother's family tree."
Jaden shrugged. "Think what you want. Right now, I'd like to know about her current parents."
"Why do you think I'd know anything?"
Her head tipped to the side. "Don't you?"
He stopped playing around and trusted his gut. The only time his instinct failed him was when he ignored it. "I've only met them once and it was a rather awkward time. Her mother's overbearing and fearful that Petra will somehow disgrace the family like her brother. Appearances mean everything to her. From what I can tell, Kristoff milked that character flaw for all it was worth when the Burkhardts came to him for his fertility expertise."
"Both Petra and her brother–"
"Nathan," Gideon supplied.
"Were genetically engineered by Kristoff?" Brian finished his question.
"According to what I've turned up so far. I've just been skimming, but Kelly knows more details and she's had more time to review the records she found."
"The records weren't sealed or protected?" Brian asked.
Shaking his head, Gideon said, "Almost as easy as public domain. Petra and Nate precede medical reform. When a patient consented to aid medical research in trade for reduced expenses they ran a big risk of being named through the billing records, while the doctor often stayed anonymous. Most research docs didn't work too hard to preserve patient privacy when it meant government money coming in to the office."
"That's clear as mud," Brian grumbled.
Jaden was intent on more details. "What about the father?"
Gideon could almost see the wheels turning in her head. "Much more low-key. Has faith in his kids, but doesn't appear to have a clue about their real jobs."
"Basing that last on what?" Jaden drummed her fingers against her thigh.
"I guess it's not so tough to see that Petra does help CRIA somehow." Watching Jaden drum her fingers against her thigh made him wonder what plan was formulating in her steel-trap brain. "They seem to think Nate's just a desk jockey for an Army research department lab. I met him in a different context on a black-op mission several years ago. He's done his share of covert ops and I've worked with him frequently since then. He has a talent and has a rep for keeping his people out of harm's way."
"How does he manage that?"
Gideon shrugged, wishing he could rethink this whole cards-on-the-table plan. He was playing right into their theory that Nate had special powers bestowed by Kristoff. "He's lucky."
He couldn't believe he was about to quote Pamela Burkhardt. "The parents refer to it as mental strength and superiority. Pamela blames him for caving to negative, violent influences. She blames him for losing control."
Jaden tapped her fingers lightly on the library table now. "Sound familiar to you?" she asked Brian.
"They sound like parents. Opposites attracted, they survive on a tentative balance, mom worries more than dad, and no one wants to picture them in bed together."
Gideon groaned, rolling his eyes "You're just convinced everyone's recycled like you, Jaden."
"No. I know for a fact that's not the case. Everyone is different, thank God. Petra is living her second life at least, but her parents may be on their first and last tour. Although her mother sounds like she has issues she'd be better off facing."
Gideon didn't have a chance to agree.
"I'm thinking we'd better get someone in there who can open them up, get them talking about their experience with Kristoff. What he promised them and stuff like that."
"These two are major high-society types," Gideon explained. "I doubt Mrs. Burkhardt's gonna open up to a stranger. She doesn't strike me as the type to make friends on first sight. You'll have to find a friend with generations of old money to crack her network."
"Cleveland," Jaden and Brian said in unison.
That little habit was wearing thin. "What's in Cleveland?"
"The person, not the city," Brian clarified. "He's got a gift for getting people to open up."
"And he can identify the important points without giving anything away about us or what we're looking for," Jaden added.
"What could he possibly find out?" Gideon asked. He couldn't keep the skepticism out of his voice. These two were putting way too much hope in one person.
"There must be another layer to the connection between the Burkhardts and Kristoff. Somewhere in that connection might be the clue to Kristoff's interest in Petra."
Gideon shrugged. He sure as hell didn't have any better options on deck. He couldn't go in with questions because Pamela would never trust him. Coming clean about knowing their son wouldn't win any points either. He'd just have to wait and see what Cleveland could do.
"Well, good luck to you then," he said, standing.
"You can't run off now," Jaden protested. "You can't leave this undone."
"I'm not running off," he said, trying to believe it. "I just need to follow up on a lead before it gets any colder."
He strode out of the library knowing he had to work the connections Jaden was after from the other side of the equation. Starting with the Commandant.
Petra took over the driving on the way back to the dreary neighborhood of Micky's compound. She appreciated Kelly's silence and used the time to think through her upcoming flight to find Kristoff.
As they cruised by the Museum of Science and Industry, Petra clutched the wheel against the unnerving sound of bells tinkling in her mind. The clear sound might've been sweet in any other context, but this ringing was always accompanied by tension and a frisson of darkness crawling up her back.
She did the unthinkable, yanking Nathan's precious baby across five lanes of traffic and down the street fronting the museum.
Kelly screeched and launched into a combination of reprimand, shock, and questions about sanity.
Petra stopped the car and turned to her. "Does Nathan speak to you? Connect with you?"
"I told you." She puffed the hair from her face. "Not really."
"Do you ever hear things? Things that might be from him?"
"Not if you mean like conversation. Why would I?"
Petra snorted. "I don't know. I'm grasping at straws. Bells go off in my head and I'm not sure if the signals are from Nathan or...or someone else."
"Why would Nathan sound bells in your brain?"
"To warn me off or push me away from an evil intent. It's an age old cure in several cultures."
"You really can't reach him," Kelly sympathized. "I'm so sorry, Pet. I can see the toll that's taking on you, but he must be okay. If he needed you, he'd reach out. He'd ask."
"He's a man. They never ask."
"He's your brother," Kelly insisted. "He'd ask in his own, probably demanding, way."
"Nathan's only contacted me twice since his incarceration. Both times telling me to trust Gideon." She opted to leave out the part about only trusting Gideon. She didn't like thinking Kelly couldn't be trusted completely, especially when she was pouring out her weaknesses like hearing bells. Besides, Nathan wouldn't reach for someone who'd hurt her. Gideon proved that if nothing else.
"Then trust Nathan's concern. Trust them both."
Petra checked the time. "I'm going inside. Pick me up at closing."
"That's three hours. Why don't I come with you?"
Petra shook her head. "This is something I need to do alone."
"I'll be researching. You've got the new cell card I gave you?"
Petra fished it out of her pocket to reassure Kelly. "Thanks for uploading my name dial list."
"No sweat." Kelly relented. "Please be careful, Pet."
Petra smiled, the simple movement requiring more effort than it should. She backed away from the car and then ascended the steps to the tall front doors of the museum.
There were two galleries essential to her impromptu tour. The first was her father's contribution to the security of cashless banking. She hadn't seen the formal display since it opened in Indianapolis, when she was a child.
Her father's innovative ideas had transformed the industry and his achievements earned a permanent display in the technology wing.
She remembered the opening. The pride they'd all felt for him, how it swelled through each of them and seemed to fill her to overflowing. Even now the remnant feeling was strong and comforting. His systems had gone a record three years without being hacked. When finally breached, the program had done as he'd promised, morphing against the threat to protect the consumer.
Petra sat for a while soaking up the strength of what her family meant to her. They'd always meant well and though they never seemed to know what to do with her, she knew they loved her.
She also knew she couldn't go to them for help. Her mother would tune out anything regarding Nathan's innocence, her father would only hug and soothe and tell her everything would work out. All her life his advice remained static: 'Just follow your heart, baby'.
She wasn't sure she'd ever done anything else. On a heavy sigh, she stood and made her way toward the life sciences area. As she wound her way through the different galleries, she thought about where her heart had led her.
Through dreams with her brother, she followed him, then her own whims once she mastered the flight in and out of dreams. Through school she'd helped friends whenever she could, though she'd often been emotionally bruised by the process.
She followed her heart through her higher education when her mother tried to force her down another path. Her heart had led her to serve with Kincaid, a task she'd never regretted despite the horrors she'd seen.
Her heart had led her to Gideon, and then into his bed, she thought, with deep and private satisfaction. It still surprised her how searching him had set her emotions tumbling. All the more shocking that her body had leaped so willingly into unprecedented pleasure.
She smiled, catching her reflection in the glass of a nearby display. Yes, she trusted Gideon. Before she'd admitted it logically, her body–and her heart–had known. Her next steps would depend on what she could trust in the rest of her tilted world.
Petra stopped at the display of human development from embryo to mature fetus. It had always troubled her that each of these little people, from the first magnified cluster of cells to the last unborn child in the line, had never greeted the world.
They looked so serene, preserved as they were in perfect stasis, the medical conditions that ended their lives invisible to her.
She felt a ripple of dark
curiosity and heard the familiar voice whisper around her head. Would a baby unravel like an adult? Would they–
She closed her eyes and pictured a still tree alone in a field of green.
The voice stilled.
Petra turned to another display, this one using models to focus on the development from infant to adult. She did her best to bring every awkward moment of her own progression to the forefront of her mind.
Again, it worked. However he'd found its way into her head, he felt confused and frustrated now. Probably not the best idea to frustrate a serial killer, but she liked shutting him up.
When bells pealed, her concentration broke and his dark desire rushed in, consuming her, molding her desires to his. She struggled against the sudden need to feel fresh blood cooling in her palms.
The very essence of life was so strong and so fragile. The desire to live fought valiantly against an equal desire to kill. A beautiful ballet of the most vicious nature.
Petra wanted to cast him out, or at least contain the violence, but she let the connection run. Each time she moved her eyes to another display, his narrative changed accordingly.
She walked through the chambers of a beating heart and longed to cause its silence. Whoever this was, he truly enjoyed his devilish projects.
No killer had ever linked with her this way and she was grateful she'd taken time to set a guard around the most secret part of her mind while giving him free reign over the rest. It was a trick Nathan had taught her when they were young. It created a thoroughly inaccessible place to all but her. Not even Nathan had managed to find her here when they'd been practicing. He'd warned her of the risk of staying buried like this for too long–she could lose her way and suffer a permanent split from her true self.
She paused at the wide doorway of the Human Genetics gallery. This was second on her mental list, but her top priority. Eagerly she studied the displays, poring over every word as she followed the events and discoveries that led to the current regulations and restrictions of the scientific progress.
