While the Savage Sleeps

by Kaufman, Andrew E.

  Moving toward the first floor, they carried her up the steps, leaving a trail of blood along the way. When they reached the lobby, they dropped her onto the floor. More blood oozed from her head, then spread out onto the filthy linoleum beneath her.

  She was near death. They knew they could leave her there and she would probably bleed out and die within a matter of minutes; still, they couldn’t take any chances in the event she somehow managed to survive. They needed her gone. Fast.

  One of the men pulled an automatic pistol from his coat. Jabbing the barrel end into her mouth and aiming it upward, he began to squeeze the trigger.

  The gunfire erupted, echoing throughout the room.

  Chapter Eighty-Three

  Sentry Peak

  Faith, New Mexico

  The man holding the gun in Kyle’s mouth let go of it before he could fire, dropping it onto the floor as a bullet hit him squarely in the chest.

  His partner looked up to find Cameron standing there, holding his weapon straight out, now aiming directly at him. The man moved his hands as if raising them up in surrender, but stopped at his belt, fumbling for something. Cameron fired another shot, hitting him between the eyes, forcing him backward, and slamming him onto the ground.

  Cameron rushed over to Kyle, knelt beside her, and reached down for her wrist, trying to feel for a pulse.

  But there was nothing. She was already gone.

  He tore off his shirt, wrapping it around her head, trying to stem the flow of blood, then began administering CPR, but she wasn’t responding. There was no sign of breathing, no detectable pulse. Not knowing if it made any difference, he continued administering CPR anyway—he wasn’t willing to give up hope.

  There was nothing. She was unresponsive. She had passed.

  He dropped his head onto her chest, listening, hoping, and praying he’d missed her pulse.

  Again, nothing.

  Cameron felt his own pulse race as his heart sank. Yet another life he couldn’t save—another death he might have prevented, had he only moved quicker.

  And worst of all, someone for whom he’d begun to care deeply.

  Chapter Eighty-Four

  Sentry Peak

  Faith, New Mexico

  Kneeling over Kyle, Cameron thought he heard something behind him. He looked up and around, but saw that nobody was there. Then he realized the sound was coming from beneath him. He looked down; it was Kyle, and she was breathing shallow breaths, which suddenly turned into one giant gasp for air.

  Cameron reached down quickly and brushed the hair away from her face. “Kyle! Can you hear me?”

  She didn’t respond, but he could see she was still breathing, and for him, that was all that mattered. Without thinking twice, he gathered her in his arms and carried her outside. After laying her across the back seat of his car, he jumped inside and sped off, traveling down the hill as fast as he could manage.

  * * *

  Community Hospital

  Faith, New Mexico

  It took Kyle several hours to wake up, and when she did, Cameron was standing beside her, looking down, smiling.

  She gazed up with surprise, feeling groggy and bleary-eyed.

  As things came into focus, she noticed someone standing directly behind him. It was Josh. He, too, was smiling.

  Cameron reached over and placed his hand over hers, not letting his eyes leave her.

  “Okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah.” Kyle blinked hard a few times, then nodded weakly. “Except it seems like I keep ending up in this damned hospital.”

  Cameron laughed. “What better place for a doctor to be?”

  “Uh-uh. I’m on the wrong side of the bed.” She grimaced with pain and reached up to touch the back of her head. “Ouch.”

  “Got a pretty good whack there. You remember what happened?” Cameron asked.

  Her voice was frail. “Not very much, but I’m guessing this dent on my head was the result.”

  “He saved your life, is what happened,” Josh interrupted.

  “I should have known you’d come to the rescue,” she said, smiling. “White horse and all.”

  “No white horse. Just a white Taurus, courtesy of the good people of Faith.”

  Kyle attempted a laugh, and then winced again with pain.

  “Question,” said Cameron. “How is it you managed to leave out the fact your brother’s a cop? Seems kind of relevant.”

  Kyle looked to her brother and winked. “Oh yeah. I did leave that out, didn’t I?”

  “Yeah, kinda did.”

  “I thought it would be better to keep him out of the picture.”

  “Out of the picture?” Josh protested.

  Kyle ignored him, keeping her gaze on Cameron. “I just thought it would make things more complicated. I was going to tell you … eventually.”

  “Eventually?” Josh said. “How eventually?”

  She glanced over at her brother. “After this whole mess got cleared up.”

  “You missed a call–” Josh started to say.

  “Yeah, about that …” She reached around to feel the wound on the back of her head again. “I would have… ‘cept I kinda got into a bit of a bind—it would have been difficult to call you while my head was being bashed in.”

  Josh shrugged. “Okay. I’ll give you that. Wouldn’t have mattered anyhow, I suppose. I was already on my way about the time your head was hitting the floor.”

  “You … what?”

  Josh smiled. “Had you tailed.”

  “Tailed?” she repeated the word almost as if she didn’t know what it meant.

  “I promised I wouldn’t come with you,” Josh said as he walked over to the bed. He leaned over and kissed his sister’s forehead. “And I kept that promise. But nobody ever said I couldn’t send someone on my behalf.”

  Kyle gazed up at Cameron, incredulously.

  Cameron put his hands up in surrender and said, “I knew nothing about it.”

  “Hired one of my off-duty pals. He called me when he saw you heading up the hill.” Josh stopped to give her a reprimanding expression. “By the way, you shoulda known better. What on earth were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking that I had to do what I had to do. Just like you would’ve. Besides, your pal didn’t do a very good job protecting me.”

  “Didn’t need to. Appears you had someone else watching out for you.” Josh smiled at Cameron.

  Cameron fought his own smile and lost, looking down at the floor, bashfully.

  Kyle gazed up at him and said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that.”

  “What?” Cameron asked.

  “You … I’ve never seen you smile like that. You almost look like a different person.”

  Cameron shrugged. How many times had he heard that? But this time, it seemed different—felt different. “Guess I never had any reason to, until now.”

  Kyle shook her head, almost looking disappointed. “You had reason to, you just never knew it.”

  Cameron said nothing.

  She frowned. “That pain—it runs so deep—it’s so intense. You’ve been carrying it around on your shoulders for so long now. When are you going to let it go?”

  Cameron looked as if he’d just seen a ghost. He stared at Kyle with a blank expression. “How do you know about …?”

  Kyle reached up and held his hand. “Because I felt it.”

  Chapter Eighty-Five

  FAITH BEACON

  MURDERS LINKED TO SECRET WWII PROJECT

  Experts Say Toxic Waste Leaked Into Soil for Years

  By Raymond Acevedo

  In a bizarre turn of events, a toxic spill is being linked to a string of sadistic homicides in and around town during the past few weeks.

  Hazardous materials crews are working around the clock to stabilize what could turn out to be the worst toxic spill in the state’s history. Officials say it might be months, maybe even a year, before Faith’s water supply is again safe enough to drink. Truckloads
of bottled water are being shipped into town in order to meet high demands.

  In all, ten people died, two of them Faith sheriff’s deputies, one the daughter of State Senator, Connie Champion.

  Twenty-year-old Felicity Champion’s body was discovered more than a week ago lying in a drainage ditch along Old Highway 10. Authorities believe longtime Faith resident and business owner, Judith Hedrick, was the killer.

  Hedrick’s body was discovered just two days ago on a bank along the Foundry River between Lower Faith and High River Valley.

  Assistant Sheriff Cameron Dawson says Hedrick committed suicide by jumping off the Stanton Street Bridge, which crosses the river.

  The reason is not yet known.

  World War II Experiments, the Key

  Dawson says the murders were an indirect result of top-secret clinical trials conducted by the U.S. government more than 50 years ago. The experiments were carried out in a building located at the top of Sentry Peak, overlooking Faith.

  The property was purchased in the 1940s from Louis Wicker, son of real estate tycoon Franklin Wicker, who built the structure.

  It is unknown for what purpose.

  The U.S. military then converted the multi-story building into a makeshift hospital, where they conducted their secret experiments.

  A serum called Beta Dioxide Alphapeptium, or BDA, lies at the center of the controversy. Scientists developed the drug to use on troops during World War II. The substance, administered by hypodermic needle, was developed with hopes of making U.S. soldiers more aggressive during combat.

  Researchers tried to refine the drug to make it more manageable, but their efforts failed. Some subjects had no reaction at all to it, while others went violently out of control.

  In March of 1947, the government shut down the project after the experiment went awry. A violent outbreak pitting patients against staff ended in a riot, with eleven staff members killed, many others trampled and beaten. Seven patients also died during the melee. Officials decided the project was too risky to continue.

  After that, the building was left abandoned and vacant.

  Officials cordoned off structure, surrounding it with razor wire and electrical fencing to keep out intruders.

  Soil Contamination

  After shutting down the project, the government disposed of the volatile chemicals, pouring them into metal drums, then storing them in an outdoor stockyard connected to the building. Through the years, the acidic material ate through the containers, seeped into the ground, and eventually found its way into the nearby Foundry River, which runs adjacent to the building. That river feeds into an aquifer supplying well water to many local residents.

  Authorities reason, that’s how the substance infiltrated the town’s water supply.

  Bizarre, Cruel, and Inhumane Testing Methods

  Files from the experiments, also stored inside the building, and now being made public, reveal the secret experiments involved a battery of sadistic and inhumane practices.

  When patients were not under the influence of BDA, they were held in vegetative states with the help of a sedative called Atronium Citrite, or ATC, also being developed by the government.

  While sedated, the patients were stowed away in containment units located on the first through fourth floors and kept there until needed for experimentation.

  Besides putting the subjects into a catatonic state, the sedative also produced distinct and unusual side effects. Patients were often heard making a peculiar, high-pitched, almost continuous hum that fluctuated in volume and intensity. Often, they would lose control of bladder functioning as well.

  BDA also had its share of side effects, many of them even more troubling.

  Besides making patients violent, flu-like symptoms prior to the actual onset were common, as were severe ulcerations of the stomach lining. For reasons unknown, the drug also caused an odd condition, later dubbed tar eye, where the pupils dilated to a size so large that the entire eye took on a blackened appearance. Others went into a full-blown self-destructive state, turning on themselves, tearing away at their own skin, hair, and in some cases, body parts, such as fingers, toes, earlobes, even genitalia.

  Although the main effects of the serum were quite volatile, they were also short-lived, only lasting approximately one hour, and once the drug wore off, subjects had no memory of their actions. Scientists engineered it that way to avoid future cases of what we now know to be Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

  The clinical trials always resulted in death for the victims. Subjects were given the serum, then put through a series of highly unconventional tests. A part of the Sentry Peak facility, called the Subjugation Unit, was essentially a torture chamber. Patients were strapped naked to concrete walls while others, under the drug’s influence, beat them to death. Other times, the subjects were confined to so-called fighting cells, where they were allowed beat one another to death.

  Researchers claimed to be doing all this in an effort to study drug’s efficacy and develop lower, more manageable strength levels, however, for reasons unknown, never did.

  False Pretense

  The government recruited subjects for the experiments by way of the enlisted service. Those facing disciplinary actions, such as courts-martial, were given the opportunity to sign up for the trials as an alternate form of punishment.

  Once the victims died, their families were advised they were killed in the line of duty.

  Authorities say they do not yet know how many people died during the experiments, but it could number into the thousands. They are in the process of sifting through an inordinate number of records so that families can be informed of how their loved ones actually died during the war.

  Odd Happenings

  The murders weren’t the only things visiting Faith. Several local residents reported seeing a pair of strangers roaming around town. The two men, seen on several occasions, were described as wearing dark sunglasses and driving a white, older model van.

  According to Dawson, the men, later identified as Samuel Swenson and Scott Faraday, were from Spesartine & Agrough, the pharmaceutical corporation subcontracted by the government to help develop the two serums. Fearing bad publicity, the company sent the men to investigate. Had the trials been a success, they stood to make millions of dollars. Among other things, Spesartine & Agrough currently manufactures Sezdal, one of the nation’s top-selling anti-anxiety medications.

  But authorities later learned the two were planning to do more than that. According to Dawson, they were caught trying to start a fire in the facility to destroy the chemicals and cover up the spill. Sheriff’s deputies interrupted that process only minutes before it was to occur. The two suspects were shot to death after a confrontation with law enforcement.

  The CEO of the pharmaceutical company, Samuel Agrough, grandson of co-founder Phillip Agrough, is under investigation and could face charges of obstructing justice, as well as conspiracy to commit arson.

  Authorities don’t yet know if anyone will face prosecution for conducting the actual trials, as they took place many years ago, and all the key players have probably long since passed away; however, Senator Champion says a congressional investigation will follow, and anyone who played a role in the experiments will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

  The names of any existing and living murder suspects are being withheld for their protection, but they are not likely to face prosecution.

  Proving that the substance affected the suspects, however, may be a challenge. In an attempt to keep the serum’s components a secret, scientists designed the chemicals to dissipate quickly into the bloodstream. By the time the subjects became violent, the compound was already on its way to being undetectable, leaving no traces of ever having been present.

  More than likely, experts will have to map out the path the toxin traveled by way of the Foundry River and use that to draw conclusions about who was poisoned.

  Chapter Eighty-Six

  Desert Spring M
otel

  Faith, New Mexico

  As long as the monster on the hill remained, it would always serve as a constant reminder of the darkest period in Faith’s and the country’s history, when virtue took a holiday, and depravity a front-row seat.

  The government opted to tear the place down rather than sell it. Besides having no use for the building, the administration wanted nothing more than to disassociate itself from it. Putting it out of sight would also put it out of mind.

  Faith, it seemed, had gained international infamy, even becoming something of a tourist attraction. More and more, local residents saw unfamiliar faces popping up around town. It was hard not to feel like they were living under a microscope.

  Cameron and Kyle had uncovered a dirty secret, one buried not only beneath the ground, but beneath an elaborate legacy of lies and deception, but one that refused to remain hidden. Ten people had lost their lives and an entire town its sense of cohesion and well-being. Cleanup crews would purge the ground and nearby river of the poisons that for years had defiled them, but nothing would ever wash away the pain and loss left in people’s hearts.

  ***

  Kyle stood in her motel room folding clothes. It was time to go home.

  She’d left the door open, hoping to allow the sunlight to brighten up the otherwise dreary space and hadn’t even heard Cameron when he walked in.

  “Hey,” he said, half greeting her, half wanting to avoid startling her.

  She spun around and flashed a warm, welcoming smile.

  “Good morning,” she said, then paused to look at her watch. “Or should I say good afternoon?”