Night Watch--A Novel

by Iris Johansen

  “They always come and go from the door on the far side. That’s the central living area. I assume the other one leads to another room or perhaps another building.”

  Kendra turned back and looked at the door behind her. She shook her head. “There’s been a tiny bit of sand tracked in from that entrance. It probably leads outside.”

  She squinted at the light brown walls. “What kind of building is this?”

  “Prefab carbon fiber. Light, but very strong. It’s easy to transport and assemble on-site, often used in military operations. An entire village can be erected in just a few hours.”

  She reached out toward the nearest wall and drummed her fingers against it. It felt almost like plastic. She turned back to Waldridge. “Could an acid weaken these walls?”

  “Afraid not. Carbon fiber is extremely resistant to chemical attacks. It’s very similar to sturdier metals in that respect.”

  She nodded. “Damn.”

  Waldridge stepped back toward the workbenches. “But I think you’re on the right track. They’ve given me a fairly well-equipped lab that could work to our advantage. Properly combined, chemicals can be awesome weapons. The problem is, we still need a way out. Brute force isn’t going to do much for us against those automatic weapons.”

  “I might have that part covered,” she said quietly.

  “What do you mean?”

  She opened her hand to show him a small rubber capsule, about an in inch long. “I swallowed this before I was taken.”

  “What is it?”

  She tore open the capsule. “Have you ever heard of a bump key?”

  “Can’t say that I have.”

  “Neither had I until Jessie decided she had to pull out all the stops and get me something more than that GPS to keep us alive. She’d used it in Afghanistan. It’s a specially cut key that you insert and strike as you turn it. Each strike causes the tumblers to jump for a moment, just long enough to enable the lock to be thrown.”

  “It actually works?”

  “According to Jessie, it works on about 95 percent of the locks out there.”

  “And you have one?”

  “I have six. All contained in this capsule. It has to be the right size as the lock you’re trying, so I brought an assortment. Jessie got them for me and showed me how to do it.” She glanced at the doors on each end of the lab. “There’s a good chance it will work here.”

  Waldridge looked at the keys in her hand. “You regurgitated that capsule when you first woke up…”

  “I really wasn’t all that nauseous. I just had to get it out.”

  “You might have told me.”

  “I didn’t know if the place was bugged or anything about the situation.”

  He smiled. “You did come prepared for a rescue mission.”

  “Sorry I couldn’t swallow an AK-47.” She walked over to the workbench. “So assuming I can get us through that door, what do you have in mind for those chemicals?”

  “I’ll show you later. But we’ll need to be very careful with them. Volatile.”

  “What isn’t in this situation? I’ll leave it to you. If it’s got to be done, we’ll do it.” She looked down at her side. “But everything would have been simpler if I could have managed to keep that device.” Her glance lifted to him again. “You’re all right? Once we get out of here, you’ll be able to function? That stuff they gave you didn’t cause you any internal damage? You said not to the heart or brain, but anywhere else?”

  He tilted his head. “What would you do if I said it had?”

  “I’d have to adjust to the situation.” She moistened her lips. “But it would scare me and make me angry.”

  He smiled. “And make you go after the bad guys for me?”

  “Not right away. I’d need to get you somewhere safe first. But I have someone who would show me how to do it later.”

  “Amazing,” he said gently. “You must tell me about that someone. But I’m more interested in your dedication to punishing my oppressors. I feel honored.”

  “Bullshit.” She braced herself. “Now, is there any immediate or permanent damage?”

  “No. Weakness and soreness after the convulsions caused by the shots, but no damage. I’d be able to keep up with you, Kendra.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. I don’t know what we’ll be facing once we get—”

  Kendra was startled by the sound of the dead bolt being thrown on the large door at the far end of the lab. The door suddenly opened, and two men with automatic rifles shoved a third man into the room.

  The third man wore a dark hood identical to the one that had been placed on Kendra. His hands were bound behind his back, and he fell to his knees.

  The men with the rifles left the room and locked the door.

  “Friend of yours?” Waldridge asked Kendra.

  “No,” Kendra said as she moved toward the prisoner. “But I think he may be a friend of yours.”

  She pulled off the hood.

  It was Hayden Biers.

  He was dressed just as Kendra had last seen him, but his shirt was now torn and showed several bloodstains on the chest and collar. His hair was covered in perspiration.

  Waldridge turned to Kendra. “You said he was safe.”

  “I thought he was.” She picked at the duct tape binding his hands behind him, but wasn’t able to loosen it. “Dr. Biers?”

  “Kendra … I’m sorry.” He tried to stand, but fell weakly back to his knees.

  Waldridge quickly stepped toward him. “Take it easy, Hayden. It may take a few minutes.”

  Biers looked up at Waldridge as he approached. “Charles … I was afraid you were dead.”

  Waldridge grimaced. “Not yet. But Dyle is constantly persevering toward that aim.”

  “What happened?” Kendra asked.

  Biers shook his head. “They knew Jessie Mercado was looking for me. I suppose they were watching her home and office. They grabbed me in her apartment.” His gaze shifted to Waldridge. “I’m sorry, Charles. I had one job, and it was to not let myself get caught.”

  Waldridge shrugged. “I obviously didn’t do so well at that job either.”

  The dead bolt rapped, and the door was once more thrown open. This time Ted Dyle entered the room. But the two men with automatic weapons were a silent threat behind him. Her gaze flew to the guard on his right. White hair, gray eyes, fortysomething … It was the man she’d seen when she’d been taken. That must be John Jaden. She could see how he might be in charge. There was a quiet air of authority about his demeanor and the coldness was also evident. Iceman …

  “Good evening, Dr. Michaels.” Dyle was dressed more casually than in the photo Kendra had seen, in which he was wearing a suit. Here he wore slacks and a white pullover shirt. His sleek dark hair was as carefully barbered as she remembered from that night in Monterrey. “I see you’re with us again. It’s delightful to meet you at last. Though I’ve always been a fan from the first time I heard you speak. Inspiring. Really inspiring.”

  “And did I say all the things you wanted me to say? I understand that you were forcing Dr. Waldridge to make me dance on your strings.”

  “Not true, Kendra,” Charles said. “They were my strings, and I was careful to make sure that nothing you said would be against your principles. Dyle merely wanted Night Watch to become a household name, and I could go along with that.” He met Dyle’s eyes. “As long as he realized that I had full control of any project in which I was involved.”

  “The man who pays the bills makes the rules,” Dyle said. “Stubborn. Incredibly stubborn. Eventually, you’ll come to realize that.” He turned back to Kendra. “Did you enjoy your time with Waldridge? I wanted to give you a little time to become reacquainted. By the way you were tearing around L.A. and San Diego trying to find him, I gather you wanted that desperately.”

  “You’re fully aware how grateful I was to Waldridge. You were there from the beginning.”

  “Really befor
e the beginning of your association. I was there with the money when he was developing that stem-cell operation. I thought it had great promise. Not wonderful monetary potential, but I could see what Waldridge was working on down the road and that you were only the beginning.” He inclined his head. “Quite a splendid beginning. I was very upset when Waldridge let you run out on us.”

  “You mean and actually have a life?”

  “Debts must be paid. I’ve been trying to demonstrate that to my friend, Waldridge, during our time together, but he’s not being reasonable.” He smiled broadly as his gaze shifted from her to Waldridge, then Biers. “The band is back together. Or at least two of the three. Regrettable that Dr. Shaw couldn’t join us.”

  “Enjoying this, Dyle?” Waldridge took a step toward him, but one of the armed guards motioned him back with his gun. “Yes, I think you are. You want to grandstand in front of a new audience instead of our usual more intimate sessions? I’ll play along. You wanted to point out that you’d killed Shaw, a brilliant man who wanted only to make his work mean something? We get it.”

  A flash of anger crossed Dyle’s face. “Perhaps if the three of you hadn’t left with my intellectual property, it wouldn’t have been necessary.”

  “It was never supposed to be just a vehicle for your pharmaceutical-sales division.”

  “I have a right to earn back my investment.”

  “You already would have done that thousands of times over,” Biers muttered.

  “Thousands of times versus millions of times,” Dyle said. “What sounds like a more prudent business plan to you? Especially if the second questionable option requires even more research and development.”

  “I told you we could do it,” Waldridge said. “No side effects, no lifetime dependence on our medication.”

  Dial shook his head. “I made a financial decision. Sorry you didn’t agree. My only regret is that I let you squirrel away our project’s formulas.”

  “You didn’t let me do anything. The project is virtually mine anyway. I had to protect it. I could see where this was headed.”

  “You’re holding the process hostage. We could be helping people right now.”

  “And then hold them hostage. How many times have we gone over this? You’re not getting it until it’s finished,” Waldridge said. “My way.”

  “You son of a bitch.” Kendra could see that Dyle’s sleek mask had vanished, and he was practically trembling with rage as he stepped closer to Waldridge. “Always have to be the great man, don’t you?” He was glaring at him. “You’ve always been so quick to take the credit for Dr. Michaels’s miracle of sight. But too often, you’ve happily ignored the fact that none of it would be possible without funding.” Dyle turned toward Kendra, and she took an instinctive step back as she saw the sheer malevolence in his expression. “I paid for those eyes of yours, Dr. Michaels. If your idol here doesn’t see fit to give me what’s mine…” Dyle turned back toward Waldridge, and spat out, “I must insist on taking them back.”

  Kendra recoiled in shock. She couldn’t breathe. She could only stare at Dyle.

  Nightmare. Her worst nightmare …

  She was barely aware that Waldridge had gone still beside her. “What are you saying?”

  Dyle smiled. “Do I really need to say it? I believe I’ve made myself clear.”

  “Yes,” Kendra said unsteadily. “Say it.”

  “I’m certain you’ve already researched me enough to know who I am, Dr. Michaels. I’m a man who gets what he wants. And if I don’t get what I want from Dr. Waldridge, I’m going to take your eyes.” His voice was soft, full of venom. “First your right eye, then your left eye. Is that clear enough for you?”

  “You’re a monster,” Biers said. “We were right about you. That’s why we left.”

  Dyle ignored him. His gaze was fixed on Waldridge’s face. “One hour,” Dyle said. “Then I’ll come back and take Kendra’s right eye. No anesthesia. I want both of you to feel every cut. If you want to stop me, you’d better get to work, Waldridge.”

  He turned and walked toward the door, his whole bearing brimming with arrogance and self-satisfaction. He thought he’d played the winning card, Kendra could see. He didn’t care that card was hideous and the stuff of her worst nightmares. Perhaps he had won, she was too shaken right now to tell. But she couldn’t let him leave this room with a complete victory.

  “Wait.” Kendra stepped toward Biers. “Take your errand boy with you, Dyle. If you intend to blind me again, I don’t want one of the last things I see to be this scum. I can’t stand to look at him.”

  Dyle turned. “Excuse me?”

  “Biers has been working with you.” She stared at Biers. “I don’t know for how long, but I’m guessing it’s been since before these three men left England. It’s how you were able to find Shaw and Waldridge so easily.”

  Waldridge’s gaze was narrowed on her face. “Kendra?”

  She nodded. “I’m sorry, Charles. You trusted the wrong man. Biers is in Dyle’s pocket. He’s playing you.”

  Dyle smiled. “What makes you say that, bitch?”

  “I know he’s been here before,” Kendra said. “He probably even set up this lab. For all your precautions with the hood over my head, I know we’re about ninety miles east of San Diego, somewhere in the Anzo-Borrego Desert.”

  “Interesting,” Dyle said. “I hadn’t heard that an uncanny sense of directions was among your gifts.”

  “It isn’t. Everyone who has walked in this room has been tracking in a coarse sand that is only found there, at least in this part of the country. The remains of thousands of years of underwater life. It’s very distinctive. There are granules wedged in the ridges above your soles.”

  Dyle looked down. “What does that have to do with—”

  “Biers had the same granules wedged in his shoes when I first met him. He’d already been out here.” She turned to Biers. “You wanted us to find you at your apartment. You knew Jessie would somehow be watching your place.”

  “That’s it?” Dyle said. “Sand?”

  “That, and Biers was the only other person who knew about the tracker that Jessie put in me.” She felt her hip. “It was cut out of me before I even woke up. He had to have told you. Or maybe he did it himself. Charles said someone who knew what he was doing did the stitches. Did you bring him in here to put more pressure on Waldridge? Another friend whom only he can save if he gives you what you want?”

  Waldridge looked at Biers with disgust. “Get on your feet, Hayden. You can stop the act now.”

  Still on his knees, Biers glanced at Dyle. Dyle gave Jaden an impatient gesture, and Jaden pulled Biers to his feet and cut the duct tape binding his wrists. Biers rubbed his wrists and brushed himself off before smiling at Kendra. “I did do the removal.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out the small disc. He showed her the tracker and the thin battery he’d removed from it. Then he slipped the items back in his pocket. “You’re lucky that Dyle told me to do it. You might have ended up with blood poisoning. Dyle’s men are good with knives, but not in that capacity. Not that it would have made much difference at this point.”

  “I trusted you,” Waldridge said to him. “Why?”

  “That was your mistake,” Dyle said. “Not everyone sees the world the same as you do, Waldridge.”

  Waldridge was still staring at Biers. “Shaw is dead because of you. As surely as if you pulled the trigger yourself.”

  Biers shook his head. “Shaw was a foolish old man. He sealed his own fate, just as you did. We were all partners in this project. Yes, you were the guiding force and held the patents. But you had no right to hijack it.”

  “You never told me you felt this way.”

  “Would it have changed anything?” Biers didn’t wait for a response. “Of course not. You would just have cut me out of your plans. I was better off with Dyle. He said that he’d make me a minor partner. Do you know how much money that will mean?”

  “May I
point out that your time is growing shorter with each passing word,” Dyle said as he glanced at Kendra. “Come along, Biers. I believe your colleague has some soul-searching to do.”

  Biers avoided Waldridge’s and Kendra’s eyes as he followed Dyle out of the lab. One of the guards followed him, but Jaden didn’t move, his gaze fixed on Kendra.

  She instinctively tensed. The ordeal wasn’t over. “What do you want, Jaden?”

  He smiled. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m glad you’re here. I was amused to see how you saw through Dyle’s little trick. I always knew you’d be clever. I was looking forward to the challenge of taking you out. But then Dyle changed his mind and robbed me of the pleasure.”

  “Changed his mind?”

  “When you were doing the publicity circuit all those years ago, Dyle was thinking that Waldridge might need a martyr scenario to drive him deeper into the Night Watch Project. The death of his pride and joy, supposedly committed by a hate group like the one who was fighting to make the government shut down the research? Anyway, you seemed to be the perfect candidate. He genuinely cared about you. But then Waldridge let you go about your merry way, and Dyle decided his commitment wasn’t strong enough to go through with it.” He smiled, his silver-gray eyes glowing with malice. “But that’s all changed now, hasn’t it?” He turned toward the door. “With an interesting variation. I wonder if Dyle will assign me to be the one who takes out your eyes…” A moment later, she heard the door lock behind him.

  Shock on top of shock. “Dear God, Charles. Eight years? Even that far back?”

  “I had suspicions, but no knowledge of this kind of … evil. I just didn’t like the feel of it. And I wanted you to be free to enjoy your life.”

  “And you let me go.”

  “It appears we were both lucky it was a joint decision.”

  “Yes … lucky.” Shock and revelations and that last confrontation with Biers and Dyle were taking their toll. She felt limp now, her knees trembling. What good had any of it done? The situation was still basically the same.