The sand and dust kicked up by the cars fell to the ground. It left Ann Marie in a short-lived silence that broke with the smack and sizzle of a wave. Tilting her head back, she stared up to the top of the hill. The lights in The Asylum were dim except at the very top. The building looked like a bizarre lighthouse, beaming out a faint red glow. She wondered about the source of the light.
She had read on one of the internet conspiracy websites that Harkenrider lived at the top of the lab but that seemed unlikely to her. A man so high up in a major corporation would at least have a home of some kind.
It suddenly struck her that she had no one to call. Her mom was likely in the hot tub by then, she figured. There wasn’t enough money left in her wallet for another expensive cab ride all the way back to Lakewood. Even after working full time, all the expenses and her mom’s spending habits had them living nearly paycheck to paycheck. She had no friends, no one her own age. Then she felt nearly crushed by the idea that she didn’t even have that back home. As she stood all alone in that parking lot by the beach, it all seemed so overwhelming.
The only thing she could think to do was dial the number for the security booth at the lab. As she dialed, she found herself hoping to get the Sheriff on the phone. When he picked up after the first ring, she experienced an immediate relief.
“You OK, little lady?” The Sheriff asked her.
“No,” she said. “Yeah, I guess. I’m sorry, Sheriff. I’m fine. It’s just that I’ve had a rough night with my mom and I’m kinda stranded.”
“Sounds like you need some help.”
“Yeah,” she said as she realized she was starting to cry. “I kinda do.” She covered her phone so the Sheriff wouldn’t hear.
“We can send a company vehicle right over, honey. Wherever you are, we’ll come get you.”
“Do you think I could talk to Dade, I mean Doctor Harkenrider, just for a minute.”
“Well, honey, I don’t know.”
“I understand,” she said before starting to get choked up again. “I know he’s busy. I don’t want to bother him.” By that point, her crying was obvious to the Sheriff on the other end of the line. “I don’t want to bother anyone. I’m sorry, Sheriff.”
“Listen, honey, you got nothing to be sorry for. I’m really happy you called me. You can call me absolutely any time. Remember that. Now, I’ll put you right through to Dade and we’ll work on getting you home safe.” He transferred her and she counted eight rings before the call went through.
“Are you in danger?” Harkenrider asked her.
“No, but I could really use a ride home.”
“I’ll come get you.”
“Don’t you want to know where I am?”
“No need. You’re near the bottom of the hill at The Pink Pelican.”
“How do you know?”
“I can hear the sound of the ocean in the background. Based on the audible frequency dispersion, I can determine your height above the water and a general map of the terrain. Also, the Sheriff and I are tracking your phone.”
He hung up.
Dade’s truck, Asylum One, made it down the hill a few minutes later. Ann Marie was sitting on a large piece of driftwood that was used to mark the entrance to the Pink Pelican parking lot. The strange matte-black vehicle made a breathy hum, something like the inside of a tornado. It looked like a six-wheeled battering ram used to break through a brick wall in a hostage crisis. It was odd that the prototype assault vehicle brought her a warm feeling of security. It was like spotting a familiar face on the first day of school.
Dade opened the door to the back compartment, where he was working on one of the three large computers screens inside. Ann Marie was still getting used to the fact that the truck drove itself. The computer-drive allowed Harkenrider even more time to tinker with his drone designs and develop new chemical recipes. Wearing his sunglasses even at that time of night, he took his attention away from the screen and looked at her in a way that could only be interpreted as protective.
“Thank you for picking me up,” she said to him.
“Your thanks are not necessary. Are you certain you’re not in danger?”
“I’m pretty certain, I guess.” She got inside and faced him across the back compartment.
“Dr. Bandini,” Dade said to her, “granted I’m not a father but I don’t think it’s ideal for an underage girl to be waiting outside of a bar all by herself.”
“You’re really nice to pick me up.”
“Of course.”
Harkenrider’s autonomous vehicle pulled out of the restaurant parking lot and started the remainder of its descent down the hill to Los Angeles. The lights in the valley twinkled below them. Harkenrider seemed to study his young passenger. He asked, “What were you doing stranded at The Pink Pelican? Don’t you and your mom live all the way in Lakewood?”
“She loves the beach and wanted to have dinner in Palos Verdes,” said Ann Marie, looking quite bothered at that moment. “I thought I could meet her after work. I thought we could spend some time together.”
“That didn’t work out?”
“She got drunk and left me. Left me for some assholes.”
Dade nodded as though he understood even more than she had communicated. “I see,” he said.
“Does this car have music?” asked Ann Marie with her voice cracking and tears starting to force their way out of her eyes.
“Of course.”
“Can you put on some rap music?”
Dade Harkenrider addressed the computer-controlled vehicle by saying, “Asylum One, music, ThugLUV, debut album, Killadelphia, track one.” He looked to her, saying, “I saw your poster. It’s what you like, right?”
“Can you take off your sunglasses.”
“Does that mean the audio track is acceptable?”
“I want to see your eyes,” she told him. “It’s weird that you wear those things all the time. What are you, some kind of jazz musician?” She was surprised at herself and immediately regretted the snideness of her remark. “I’m sorry,” she told him. “I’m just upset. You’re helping me out. If you want to wear sunglasses around everyone, it’s your thing. I get it.”
Harkenrider slipped his glasses down his nose. Suddenly she was staring directly into his big, haunted eyes. They communicated, she thought, a beautiful mixture of sadness and determination. There was something profoundly childlike about Dade Harkenrider. He looked like a boy on a mission, trapped in a body built for combat.
She couldn’t take her eyes from his face. She felt something she could only describe as mildly hypnotic, a lightness starting in her temples and fanning out across her entire body. It felt like the beginning of a more pleasant cousin to vertigo. It was subtle but enough to make her put her head back against the headrest.
Harkenrider put his glasses back on and the sensations went away. Ann Marie decided to chalk it up to overdosing that evening on diet cokes. She leaned her further back in her seat and tried to forget that she was going home. When they reached the front of her apartment building, she didn’t want to get out of the car. They waited for a few minutes before Dade asked her if she was upset.
“I wish it was tomorrow already,” she said before finally stepping out and walking to her front door.
...
Early the following morning, her mother stumbled through the front door of the apartment. She woke Ann Marie, who had fallen asleep on the couch while waiting up. “I’m so sorry, baby,” Lori said, trying not to let too much morning light flood the room. “I’m so sorry about last night.” She knelt down next to the couch and ran her fingers through Ann Marie’s hair. “I should never have left my baby. I owe you such an apology.”
“It’s OK. I’ll live.”
“I also have to say sorry about one other thing too.”
“What?”
“You’re going to be mad.”
“What is it?”
“I los
t the rental car.”
“You what!” Ann Marie shouted as she threw the covers off and started to run to the bathroom to get ready. “I have to call a cab! Again! It was costing a fortune. You were supposed to drive me today. I’m never gonna be able to get to work on time!” She dialed her phone and ordered the cab, which she was told would take forty minutes to arrive.
Lori told her, “I’m the one that had to figure out the damn bus system with the worst headache. Let me tell you the public transportation system in LA sucks a big one compared to Philly.”
“Fine,” said Ann Marie, running out of the bathroom and tucking in her blouse. “Did you at least report the car stolen or call the rental place?”
“Well, I don’t know that it was stolen. I think I just forgot exactly where I parked it. This city is big.”
“Fine,” she said as she opened the door to leave. “I’ll do that along with everything else.”
“Why are you leaving now? Don’t you have to wait for a cab?”
“I’ll just sit out and wait on the steps,” said Ann Marie, slamming the door.
After the taxi finally arrived and dropped her off at the laboratory guard booth, she ran into the Sheriff. He apparently had important news. “I’m so sorry I’m late,” she told him. “Car trouble.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. Got something special to show you,” he said. “Why don’t you follow me?”
He took her to a large garage by the Asylum Laboratory loading dock. Inside, there were various cars and military vehicles being worked on by the machines. Steel robotic arms hummed as they moved parts around. Sparks erupted from the torches on the welding robots. In the far corner of the garage, Ann Marie noticed six-wheeled Asylum One.
“Follow me,” The Sheriff told her.
He brought her to a staging area in the back, where several small robots were buffing up a sleek, white sedan. It was exactly the make and model that she had been eyeing since she graduated with her PhD. The robots seemed to be putting the finishing touches on polishing it.
“What’s this for?” She asked.
“It’s for you, silly goose,” he told her. “Do you think I would walk you way the hell over here just to show you a car I’m keeping for myself?”
“I don’t understand,” said Ann Marie. “I can’t really afford this yet. My mom and I are still saving.”
“Dade had everything taken care of. It’s the one you wanted, right?”
“Yeah,” she answered, looking even more confused. “How did he know what I liked so exactly?”
“Beats me,” said the Sheriff. “He just said that you needed this, called me this morning to make sure it gets delivered. My job is done.”
“Thank you,” she said. “Even though that isn’t enough for a present like this.”
“It isn’t that big of a deal, kid. One way or another, you make this company a ton of money. Believe me, they aren’t gonna feel it. I’m also the wrong person to be thanking.”
“I would thank him but I hardly ever see him.”
“Yes, ma’m. Dade is indeed a tough man to pin down.”
“Where does he go all the time?”
The Sheriff seemed hesitant to answer the question. “Well,” he said, “I would imagine he’s around the lab somewhere.”
“I never see him around.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, honey,” he said almost defensively. “Whatever it is, knowing Dade, I’m sure it’s high tech. That’s all I know.”
Ann Marie was immediately struck by the thought the Sheriff was lying to her. “That red hallway,” she started to probe, “the one that I’m not allowed into, that takes you to where Dade lives. Doesn’t it?”
“Aww, honey. I’m sure you could just call him if you really need him. I don’t think you need to go looking around in that hallway.”
“Why?” she argued. “Am I forbidden?”
“No. Of course you’re not forbidden. It’s just...” he started to say. He took off his blue cowboy hat. “It’s just that Dade is a very private man.”
“So he lives up there?”
“Kid, you’re killing me.”
“Just tell me,” she said. “Are the internet rumors right? Does Dade live at the top of the lab?”
The Sheriff didn’t answer right away but his expression told her everything she needed to know. He ran his thumb and forefinger across the span of his ivory mustache. Then he shot a glance toward the ceiling. “He’s up there,” he finally admitted.
“I didn’t think I could access that area.”
“You can. There’s a special freight elevator down the red hallway. It’ll take you right up.”
“I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
“Don’t worry about me, kid. After thirty years or so, I’m pretty sure I have job security. Besides, it would do Dade some good to have a visitor once in a while.”
“Doesn’t he have family that visits?”
Suddenly, something in The Sheriff’s face changed. The ends of his mustache twitched and the edges of his mouth collapsed. He had been hit by some flash of horror. The terrible glimmer seemed to leave a deathly imprint on his face. Ann Marie immediately regretted asking.
He answered, “I’m afraid I’m all the family Dade has.” Just before she left, he gave her a strange set of instructions. He said, “When you go down that red hallway and get to the elevator, don’t freak out. Nothing’s gonna hurt you. Just get inside.”
...
Later that day, Ann Marie found the red hallway and began her march to the elevator. Something ahead was moving but it was too difficult to identify in the dim lighting. At first, she thought it was a guard dog pacing back and forth in front of the elevator doors. A strange sound echoed down the hallway as well. It sounded like a metallic click-clack, like big claws on the floor.
It was odd enough to stop her in her tracks for a moment. She pushed herself to walk a little further. The doors to the elevator started to become clear in the red lights. She took a few more steps. The click-clack sound was gone.
Just then, something lunged at her. It appeared so quickly and the light was so dim that the thing was a merely a blur. Ann Marie immediately panicked and ran away so fast that her shoes nearly came off in the process. When she got back to the white lights of the safe hallway, she remembered what the Sheriff had told her: Don’t freak out.
She marched back down the hall. Whatever the thing was, it was waiting for her in the same spot. About the size of a golden retriever, it had eight metal legs and dozens of flashing red lasers for eyes. The insect-like machine looked like it had been inspired by a scorpion or preying mantis. It had a segmented polished metal tail that looked like it could shred through a chainsaw. The end was barbed with what had to be a powerful laser. She knew it had to be one of the corporation’s DeathStalker drones.
The titanium insect clicked and clacked its legs on the floor as it scanned her. She just looked at the beast and said, “I’m Ann Marie. It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. DeathStalker.”
The thing didn’t get in her way at all as she walked through the elevator doors.
She pressed the button and another ruby red laser beamed down from the ceiling and scanned her. “Welcome Doctor Bandini,” said the computerized voice.
The elevator climbed to the very top of the Asylum. When the doors opened, Ann Marie noticed a rather large, grey house cat staring at her and purring. The cat meowed at her before running off. She stepped into a bright open space, surrounded by large windows, computer monitors and shelves filled with strange-looking technology.
She called for Dade Harkenrider but got no response.
The place contained some of the normal things one would expect to find in a laboratory. She noticed a large fume hood, filled with a complex apparatus of glass tubing and heating elements. Half-built prototypes and parts of DeathStalker metal exoskeletons were everywhere. There were several sophisticated
computer workstations as well as a whole factory’s share of electronics. Most of it looked built by hand. Dade’s home definitely looked like the hangout for a technical wizard.
She noticed another cat across the room. This one seemed interested in something strange, a piece of equipment that Ann Marie couldn’t even begin to identify. When she walked over to the thing, two more cats, one orange and one calico, were facing the object. All the felines seemed quite fascinated with whatever it was.
An enormous cylinder as black as a tank of crude oil, the thing was tall enough to climb from the floor to the ceiling of the lab. The black monolith was nearly as wide as a small bathroom. When Ann Marie got close, she could hear what sounded like the flow of water inside. There was a complex looking instrument rack next to the thing. Ann Marie puzzled over some of the odd buttons, switches and indicators. Temperature, salinity, oxygen content, and pH were all being monitored.
One big, bright red button, marked: Stop Sequence, got her attention. She called out again for Dade Harkenrider. There was no answer. Something was telling her to press the red button. She tapped it and at first, nothing happened.
Then the massive black cylinder started to turn transparent.
Ann Marie almost fell backward when she saw Dade Harkenrider’s nearly naked body suspended in the middle of the thing. His eyes were closed and he looked like a preserved brain floating in formaldehyde. He had to have been dead, she thought. However, as she took a step closer to the tank, she could see his chest rising and falling. He was breathing the liquid somehow. He was alive in there.
Dozens of postage-stamp-sized sensor pads were stuck to his floating body. Tiny wires connected them to what looked like a set of black underwear. His arms and shoulders were thicker and stronger than she would have ever imagined. His body looked built to destroy. Not even the tiniest muscle fiber from his toes to his ears had been left unmagnified. Harkenrider’s entire body looked like a device engineered for war. She got closer to the tank and stared at his face. With his eyes closed, his face still had the haunted quality that she saw before.
Ann Marie's Asylum (Master and Apprentice Book 1) Page 4
