by Ike Hamill
“We’re going to the center,” Addison said.
Brook and Amelia exchanged a glance—it was Brook’s turn to engage with the crazy woman.
“Why?” Brook asked. “The machine is at the morgue.”
“The box is there,” Addison said. She struck off down the trail on the left. “The guts are down at the center. I took them down there when they moved the big batteries out of the hospital. Didn’t do any good to have the machine when it didn’t have the power to run. I stashed it in the cellar.”
The two younger woman fell in behind Addison and let her lead the way. She took a fairly direct path, all things considered. When they were almost in sight of the building, Addison turned unexpectedly once more. She ducked under a low branch and took a trail that the other two didn’t know about.
They cut through a hole in the tall fence and approached the shopping center from the rear. Addison slipped under a loading door that was stuck open. Brook and Amelia followed.
She walked through the dark with confidence, and ran into things every few seconds. The two young women hung back and then followed Addison by the sound. They caught up to her at a stairwell. It was lit by a hole in the wall. The sun shone down the stairs, into a dark puddle.
“Looks like it flooded,” Addison said. “Hope it’s okay.”
She led the way, splashing into the muck at the bottom of the stairwell.
Amelia dug a flashlight out of her pocket and cast a beam down before she stepped in the black soup. It was cold and soaked her half way up to her knees. Brook held the sample bag high as she followed. They saw Addison round a corner and hurried through the standing water to catch up.
“The smell,” Brook said.
They found Addison crashing her way into a room crowded with old furniture. Amelia’s light found her shoving a metal desk to the side.
“Get the lights, would you?” Addison asked.
Brook looked at the cord hanging near the wall. It came up out of the water and was tied to the dangling cord of an overhead fixture.
“Is it safe?” Brook asked.
“What’s safe?” Addison asked. She laughed.
Brook plugged in the fixture. It flickered to life. Amelia turned off her flashlight and sloshed down to where Addison had stopped. The guts of the machine were there, spread out on one of the metal desks.
“That’s good that the power is still on. That means we have a chance that this thing will still work too,” Addison said. “Either way, it’s good to get out of the house. I can’t remember the last time I had something interesting to do. Where’s that sample?”
“Why don’t you check the machine first,” Brook said. “I don’t want to ruin this sample if the thing is broken.”
“Honey, if this one doesn’t work, you’re never going to find another way to test that sample. This thing is your one and only chance. I haven’t had occasion to use it in twenty years, but I don’t know why it wouldn’t work.”
Amelia shrugged.
Brook untied the bag and then fished the soiled wrap from it. She pinched it between her index finger and thumb. Addison waved for it. When Brook handed it over, Addison brought it right up to her face to examine the blood and tissue stuck to the wrap.
“This was a hell of an injury,” Addison said. “What are we testing it for?”
“We want to make sure that the DNA is intact and hasn’t been changed,” Amelia said, coming forward. “Can you look at the bulk of the cells and then compare that to some of the outliers?”
Addison nodded. “Face?”
“Yeah. How did you know?”
“You can see part of an eye here. And it kinda looks like a face,” she said. She held the thing up vertically and they saw the ghostly image of Niren’s ruined face on it. Amelia shuddered. Addison laughed.
“I’ve seen a lot worse than this. Which part has the good stuff?” Addison asked.
“What?” Amelia asked.
“How am I supposed to know which is the good tissue and which is the part you think is modified?” Addison asked.
“We don’t care about that,” Amelia said. “We just want to know if there are two or more distinct patterns in there. If it’s not all one sequence, then we know that some has been modified.”
Addison looked skeptical. She held up the wrap to the light. “Of course there’s going to be more than one sample on here. It hasn’t been kept in a sterile environment. I’m breathing on it right now.”
Amelia closed her eyes and exhaled. “Big quantities. Throw out the tiny samples and just look for big chunks of different specimens. Can you do that?”
“Sure,” Addison said with a shrug. “That’s simple.”
Brook turned to Amelia and whispered, “Don’t get agitated. She’s going to do it.”
“Why would we trust her to come up with valid results? We shouldn’t have said what we were looking for. She’s just going to tell us what we want to hear so we’ll give her the detector that she wants,” Amelia whispered back.
Addison hummed while she worked. She unwrapped a tray of instruments and set the wrap down in the sample container. She began to pick through the disgusting tissue. When she pulled an interesting piece, she giggled or exclaimed.
Amelia rolled her eyes and pulled one of her soaked feet from the standing water. She and Brook took a seat on a desk so they wouldn’t get any more wet than they were. Meanwhile, Addison seemed oblivious to the conditions as she worked to prepare the test.
“It’s not going to get a false reading from the wrap itself, is it?” Brook asked.
Addison didn’t seem to hear the question.
Amelia answered. “Not after all this time. As soon as it comes in contact with skin, the wrap converts over to the host’s sequence. It only takes seconds.”
Brook nodded.
When Addison finally pushed the tray into the machine, Amelia sat up straight.
Addison turned. “Now we just have to wait.”
“How long does it take?” Brook asked.
“A while,” Addison said.
“Minutes? Hours?”
“A while.”
“Days?”
Addison shrugged and smiled. She tilted her head like she was looking at something particularly amusing and new. Brook and Amelia glanced at each other.
Amelia leaned towards Brook and whispered, “We should get out of here. I really don’t like the way this is going.”
Brook blinked and then nodded. They began to scoot forward so they could drop from the desk back into the black water. Their feet splashed down at roughly the same time.
“You’re not going to run off, are you? It’s going to be a while,” Addison said.
“Listen,” Brook said. “It was great to meet you and everything, but since you don’t know how long this is going to take, we really don’t have time to sit and wait for results. We will catch up with you later, okay?”
“You can give us the results then,” Amelia said.
“You can’t run off before we find out,” Addison said. She raised her hand. She was holding the end of a thick black cable. From the ragged insulation, they saw bare copper wires. Addison maintained the same wild, creepy smile. “If you guys try to run away before our deal is complete, I’m going to drop this live wire in the water and then we’ll all die down here. Understand?”
“Could that be true?” Brook asked Amelia.
“I doubt it,” Amelia said. “There is plenty of power here, but enough to hurt us at this distance? I don’t know. Seems like it would find a better path to ground than through us.”
Addison smiled. “Haven’t you ever seen those tall rubber boots that the techs wear when they’re cabling up a Q-battery? And that’s on dry ground. You’re not wearing tall rubber boots, are you?”
“She’s right about that,” Brook said.
“I think she’s bluffing. She doesn’t want to die over this deal,” Amelia said.
“I’ve been ready to die for a while,�
�� Addison said. She opened her mouth to say something else, but she was interrupted by a chime from the machine behind her. “Oh!” Addison said. She dropped the cable and turned. They watched as the copper end of the black cable tumbled from her hand and fell down into the dirty water. Nothing happened.
Amelia grabbed Brook’s arm and pulled her towards the door.
“Very interesting results,” Addison said. “Very interesting.”
Brook stopped and held Amelia back.
“You can’t be serious,” Amelia said. “You’re not going to listen to this lunatic after all that drama with the cable.”
“Relax,” Addison said, turning around. “I was just killing time. Come see what the machine found. I think I know what you two have been hiding.”
“What?” Brook asked.
Addison smiled and laughed again. She held up the result tape that the machine had spit out.
“I’ll trade you,” Addison said. “Where’s my detector?”
“We can get it,” Amelia said. “You just have to give us a little time. We have to sneak it out of inventory.”
Brook reached into the pocket of the pack she wore at her waist. She pulled out the device and flipped the switch. The light on it glowed green.
“You have to get your own batteries,” Brook said. “What’s on the tape?”
“See for yourself,” Addison said. She held it at arm’s length. The two women approached each other slowly.
When they got close enough, Brook snatched the tape and tossed the detector at Addison. The old woman juggled it and then caught it before it could fall down into the murky water.
“What does it mean?” Brook asked. She held the tape close to her face to read the small writing.
Amelia leaned in close.
“This can’t be right,” Amelia said. “He’s younger than me. Several years younger.”
“The machine doesn’t lie,” Addison said. “Look at the signatures. It’s all accurate.”
“Can’t be,” Amelia said. “I’ve known him his whole life.”
“What?” Brook asked. “What does it say?”
Amelia looked at her. She looked Brook in the eyes and then shook her head. “It has to be a mistake.”
“There’s no mistake. Run that checksum against the database if you want. You’ll see,” Addison said. She waved her new device in front of herself as she began to wade through the water towards the exit. She had a big smile on her face as she laughed at her new toy.
“Just tell me,” Brook said. She shook Amelia by the arms.
“It’s not just some of the cells, it’s all of them. It says that Niren is an Optioner,” Amelia said.
# # # # #
They ran down trails that led directly to Kappa Three. They ignored all the protocols that they’d spent a lifetime adhering to. At the moment, there was nothing more important than getting back to their lab. Even their own safety took a back seat.
They only paused when the building was in sight. They stood at the edge of the woods to make sure that nobody was watching the place. They couldn’t afford to be seen entering Building Three.
“I never believed it,” Amelia said as she panted. “I was only in favor of doing the tests to prove that it was a silly idea.”
“We have our proof,” Brook said. “There’s nobody watching. Let’s go.”
They swept their eyes up and down the old broken street one more time and then they sprinted. They ran right for the door with the breach seal on it. Brook pulled it open and they both stepped inside.
As the door shut out the afternoon sun, darkness and silence fell around them. Their basement lab was as quiet as a tomb.
“Caleb?” Brook called. Her voice echoed in the darkness.
“Hold on,” Amelia said. She pulled out her light. She swept the beam around the space. They saw the terminals and consoles set up from their last test.
Amelia spun around, suddenly sure that something was sneaking up on them.
“Caleb?” Brook whispered.
Brook found a light and the two women began to slowly explore the lab. They toggled the switch, but the lights wouldn’t come on.
“A surge must have taken out the power,” Amelia said as she consulted the panel.
Brook pointed her light towards the room where they had left Niren. They moved in that direction.
Side by side, they stopped in the doorway.
Niren’s bed was empty. The sheets were covered in blood.
Amelia exhaled slowly.
Chapter 23
{Meeting}
“WE REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR time,” Harper said, “but could we speak to you alone?”
To the right of Cleo’s desk, the man stood with his hands clasped at his waist. He looked straight ahead, but seemed to be ready for anything that might happen.
Cleo glanced up at the man.
“He’s my assistant. He’s like my auxiliary brain. If you can say it to me, you can say it in front of Carter.”
Elijah and Harper were seated.
Madelyn and Jacob stood near the wall—they were the newcomers. Their faces weren’t as well known in the city and they hadn’t established relationships. They left the talking up to the other two.
“Okay,” Harper said. “We think there is a conspiracy going on, and we’re afraid of what it might mean for Fairbanks.”
Cleo barely reacted. She blinked at the word “conspiracy” but her face didn’t betray any emotion at the idea. Carter stood like a statue. He appeared to be barely breathing.
“Specifically, we think Ryan is up to something,” Elijah said. “He has a team led by Caleb. They’re dealing with an outside trader named David. We don’t know what he’s collecting for them, but it seems to be pretty dangerous and nobody knows about it. We know that David will kill to keep his secrets.”
“And another group, that we suspect worked for Ryan, was running some kind of strange machine at one of the bases in Kappa Three. That whole area was supposed to be off-limits because it was infested. But before they ran the containment experiment, Ryan’s men were in there setting up some strange device.”
Cleo glanced at one then the other.
“Evidence?” she asked.
Elijah handed over the stick. “This is a copy of video from the apartment in Kappa Three where Liam gave his life. This video comes from well before Liam’s involvement. You can see the men setting up their equipment. At the very least, Ryan should answer for why he sent civilians in to die if he had a way of getting in and out of Kappa Three safely.”
Cleo loaded the stick into her console. She waved Carter over to watch the video with her.
“It’s hard to see exactly what’s going on,” Cleo said.
“But you can see the time code,” Elijah said.
“And how do we know these men are a part of Ryan’s group?”
“We’d rather not say at the moment.”
Cleo pushed back from her desk and folded her fingers together beneath her chin. She looked down as she thought about their case.
“What evidence do you have of this man you call David?”
“Dave,” Madelyn said. “I saw him with my own eyes. I’m one of the people he tried to kill.”
“He was unsuccessful, I take it?” Cleo asked.
“I’m not easy to kill,” Madelyn said.
Cleo thought for another moment. “I’m sure you realize that Ryan has to be able to act with some autonomy. If he were to bring every decision and every piece of information to me, neither of us would be very effective at our jobs.”
“When people’s lives are put at risk,” Elijah said, “we all deserve to be informed, don’t we? You called a special meeting to discuss the containment experiments, and you outlined why it was necessary that people risk their lives for the chance to create a safe harbor. If those lives were lost unnecessarily, shouldn’t we all know why?”
“You were friends with Liam?” Cleo asked.
Elijah nodded.
>
“I’m not establishing that to diminish what you’re saying,” Cleo said. “Forget I asked. Are you willing to bring these questions to Ryan at a public forum?”
“Of course,” Harper said. “These are questions that we believe everyone should have answers to.”
“I can’t guarantee you answers,” Cleo said. “But I think you’ve made a strong case for why you should be able to ask the questions. We’ll put out a notice for a public forum tomorrow. I suggest that you, Elijah, bring forward the question about the apartment. You can show your video and ask for an explanation. Madelyn, do you have any other witnessnesses to this Dave character?”
“Yes,” Madelyn said. “Dave tried to kill Logan as well. He was trading with Caleb. I think we should put the question to Caleb too.”
“Let’s start with Ryan and see if it leads down to Caleb. Perhaps the young man was only operating on orders from Ryan.”
Madelyn shrugged.
Cleo pushed away from her desk and stood.
“Thank you for your courage,” Cleo said. “We’ll find out more tomorrow.”
# # # # #
“I say we all hide tonight,” Elijah said, once they were back outside.
“You think he knows that we’re going to accuse him?” Jacob asked.
“He has people everywhere,” Elijah said. “I know that much. We hide tonight and we pack up what we’ll need in case we have to disappear tomorrow.”
“Or we disappear now,” Madelyn said. “We did our duty. We alerted Cleo to the issue. She’s going to call a public forum. We could let someone else accuse Ryan.”
“Who?” Jacob asked.
“Who cares?” Madelyn asked. She pointed to Elijah. “You said that if Cleo didn’t give us a straight answer, then we would know that the whole group is rotten.”
“I think she did give us a straight answer,” Harper said.
“Maybe,” Madelyn said. “But she didn’t seem to know anything about what Ryan was up to. She seemed surprised by the whole thing. Isn’t that just as bad? Do you want to stick around to find out what happens when a conniving commander is backed into a corner?”
