Natural Selection

by Dave Freedman

  “How can you possibly have all that?”

  Ackerman didn’t answer. He just stood calmly on the massive deck. Jason saw he wasn’t bluffing. Somehow, he actually had everything he said he did.

  Ackerman checked the Roman numerals on his wrist. “It will be satisfying to finally be recognized by the business community for my accomplishments.”

  “The business community? Will the business community even care, Harry? I mean, about you? Don’t they pretty much see you as an Internet joke who got lucky?”

  The cold eyes blinked. “We’ll see. Take me to court if you like. Your employment is terminated. Take your letters, take your addendum. And get off my boat.”

  A dismissal on top of everything else. Something snapped in Jason then. He stepped toward Ackerman, his face literally an inch from the man’s nose. “Now you’re being rude?”

  Ackerman didn’t move. Jason suddenly looked frightening, his face a combination of unadulterated fury and calculating composure. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

  Jason grabbed his hand. “Come with us.”

  Ackerman tried to pull his hand back—but couldn’t.

  “Learn to fire a rifle, come out in the forest. See for yourself what’s out there.”

  Ackerman tugged his hand but couldn’t pull away. “Go to hell.”

  Jason squeezed very tight. “You’re a coward.”

  “I’m a multimillionaire.”

  Jason continued to squeeze. “Can’t buy pride as easily as a yacht, can you?”

  “Save the nobility speeches; they bore me.”

  Jason squeezed the hand tighter still. “You should pay attention to the nobility speeches.”

  Ackerman squirmed in pain. “You’re hurting my hand.”

  Jason’s eyes bored into him. “You’re hurting my feelings.” He released the hand.

  “You’ll be sorry you did that.”

  Jason went to him menacingly. “No, I won’t.”

  As Ackerman cowered, Jason noticed his laptop. Did his computer have something to do with this? Then he climbed off the massive boat and boarded the Expedition. He had to tell the others right away. As the boat pulled out, he looked up at the sky.

  Off in the distance, he thought he saw a tiny puff of white. Is that a cloud? If the clouds were rolling in, perhaps the fog wasn’t far behind. As he left the dock, he eyed the distant puff once more. He wasn’t sure, but he thought it had already moved closer.

  THE BLACK eyes didn’t move. They were watching the cloud too.

  The creature had been watching the cloud for more than an hour, since it first appeared on the horizon. At the mouth of the cave, the winged body was sprawled out on the rock, the back half shaded, the front half exposed in direct sunlight. The animal was uncomfortable with the heat on its thick skin, but it was too preoccupied with the cloud to move. The eyes refocused. The distant spot of white was moving closer.

  CHAPTER 68

  “LISA.” JASON looked around. “Do you know where Darryl and Monique are?”

  Jason, Lisa, and Phil were on the edge of the parking lot, submerged in the redwoods’ late-day shadows.

  “They went to check the forest again. The clouds started coming in, so Darryl said they might be a while. I tried them on the walkie-talkie earlier, but they must be out of range.”

  Jason nodded. “Has Craig’s equipment produced any readings?”

  “Not one.” She looked around. “Where is Craig anyway?”

  “In the cabin, checking on something for me.”

  She pointed. “Well, here he comes.”

  “Excuse me. . . .” Jason walked toward Craig, out of earshot from Lisa and Phil. Jason had told Summers alone about Ackerman’s betrayal, then asked him to check into something. “You find anything?”

  Craig nodded sadly. “I sure did.”

  “How’s it look?”

  “Lousy, Jason. It looks lousy.”

  Jason looked crushed by this. “Really?”

  “The evidence is glaring. I’m sorry.”

  Jason exhaled, his eyes hardening. “All right, let’s do this inside. I’ll meet you in there.”

  Craig walked away and Jason returned to Lisa and Phil.

  “What’s up?” Lisa said, immediately suspicious.

  “Harry Ackerman fired me. Fired all of us. He’s taking our data and presenting it to the Species Council as his own. Apparently, his businesses need a great deal of capital fast, and he’s found a way to profit from our work very handsomely.”

  “Very bad.” Lisa was dumbfounded. “I don’t believe it.”

  Jason nodded, noticing Phil didn’t look particularly upset. Nor surprised. Jason’s face turned deathly cold. “Let’s go inside. I want to discuss this further.”

  In the living room, the three sat silently when Craig entered—carrying Phil’s open laptop.

  “Hey, what the hell are you doing with that, Craig?”

  Craig ignored Phil Martino, passing the two monitors on the hearth then placed the laptop in front of Jason.

  “I said, what are you doing with my machine?”

  Craig pivoted. “Checking up on you.”

  Jason turned like a hawk. “You got a problem with that, Phil?”

  The look on Jason’s face was downright frightening. Phil Martino didn’t move, didn’t breathe. “Of course not.”

  Jason faced Lisa. “Before Ackerman could steal our work, he had to get it somehow. So what do we have here, Craig?”

  “E-mails. More than five hundred back and forth over the past few months.”

  Lisa’s eyes narrowed. “E-mails between? . . .”

  Craig turned. “Phil and Harry Ackerman. Phil’s been sending him every stitch of information we have. See, Jason? See these attachments? That’s your outline to the Species Council. Draft one, draft two . . . draft eleven. And remember how he volunteered to type all of our notes? . . . There’s mine on GDV-4, Monique’s on migration, Lisa’s on the plankton . . . There are all his pictures . . . Transcripts of our conversations . . . Oh, and these four . . . That’s Lisa’s e-mail from the Okezie Center . . . Mike Cohen’s write-up on the teeth . . . there’s York’s on GDV-4 . . . and last but not least, Bandar Vishakeratne’s on the brain.”

  “Jesus.” Lisa was flabbergasted.

  Craig nodded. “Ackerman wasn’t kidding. He has everything.”

  Devastated, Jason turned. “My God, Phil, why? Why did you do it?”

  Phil’s eyes shifted slightly, and he diddled his thumbs together. He said nothing.

  “Let me show you why.” Craig scrolled down. “See this e-mail he sent to Ackerman with the subject ‘salary increase’?”

  Jason leaned forward. “Oh my God.”

  “Ackerman doubled his salary in exchange for his services.”

  Jason shook his head. “And to think I had problems trusting people.” He abruptly turned to Craig and Lisa, like he wondered if they’d been lying to him, too. Was Phil smart enough to do all this by himself?

  Reading his mind, Craig gave him a filthy look. “Jesus, Jason, Phil did this by himself.”

  “Of course he did.” Jason was suddenly embarrassed.

  Craig just took a deep breath and continued. “Anyway, here’s the real kicker. The son of a bitch wanted to be Ackerman’s only listed researcher on his report to the Species Council. But then Ackerman refused. Said that since all of us were physically with Phil the entire time, it might allow us to establish that we actually did the work. But you thought of a way around that, didn’t you, Phil?”

  Phil looked even more nervous. “What are you talking about?”

  “You figured if somehow something happened to all of us, you could get that title after all. Without any . . . encumbrances.”

  “Wait a second.” Jason gave Craig a look. “I don’t believe that.”

  Lisa shook her head. “Neither do I. That’s ridiculous, Craig.”

  “You sure? Because I went over some of the ‘accidents’ we’ve had late
ly, and you know what I realized? Phil was involved in every single one of them. Remember when you almost drowned, Jason?”

  “Phil had nothing to do with that. He wasn’t even in the water with us.”

  “He was alone on the boat with your scuba gear. I personally checked that tank half an hour before we went down. It was filled. Then all of a sudden when you’re at a depth of a hundred and eighty feet and it’s empty? He almost shot me during rifle practice. And then there was that convenient little . . . miscommunication with Lisa and Monique. No way in hell was every one of those a goddamn accident. It stinks, all of it.”

  Jason turned to Phil. They all did.

  Phil looked back at them incredulously. “You gotta be kidding me. Jason, you don’t actually believe all that, do you?”

  Jason just looked at him, horrified. He couldn’t respond.

  “Lisa? I’ll admit, maybe I got confused, but do you think I’d intentionally try to hurt you and Monique?”

  Lisa turned. “You don’t have any evidence he did this, do you, Craig?”

  Phil nodded with angry vigor. “No, he doesn’t. Nothing even close to evidence.”

  “This isn’t a goddamn trial, Lisa. He did it; we all know he did it.”

  “No, we all don’t. He’s a scumbag, Craig, I don’t deny that, but a murderer?”

  Craig suddenly looked exhausted. “What’s it matter anyway? Ackerman’s got every stitch of our work, and he’s a goddamn lawyer. We’re done.”

  “Maybe we can call our own lawyer.” Lisa swallowed. “Especially for Monique and Darryl’s sake.”

  Summers paused. Monique and Darryl. They didn’t know about any of this, but both of their salaries had just disappeared. What would that do to their family planning? “We should call a lawyer. . . .” Craig picked up the phone, but there was no dial tone and he suddenly lost it. “Son of a bitch!” He whipped it against the wall, smashing it to bits. Then he exhaled, calming down. “Lisa, can I borrow your walkie-talkie to call them? I promise not to smash it.”

  She handed it to him warily.

  He pressed the button. “Monique, Darryl. You guys out there? Monique, Darryl, come in.”

  Monique’s voice crackled back immediately. “Hello—can—hear—” It cut out.

  Craig pressed the button again. “Monique, you hear me? Monique?”

  There was no response.

  “Monique? Hello? Can you hear me?”

  There was nothing.

  “They must be out of range.” Craig turned to Jason. “I wonder what they’re up to out there.”

  Jason looked out the window. It was much cloudier now. “Me too.”

  MONIQUE CLIPPED the walkie-talkie to her belt. “We must be out of range.”

  Darryl Hollis didn’t respond. He just studied the forest, his eyes slowly moving.

  The late-afternoon light was dull and faded now, the air cool, almost cold. Little drops of dew were everywhere—on the bark of the redwoods, the leaves of ferns, the dirt—even on Darryl’s knuckles. They’d been here for hours.

  He watched a squirrel. A moment ago, the rodent had been scampering everywhere looking for food. Now it was frozen, perched on its hind legs and staring into the distance. It looked frightened.

  Darryl looked up. Just below the canopy of treetops a very thin, wispy mist appeared. The fog was rolling in.

  Darryl turned to his wife and suddenly looked concerned, even frightened. “We gotta be careful. As in ‘get scared’ careful.”

  She looked him dead in the eye. “I understand, Darryl.”

  He kissed her full on the lips.

  They didn’t say another word. They walked back quickly.

  CHAPTER 69

  “JASON?”

  Alone in his bedroom, Jason turned around. Lisa was at the door. “Hey. Are Darryl and Monique back yet?”

  She walked in. “No.”

  “What’s Craig up to?”

  “Checking the computer. I guess that co-location switch is in and out, so the server might be back up again.” She stared at him, not lovingly. “Craig was right, wasn’t he?”

  “About what?”

  “You thought he helped Phil. You thought I helped Phil.”

  “Lisa, don’t be ridicu—”

  “I saw it in your face!” She was suddenly teary. “You thought I helped that pig deliberately deceive all of us.”

  He exhaled. “For just a second, maybe I did.” He gently touched her face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to doubt you. I know you had nothing to do with it. Not a thing.”

  “Then why’d you think I did?”

  “Lisa, what Phil did . . . I guess it just stirred up all those old insecurities again.” He looked her dead in the eye. “Not being able to trust you is my worst nightmare.”

  She smiled through teary eyes. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  She hugged him. “Don’t do it again.”

  “Deal.” The hug broke. “Did I tell you today’s my birthday?”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  “Honestly, with everything that’s been going on, I forgot about it.” He grimaced. “It’s been such a great birthday already.”

  “The day’s not over, Jason.”

  He smiled weakly. “I’m sure something great’s on the horizon.” He shrugged. “I’ve never been a huge fan of birthdays anyway.”

  “Speak for yourself, mister.” She smiled wide and smacked him a huge kiss. “Happy birthday!”

  He smiled himself—inside more than out. It had been years since someone had wished him a happy birthday and actually meant it. “Thank you, Lisa.”

  “I would have baked a cake if I’d known.”

  “I’m sure Darryl and Craig have one in the oven already.”

  She chuckled.

  Then her smile faded, and she went to the window. “Are we still going to get out there and find that thing?”

  “I don’t know if Darryl and—”

  “If it’s up to you, do we still go out there and find it?”

  “Are you OK if we do that?”

  “I don’t know exactly.” She looked outside. “But what Monique said is exactly right: this animal is literally history in the making. How can we not try to find something like that?”

  “I had no idea you felt that way. I just assumed—”

  “I’m in this for the long haul, Jason.”

  He held her look. “So am I.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  “If that’s the case, then you’ve got to start trusting everybody around here. Especially Darryl.”

  “I do trus—”

  “I mean for real, Jason. The stage we’re heading into . . . this is going to get dangerous.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?”

  She eyed the floor. “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way.”

  “Take what the wrong way?”

  “You’re not qualified to lead us anymore. You are a biologist, too, and what we’re about to get into . . . It isn’t your area. You’re going to have to trust these people. I mean with your life. With our lives. But only if you can. Because if you can’t—I mean if you can’t really, truly trust them, their judgment, let them make the decisions, not you, then we should walk away from this right now. After everything Phil did, I wouldn’t blame you.”

  “Are you saying you don’t think I can trust them? Like I’m literally not capable of it?”

  She held his gaze. “You tell me.”

  “SERVER CONNECTED.”

  The message had first appeared a few minutes ago, and Craig had been surfing the Internet since.

  Ding. The computer toned, indicating an incoming e-mail.

  Ding. Another e-mail.

  Ding. Another.

  Ding. One more.

  Craig glanced at the machine. “What’s going on here?”

  He minimized his Web site and pulled up the e-mail program. Ding . . . Ding . . . Ding . . . Ding . . . Ding . . . Ding
. . . E-mails were rushing into the in-box, ten, twenty, one hundred . . . and they kept coming, fast. . . . Every one of them was from Harry Ackerman. “What the hell is this?”

  Jason entered the living room with Lisa. “What’s going on?”

  “Looks like Ackerman’s machine must have a virus. . . .” The e-mails were rushing in even faster now, hundreds, even thousands of them. “Maybe a really bad one.”

  Jason walked over and looked down. “Look at the subject on all of them, Craig.”

  Summers leaned in. Over and over the same e-mail rushed into the in-box.

  HAVE VIRUS, REWRITABLE CDS CORRUPTED.

  RESEND ALL DATA!!

  HAVE VIRUS, REWRITABLE CDS CORRUPTED.

  RESEND ALL DATA!!

  HAVE VIRUS, REWRITABLE CDS CORRUPTED.

  RESEND ALL DATA!!

  HAVE VIRUS, REWRITABLE CDS CORRUPTED.

  RESEND ALL DATA!!

  HAVE VIRUS, REWRITABLE CDS CORRUPTED.

  RESEND ALL DATA!!

  HAVE VIRUS, REWRITABLE CDS CORRUPTED.

  RESEND ALL DATA!!

  HAVE VIRUS, REWRITABLE CDS CORRUPTED.

  RESEND ALL DATA!!

  “Jesus,” Craig said. Jason simply continued to stare. “Corruped CDs? “That actually happens?”

  Summers nodded. “It’s happened to me. More than once. Plus, there are these new sleeper viruses that hide on a computer’s hard drive. The user doesn’t even know they’re there, but every time he saves data to a CD, the virus is passed on so the CD’s corrupted the next time he uses it. My God . . . Do you realize . . . ? Ackerman could have lost everything. . . .” Craig spun around. “Phil, is your cell phone on?”

  “I don’t know, uh . . .”

  “Can I see it? Now?”

  Phil fumbled through his pockets and handed it over.

  Jason’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing, Craig?”

  Summers turned on the phone and put it on the table. “If Ackerman really did lose all of his data, he’d be panicking right now, doing anything to get in touch with Phil and—”

  The phone started ringing.

  Jason peered at the ID. “Son of a bitch . . . It’s him.”