Savage Bay (24 page)

“Other parts of The Genesis Code go far beyond repairing the human organism,” Dr. Ambergris stated. “It is apparently possible to enhance brain function, endurance, strength, visual acuity, and the like.”

“In other words,” said Nguyen, “we can do genetically what our BioMEMS systems now do, although the potential is far greater than that afforded by our current nanobot technology. What is most intriguing, however, is the possible enhancement of brain function. The entire thrust of human evolution has been geared toward a larger cranial capacity that can accommodate greater and greater cognition.”

“Wait just a second,” Hawkeye interrupted. “It sounds like we’re talking about engineering a master race. I think that was tried in the 1940s.”

Mumbles were heard around the table.

“What we’re talking about,” said Mrs. Caine, “is the ability to do a great many things. This doesn’t mean that we’re going to implement everything we see in the Code. We’re talking about its potential at present, nothing more.”

“Indeed,” said Ambergris. “In fact, there are indications that the Ancients have included many warnings along with the knowledge of their discoveries.”

“Warnings that the Chinese or others are not likely to heed,” said Hawkeye. “They’ll want to use the Code for self-serving purposes.”

Conversation erupted around the conference table immediately. Voices of protest and concern filled the Gallery.

Catherine Caine stood.

“We’re going to take a break, ladies and gentlemen,” she said. “Let’s everyone calm down. We’ll reconvene in one hour.”

OBSERVATION
DECK
, ABOARD THE ALAMIRANTA

Hawkeye approached Isabella Cruz from behind. Her long hair blew about her smooth shoulders. Standing next to her so that their arms barely touched, he leaned against the railing, staring at the broad blue ocean.

“Where’s your next mission?” asked Cruz.

“
Iran
. Titan Six will try to deactivate a nuclear power plant that is secretly enriching uranium and plutonium.”

“Right up your alley, eh?”

“Yeah. I’m an adrenaline junkie.”  He breathed deeply, sighing. “Thanks for all the help at
Savage
Bay
,” he said. “Any fighting force is only as good as its support team.”

Cruz looked straight ahead. “I was glad to lend a hand,” she said. She paused and closed her eyes. “You’re a sweet man, Michael Hawke.”

“Sweeter than your friend Marcos?”

Cruz turned and rolled her eyes. “A mere diversion,” she said. “But diversions are only that. They’re no substitute for the real thing.”

“I suppose not.”

“Then why didn’t you call me after the mission in
Baghdad
?  You relegated me to the status of . . . a diversion.”

Hawkeye knit his brows. “I . . . I was losing my confidence. I’ve made some bad mistakes in the last year or two. Mistakes that have cost people dearly.”

“Such as Touchdown?”

“Yeah. Touchdown. But my mistakes aren’t confined to Titan missions. I didn’t want to hurt
you
, Isabella.”

“So you beat the hell out of people at The Fight Club in
Ibiza
?  Such a pathetic, macho way to work out your issues.”

“You’re exactly right,” said Hawkeye, placing his hands on Cruz’s shoulders and turning her body to face his. “I need to grow up a little. Will you help?”

“Why don’t you get back to me when you feel that you’re an adult?  I don’t like to nursemaid men as they — ”

Hawkeye gently pressed his lips against those of Cruz. He slipped his hands around her waist and drew her closer. He then stroked her hair and rubbed his fingers across her cheek.

“Yes,” she said, her breath suspended, lips parted. “I’d be happy to help you.”

They kissed again.

THE GALLERY, ABOARD THE ALAMIRANTA

The meeting reconvened at the conference table. Catherine Caine spoke first.

“I’d like to make something very clear before we continue. Our efforts to prevent the Chinese from possessing Genesis research were made in order to address the concerns raised in this room a little while ago. Neither Titan Global nor Triad Genomics has any intention of forming specific plans to develop Genesis data according to some kind of political agenda. That having been said, Triad does intend to continue unlocking more of the Code and to conduct research as to its potential. To turn away from such knowledge might well jeopardize mankind itself, which seems quite intent on destroying itself and the planet which gave it life. The Ancients gave us this knowledge for a reason.”

No one around the mahogany table said a word.

“That’s almost an understatement,” said Christian Madison. “The Ancients have information about so many things that might help us avoid extinction. While we don’t have any specifics yet — as already noted, the arrangement of the Code is very complex — the Ancients have provided information on engineering techniques that are undreamt of. They also speak of harnessing many sources of power, such as solar, cold fusion, and forms that frankly we don’t comprehend yet. There is even information on reversing climate change, an issue they, too, apparently faced as a result of technological developments.”

“What about averting cataclysms such as the one that destroyed
them
?” asked DJ.

Ambergris nodded somberly. “They have most assuredly addressed that. A synergistic use of global climate control and engineering skills seems to be what they have suggested to their progeny — us.”

“And yet, their most startling information and cautions,” said Quiz, “goes beyond mere science.”

Quiz looked at Caine, seeking approval to expand on his statement. She nodded.

“The information on bodily healing was contained on Intron 1,111 for a reason. In recent years, the number has been associated by many religions and cultures with a spiritual awakening. The Ancients, I believe, are telling us through this number, as well as information on other introns, that only advanced consciousness can save mankind and this planet in the long run, technology aside.”

Gasps once again emanated from around the table.

“Consider the following,” Quiz said. “Over forty million people worldwide have had near-death experiences. Their accounts are remarkably similar, and virtually every survivor claims to have expanded consciousness, lucid dreams, out-of-body experiences, visions, and angel encounters. Their lives and priorities are completely changed.”

“Angel encounters?” asked Hawkeye.

“Yes,” said Quiz.

“This information does not leave this chamber,” Catherine Caine warned.

“Is it so hard to believe,” Quiz said, “that a higher order of beings is seeking to guide mankind?  In fact, eighty percent of all people who have an
NDE
see angels
before
they even perceive themselves as leaving their bodies — while having a heart attack, for example, or near an automobile accident. And let me remind you that most near-death experiences have no correlation with drug use, surgery, or anesthesia.”

“Have you decoded precise information on paranormal phenomena?” asked one the Triad directors.

“No,” answered
Madison
. “But from a rudimentary reading of the Code, there certainly appears to be considerable information in our
DNA
on higher consciousness and its supreme importance for mankind.”

There was again silence around the table as all assembled tried to assimilate the ramifications of what had been discussed.

“There’s one more point that should be made,” Caine said.

She produced a small stone tablet with two entwined serpents carved on its surface.

“This was found on Es Vedra by one of the Titan teams assisting in search and rescue,” she said. “It is a symbol similar to both the medical caduceus and the double helix. It has been used by a group simply known as the Order, which may have existed for thousands of years. They obviously have had some kind of awareness of The Genesis Code far longer than anyone else on earth.”

“What was it doing at
Savage
Bay
?” asked Cruz.

“I can only draw one conclusion,” said Caine. “They planted a spy on Es Vedra in order to advance their own efforts to unlock the Code. Someone infiltrated Triad Genomics. The same thing happened in
Nevada
. The FBI felt quite sure that the Genesis Project, after being located from
Manhattan
to a facility in the
Nevada
desert, had been infiltrated by someone from the Order. The Bureau moved the project to
Savage
Bay
and outsourced security to Titan Global.”

“Do we know who that person was?” asked DJ. “And was Dominique aware of him or her?”

“Yes. He’s gone missing since the island’s evacuation.”  Caine became tentative in her speech. “But I don’t know if Dominique, however, was aware of that person’s presence.”

“Was he working with the Chinese?” asked Cruz.

“That,” said Caine, standing, “is the most troubling question yet. We have no idea what the agenda of the Order might be.”

CATHERINE CAINE’S QUARTERS, ABOARD THE ALAMIRANTA

Caine sat at her desk, lost in thought. She had been quite honest with Isabella Cruz as to her ignorance of the Order’s agenda, assuming there was one.

And yet, her daughter’s cryptic message before silence had engulfed
Savage
Bay
, still haunted her.

We have been deceived.

Deceived by whom?  Was there some aspect of The Genesis Code that no one except Dominique knew?  Was there an even more startling secret contained in the Code that not even
Madison
or Ambergris had yet found?  Had Dominique come across it at Es Vedra?

Caine folded her arms. She thought such a scenario unlikely. Oddly, she trusted her ancestors that everyone called the Ancients — trusted people two hundred thousand years before she had been born. She felt sure that The Genesis Code was entirely devoted to the survival and betterment of mankind.

We have been deceived.

The message from Dominique was almost surely tied in to her choice to work with the Chinese military.

To become a traitor.

Caine stood, walked to the bedroom of her luxurious and spacious living quarters, and looked in the mirror.

She knew what Dominique had meant. Someone had convinced her daughter that the Chinese were the proper custodians of The Genesis Code — had convinced her that powerful secrets affecting mankind’s ability to reshape its
DNA
and therefore its future could not be entrusted to the capitalist economy of the West. That was the deception: that Triad Genomics or anyone else would do an adequate job of utilizing ancient secrets.

The image staring back at Catherine Caine looked unsettled.

Greed was everywhere. In the long run, Dominique might be right. The Genesis Code could be perverted by the West as well as the East. Human nature was unpredictable. The next decade would probably determine the fate of the human race. It wasn’t technology that was good or bad. It was how it was used.

But what of the Order?

She turned away from the mirror. At present, the question had no answer.

DUBOIS ESTATE, OUTSIDE
LYON
,
FRANCE

Claude Dubois sat on the veranda of his estate, overlooking the broad green field that sloped beneath himself and his guest: Admiral Hawi-su.

The Admiral was the eleventh man on the Order’s Council. His existence within the secret society was unknown to Yang, Orokov, and
Shiloh
— the three brothers absent from the meeting the night Titan Six had reclaimed
Savage
Bay
.

“The research will continue very well under the guidance of Dominique Caine,” Hwai-su said. “Once she has the CL chips duplicated, that is.”

“And what of Yang,” asked Dubois. “Does he suspect that you are one of us?”

The Admiral looked vacantly across the field as he sipped tea. “I do not think so, but Yang is a man who is difficult to read. My membership in the Order has been kept a secret from the day of my initiation. Time will tell.”

Dubois stared ahead as well.

“Do you still think you can forward all research to me as it becomes available?” asked Dubois.

“I have clearance to all research facilities. And my operatives are very well trained.”

“The larger question,” said Dubois, “is whether you can purge the Chinese systems of all data once the Code resides here in France.”

“That remains to be seen. It would be good for us to be the only humans on earth to possess the Code. Either way, we will almost surely have everything my superiors uncover. The Order will live on in its mission.”  Hwai-su paused. “If you and I succeed, then Yang, Orokov, and Shiloh will need to be killed in order to remove all political ties to the Code.”

“Yes,” said Dubois. “They will need to be exterminated.”

DECK
TEN
, ABOARD THE ALAMIRANTA

Catherine Caine walked down a dimly lit passageway that few people on the ship knew existed. It led to a room that only seven people had ever seen.

Catherine punched a keypad, gaining admittance for herself, Christian Madison, and Grace Nguyen. Inside, former New York City cop Michael Zoovas sat next to a hospital bed. The only patient in the small room was the husband of Catherine, Demetrius Caine.

Zoovas had been recruited to guard various areas aboard the
Alamiranta
, such as the Gallery. His most pressing duty, however, was to sit with the comatose Demetrius and monitor his life support systems, checking on respirations, oxygen sat, pulse, and IV fluids. A former medic as well as police officer and security guard, Zoovas administered range of motion exercises for the unconscious Demetrius Caine.

“Thank you, Mr. Zoovas,” said Catherine. “You can go now.”

Zoovas left the room.

Catherine took a deep breath. She had visited her husband’s bedside every day since the helicopter accident in Israel. She’d held out little hope that Demetrius would ever regain consciousness, let alone lead a normal life.

Madison opened his black medical kit and handed Nguyen three syringes. Nguyen administered three amino acid cocktails and stepped back from the bed.

Minutes passed, but the body in the hospital bed didn’t move.

A single tear rolled down the cheek of Catherine Caine.

“There,” said Madison. “Did you see that?”

“Yes,” Nguyen replied.

Catherine leaned close to the head of her husband. Beneath closed lids, the eyes of Demetrius Caine were moving back and forth.

The End