Specimen (27 page)

“I wish that were true!”  Riley laughs.  “Seems a little impractical, don’t you think?”

“Maybe,” I say with a shrug.  “Maybe not.”

The night air is chilled by the earlier rain as we abandon our vehicles and make our way into Mills territory on foot.  There’s no wall here and no guards.  The area is boggy and difficult to traverse on foot, and there is no military advantage to the area.

“How much farther?” Riley asks.

“Not far,” I tell her.  I try to step carefully so I don’t get my shoes stuck in the muck.  “We just need to get around this area and over by those trees.  We should be able to see Marra from there.”

Ten minutes later, we’re over the hill and heading for the outskirts of the small town, making our way to a house on the west side.  It’s a ranch-style house normally occupied by Elissa Garden, one of the intelligence agents for the Carson Alliance, but she isn’t there to meet us.

“I thought we she was going to be here,” I say to one of the soldiers.

“That was what I was told, but clearly she isn’t.”  He shrugs and uses a keycard provided by Spat to open the back door, and we all move inside.  “She may have been called away.  I’ll find out.”

Inside, the house doesn’t look like a house at all.  It’s much bigger than one would expect looking at the front of it.  It’s rectangular and goes back almost to the wooded area behind the property.  All the rooms have been gutted, and the house is divided into three areas, each of which is blocked by a thick metal door.

The house is empty of people, but the front room is full of all kinds of surveillance equipment.  The soldiers activate some of it, and a map of the area is displayed.

“If anyone with a tracking device comes into the area, we’ll know.”

“All the military should have one,” Riley says.  “We’ll be fine here, Galen.”

“How long will it take you to reach Milton?” one of the soldiers asks me.

“Four hours,” I tell him.  “I’ve got the route plotted.  As long as there aren’t any delays, I should get there long before Mills Pharmco opens for the day.”

“Taylor Wick confirms he is at the checkpoint and ready for you.”

“Good.”  I look to Riley, who won’t meet my eyes.

She’s been quiet since we arrived at the house, watching and listening but not offering any words.  I go to stand by her, and she starts shuffling around in her medical bag.

“This should keep you going,” Riley says as she inserts a needle into my arm.

Closing my eyes, I feel the rush of energy as the drugs hit my bloodstream and circulate through my body.

I place my finger on Riley’s chin and tilt her head up to meet my gaze.

“I love you, Riley.”

She closes her eyes, nodding and pressing her lips together.  She reaches her arms around my neck and hugs me tightly.

“I love you, Galen.  I can’t guide you this time, but I’ll still be tracking where you should be at any given moment.  Make sure Wick notifies us when you reach the checkpoint.”

“I will.  You make sure you stick with these guys, and don’t do anything stupid like try to follow me because you think there’s trouble.  There’s a four-hour gap in the time I may return to the second checkpoint.  No panicking.”

“I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”  She smiles up at me, but her eyes are dull.  She slides her hands down my arms and grips my fingers.

“Don’t worry,” one of the soldiers says, “we’ll keep an eye on her.”

“You better.”  I stare him in the eyes, and he nods once, acknowledging my warning.

If anything happens to her, I’d probably kill the guy.

“Be careful,” Riley says.  “Get in; get out.”

“I’ll be fine,” I tell her.  “You are the one who needs to watch out.  If there is any sign of trouble, and I mean anything, do not wait for me.  Get the hell out.”

“I will.”

I stare at her as I keep holding her hands.  I’m afraid to let go, afraid this will be the last time I ever see her.  I’m not worried for my own safety, but my heart aches with the thought that something might happen to her when I’m not here.  It’s almost enough for me to take her with me all the way to the pharmaceutical company.

Almost.

I gently squeeze her fingers one last time before releasing her, grabbing the garment bag with the suit in it, and heading off into the darkness.  I need very little light to see clearly, and I glance over my shoulder several times as I put distance between myself and Riley.  Each time, she’s still standing in the same place, watching my departure.  When I move over the hill and take my final look at her, she hasn’t moved though there’s no way she could still see me from there.

I have no problems navigating my way to Milton or finding the small building near the pharmaceutical company where I am supposed to rendezvous with Taylor Wick.

The place looks like an old fueling station.  The walls are cement, and there is a wide open space in the front with broken pillars that look like they might have once supported a carport roof going back to the main structure.

My instructions are to just walk in, but I’m cautious.  The front window is dark and I don’t see movement inside.  I move around to the back of the place, but there is no window there, just a metal door with a padlock on it.

Returning to the front, I crouch below the window and peer in, watching intently until I see the dark outline of a person in the back.  I circle the form with my eyes, calculating height and build.  Though I can’t quite make out his face in the darkness, he matches Wick’s description.

I open the door and walk in, heading for the back until I’m standing next to the man.

“Taylor Wick?”  I already know it’s him.

He nods at me.

“There’s been a lot of talk about you,” he says.  “Your designation has been filling up the airwaves for the past forty-eight hours.”

“Any indication of their plans?”

“There’s talk of a raid on Martinsville,” Wick says, “but I don’t think they’re ready for that yet.  If they are, it’s being kept quiet.  They’ve been mobilizing specimen teams of three for the last week, but no information on where they’re being sent.  I’ve seen several training sessions conducted in the city.”

“I need to get ready,” I tell him as I hold up the garment bag.

Wick directs me to a sink and hands me a couple of towels so I can get cleaned up and dressed.  He gives me a razor and a comb as well so I can make myself as professional-looking as possible.

“About ready?” he asks as I adjust the tie.

“Yeah.  Let’s go.”

“You’ll have to leave your weapon,” he says.  “It will be detected, and we don’t want to have to explain ourselves.”

I place my handgun on the table, and we head outside.

I know the route, but Wick has access to the monorail system so we can get there faster.  Being on the train makes me nervous though there are only a handful of passengers at this early hour.  We change trains once, then leave the station and move to the sidewalk next to a tall brick building.

Mills Pharmco is written in red over the doors, and the Mills flag flies outside.

“You’re on your own from here on out,” Wick says.  “I’ll be back at the checkpoint until you return.  When you get back to the outpost, look at the back window.  As soon as I get there, I’ll put a white index card in the bottom right corner.  If I have any problems, I’ll put a red index card in the bottom left corner.”

“Will do.”

The sun breaks over the horizon as I approach the building.  It’s still very early, but I’m not the only one heading to Mills Pharmco.  Several people move to the front door, but I pass it by.  My destination is a smaller door reserved for executives.

Glancing around to make sure I’m not seen, I leap over a fence and drop down into an enclosed parking area and make my way to the elevator.  My hacked credentials activate the lift, and I press the button for the ninth floor.

There’s no one in the hallway when I enter, except a young woman at a registration desk, talking on the phone.  The lab I need to access is past her, but she doesn’t even look up as I go by.  I find the door to the lab, listen closely, and enter when I hear no sounds from the other side.

The layout is exactly as it is displayed in my head.  I go immediately to the cabinet where the Seroquel is supposed to be stored, slide the hacked card through the access slot, and the door opens.  There are a thousand different vials of a hundred different drugs inside the huge cabinet, but no sign of what I need.

It doesn’t make sense.  This is exactly where the drug should be stored, but there’s nothing here.  There’s an open space where several vials have been removed, all from one area, but no vials labeled with what I came to acquire.  The Seroquel had to have been stored in what is now empty space.  Someone has come here and removed it all.

They knew I would need it.  They knew I was coming.

If someone knew I would be coming here to find the drugs I need, that means they’ve been watching for me to try to grab them.  I have to get out of here immediately.

I spin on my heel, and Isaac eyes me from the doorway.

He’s unarmed but stands with practiced confidence.  Nothing about him has changed since the last time I saw him, but he still looks different.  There’s remorse in his eyes as he looks at me, and I stand perfectly still, calculating.

“I missed you, you know,” he says.  “First Pike is killed and then you run off.  I have no one to talk to during off-hours.  I haven’t even been assigned a new team since we’ve been waiting to bring you back.”

“I’m not going back,” I tell him.  “They lied to us.”

“I have to take you back, Sten.”  Isaac takes a few steps inside the room.

I tense, poised and waiting for him to make a move, but he pauses.

“You had to know this was going to happen.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way.”

“Yeah, it does.”

The muscles in his legs flex, causing the fabric around them to shift.  I know exactly how he will move, how he will attack.  I parry, turning to one side and letting him go past me before I punch into his kidney.

He spins and faces me again.  I didn’t expect the blow to incapacitate him in any way—I just need to get myself to the door so I can get out of here.  If I’m compromised, everyone else may be compromised as well.  I have to get back to Wick so he can contact the others and warn them.

“It’s no good, Sten.  You’ve got nowhere to go.  As we speak, they’re raiding the Carson technical center in Martinsville.  There isn’t anywhere for you to run.  You just need to come back with me so the doctors can get you fixed up.”

“I’m not going to let them touch me,” I say.

He jumps at me again, and we lock arms.  I slam my forehead into his, and he knees me in the stomach.  We tussle for a moment and then break apart.

“You’re just confused,” Isaac says.  “You’re broken, Sten, but they can fix—”

“They lied to us!” I yell at him.  “They took away our thoughts, our memories.  We aren’t volunteers, and my name isn’t Sten!”

“They’re filling your head with shit, man!  We can end this right now.  Just give it up, and I’ll take you both back to Mills.  We can go back to the way everything was before.”

“I can’t do that.”  I shake my head.  “I can’t go back, not knowing what I know.”

“You need to be back there, with Dr. Grace.  Both of you need to come back home.”

“You’re not going near her,” I say with a snarl.  “Not a fucking chance.”

We rush each other again, crash into the cabinet full of drugs, and vials spill out onto the floor.  I kick, he punches.  He attacks, I parry.  We’re getting nowhere, but we continue.  He grabs me in a headlock and forces me to my knees as I jab him with my elbow repeatedly.  There’s a sharp pain in my neck, and I realize he’s trying to pull out the device Spat installed to keep me from being tracked.

I twist and throw him over my shoulder.  Reaching up to my neck, I feel the chip partially detached but not completely.  Flashes inside my head are trying to reconnect with it, but can’t quite establish contact.

Isaac grabs a table nearby and flings it at me.  I duck, have to regain my balance, and crouch again, ready for his next move.

“Don’t make me do this, Sten!”

“I can’t let you take her, Isaac.  You know that.”

“You just gotta come back, bro.  Please.”

His plea tears through me.  I know what he’s trying to do.  He’s trying to appeal to whatever bond we are supposed to have.  If he had pulled the inhibitor chip completely out of my neck, it might get through to me, but it wouldn’t be enough.

He knows that.

He knows if we continue to fight, I will eventually win.  The best he can hope for is a stalemate.  There are no sounds coming from the hallway that indicate reinforcements have arrived though he has had plenty of time to contact someone.

Something’s wrong.

If they knew I would be here, why would they only send Isaac?  Why not a whole group of them?  Did they really believe he’d be able to talk me down, get me to come back of my own accord?

Because it’s not just me they want.

I grab Isaac by the shoulders and throw him across the room before I dart for the door.  I slam it behind me and race down the hall, throwing anything I can into the path to make following me more difficult.  I head straight to the back stairs and fling open the door.