The Zyne Project (16 page)

Six months later

Clarence was extremely satisfied with his life.

After the Zyne Project was complete, there was quite a bit of activity.  He signed the contract giving the government full proprietary rights to the “Z” formula as well as the ability to continue testing the formula in his facility if necessary.  But the truth was, the results of the actual study had been so conclusive, there really wasn’t a need for more testing.

In addition, the Zyne Corporation decided to focus on its existing product lines and redirect money out of Research and Development for a while. They shared with the staff that given the recent tragedy at the Illusions building, they were going to focus the company on its aesthetic, traditional product lines and consider investing in R&D at a later time.

Magically, despite the recent tragedies, both Zyne and the military came out virtually unscathed.

Settlements between Zyne and the grieving families were reached, but public opinion regarding the corporation did not veer negatively, given the numerous fundraising and community relations efforts the company undertook following the incident.

The fact that Dr. Dan Johns had gone absolutely “off his rocker” as many described it, despite having a stellar record and being highly recommended, shielded Zyne from further negativity.  Many felt that the man was a “bomb waiting to go off” and that Zyne executives wouldn’t have been able to predict the man’s unusual behavior, given that he had been so calm and cooperative in the past.

Dr. John’s body was never found, but many presumed that he had perished in the fire.  Government officials decided to scour the woods a second time, but never found him and figured he had died on the way out.  They knew he was sick with nerve gas and that it would have taken a virtual miracle for him to survive such an onslaught of chemicals.

As for Clarence, he and his wife decided that it was time to move into a new home, given that their existing one was simply too small for their family of four.  Now considerably richer, given their new partnership with the US government, they chose to purchase a two story home on Star Island and took great pleasure in standing outside their bedroom veranda, looking out on the Intracoastal as the yachts and ships glided by on glittering waves of blue.

Clarence made it a habit to come home during the day around lunchtime, as his wife typically worked out at the gym in the morning and lunched with her friends at one of the trendy restaurants in town.  With his children in school, these private lunches gave him time to unwind with a nice big salad in front of the television.  Clarence didn’t admit it to anyone, but he sometime watched porn during lunch, and masturbated with pleasure watching a little girl-on-girl action.  It was another way to relax and be able to return to the office with a clear mind.

On one particular Wednesday, after a relatively tame morning in the office, Clarence pulled into the driveway in front of his home.  He sighed happily to himself with the knowledge that the maid had prepared a nice Cobb salad for him.

As he got out of the car, Clarence felt strange…almost as if someone was watching him.  He quickly looked around the front of his house, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, so decided it was just his imagination.

Stepping into the vast two story home, he stopped to admire the landscape.  The house was built like a glass fortress, with dark marble flooring, raised ceilings, and glass windows covering the exterior, giving way to a spectacular view of the Intracoastal.  When the sun was just right, it shot right through the windows, casting a brilliant glow.

But right now, Clarence didn’t want to spend too much time admiring the view.

He was hungry.

And horny.

He decided to watch to watch a bit of his favorite internet adult channel and then settle down for the salad once his sexual appetite was sated.  Settling back in his office chair, he leaned back comfortably and turned on the laptop that was resting on the desk.  Within seconds, he had lesbian scenes playing on the monitor.

Pulling down his pants and underwear, Clarence began to stroke himself as he watched the women moan and excite each other.  He was getting close to orgasm, when a noise upstairs distracted him.

It sounded like someone had dropped something on the floor in his bedroom.

Turning off the computer, Clarence put his aching penis back in his underwear, wincing.

Damn, I hate blue balls,
he thought. But his mind was already drifting upstairs.

Concerned that someone might be trying to break into his house, Clarence walked over to the safe he had hidden near a bookshelf and opened it quickly.  Inside he kept a loaded revolver, ready for any possible intruders.  Unsure as to whether or not he was overreacting, he figured that carrying it upstairs was probably a wise move.

Walking over to the stairwell, Clarence decided to check to see if maybe the sounds were being made by the housekeeper or someone who had a key.  He didn’t want to wave a gun around unnecessarily.

“Hello?” he called out. “Is anyone up there?”

Nobody responded.

Clarence wondered if maybe something had just slipped out of place, but he remembered the strange feeling he’d experienced a few minutes before and decided it was worth going upstairs to take a look around.

Ascending the staircase, Clarence purposefully took harsh, loud steps so as to give a thief plenty of notice and the opportunity to escape. 

But no one jumped out at him. No one appeared.

Once he reached the 2
^nd
floor landing, Clarence craned his neck to see if anything seemed strange.  The house felt empty but he couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that remained. 

He began to search the 2
^nd
floor, by carefully peering around each corner and jumping into the center of each room, with his gun pointed straight ahead.  By the time he’d done this same move several times, he felt a bit ridiculous.

Stepping back out into the hallway, he relaxed.  No one was in the house.

And yet...

Suddenly, a sound caught his attention.  He ran to his bedroom in time to see a person, dressed in a black wetsuit, open the large sliding glass doors that led out to the balcony and then slam them shut.  He watched in shock as the intruder appeared to lock the windows from the outside by sticking a large crowbar into the slider.

The intruder then did a swan dive off the balcony into the waters below and disappeared from view.

As Clarence stood in his bedroom, he remembered the gun and ran towards the glass doors when suddenly, the bedroom door behind him slammed shut.

Whipping his head around, he raced for the door and turned the knob.  The knob turned but when he tried to push the door open, it wouldn’t budge.  He pointed the gun towards the knob, trying to shoot it off, but was unsuccessful and the bullet bounced off the metal, flying back towards him.  Ducking, he managed to avoid the bullet and was about to shove himself against the door again, when something else caught his attention.

It was the TV inside of his bedroom.  Somehow, the intruder had turned it on and the DVD player was gently humming.  The screen was black but a few moments later, a smiling face emerged in front of him.

It was April, Dr. John’s assistant.

How had she escaped?
he wondered.

Her face smiled at him and when she began to speak, Clarence felt himself grow more and more terrified…

“Hello there, Clarence. Remember me?  You should. You gave specific instructions that I be strangled and left at the bottom of the fucking ocean.  Too bad for you that you hired one of my distant cousins to do the job,” she smiled and continued, “Yes. You heard me correctly. You hired one of my cousins to kill me.  Luckily, I’ve got a close family.”

April lifted a glass of wine to her lips and delicately sipped it down.  When she spoke again, her eyes were sad. “After I escaped, the first place I needed to get to was the Illusions building.  I needed to save as many people as possible.  People we experimented on…people who never had a chance. Can’t even remember how I got there…there are many different routes you can take…but just as I got close… you’ll never believe who I saw…”

She paused…

“Yes, I found my mentor, Dr. Dan Johns lying on the side of the road.  He was barely able to speak or move thanks to your master plan.  And…he…died.” She was crying now, tears falling down her cheeks.

“We had just pulled up to the hospital, when he had a seizure.  He died in my arms.  It was the worst experience of my life. To make matters worse we couldn’t try to get help at the hospital because I realized it was too dangerous.  So I brought him somewhere where I knew his body could be cremated and no one would know.”

She glared into the screen and appeared to be shooting a piercing stare directly at Clarence.

“You killed him.  You killed all of those innocent people just to create biologic warfare.  You did it without any remorse or pity.  You’re a monster.”

April paused and then lifted up a canister.  Clarence’s blood chilled.  He knew exactly what she was holding.

It was a gas canister.

“I’ve had to change my name, my identity…my life.  It hasn’t been easy.  But while I’ve been transforming, some people have helped me.  And they’ve helped me with all of this too. There’s an old saying Clarence.  What comes around, goes around.  Right now, you’re standing in a room that’s been fitted with a tiny gas pipe.  Look around Clarence.  Can you see it?”

Clarence looked around wildly. 
Where the hell is it
? he thought.  He was standing on the bed looking up at the ceiling when April continued.

“There’s a reason you can’t see it.  We’ve hidden it far away where you can’t reach it.  In just a few moments, deadly nerve gas…the gas you had us test…will shoot out of that pipe and fill your room.  Actually…it might already be starting to fill the air.”

As Clarence began to pound on the door, April laughed as if she knew exactly what he’d be doing, “You can’t get out.  You can’t escape.  The maid has the day off.  The phones have been disconnected.  Your gun won’t be able to shatter hurricane-proof windows and you only have one bullet so use it wisely. And, if we planned it correctly…let me guess… you didn’t bring your cell phone upstairs did you?  Nah, you left it on the table while you jerked off.”

She stopped and sighed.  “Oh, and one more thing.  As you get really sick and start to die…just remember that you brought this on yourself.   And you deserve to rot in the pits of hell. This one’s for Dan.”

She gave one last look at the camera and then shut off the recording.  As the DVD came to an end, it began at the beginning again. 

Clarence shut off the player and pointed his gun at the glass doors.

Click.

No bullets were left.  He’d wasted his one chance at freedom by shooting at a doorknob.

Clarence sat down on the edge of his bed. He watched, almost with casual disinterest, as smoke filled the air and tickled his throat.  The muscles in his legs began twitching and then with a stifled gasp, he dropped his head into his hands and began to cry.

***

A half hour later, a series of loud
booms
shook the elite neighborhood.  Clarence Diamond’s home exploded as a series of carefully placed bombs erupted one after the other.  The job had been handled by professionals, and left very few remains.  Everything, including April’s DVD, burned in a strategically set fire that ripped through the building and destroyed everything in its path.

***

Hundreds of miles away, April sat on a veranda as the cruise ship made its way across the Atlantic, headed for the Bahamas.  She stared at the deep blue waves that seemed to go on for miles, creating hypnotic rhythms while the sun danced along the edges.

She was weeping softly, remembering the man who had taught her so much.  She’d loved Dan from the start, but never told him.  And now…it was too late.

Remembering that fateful night, she recalled how she had found her mentor…

He was lying on the side of the road, barely breathing.  Gently picking him up, she managed to somehow drag him to the backseat of her car and laid him across the seat.  Dan woke for just a brief moment and stared at her, giving a small smile.