When the Wind Blows (27 page)

“Will you stop reading my eyes?” he said.

“I’m not. Okay, I am. I’ll try not to. Talk. What is it that you have to say to me?”

He sat cross-legged, facing me. He considered, weighed, then finally spoke.

“A few weeks ago, a geneticist was killed in his bedroom in San Francisco. So was his live-in girlfriend. It was brutal and
bloody. It was made to look like a burglary gone wrong. It wasn’t, though. This geneticist,” he went on, “had helped to discover
a ‘promoter gene.’ The promoter gene was probably used at the School.”

I knew that promoter genes enable genetic material to be transferred from one organism to another. The promoter acts kind
of like a key, opening a DNA lock, but it’s not an all-purpose skeleton key. Different promoter genes are required for each
type of genetic alteration.

“Who told you?” I asked. And why couldn’t you have told me a couple of days ago, Kit? What else are you holding back?

“This has to come out my way,” Kit said.

I sighed. “Okay, do it your way.”

“Hopefully, when I’m done, you’ll understand.”

“Hopefully, I will.”

“The geneticist, a man named James Kim, had confided to a friend of his at MIT that he and a select group of biologists were
part of an underground lab network. They were doing illegal experiments, but highly profitable ones. He was working with a
team whose hub was somewhere in the Boulder area. The leak of information cost him his life. And the life of the doctor at
MIT.”

“Wait, Kit, are you saying you knew that human experiments were going on?” I asked. “Did you know that before we arrived at
the School? Please tell me the whole truth.”

Kit shook his head. “No. I didn’t know anything for sure. I came out here to find the underground research team—if they existed
as a team, if they were here. I didn’t know if I’d find them, or what I’d do if I did. I still don’t. And I had no idea beforehand
about the horrors we discovered at the school. Or about Max. Who could have imagined that? Who would have dreamed?”

I sat up straight against the uncomfortable backrest of rock. Suddenly, I wasn’t as tired as I’d thought. “Kit, will you tell
me exactly what’s going on? I feel like I’m going crazy. I
know
my life is in danger. I know these kids are in grave danger, too. Just tell me the truth. I deserve that, don’t I?”

“I’m trying to, Frannie. It’s not black and white, though. Some of it is unbelievably hard to get at.”

“Why? Because you were such a good liar at first?”

He sighed and slowly nodded his head. “Yes, because of that. And because I don’t normally lie. And I guess, because of why
I felt I had to lie.”

I felt my throat backing up. I couldn’t stop thinking about the terrifying crimes, the conscienceless murders, what I’d seen
in that horrible pediatrics ward at the School. What was Kit trying to tell me now? What else did he know?

“Kit. Just. Talk,”
I finally said.

He gave a deep sigh. “Okay. I believe that David was part of this. That’s why they killed him. Your husband was murdered by
the people he worked with.”

“Oh God.” I realized that I was holding myself tightly with both arms.
I’m just holding on,
I thought.
Barely.
My head was reeling. Images from a year and a half ago were flashing through my brain. They seemed fresh and raw. David’s
death. I was staring at Kit in the chalky moonlight in disbelief. I was in shock, and probably denial. How could David have
been involved in something this bad? How could he have lied to me so convincingly and for such a long time?

“What else?” I whispered. I sensed there was more. I could see it in Kit’s eyes.

“For one thing,” he said. “I’m not here officially. The FBI actually pulled me off this case. And my real name isn’t Kit Harrison.”

I
FELT SO BETRAYED AND HURT. I wanted to run away from
whomever,
but I was too tired. Maybe I was in shock. I was also afraid… of Kit Harrison.

I could barely speak, but I managed a few words. “Please, leave me alone.”

“My name is—”

I waved him away. “I don’t care. It isn’t important.”

His temper flared suddenly. “I
am
from Boston. I worked in D. C. for a while, too. I was a senior agent with the FBI for twelve years. I was nearly fired off
the job because I wouldn’t back off this damn investigation. I’m not supposed to be here. They think I’m on vacation in Nantucket.
I’m trying to do the right thing here, Frannie.”

I looked at him, stared hard into those deceptive blue eyes. “Nantucket was where your wife and children were going when the
plane crashed?”

He nodded. His face was flushed. His eyes were red-rimmed. “Frannie, I’m sorry about everything. I’m sorry about your husband,
David. I’m not usually a liar. Actually, I never lie. I didn’t have a choice. I’m obsessed with this case, I’ll admit that.
I’ve been tracking it for the past couple of years.”

“Are you sure about David?” I whispered.

“Yes, I’m sure. I talked to another doctor at MIT. She knew about the outlaw group. She gave me your husband’s name, and she
swore that David was murdered. David’s name came up in association with Dr. Kim in San Francisco. I’m sorry to have to tell
you.”

I stared up at the dark, brooding sky. A false bottom had dropped out of my stomach. I needed to change the subject. “What
do you think happened to the men who were chasing us?”

Kit, or whoever he was, shook his head. “Maybe the fire and the explosion at the School distracted them. They know they’ll
catch us before we get down the mountain with five children in tow.”

“Maybe one of us should go ahead,” I said.

He shook his head. His eyes were so intense now. “Frannie, tell me your thoughts about the labs at the School. Your bottom
line, best guess, whatever you think is going on there. What struck you back there? I think it’s important.”

I tried to think straight, to concentrate, but it wasn’t very easy. “Honestly—shock at first. Then, sorrow. A sense that my
soul had been invaded. Obviously, they were experimenting on humans, among other terrible things.”

“What other things?”

An idea had hit me very hard at the School. It was so horrifying I had wanted it to disappear. I still couldn’t shake it off.

“No matter how these so-called scientists manipulated and combined genes, the children must have come from human stock. They
weren’t cooked up in lab beakers. A little of this, a dash of that. They got their hair, eyes, skin color, some of their intellectual
capacity from their parents. Max, Oz, Peter, Wendy, Ic, they all have human mothers and fathers. I’m sure of it.”

His eyes were incredibly intense, probing, holding on to mine. “Please go on, Frannie. I have to hear this, anything you suspect
at this point. I’m trying to put together a lot of pieces.”

“There is no such thing as a test-tube baby. Not yet, anyway. There’s simply no way to grow a child in anything other than
the real thing. Even biologically engineered mouse embryos have to be implanted into living female mice until they’re developed.
Max and the other children were nurtured in the wombs of women. They have
human mothers.
”

My eyes were finally closing. I couldn’t keep them open a minute longer. Unfortunately, the nightmarish thoughts kept coming
in waves. Who were the women who had cooperated with the experiments? How had the genetically manipulated embryos been obtained?
Where were the birth mothers?

“What’s your real name?” I finally whispered. I had to know.

“My name is Tom,” I heard. “I’m Tom Brennan, Frannie. I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about David.”

I nodded my head. I was close to tears, but I stubbornly held them off. An image of David flashed before my eyes.

“Me too,” I said.

I
T WAS HALF PAST NINE and Kit/Tom was thoughtful and brooding as he walked lookout on the perimeter of the hideaway. At least
he was operating decently as an agent. So far, he’d been able to protect everyone—but for how much longer?

He was worried about so many things right now, but he felt particularly bad about what happened earlier with Frannie. He hated
that he’d let her down.

Pop.
Something hit him on the head and he jumped back. He looked up, expecting trouble.

He found it, too. Max was bouncing on a sturdy tree limb above. She had dropped a pine cone on him.

“Funny girl. What’s up? Besides you?” he called to her.

She smiled down.

“I want to show you something.” She pointed toward a distant hill that was outlined in glowing red. “The fire’s still burning.”

Kit needed to see for himself. He braced his foot on the trunk. He reached for a low limb, pulled himself up to a crotch in
the tree. He continued to climb quickly and expertly until he arrived at the crook where Max was sitting.

“That’s the hard way up here,” Max said and made a face.

“I can’t fly, Max. I’m not supposed to reveal that I’m Superman. Not yet.”

“Oh, okay. Your secret’s safe with me. Hardee-har.” She had mimicked Matthew’s crazy laugh and she regretted it instantly.
Max scooched over to make room for Kit in the bough of the tree.

“I’ll keep watch up here for now,” he said. “Why don’t you go down and get some sleep? Please get some rest.”

“I can’t sleep,” she said. “Anyway, I’m used to it, staying up. I was always afraid of being ‘put to sleep.’ I have nightmares
about it all the time. So I don’t sleep too much.”

“We’ll be all right for a while,” he told her.

Max frowned. “Bull.”

Kit smiled. “A little bit, I guess. What’s going on in there?” he asked, tapping the young girl’s head.

“Too much for my own good, especially now. I hated the putrid School, but it
was
my putrid home.”

He nodded, understood a little bit. “There are lots better places out here in the world. Honest. Wait and see.”

Max threw a deep sigh. “I like Frannie a whole lot. I even like you—sometimes. Like now,” she teased.

“Are you going to breed with Frannie?” Max suddenly asked.

Kit started to laugh. He couldn’t help it, and hoped it didn’t hurt her feelings.

“Are you going to?” Max insisted. “Your secret’s safe with me, Kit. I’ll pinkie swear on it.”

“Frannie’s not even talking to me,” he told Max, let her into his confidence.

“How come?”

“Because,” he said, slowly, “I didn’t tell her some secrets I didn’t feel I could tell anyone.”

Max nodded her head. “Oh, I see. Like the secrets I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone? But you insisted I should tell you?”

“Yeah. I guess so. Point taken.” She was so damn quick.

Max nodded with satisfaction. She licked her finger and made a mark,
a score,
in front of his face.

“Anyone ever tell you how smart you are?”

Max smiled, clearly pleased. She had such a beautiful, radiant face. “Wendy and Peter are smarter. I only tested one forty-nine
on the Stanford-Binet. They’re in the high genius range. Adam and Eve were off the planet. But it didn’t save them. I always
wonder why. Don’t you?”

“I wonder about a lot of things, Max. That’s why I ask so many dumb questions. Do you know why they were put to sleep?”

Max shook her head. “I remember the night it happened, though. There must have been an error, a flaw. They were rejected.
Something was wrong with them.”

Kit listened and shook his head. “Something is wrong with all of us, sweet-stuff. Nobody’s perfect. That’s what makes us interesting.”

“I know. I understand that part. I really like
your
imperfections.”

She leaned up against him. He felt incredibly warm feelings toward her. It was nice, almost father-daughter. Together they
stared into the red-rimmed horizon. The fire was out there.
Danger.
Suddenly, he was remembering Tommy and Mike. His own children. He didn’t want to remember, not now.

“Seriously. I like you a lot,” Max said to him. “You have kind eyes. I know you wouldn’t hurt someone unless you had to. It’s
the way you are.”

“Thank you,” he said, and nuzzled her cheek. “One of us should sleep for a while, though. You go ahead.”

“I’m wide awake,” Max said. “Besides, I can see and hear better than you. I’m our best chance.”

He smiled. “You’re probably right,” he said. He let his eyes slowly close and it felt so good. “My real name is Tom,” he whispered.

“I’m Maximum. You’ll see why.”

I
WAS RUNNING FOR MY LIFE inside a shadowy, feverish dream—David was in it—when I felt Pip yanking hard at my sleeve.

“Stop it, Pip. You’re already outside. Go pee by yourself. Be a good boy. G’wan.”

Scolding and shoving him away didn’t stop him. He was such a persistent little bugger, so I forced my eyes open.

I half expected David to be there beside me, but he wasn’t of course.

I sniffed the air. The smell was noxious and I started to choke. As in my dream, the air was hot and black and stifling. I
didn’t know if it was day or night, only that I’d fallen asleep by moonlight and now the moon was completely gone. I couldn’t
see a thing, not even the sky, or the overhanging trees that had been there when I dropped off to sleep.

It was like being stricken blind. I was in a blanket of heavy, nearly black fog.

“Hello? Somebody?” I called out.

With sickening clarity, I understood how bad things really were. Smoke had completely obliterated the moon and sky, even the
overhanging trees. Smoke was all around, choking me, blinding me, making it impossible to see more than a couple of feet in
any direction. The woods were on fire.

Pip was barking, demanding that I follow him. I pushed myself up. Stumbled over stumps and rocks, calling, “Kit! Kit! Where
are you? There’s a fire!”

He finally answered. “Here. Over here. The wind must have shifted.”

The fire was on us like
that.

I still couldn’t locate Kit. I couldn’t see any of the kids either. My eyes stung and watered. My visibility was only about
three or four feet. I felt trapped, claustrophobic, completely closed in.