JACK HAD ARRANGED TO BORROW A SUBURBAN THAT COULDN’T be tracked to him. As he waited for Jeremy and Taylor’s plane to land at Teterboro, he talked with Dr. Larson, a friend of a friend who had come with him to take a look at Jeremy, as Evan dozed in the back row. But Jack’s mind was on his trip to Sybil’s apartment. He’d have to update Taylor once they got settled, something he wasn’t looking forward to. He didn’t even understand why he’d gone to pick it up. There was no way he could risk trying to get it to Dakota from their hiding place, and he worried that he’d actually made things worse now.
Jack was brought back into the moment when he heard the sound of the plane’s engine. He turned to the doctor, sitting in the passenger seat. “Be right back.”
“I’ll set Jeremy up in the back seat so I can attend to him while you drive,” Larson answered, opening the passenger-side door.
Jack walked over to the plane as soon as it stopped, and when Taylor reached the ground, he pulled her to him and hugged her tight.
“I’m so sorry about your mother. Are you doing okay?”
She tried to speak but was too choked up. She simply pressed into him and hugged him back until she could compose herself. When she pulled back she looked at him. “I’m numb. It still feels surreal.”
He nodded. “I know. Listen, we should get going. Get Jeremy in the back. There’s a doctor ready to fix him up. We’re going two hours upstate.”
* * *
As Jack drove, and Evan slept, Taylor held a flashlight for the doctor while he cleaned the wound in Jeremy’s shoulder and injected him with antibiotics, then stitched the skin.
“You’re lucky. It’s a surface wound.” He handed him a bottle of pills. “Take two every six hours for the next ten days. Call me if it looks infected.”
They dropped Dr. Larson off at a hotel half an hour away and continued on until they reached a small ranch house set a mile off the road down a dirt driveway. Jack helped Jeremy inside, settling him on the sofa, while Taylor took Evan to one of the bedrooms and tucked him into bed. Jack made a pot of coffee and took a seat in the living room across from Jeremy, and Taylor poured herself a cup and joined them.
Jack turned to her. “We need to find Crosse. Prove he’s alive so he can be arrested. You and Evan aren’t safe until he is. For that matter, neither are you, Jeremy.”
“You’re right. But how in the world are we going to find him?” Taylor said.
“I have an idea,” Jack said. “It’s this story. Now that we know he’s alive, it makes sense. I’ve been wondering for a while why someone would want to drug people to cause a psychotic break, and the cold vaccine seems to be the connection. So I looked into who made it, and it’s—”
“Licentia Labs,” Jeremy cut in. “They’ve become a huge player, fast. That vaccine made them billions, as you can imagine.”
Jack tapped his pencil on his pad. “They were only founded two years ago. And I’ll bet Damon Crosse has his hooks in this company.”
“Licentia means anarchy in Latin,” Jeremy said.
Jack expelled a breath. “That tracks. Sounds just like a name he’d choose.”
Taylor looked at Jeremy. “Is it really possible that a stimulant could cause someone to commit murder, or suicide?”
“He’s likely mixing it with other things.” He shook his head. “I should have known he’d never take his own life.” He turned to Jack. “Can I see the toxicology reports from all the recent suicides? It might give me some idea of what kind of poison he’s mixing.”
Jack nodded. “I have a copy of one, and I’m trying to get others. My brother-in-law who works for the FBI is involved now, too; he’s going to email them to me when he can.”
“Won’t we be easier to locate if we’re using email on our phones?” Taylor asked.
“Don’t worry,” Jack told her. “I’ve got burners for all of us, and I borrowed a clean computer from a tech friend that can’t be traced here.”
“That’s a relief,” Jeremy said. “But we have to figure out where Crosse is. Smoke him out somehow.”
“We have to use the coins,” Taylor said. “Get a message to Crosse that we have them. Arrange a meeting.”
“I think you’re right. It’s the only way to find him,” Jack agreed.
Jeremy looked back and forth between the two of them and shook his head. “Absolutely not. He cannot get his hands on any more of the coins. Remember what happened last time we tried that?”
“This time will be different. We’ll be more prepared,” Taylor argued. “Maybe Father Basil will have an idea of how to lure him.”
“Are you sure we can trust Basil?” Jack asked.
Taylor replied, “I’m not sure we have a choice. And I looked into the Pittsburgh ceremony and what Father Basil told me checks out.” She opened the laptop and pulled up an article from her desktop, then turned the screen to face them. “See, it talks about the fire last year and the service to reopen the church, with the icons that are going to be consecrated.” She pointed. “The Theotokos and the St. Mary of Bethany are being donated by Father Basil Parakos, those are the ones with the silver pieces hidden. And here’s the listing for the donation of the St. John and the Holy Family icons—those are the ones Mom hid the coins she had in.”
Jack took a few minutes to read it over, then shrugged. “Looks legit to me.”
“So we need to figure out how to let Crosse know we have the coins. Do you think he’s even in the country?” Taylor asked.
Jack looked up at the ceiling. “Well, let’s go with what we know about him. There’s no way he’s lounging on a beach somewhere. He dedicated his life to building an institute that indoctrinated and trained pawns he could use to manipulate others. Wherever he is, you can bet he’s got some kind of plan to cause more harm. I think he’s got an agenda that he’s using the contaminated vaccine to carry out. I confirmed with Brian Doyle that his wife did get the vaccine. But what does Crosse hope to gain by making people go nuts?”
“Well,” Jeremy said. “Let’s look at who they are. Is there anything they all have in common?”
Jack snapped his fingers. “A Baptist Sunday school teacher, a Catholic woman in counseling, a respected psychologist, a well-known preacher. They were all good people, with strong values. Religious. Could he want to discredit their faith?”
Jeremy leaned back in his chair, slowly shaking his head. “Not big enough. I mean, yes, maybe the added bonus was that it would besmirch their reputations and make people see religion as hypocritical, but I think it’s a test run for something bigger.”
Taylor shook her head. “We’re jumping to an awful lot of conclusions here. We need to verify first that they all received the cold vaccine. And even then, it could be a coincidence. I mean, a majority of the nation has been vaccinated. We both got it and so did Evan.”
Jeremy looked surprised. “I didn’t,” he said. “I should have told you not to. It’s always good to wait until something’s been out a few years before you jump on the bandwagon.”
“Great,” Taylor said. “Too late now.”
Jack tried to change the subject. “So if this is Crosse’s doing, what do you think his next steps are?” He looked at Jeremy.
“There’s a lot of possibilities. One thing I’m fairly certain of is that whatever he’s planning is going to happen soon. He can’t afford for anyone to figure out that what’s been going on recently has been caused by the vaccine or they’ll pull it. If the Institute were still around, the testing would have occurred inside those walls.” Jeremy took a sip of his drink. “Actually, he may well have begun the testing there years ago.”
“So you’re thinking he’s on the brink of a major rollout but wanted to make sure it worked first?” Taylor asked.
Jeremy nodded. “That would be my guess. But, of course, we could be on the wrong track.” He looked at Jack. “It’s still possible that this is nothing more than a scientific error.” He stroked his chin. “But now that we know he’s alive, I’m more inclined to believe he’s running Licentia.”
Jack’s phone rang and he excused himself. “Logan.”
Scotty didn’t bother with any pleasantries. “All three of these guys got the cold vaccine right before they went crazy.”
“That makes six cases now. Are you going to alert the FDA? Have them check out the vaccine?”
“Hey, not so fast, partner. We have to be careful here. We don’t have anything definitive yet and if something about this leaks out, we could do more harm than good. Cause a public panic. The vaccine could be totally fine. All we know is that it’s a common denominator, nothing more. Plus, we’d have a huge lawsuit on our hands from the pharma company. It would ruin their reputation. This is going take some time. But we will be getting a subpoena to look into Licentia.”
Jack sighed. “Good.” He filled Scotty in on their current circumstances. “I’m going to dump this phone for now, but I’ll text you from my new burner. Stay in contact. I’ll let you know if I find out anything new. Thanks again, man.”
“Sure thing.”
He returned to the kitchen. “Three more cases where they’d had the cold vaccine right before they went crazy.”
Taylor’s voice was shaky. “We need to find out exactly what’s going on and if there’s an issue with the vaccine. We can’t sit around and wait until it warps our minds!”
Jeremy’s eyes met Jack’s. Taylor noticed and said, “Look, guys, I’m not being paranoid. People are going crazy! Regular people. If that vaccine has something to do with it, then we’re not immune.”
Jeremy put a hand up. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s been weeks since you both got it, though, and as you pointed out, millions of other people have gotten it, too. These episodes have all been a few days after.”
Jack nodded. “I’ll verify that that’s true in all these cases. In the meantime, there’s really not a whole lot we can do about it, so there’s no point in worrying.” He gave Taylor what he hoped was a reassuring smile, but inside he was just as worried as she was. The thought that either of them might suddenly lose their minds and commit murder wasn’t just terrifying. It was a distinct possibility.
* * *
When they turned in for the night, Jack seized his opportunity to talk to Taylor about what had been nagging at him.
“So I have an update on the situation with Dakota’s passport.”
She gave him a stony look, saying nothing.
“Sybil called me and begged me to pick it up from her before she goes back into the hospital. I told her I couldn’t possibly take the passport to Dakota, but she asked me to hold it and have Dakota find someone to get it from me. I went to New York before coming to get you. I have it.”
She shook her head. “That makes no sense, Jack. Why can’t whoever Dakota is going to have get it from you have gotten it from her aunt? If she trusts someone enough to retrieve it from you, there was no reason to involve you in the first place. This whole thing is sketchy.”
“I know, but I couldn’t say no to Sybil. She’s sick, maybe not totally rational, maybe Dakota knew she’d only give it to me. I’m not thinking straight with everything that’s going on.” His rationale sounded lame even to his ears. “I called Dakota and told her she’d have to find someone to get it from me, and she’s working on it. I told her I’d call her back in two days.”
Taylor shook her head, her face red. “So what then? You’re going to tell her where we are?”
“Of course not. I’ll drop it somewhere. Find a safe meeting place.”
Taylor snapped the lamp off and got in bed, her back turned to him. He slid in next to her but she moved to the edge of the bed. It was going to be a long night.