Chapter Thirty-Nine

The basement had been transformed into a series of cells. Luke led them through a steel door and into a room about ten feet by ten feet. A chair stood in the middle, into which the doctor was strapped.

He looked up as they entered, panic flaring as he caught sight of Jenna.

“Don’t let her in here. I told you I’d talk—just get her out.”

Luke turned to her. She glared at the doctor with hatred in her eyes. This wasn’t doing her any good, and they needed the doctor’s cooperation sooner rather than later. “Jenna, come with me?”

She frowned but followed him out of the room and through a second door.

“This is an observation room.” He pressed a switch and a window appeared in the far wall. It looked into the cell where the doctor was secured. “You can see and hear everything from here.” He picked up one of the comm units from the counter and slipped it in his ear. “If you want to ask anything, hold this button down, and you can talk to me.”

He turned to leave.

“Luke?”

“Yes.”

“Will you ask him about me? About what he said?”

“Of course.”

She caught her lower lip between her teeth and chewed. Suddenly he had an inkling of how she must feel. Jenna was one of the strongest people emotionally he had ever met, but right now she was confused and afraid. He crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her, held her close. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. There will be an explanation.”

She pulled free and stepped back, a rueful smile on her lips. “I know—but not, I suspect, one I’m going to like.”

He forced a smile of his own. “Look on the bright side. At least it looks like you don’t have Huntington’s.”

“You’re right. Now all we need to find out is what I do have.”

“It will be all right.”

He turned and left the room, wondering what he’d discover about her. He forced aside his worries over Jenna. They were close. He could feel it. This was their chance to cut off the hydra’s head and end the Conclave forever. If Dr. Smith could lead them to Descartes, they would have a bargaining chip.

He reentered the cell and nodded once to Callum.

Callum was more experienced at interrogation techniques, but Luke didn’t think they were going to have to get nasty with the doctor, which was unfortunate.

He wondered how much pain the man had dispensed in his time working for the Conclave. Luke had seen his pleasure as he injected Jenna with his chemicals. Leaning against the wall, he fixed his gaze on Smith’s face.

“Tell us about Descartes,” Callum said.

Shock flared in his face as though he hadn’t been expecting the question. “Descartes?” His voice caught on the word. “I thought you wanted to talk about the woman.”

“Descartes and the woman. How are they linked?”

His gaze darted around the room, came back to Callum. “I don’t know.”

Luke pushed himself off the wall, crossed the room, and crashed his fist into the doctor’s face. The bone crunched beneath his knuckles, and blood spurted from the broken nose. “That’s for Jenna. To start with.”

Callum stepped closer and leaned his face close to Smith’s. “You agreed to talk. So talk. Or we will find a way to make you.” He lifted his hand to show a syringe filled with a pale yellow liquid. “We took this from your lab, and I’m dying to see how it works.”

Smith stared at the syringe as if mesmerized. “I’m telling the truth. I don’t know the link. That’s why we had her, why Lynch had orders to interrogate her. She was somehow tied into Descartes. She knew the name when she shouldn’t have, but we didn’t know how. And she didn’t talk.”

“Right, so tell us about Descartes. What is it?”

“I told you—I don’t know.”

“We’ve just watched a video of you in Ivory Coast. Ring any bells?”

“If you saw the film, you know I was there, but that’s not Descartes, or at least, I’d never heard it called by that name. I’d never heard the word Descartes until Lynch started the interrogation of the woman. It meant nothing to me.”

Luke frowned. Perhaps the doctor wasn’t aware of the imminent terrorist attack—that would fit with the way the Conclave usually worked—allowing the players to know only what they needed and no more. “So what was the gas, where did it come from?”

“I was told it was a by-product of some other experiment, produced by accident, and they needed to know what it could do.”

“What did they plan to use it for?”

“I don’t know. That’s not my job.”

Callum leaned in closer. He lifted the syringe, reached across, and pushed up the man’s sleeve, baring his forearm. Smith stared at it, for the first time fighting against his restraints.

“No, wait. That’s not how we work. You must know that. Nobody knows the full picture.”

“Nobody?”

“Well, somebody at the top, but we never see them, never hear from them directly.”

Luke stepped up close, and the doctor eyed him warily. “I don’t believe you.”

His eyes bulged. “What?”

“Even in an organization as secretive as the Conclave, things get out. Nothing can remain that secret. Somebody always talks.”

Smith remained silent. Luke looked at him, pictured his smug face on the video in Ivory Coast. Rage rose up inside him, and he leaned in close. “If you don’t tell us what we want to know, I’ll let Jenna continue this interrogation. I’ll lock you in here with her for as long as it takes.”

When the doctor remained silent, he straightened and turned to the two-way mirror. “Jenna, would you like to join us?”

“No, I’ll talk. Keep her out of here and I’ll talk.”

“Good. Perhaps we can start again. What do you know about Descartes?”

“Okay, I’ll tell you what I’ve heard over the years. The rumors started in the 1970s. I know that much.”

Luke frowned at the words. He hadn’t realized Descartes went back so far.

He’d found evidence the Conclave went back hundreds of years in one form or another, and he believed it was headed up by hereditary members. It had started with one powerful family, and today, at its head would be the last of that family. But why did the 1970s sound important? What had happened back then? He concentrated hard, running the information he had learned over the past few weeks about Descartes. There was something important, and he remembered.

In April 1972, Apollo 16 had touched down on the Descartes Highlands on the moon.

He ran a hand through his hair, trying to tie that in with everything else he’d learned. He didn’t believe in coincidences. He turned back to the doctor.

“What else?”

“Not much, and I’m telling the truth. The only other thing I heard was…” He paused. “It’s a rumor only. I never heard anything to substantiate it…”

“Get on with it,” Callum said.

“I heard it all began with something they brought back from one of the lunar landings.”

“What?”

“I don’t know.” He glanced at the two-way mirror. “I really don’t know.”

Unfortunately, Luke believed him. Maybe there was some other way to find out. Perhaps it was part of public record, something they had brought back, some mineral or chemical found only on the moon. If not public record, perhaps one of the astronauts could tell them what had been found.

It didn’t help answer the question of how Jenna fit into all this, though. Maybe it was time to find out.

“What do you know of the woman, Jenna Young?”

The doctor’s gaze flashed to the two-way mirror as though he could see Jenna sitting on the other side. His face twitched and his hands tightened on the arms of the chair. “Nothing.”

“Come on, you told us she was ‘poison.’ Hardly ‘nothing.’ If you’d never seen her before or heard of her before, why would you say that?”

He licked his lips. “After she killed Lynch, I sent the tapes upward. I don’t know where they go, but we have a protocol we follow if we want to move information fast.”

Luke made a mental note to get the details of that protocol, but he didn’t want to interrupt the doctor’s flow. “Go on.”

“I got a call back within the hour. They said to test her, but to take maximum precautions, to presume she was toxic. I was on my way to start the tests when you took me.”

Luke glanced toward the two-way mirror. “You have any more questions?” he asked.

Her voice came through the comm unit. “Ask him what sort of poison he was testing for.”

Luke turned back to the doctor. “What were you to test for?”

He appeared surprised at the question. “A variation of the same poison we used in Ivory Coast.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Jenna hasn’t been exposed to the poison. Why should she be infected?”

“I wasn’t to test for infection. I was to test for production. I was told she could be producing the poison.”

Shock numbed his mind for a moment. He shook his head. It didn’t make sense. Or maybe it did. Maybe she was somehow involved in the original experiment; she would have been a child, only four when her father did his vanishing act. Would she remember anything? He glanced again at the mirror, forced what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

“How do you do this test? Can you do it here?”

“Yes. But I need certain chemicals.”

Luke shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away while he thought about where to go next. He decided to leave the Jenna question for the moment.

“You worked on the poison?”

Smith looked wary, but he nodded.

“Where are the stocks kept?”

“Usually they’re spread around the country, but they’ve been moving them recently to a secret location.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t need to know.” He blinked rapidly, his eyes flickering to the mirror. “But there’s a laboratory outside London. It’s the only place with storage facilities for larger amounts. It must be there.”

“We believe the gas is going to be used for an attack on London sometime in the next few days. Would you say there’s enough for that?”

“There’s more than enough to take out a whole city. More than one. We were told to put together two separate shipments.”

“Can you give us the location of the laboratory?”

“Yes.”

“And is that the only stock of the poison?”

“I don’t know. It’s the only one I know of, but they could have been developing it elsewhere.”

“Tell me a bit about it. I saw the film—it resembles some sort of Ebola derivative.”

“The symptoms might seem like Ebola, but it isn’t. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.” He looked up and met Luke’s gaze. “Like nothing on Earth.”

Luke considered the words. “You think they first found it on the moon.”

“Maybe. There are molecules in there I’ve never seen before.”

“Is there a cure? Once a person has been exposed, is there anything you can do to stop the progression of the symptoms?”

“No. We were specifically told never to investigate a cure.”

Which didn’t mean there wasn’t one.

He glanced back at the mirror. Was she poisonous? If so, was he already infected?

He turned to Callum. “Get the details. Everything he has on this lab facility and get the protocols for sending messages up the chain of command. And find out how we get rid of the stuff. We’re going to destroy their stocks of the gas, and we’re going to send them a message.”

Callum followed him to the door. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“How the hell would I know that?”

“Come on, Luke. You reckon we’ve been infected?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. If we have, it’s not the same thing we saw in Ivory Coast. The first symptoms showed almost immediately. You feel anything?”

Callum shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Me neither.”

“Which doesn’t mean a thing.”

“Hmm.” He thought for a moment before turning back to the doctor. “The chemicals you need for testing Jenna. Tell us exactly what they are. If it’s possible we’ll get some.”

He left the room and went back to where Jenna waited for him. She backed up when he entered. Strain showed in her eyes.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be anywhere near me,” she said.

He ignored the words, stepped toward her, and took her in his arms. She resisted for a moment, pulling back, but then sighed and leaned against his chest.

“I reckon if you’re giving anything out, I’ve already got it. But I feel fine. We’ll worry about it later. First thing is to stop the terrorist attack.”

“You’re going to this lab.”

“Yes. We’ll go in and destroy the stocks. There may be more, but it’s all we can do at the moment.”

“What will you do with him?” She nodded to the window where he could see Callum questioning Smith.

“I don’t know. Maybe hand him over to the authorities when this is all over.”

She looked up into his face. “What do you think is wrong with me?”

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you. You’re perfect.”

“You know what I mean.”

An idea had been growing in his mind. “I think maybe they did some sort of tests on you when you were a child. The drugs your father gave you suppressed the effects of those tests.”

“But where did I come from?”

He stroked the hair from her face, studied the perfect features, the flawless skin. A small frown furrowed the space between her brows. He decided not to share what he thought about that.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “But we’ll find out. We’re going to break this thing wide open. For the first time we have a means of communicating with someone in the Conclave, maybe not the head, but very close. We’ll uncover all their dirty little secrets.”

Her frown deepened. “I don’t want to be anybody’s dirty little secret.” She bit her lip. “I think I should keep away from people for the time being. I don’t know if I am poisonous, but I’d rather not risk infecting anyone else. I’m going to go back to my room.”

“I’ll get the stuff the doctor asked for. He can do the test when we get back. We’ll find out one way or the other. Until then, yes—it might be a good idea to stay in your room. I’ve sent for some clothes, and if you’re hungry, dial the kitchen. They can leave the food outside your door.”

She nodded, her eyes still shadowed, and he had an almost overwhelming urge to hold her tight, never let go. Instead, he forced himself to take a step back. His hands fell back to his sides. “Come on, I’ll see you to your room. Then I need to talk to Callum, go over the intel, make some plans.”

They were silent as they made their way upstairs and through the quiet house. Luke cast her a sideways glance but could tell nothing of her thoughts. He stopped in front of her door and pushed it open.

“Try not to think about it.”

A wry smile curled the corners of her lips. “Right. Like that’s going to happen. Will I see you before you go?”

“Yes. We’ll wait for darkness. I’ll come back before we leave.”

She stepped through the door and shut it behind her, leaving him staring at the dark paneled wood and wishing he could stay with her.

He couldn’t begin to imagine what she must be thinking, but the best way he could help her was to bring down the Conclave and expose their secrets.

Including Jenna.

…

Jenna lay back on the velvet coverlet and stared at the crimson-and-gold canopy above her head. The color reminded her of blood. She rolled her head to one side and looked out the window instead, wishing she could sleep to make the time pass, but if she closed her eyes, she saw an image of those people dying. Their pain and despair as they must have realized they’d been tricked, and no help was coming.

Was she poison?

The image of the villagers was superimposed with a different one—Luke, his life and vitality drained away, his skin slick with blood.

She’d always held herself off from getting close to anyone, hadn’t thought it fair when she could get ill at any time.

But this was worse.

Now, it appeared she could actually kill those close to her.