“How long will you be gone?” Jeff asked his mother.
He was standing in the doorway to his parents’ bedroom, watching his mom pack a small carry-on suitcase.
“Just two nights,” Patricia said, folding a blouse and tucking it into the side of the case. “You’ll have fun, staying with your friend.”
“And what about Pepper?”
As Jeff said her name, his dog Pepper padded into the bedroom. She rested her head on the bed and watched Patricia.
“She’s going with you. The Thomases are happy to take you and Pepper. They love dogs. Kevin likes Pepper, doesn’t he?”
Jeff nodded sullenly. He didn’t like it when his parents went away.
“Why are you going?” he asked.
“It’s a meeting,” she told him. “The drug companies have lots of meetings to talk about all the new medicines they’re coming up with.”
“So people can have longer lives?” he asked.
“Not just longer, but better ones.”
“If no one ever got sick, and no one ever died, the earth would overflow with people,” Jeff said.
Patricia stopped packing, looked at her son and smiled. “I guess, eventually, everyone will die of something. But while we are alive, we want to be as healthy as possible, to make the most of the time we have.”
“I guess,” Jeff said, not entirely convinced. “But what if—”
“Patsy!”
Jeff’s father came into the room, looking harried. He ruffled the top of his son’s head.
“The taxi’s here,” he said. “Aren’t you packed yet?”
“I’m ready, Edwin. I was just tossing in some last things.”
“Well, zip up that bag, or we’re going to miss our flight.”
Moments later, Jeff took Pepper across the street to his friend Kevin’s house. Before going in, he stood and watched his parents’ taxi drive down the street until it reached the corner, and turned out of sight.
Sitting in the back of the taxi, Patricia reached over and clutched her husband’s hand.
“I’m scared,” she whispered.
“I know,” he replied. “Me too.”
“What if something happens to us? What if they—”
“Nothing will happen to us,” Edwin said. “Once we tell the newspapers everything, there will be no point in them doing anything to us. The world will know.”
“But if something did, what about Jeff? Who would look after Jeff?”
“You know my sister would take him.”
“I can’t stand your sister,” Patricia said.
“She has her faults,” Edwin conceded. “But she’d do right by him, I’m sure of that. And not only that, there’s—”
“Which terminal?” the taxi driver asked.
“Uh, Terminal One,” Edwin said, raising his voice. He returned to whispering and said to his wife, “It’s going to be okay. And we’re doing the right thing. The Institute, Madam Director, they can’t be allowed to do this. Dogs, well, dogs are one thing. But the way things were going…”
The taxi pulled up in front of the Arrivals level of the airport. The driver got out and helped them get their bags out of the trunk.
As Patricia and Edwin Conroy walked into the terminal, the driver reached into his pocket for his phone and entered a number.
“Daggert?” he said. “They’re here.”