“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I warn you, Brutran, don’t anger me. You know who it is.”
“I don’t, I swear it.”
God, she sounds like she’s telling the truth again.
I try to act more confident than I feel. “Then you won’t mind if I use your Cradle to kill this mole,” I say.
Cindy shrugs. “It’s your call.”
SIXTEEN
I’m still getting used to my old body. Now I have to get used to a new phase of life that’s so unpredictable and fraught with danger I can’t drop my guard for an instant. I’ve intentionally marooned myself in the heart of the IIC’s stronghold so I can destroy them, right after I destroy the Telar.
But doubts assail me.
Even Yaksha was unable to stop the Telar.
I wish I shared the faith Umara has in me. It’s hard not to call upon her and Matt for help. I miss Seymour, his love and wisdom, and I miss Teri. I never had a chance to properly mourn her passing.
I feel so alone caged inside the IIC’s headquarters.
Yet it’s crucial I stay, and that I remain alone. If I brought in Umara and Matt, then all our cards would be on the table, and we’d be exposed to the IIC. And if something went wrong with my plan, we’d have no backup. Even if the IIC should happen to kill me, if Umara and Matt are still out there, alive, then at least there’s a chance the IIC and Telar can be stopped.
I stay inside the Malibu center to keep an eye on everything the IIC does. Likewise, I force them to remain inside the building, all six hundred of the firm’s employees that I’ve infected. I convince them that they’re contagious, and they believe me. Why shouldn’t they? At this point, they know little about the virus. They have barely spoken to Charlie—I have given them limited access—who’s confident a person can’t spread the virus as long as the black blisters haven’t begun to pop and ooze their deadly fluid.
I stay in the building for another reason. The IIC know me and know a portion of my history. For two decades they have fought the Telar. Now that they have me on their side, it’s strange but they see me as a leader of sorts. Not Cynthia and Thomas Brutran, but the rank-and-file members of the company. On the whole, they’re normal people, and I go out of my way to treat them with kindness and respect.
I am, after all, their doctor, even if I’m the one who infected them. The simple act of giving them a shot every day that washes away their symptoms gives me a mysterious authority.
But that doesn’t mean that other members of the IIC are not working behind my back at other facilities to try to develop a better vaccine. I’m alert enough to know there are scientists in our center who are sending out data on their computers to other IIC sites. That I cannot control, and I’m not even sure if I want to.
Because I have two holds on the IIC, not one. They need me to stay healthy, and they need me because of the blood samples I carry. The blood Umara has so carefully gathered over the eons. My decision to infect the IIC was to get them moving quickly. But it’s the Telar blood that gives me my true control over them.
Cynthia Brutran is still a mystery to me. She knows the danger X6X6 represents. She may crave power but she’s wise enough to know there has to be someone left alive on the planet to have power over. She should be doing everything she can to help me destroy the Telar.
Yet, when it comes to the Cradle, she keeps stalling me.
It’s like she’s afraid for me to meet the children. I’ve been at the Malibu center for three days and still only a trickle of the kids who make up the Cradle have arrived. I’ve met them, twenty teens and preteens, and they seem normal enough, although on the quiet side. But I suspect I haven’t met any of the kids who control the actual Lens.
My patience with Brutran quickly runs out.
On the fourth night, I tell her we’re going for a walk.
We sneak out through a hidden exit Freddy has already alerted me to. It’s late, close to dawn, and the half moon has risen. It lights our way as we stroll along a path that leads through the hills behind the compound.
“Why are you afraid to talk inside?” she asks.
“Why are you? You act like every room has ears.”
“That’s close to the truth. Security monitors every important area. They’ll know we’ve left the building.”
“Don’t worry. You must know Harold in security? He and I have become good friends. He’s not going to talk about our great escape.”
“I’ve noticed the two of you talking. For a vampire who’s brought nothing but disease, you’ve managed to develop quite a following.”
“The rank and file don’t know I’m a vampire.” When I give the injections, I work fast but not at hyper speed. Nevertheless, the soldiers who broke into Brutran’s office have spread the rumor that I’m no ordinary woman. I don’t mind. I have gone out of the way to build their trust but a little fear can be a good thing.
“They don’t think you’re human, either,” Cindy says.
“But they like me more than they like you. Does that bother you?”
“No.”
“I think it does. It must get lonely working in a building where your nickname is the Wicked Witch.”
“No one calls me that.”
“Not to your face. You should have my ears. Do you want to hear some of your other nicknames?”
Brutran acts bored. “You didn’t bring me out here to taunt me.”
“True. I’m annoyed the Cradle’s not here. And don’t give me your usual excuses about their parents and the distances they have to travel and all that bullshit. You’re keeping them away for a reason, even though you know the Telar can strike at any time.”
“I never agreed to bring the Cradle here.”
“Liar. You never agreed to let me join them. You did agree to bring them to this building.”
“I didn’t say those exact words.”
“You gave the impression that bringing them here was not a problem. Now I’m through waiting. Why do you keep stalling?”
“Give me the blood samples and we’ll kill the Telar for you. We’ll start immediately. You can oversee the operation. You can have access to all our surveillance equipment. You can’t imagine how sophisticated it is. We have a dozen satellites that can read a newspaper from orbit. You’ll be able to watch each target that we select die. You can even tell us how you want them to die.”
“No.”
Brutran stops me in mid-stride. “There’s only one reason you would say no to my offer.”
I don’t respond. I wait. She knows.
“You don’t just intend to destroy the Telar. You intend to do the same to us.” She pauses. “Deny it.”
“Why should I deny it? You’re dangerous.”
Brutran sighs. “At last we’re able to speak the truth to one another. Why, from your perspective, is the IIC dangerous?”
“Too much power concentrated among too few. You’re like the Nazis.”
“Hitler was insane. Do you think I am?”
“You have too much control. I was present when the founding fathers created this nation. There was a reason they split the government into three parts. The checks and balances were all designed to keep power-driven people from seizing absolute control.”
Brutran is thoughtful. “How little you understand what’s really going on here.”
Her remark sounds degrading but again I hear truth in it.
“We’re alone. It’s just us girls. Enlighten me,” I say.
Brutran continues walking. I follow.
“To understand you’d have to go back to the beginning days of IIC. I know now that you’ve spoken to Professor Sharp and Freddy, and I assume they gave you a reasonably accurate idea of how the Array and the Cradle came into existence. At the same time, you have to understand their point of view is limited. They were always on the outside looking in.”
“Because you’re the real founder of the company.”
Brutran hesitates. “I thought so at the time. Freddy told you about the loss of our son. What he couldn’t tell you is how the pain refused to fade with the passage of time. I think I went a little crazy during those days. I knew Henry for only a week, but I talked to him in my head for years. And I had but one wish. That he would talk back to me.”
I feel a disquieting chill. “I don’t understand.”
Again, she stops me. “Before I go any further I need you to answer a question. It’s the most important thing I’ve ever asked of anyone. Please be honest with me.”
“Ask.”
“We know your small group battled the Telar in Colorado, outside the town of Goldsmith, and that you escaped the area in a helicopter by flying into the Rockies. We’re not sure what happened up there but our best information says that you were killed.” She pauses. “Is that true?”
I’m silent a long time. Knowledge is power and I’m reluctant to tell this woman anything that could give her leverage over me or my friends.