Big Three-Thriller Bundle Box Collection (27 page)

Chapter 26

Heaven or hell?

Lights glaring. Muffled, underwater sounds. Garbled drive-in-speaker voices. Strong odor, antiseptic. Bitterness in my mouth. Aching arms and legs — tingling skin as if covered in acupuncture needles.

Lights focusing. Sounds still distorted.

A clap — no, a slap across my face. No feeling, only the sharp sound. And ringing.

Focusing. The woman with the needle
— Yumi. Her face over me.

No white helmet. Her hair long and black. Big, dark eyes and small features. She speaks to me. Whispering. Her lips moving, still sounding like in a pool
— a water-filled tank.

Her hand across my face again. Head throbbing, lungs hurting, mouth dry.

Yet another slap. A sputtering. Lights flickering like a machine trying to start.

Something like a lightning bolt flashing across my eyes. A cacophony crashing into my ears like a semi truck.

I gasped, drawing in as much air as my lungs could take and nearly swallowed the suicide pill in the plastic. I coughed it back up and shoved it back into place in my cheek with my tongue.

Yumi gently covered my mouth with one hand and she put one finger to her lips. She glanced at the door momentarily. It didn’t move. She turned back to me.

I lay on some sort of table, cold and hard. Along the sides, I felt troughs and when I slowly turned my head, I realized what it was — a stainless-steel examination table, the gutters for draining blood and other body fluids away from a corpse. I looked to my side and saw Sunny staring at me, the semblance of a smile on her face.

“Don’t speak,” Yumi said, her voice slightly above a whisper. “Just listen for now. I have once again turned on your brainwave projection device
— for your protection.”

I watched her, still dazed. She wasn’t wearing her helmet, so I figured she must trust me and this strange power I had if she’d restarted it. Then, I noticed the tables surrounding us. On them were other sheet-draped bodies. It was a different place than where we met with Dr. Xiang, a morgue, I guessed, with two wide doors on opposite walls. One had a sign on it that said
Furnace
. The other wasn’t labeled and probably led to the hallway.

“I wish to make it clear to both of you. I do not like you or what you stand for. Nevertheless, you are the lesser of evils, and with your escape, we will find the path to freedom. It is crucial for you to get away and tell the world of this place. If you do not, we are all doomed. My people. Your people.”

She looked at Sunny. “You have a second helicopter?”

Sunny nodded slowly.

Yumi continued. “You have been unconscious for over an hour now. It is imperative you are many miles away from here before sunrise. That gives me two hours to gather the proof. I will make copies of what I cannot take. You must present to the world this proof of what is being done here. Only then will we truly be safe. Do you understand?”

I frowned and shook my head slowly. Real life was beginning to appear like that bad sci-fi movie.

“You will,” she said.

I tried to sit up, but fell back to my side. Yumi helped me raise up, and I threw my legs over the edge of the table. They swung there briefly like a couple of sand bags on ropes.

Sunny could only lie there with her hand out to me. I reached as far as I could but was only able to touch her fingertips.

Yumi gave us a visual inspection.

“Why did you come here?” she asked. “You had a much better chance of escaping if you had run when you could.”

“My son . . . ,” I said, my voice hoarse. I swallowed, and it felt as though razor blades had lodged in my throat.

Yumi went to a stainless-steel sink nearby and drew water into a small paper cup.

“Speak softly, please,” she said and handed me the cup. “We do not wish to be overheard.”

I took it, gulped a mouthful and looked at Sunny.

“ . . . her husband,” I said. “They’re here.”

I handed the cup to Sunny. She reached for it and tried to sit up but couldn’t. I slipped from the gurney and nearly fell face first onto the floor but caught myself. The doctor took my arm, and I moved tenuously to Sunny’s side. After placing my hand under Sunny’s head, I helped her drink.

“We need to call the FBI,” I said. “The National Guard.”

“You are ignorant of your situation,” Yumi said. “Besides, no phones here will reach the outside. They are all controlled.”

“We’re going to get them out, our people,” I said.

Yumi frowned at me. “That may be impossible.”

I glanced at Sunny. “Maybe. But we’re not leaving until we have them.”

Yumi said, “It is time for you to know the truth. However, you must find this truth for yourself, for only then will you believe it.”

I repeated the words from the note I’d found that morning, “‘Everything you know is lies. Trust not in what you hear or see, but solely in your emotions
— for within them is the only real truth.’ You left the note in the shower?”

She looked at me coolly. “I am sorry to say that, although emotions are true, they can be deceived.” She turned away and went to the door, then opened it a crack. “You would have many discoveries here. But there is not enough time for everything.” She peeked outside then closed it again.

Sunny said, “You’re the one who smuggled his file out. You’re our friend on the inside.”

“You have forgotten what I said. I am not your friend.”

“What’s your story, then?” I asked. I wasn’t sure this wasn’t another charade of some kind.

Yumi faced me. “I am a member of Falon Gong. We are a peaceful movement against rapid change and unfair treatment of our people.”

“Who are your people?” I asked.

She frowned. “The Chinese people, of course.”

That made sense. Nearly half of Gold Rush’s population was Oriental, mostly Chinese — settled here after the railroads laid rail through the mountains to the West Coast in the late eighteen hundreds. The big railroads had been brutal to the Chinese workers who were the largest part of their work force. They definitely had been treated unfairly, nearly as slaves.

Sunny winced. “Why can’t I move?” Her voice was raspy, and her face looked as white as the walls.

“I may have given you too much of the solution for your body weight. You might not find balance for a while.” She reached over and felt Sunny’s neck for a pulse.

Sunny moaned. “Everything’s spinning.”

Yumi shrugged. “You will feel groggy for a while, possibly lose consciousness. You must be careful.” She examined each of Sunny’s eyes as she told me, “The hospital ward is on the west wing of the second floor. That would be where any children are kept — where you will find the answers you seek.”

“Yes,” I said, recalling visiting my son. “I think I remember.” As I thought of it, the screen appeared again in my mind. This memory played out on that screen surrounded by darkness exactly as the others. It was a moment before I realized I’d been gazing in a stupor.

“At the appropriate time,” Yumi said, “I will ensure the door is accessible to you. But I am afraid that this is where you will find your emotions have been deceived.”

She was talking in riddles that I had no time for solving. “We’ll need an ambulance to transport my son to the chopper, and a driver with clearance. Can you arrange that?”

She nodded. “If that is what you wish. You will find them waiting for you in the ambulance garage in the basement by four-thirty. In the vehicle will be documents and video copied from the files of Project Brainstorm for you to present to the world, proof of this terrible project.” She faced me with an iron-cold expression of someone who had endured a tortured life. “But do not be surprised if what you discover when you go looking for your people alters your plans.” Her countenance changed. She was no longer cool and emotionless. She glared, not at me, but at the world as she spoke, “That discovery will be important for you to better understand the truly terrible things that have been happening here. But no matter what, you must leave this facility by then. After that, it may be impossible to escape.”

Earlier, Sunny had told me that Gold Rush would be destroyed. But I wanted to hear Yumi’s explanation. “Why the timetable? What does it matter? I heard Xiang say the chairman would close the facility if they didn’t find us, but why does that matter now?”

“You do not understand what he meant by ‘close the facility’?”

“I guess not.”

“In order to close the facility, a twenty kiloton nuclear device is buried under this building.”

“That’s crazy!”

“In a compartment at the base of the water tower in the middle of town is another, set to go off five seconds after the first. Detonating those devices will ‘close the facility’ — the project — destroying all evidence of it ever being conducted. Only a handful of us know about this. It is business as usual for those who are not being evacuated. They will all die.”

“But if Xiang thinks we’re dead, he won’t set them off, right?”

“I am afraid it is too late for that. Dr. Xiang and his thugs have been extremely sloppy. Too much has gone wrong. It is only a matter of time before the outside world finds out. Xiang has ordered the essential scientists, key personnel and a number of the Brainstorm subjects to be evacuated to an airfield on the other side of the mountain. Besides his own private jet, two large planes are there. Critical files and equipment are being transported now. They will close shop here and restart the operation at another location. The satellite photos have become too revealing even with the continuous smoke screen.”

I thought about the smoke. “The forest fires?”

“No forests are ablaze. Only large smoke pots around the perimeter of the town and facility. The smoke is laced with a special gas that bends light and distorts photographs to eliminate the threat of aerial reconnaissance.”

“How can we get to our people? What about the guards, the cameras?”

“Leave that to me, also. In twenty minutes the lights will go out and the emergency lights will come on. Put on one of the guards’ uniforms then.”

“Won’t the lights going out attract attention?”

“This facility has been plagued with power problems. They took too many short cuts building it, putting most of the money into research and building a credible town. It is not uncommon for a rat to cause a blackout that knocks the cameras out. There will be much confusion with the evacuation going on at the same time as a blackout. Nevertheless, we must be careful. Most of the workers have been instructed to carry on as usual. They know nothing of the termination plans, only that we are having a drill. But the guards may search each room. So while you are in this room, you must stay covered up. They will think you are dead, as well you should be.”

“And you’ll return to tell us when it’s safe?”

“As soon as possible. We are supposed to be packing up all of our records. It would look suspicious if I was away from the laboratory long. You must give me some time before going to the children’s ward. I will send the guards away from there. You must stay here until I return. Then, go and do what you feel you must, then get out. And no matter what happens, you must leave with the proof of what is happening here and be a safe distance away before sunrise. The world must know.”

She stepped up to my side. “Get back on the gurney.”

“Wait,” I said, “we have a friend here. He could help. Can you arrange for him to go with us?”

She sighed in response. “Possibly,” she said. “What is his name?”

I hoped I was saving Rajiv and not betraying him.

“Rajiv Shekhar,” I said. “He’s a neuroscientist.”

“I will try. I cannot promise,” she said. “You must escape. You are the important one — part of the proof.”

“What about you?” I asked.

“I have been waiting for this day for many years. My life is not important. It is but a small sacrifice, exposing these monsters for what they are and what they are doing to my people. I am willing to make that sacrifice.”

She paused, and I thought she was going to smile, but she didn’t. I wondered how she could have gotten into such a project.

“Get back onto the table,” she ordered again.

“Good luck,” I said as she covered Sunny’s face with the sheet, and I lay down.

She said nothing in return. I watched her, trying to understand what kind of a person she really was, but I couldn’t. She grasped the sheet on my table and pulled it slowly, almost ritualistically, over me, and five seconds later, I heard the door mew as she left.

Although covered, the bright room lights filtered easily through the thin white fabric.

“I can’t believe we’re still alive,” Sunny whispered to me.

“Believe it,” I said.

“Do you think we’re going to make it?” she asked, and I heard her sheet move.

“And
I can’t believe
I’m hearing doubt in your voice,” I said and pulled my sheet back.