Final Challenge (24 page)

He didn't need to approach the window to satisfy his curiosity, since the door was open. The wind was blowing a little, enough to open and close intermittently the door, a fact that allowed him to take the opportunity to penetrate into the interior wit
hout disturbing the monotonous
cadence, in order
to
not
be discovered.

 
It was a large and diaphanous space, full of furniture with shelves on which reposed diverse laboratory equipment. It was not exactly a scholar in that field, but he remembered his visit to the biotechnology company Genfly and deduced that it was facing another research center equipped with the most advanced resources, with the peculiarity of being located in the middle of the jungle.
It was very well lit, he concluded that they should
have a
power
generator.
However, cages with mice and snakes attracted specially his attention.

 
The lab was so great that it was impossible to determine, at first glance, the presence of a busy researcher beyond the first rows of shelves and tables. For a moment he tried, unsuccessfully, to perceive a noise that would serve as a reference, so he decided to make a closer inspection of the entire stay.

He was going quietly scrutinizing table by table, corner by corner, until he heard a sound that seemed similar to dump the contents of a liquid on a test tube, so he approached the origin of it. Initially he only was able to see him by his back, he was a researcher engaged in his work in such a way that Hanson thought that he  probably would not had noticed him although he had done the greatest bang to enter.  He decided not to interrupt and wait for him to turn around to see his face.
Perhaps, with a bit of luck, he would meet Clerigan.

After a few minutes, all pointed the man didn't seem be willing to change his position to make life easier to Hanson, and patience was not one of the virt
ues of him, so he was forced to do
a spin around the researcher, approaching him from the opposite side. The a
gent did not lack sense of humo
r even in the most difficult moments, so through his mind  passed the idea that if his target turned on himself precisely at the last second and changed his position giving him again his back,  both could be playing cat and mouse game all night, and Hanson didn't have so much time. Fortunately it didn't happen and when he could finally see his face clearly enough, he froze.

Instinctively, driven by
his desire to be sure that he hadn’t
lost his mind, came so close to him that under normal conditions, the researcher surely would have noticed it. But he wa
s still so focused on his work
that although Hanson had approached his face to a few inches from him, would not have paid any attention.

It could not be
true
, the dead are not raised, although they were in the Amazon, as close to the concept that humans have of paradise.

 
The agent took advantage of his state of absolute distraction to get behind him and grab hi
m by the neck with one arm as
covering his mouth with his other hand. Then he whispered:

- Listen, I do not believe
neither
in zombies
n
or resurrec
tions. I watched how they made
you the autopsy, Dr. Klein. Who the hell are you? Are you his twin brother?  ... I'm going to draw out my hand, if you shout, I swear I'll kill you right here.

- You almost achieved, little has been lacking. - Klein replied with bereaved voice, touch
ing his throat, once Hanson withdrawed
his arm -

- In any case, it wouldn't be the first time.

- I have no idea what you're talking about. Who the hell are you? - Klein stared up and down the agent - Congratulations, nice disguise.

Hanson showed him his badge that was hidden into his loincloth.

  - FBI? I don't think you have jurisdiction here, my friend. - Klein refined -

- We have an international order. We act as agents of Interpol here, but I didn't think it w
as suitable
bringing a collection of plates on my backs through the jungle.

- What do you want to know?

- At first, the name of the person you work for.

- I don't think that is of your concern. 

Hanson took a stylus on the table and put it on Klein's throat, with the sole intent to intimidate him but making him to think that he was ready for anything.

   
- Listen, I have little time! This has gone too far, there are innocent people that could die, I'm not going to take "no" for an answer. - He said -

- To Stephen Clerigan - Klein replied to the belligerent attitude of the agent -  

- The disappeared? This is getting exciting. The difference is while he
is missing
,
you're dead. - Hanson said as he was withdrawing
the stylet -  

- As you can see, that is not true.  

- In the tab I didn't see anywhere that you had twins.   

- Look, agent. I have left everything to come here, that's the only truth. In much the rest, I swear I don't know what you're referring.

Hanson opened his eyes disproportionately and looked at him angrily. Then
he
made
a move to take back the stylet.

- I see you don't plan to collaborate.

   Klein did a balance
of
his situation for a few seconds, then replied.

- Listen, agent. Although you don't believe it, I am on your side. My only crime was to come here under a
false identity that they provided me.

- Why did you come?

- I volunteered to be part of an ambitious project, paying me a huge amount of money.

- Was Clerigan who proposed it?

- Yes.

- When?

- About four years ago ... that is,
almost two years
after he had disappeared.  He proposed it to me through third parties, then I had a chance to talk personally with him by phone. The only condition that they required me was to maintain total discretion.

- But ... in theory you disappeared a few months ago.

- Yes, yes, that is. After that first contact they told me that I should wait some time, probably years, because the disappearance of a third scientist in such a short ti
me could arouse much suspicion.
They would suggest me the right time to join.

- And that time came some months ago.

   - That is, when I least expected. Anyway I was tired of the limitations and poverty of my work in Genfly. And I'm also sure they wouldn't have accepted that I would have gone back. - He paused and stared at Hanson, hesitated a few seconds, as if he hadn't clear if he should do him that confidence - Listen agent, I have something important to say.

- I am sure it is. I've been waiting time for it.

- They cheated me when they informed me on the essence of the project. While it is true that I was expe
cting something out of ... - one
could see him visibly nervous,  the look of Hanson decentered him, was forced to redirect it to a lost point - well ... don't get me wrong, I mean ... I knew ... that the investigation line would be more aggressive here, more permissive than in the U.S., but never, never, I assure you, never, I could imagine
the atrocities being committed
.

- I think it's time for me you say.

- Do you know what cloning is?

- Basically, yes.

- It's the main line of research that is being followed here for years.

- With animals? I've seen some on entering.

- No ... not only ... that is, also ... - bowed his head before answering - human embryos. Well, we are also investigating
with
stem cell, but only at the level of certain organs and tissues. In fact they told me about some investigation lines against Cancer and that was the real reason to come here.

- Well, you let me calmer - Hanson joked. Then tried to keep the anger that threatened to overflow and come outside to continue
–
Human
clones
? Stem cells? Organs? It is more aberrant than I ever could have imagined.

- Believe me, I feel the same revulsion that you may feel.

- I do not know whether to believe it. At last, if you were attracted for coming here, it would b
e for something.

- I was attracted by the challenge and curiosity of any man of science. But now I only feel disgust and loathing.

- So why haven't you gone away?

- Wish I could, but they let
it very clear. There's no possibility of turning back, the
only option is death.

  The image of slain Owen came to Hanson's mind , so he took the opportunity to ask.

- Did you know Owen? Do you know if he worked here?

- I knew he was with Clerigan, because he told me. But I never had a chance to see him or talk to him. When I arrived, I was told he had died of a tropical disease.

- Oh, yeah?

- Right.

- Tell me, what do you know about your colleague Olsen?

- I met him here. Then he confirmed that they had proposed him the same than to me. He went out to Tefé a few days ago, we need laboratory equipment and energy supply, fuel for the generator. The charcoal that we produce is not enough.

- Okay, we'll continue with the details at another time. Tell me, do you know if one or more white women are retained here?

- All I can say is that they don't waste any living for their experiments. They don't want to kidnap more Indians than strictly necessary to avoid drawing attention.

- At least you will know where they keep the weapons ...

- Yeah
, I think so. They have so many I don't think they miss a few ...

Klein proposed that he awaited him in the bungalow as he approached the house to get the keys to a room downstairs where they kept numerous weapons and ammunition, raising all sorts of misgivings by Hanson. However, he thought he had no choice but to trust Klein or whoever the hell was that individual. His experience as an instinct told him that he wasn't lying.

 
After about ten minutes, Klein appeared with a bag containing a rifle and five pistols, and plenty of ammunition. He apologized for not being able to grab a rope, which would have facilitated his accesses to the stockade. Instead, they agreed a time, just before sunset, to meet the next day. Klein should keep entertained to the sentry for a few minutes, time enough for that Hanson could get inside the stockade. Hanson thanked him and said goodbye with a hug but not before asking him to try to find out where the prisoners were being held.

 
He tied the bag to his back with a liana that he pulled from a tree like a timbo and studied the best option to get out of the stockade. It soon appeared that it would be much easier to come out than to come in. There were many trees from which he could access the wall. He looked for one of them far enough from the sentry, climbed, cut a long liana, tied it to the trunk and his waist, climbed up the wall and then was climbing down the stockade helped by the liana.

When he reached the
ground, he loosened
the makeshift rope, tied a small rock on the end and threw it back into the enclosure. He tried it for four times, until he got that it hooked enough around a branch. Thus, he killed two birds with one stone: he would have a relatively easy way to access the next day, as he neither could risk making the same trick with the sentry
n
or to depend strictly of Klein's expertise, pretty best scientific than public relations, to entertain him.

It was difficult to Hanson orient himself in his return trip. The distance was irrelevant, but was unable to see
the light of the bonfire in the
village, he thought that it might be turned off at that hour.
At night, without a reference, problems multiplied. Luckily he knew the general direction, but
before finding the village he
wandered lost for more than an hour.
When he finally came, could observed that the fire had ex
tinguished and the guard
actually was half asleep, so it wasn't complicated at all to get to his hut, where Untai, who was lying and covered with a skin so that the guards had not identified him in the hypothetical case that they had decided to take a look to the hut, rejoiced to see him and came out quickly to his nearby hut.

The plan had gone perfectly. Untai had returned to village shortly after Hanson had left him in the jungle with other drunk Indians of the tribe, without arousing any suspicion by the sentry, who hadn't missed Hanson for the simple reason that he had watched him going into his hut before the celebrations and then he hadn't seen him anymore during the night, so he imagined that he would be sleeping soundly and didn't even bother to look inside his hut.