The Phoenix Variant: The Fifth Column 3 (13 page)

Dust particles floated in front of Sophia as she moved. DC was using a torch with a red lens to light the way. She walked behind him with her own torch and red lens. Nasira was behind her another twenty paces, relying on Sophia’s beam of red light. Aviary was only a few steps behind. The boys had nothing, not that Jay needed a light. Damien followed a few paces behind his partner and stepped wherever Jay stepped.

Finally they reached a junction in the tunnel. It peeled to the left and crossed with three other tunnels. DC chose the far left. A short distance later he halted. Sophia stopped and everyone else followed suit.

DC turned, his light almost destroying her night vision when he switched it off a bit late. She kept her Glock in hand, low ready position. She wasn’t taking any chances.

‘What’s in the ruck?’ Sophia said.

DC took a few steps closer.

‘I can hear you just fine from here,’ she said.

DC frowned. He still held his carbine in both hands, relaxed.

‘Aviary, want to take a look?’ Sophia said, her thumb pointing to the second ruck on her back.

‘Sure.’ Aviary walked across the rocks and track to Sophia.

She unzipped the main compartment of the ruck.

‘What is it?’ Sophia said.

‘It’s a … uh … a rock,’ Aviary said, disappointed. ‘Better than a nuclear warhead, I suppose.’

‘This little
rock
seems to be in very high demand,’ Sophia said. ‘Care to explain why?’

‘It’s not the rock that’s in high demand,’ DC said. ‘It’s what’s inside the rock.’

‘Gremlins,’ Aviary said. ‘Is it gremlins?’

‘The Phoenix virus,’ DC said.

Sophia felt goose bumps run across her arms. That name couldn’t be a coincidence.

‘One of three Phoenix viruses,’ DC said. ‘Each dangerous in its own right. But all three together … well, it makes the Chimera vectors look like a qualifying match.’

‘How dangerous?’ Sophia said. ‘Plague dangerous? Enough to infect seven billion humans?’

‘OK, firstly the world’s population is eight point four billion. Public stats aren’t even close,’ DC said. ‘Secondly, they don’t kill people. Not the Pheonix viruses. They make you them more powerful. That one on your back is called the
Recognizer
. It puts your holistic and information processing into overdrive. You become a human lie detector. A behavioral analyst of extraordinary talent. An expert on humans.’

‘Isn’t that a standard feature of psychopaths?’ Sophia said. ‘Denton can already do a lot of that.’

‘Imagine it tenfold,’ DC said. ‘And it’s only one of three Pheonix viruses.’

‘Hold on a sec. This is the rock from Peru, isn't it?’ Nasira said.

‘No,’ DC said. ‘The Peru meteorite is—’

‘On its way here,’ Nasira said.

Sophia turned to her. ‘How do you know about this?’

‘How do you think I got back so quick?’ Nasira said. ‘I came across the landing site in Peru, and the testing camp. I saw them take it. The Berets got there, thought I was in on it and brought me back for, um, torture, I guess.’

‘Them?’ Sophia said. ‘The Fifth Column took it? From the … Fifth Column?’

‘From the Fifth Column,’ DC said.

‘I’m confused,’ Jay said.

‘We know,’ Nasira said. ‘But is this some sort of rogue element stealing these rocks all over the joint?’

‘Yeah,’ DC said. ‘If you call Denton a rogue element.’

‘That was Denton’s men at the base in Peru? He took the meteorite and burned the rest of it to the ground?’ Nasira said.

‘He will have the sample soon. It’s in transit as we speak,’ DC said. ‘I already have confirmation that it contains another Phoenix virus.’

‘What does that one do?’ Sophia said, trying to stay calm.

‘Called the
Detector
,’ DC said. ‘The ability to detect and interpret pheromones.’

Jay sniffed. ‘What, like body odor?’

‘A little more complex than that,’ DC said. ‘It’s a type of ectohormone produced through your skin.’

‘What the hell does that do?’ Jay said. ‘Warn you when someone stinks?’

Nasira raised her hand. ‘I want that ability.’

‘They’re secreted when you trigger alarm, you’re sexually aroused, attracted, repelled by someone, warning them off, planning to attack them,’ DC said. ‘Early warning system. You interpret them through your vomeronasal organ in your nose, connected to the hypothalamus in your brain. It’s like an extension to your sense of smell.’

‘Sounds like what Lucia had,’ Nasira said.

‘More sensitive, more powerful, different function,’ DC said. ‘Even if someone washes away their pheromones and obscures them with deodorizing and scented products, you can still detect them. Pick up on their moods, their intentions, their attractions, their repulsions.’

‘And the third Phoenix virus?’ Sophia said, wondering anew just what had changed in her, seeing as DC had just described the second Phoenix virus as pretty much what she’d been doing all evening.

DC pointed to the ground. ‘An old OSS—Fifth Column—base eight hundred feet below Grand Central terminal, disused since the eighties. Large enough to hide half of Manhattan’s population. Or a mislabeled sample of the third Phoenix virus.’

‘You know this for a fact?’ Sophia said.

‘No,’ he said. ‘But Denton set up camp in Grand Central a few hours ago, which seems quite the coincidence.’

‘And this one?’ Sophia thumbed at the ruck slung over her own.

‘Reclassified just a few days ago,’ DC said. ‘Until now it was hiding in plain sight.’

Sophia felt her throat tighten. ‘It was taken from the museum, wasn’t it?’

‘The American Museum of Natural History,’ DC said. ‘Blew up eight city blocks just to cover their tracks. I’m guessing you heard the explosion.’

‘I was there,’ Sophia said. ‘I did more than hear it.’

‘Shit,’ Jay said. ‘That’s a lot of collateral.’

‘Not for a psychopath,’ Sophia whispered, more to herself than the others. ‘Who’s doing this?’

DC met her glare. ‘You already know the answer.’

Sophia’s fingers squeezed around the pistol grip of her Glock. ‘Denton’s gunning for all three, isn’t he?’

DC nodded.

‘So he’s on his own now?’

‘That’s a gray area,’ DC said.

‘Speak for yourself,’ Sophia said. ‘You’re still with the Fifth Column, far as I can see.’

‘It’s a temporary engagement, on my terms,’ he said.

‘That’s what they all say. Besides, we have no reason to believe anything you’ve told us,’ Sophia said.

‘We have common goals, you and I. To get this rock as far away from Denton as possible,’ DC said. ‘That firefight in the foyer as we were leaving; those were Denton’s operatives trying to steal it back.
A lot of operatives.
They think Denton is Jesus and that they’re still working for the … OK, “good guys” isn’t quite right, but you know what I mean. If they’d got to us it would’ve been over very quickly.’

‘No shit,’ Nasira said.

Sophia heard the crunch on rocks as Damien and Jay swiveled to face their rear, half-expecting operatives to spring from nowhere.

‘You mean we have operatives on our tail?’ Damien said.

‘Bit of info you
could’ve
told us earlier,’ Jay said.

DC shook his head. ‘They don’t know how to get here. Not yet.’

‘So he already has the other two meteorites?’ Sophia said. ‘Two Phoenix viruses?’

‘One, if they’ve found the sample in the old base downstairs. Which they probably have,’ DC said. ‘Two, if he gets that Peru meteorite in here before the hurricane hits. And plenty of time to extract and prepare the virus. Three, the one on your back.’

‘Prepare it for … his own bloodstream?’ Sophia said.

‘The Fifth Column are planning to intercept the Peru meteorite before it reaches Denton at Grand Central,’ DC said.

She didn’t even want to ask how he knew that.

‘What’s so bad about him getting all three meteorites—all three viruses?’ Sophia said. ‘You seem a little worried about that.’

DC reached into a pouch on his vest. ‘I’m not supposed to have a copy, but you know—’

‘Grey area.’ Sophia snatched the printout and shone her torch on it.

It was a long printout, one long page, so she walked to the tunnel wall and pressed it flat to read, aware of Damien and Aviary breathing over each of her shoulders. She turned to Jay and Nasira, who were nudging closer behind them.

‘Can you watch our six?’ Sophia said.

Nasira nodded and, bumping into Jay’s shoulder, walked back down the tunnel.

The paper was titled
Phönix
and the top of the page was mostly an image of three circles. It took a moment for her to realize she was staring at an old drawing of comets.

‘China, 168 BC,’ DC said. ‘One of the first defectors from the Fifth Column was an assistant for Denton’s father. His name was Victor. Denton plucked him from a concentration camp during the second world war so he could help indentify the Pheonix viruses. By the time he made it to Akhana, he was an old man with many secrets.’

Under each comet Sophia noticed a label in English.

The Detector

The Recognizer

The Scryer

In the center of the comets there was another label, with lines drawn from each comet. The label was for all three, somehow combined.

The Controller
.

Sophia read from the top, aloud.

‘
The Detector — a shaman with high sensitivity to the aroma of people; a fragrance or smoke that betrays words, mood, health and humanity.
’

It was the Phoenix virus DC had just described.

‘Why is it called the Phoenix?’ Sophia said. ‘This was two thousand years ago.’

‘Fenghuang,’ DC said. ‘It represents power sent from the heavens to the Empress.’

‘This is the one Denton snatched from Peru, right?’ Sophia said. ‘When was it discovered?’

‘Landed a couple of days ago,’ DC said. ‘Denton’s team got there before us.’

Sophia looked at him. ‘So it’s new. Denton got lucky.’

‘Last year cometary impacts increased by twenty-six percent. They’ve been going up every year,’ DC said. ‘It’s a good time to be hunting meteors.’

‘And the meteorite sample in this base under Grand Central?’ she asked.

‘The Recognizer,’ DC said.

She moved the torch beam down and read aloud.

‘
The Recognizer — a seer of lies and truth, of men and serpent, of loyalty and betrayal,
’ she said. 
‘That would be helpful.
’

‘It’s on your back, help yourself,’ DC said, ‘But you shouldn’t bother. You already have one.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Aviary said.

No one but DC and Freeman knew Sophia had been born carrying a Phoenix virus. And with Freeman dead, she planned to keep it that way. At least until she figured out what this whole thing meant.

She shone the torch in his face, on purpose. ‘You seem pretty sure.’

‘It’s just not—’ he shrugged in the red light ‘—in use right now.’

‘Sounds use
less
to me,’ Sophia said. ‘I was the only test subject in Project GATE without an ability.’

‘
Latent
ability,’ he said. ‘You had it. Denton disabled it. Training you would’ve been … a challenge.’

‘By training you mean programming,’ Sophia said.

‘What are you guys talking about?’ Damien said.

‘I’ll explain later,’ Sophia said. ‘When I understand it myself.’

‘We thought it might come back when you were deprogrammed,’ DC said. ‘But it didn’t. No one knows why.’

‘Well, you conveniently have all the other answers,’ Sophia said.

‘That’s because I was Owen Freeman’s right-hand man for years,’ DC said. ‘And before that, I was a test subject just like you.’

‘Without the Phoenix part,’ Sophia said.

She turned back to the paper. There was one more.

‘
The Scryer — the gift of tongue; to hear the words unspoken,
’ she said.
‘Hang on a second. To hear words not spoken.’ She turned to DC. ‘Thoughts. Hearing thoughts. That’s—’

‘Remotely reading electrical signals,’ DC said. ‘Like what DARPA did back in 2011 with their Silent Talk program. Denton kept a close eye on that one. Leagues behind his research teams, mind you. But I guess he likes to be sure. Project Genesis, GATE, Seraphim, Phoenix—all part of the Fifth Column’s Advanced Warfighter research.’

‘That’s synthetic telepathy,’ Aviary said, reading over Sophia’s shoulder. ‘I read the tests. I mean, I hacked into DARPA and had a sneak peek. You know, wasn’t … quite public knowledge.’

‘You did what?’ Sophia said.

‘And?’ Damien said.

‘They used a computer to transmit and receive electrical signals from a test subject’s brain,’ Aviary said. ‘Through electrodes.’

‘And this.’ Sophia ran her finger across
The Scryer
. ‘It’s the real deal. They actually pick up on the—’ she tapped her head ‘—signals in here.’

‘Yeah,’ DC said. ‘Think of it less as mind reading, more as eavesdropping. Denton believes the meteorite sample that contains
The Scryer
is hidden inside the base.’

‘Is he right?’ Sophia said.

‘Unfortunately,’ DC said.

She slid the paper up the wall to read the bottom.

‘
The Controller — a sorcerer who can enchant a legion with his spell; his desires become the desires of his followers,
’ Sophia said. 
‘So that’s the triple-threat version. Sounds bad.’ She turned to DC. ‘There’s no way any of this stuff is real. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of things in the last few years that I thought were science fiction but—’

DC raised an eyebrow. ‘Like yourself?’

‘This isn’t science fiction. This is outright fantasy,’ she said. ‘A folktale from two thousand years ago.’

‘That’s what they’ll be saying about
us
in two thousand years,’ DC said.

‘I know, but I can’t believe Denton is deranged enough to believe it,’ she said.

‘He’s seen it for himself, many years ago. This is
his
fantasy now,’ DC said. ‘And he plans to make that fantasy real.’