The Zen Gene (22 page)

He sat holding his breath and vibrating with jangled nerves on the chair beside her as she began to put away her papers. He drew a whole breath and turned his head to her to ask what to do now but she stopped him with a tiny shake of her head and a wink.

Her meaning was clear: Do not speak. Relax and wait. She was right. It was less than five minutes before the door opened and a smiling information officer, one who was not part of the interrogation team, stepped into the room and announced he was free to go.

When the officer attempted to engage Melanie in dialogue starting with an apology to both of them for the misunderstanding she held up her hand like a stop sign and without looking at him said, “Save it.”

They walked out onto Nanaimo Street a few minutes later into a light evening drizzle and it felt wonderful to be rained on. They did not talk much when they got in her car and she dropped him off at Victoria General Hospital with a promise he would call her when he found Tyler.

Darth Vader

He looked at Zen and Tyler sitting together and he sighed. They looked like many young couples, handsome beyond the mere fact of their youth, each one attractive alone but more so in the combining.

“The first thing you need to know is Andi is at Victoria General Hospital in the ICU. I went to see her last night after the police released me. She is very ill. They are keeping her in something the nurse called an ‘induced coma’. That is something neurologists do to stop further damage to her brain from swelling. I believe she would benefit greatly if you and Tyler went to see her. She is unconscious but she would likely be aware of your presence,” he said.

Zen was nodding slowly but Tyler never said anything. He continued, “The other thing I need to tell you is…” he paused, his voice faltered thickened with emotion, “Tyler, I am your father.”

He watched the boy’s eyes but there was no change, no emotion, not a flicker of surprise. He simply stared at him with a blank expression. It was Zen who reacted to the news.

“Are you kidding?” she said.

Her voice and face were full of wonder and shocked surprise.

“No, I’m not kidding. Andi told me just before all this happened,” he said.

His eyes fell upon the silver framed photo on the coffee table and he picked it up and handed it to her.

“Is that you?” she said. “I wondered why Ty had this. He brought all his science junk over but this was the only thing he brought that wasn’t about science,” she said.

“Yes, that is Andi and me a few years ago,” he said.

“Where was this taken?” she asked

“Niagara Falls,” he said.

She looked at his face and then back at the photo, “It’s sort of hard to tell,” she said.

She was looking at his older battered face trying to match it to the photo. Then she looked at Tyler’s face and back to the photo.

“I guess you do look a bit like Ty,” she said. Tyler was watching her examine the photo but otherwise he seemed disengaged from the back and forth of the conversation.

He had not had time to think about it much since all this started and he examined the boy’s face in profile. He saw something of his father’s face in the angles. There was something about the mouth and the way his eyes were set in the skull.

“I only found out myself a few days ago,” he said again.

“You mean Andi never told you?” she said.

Her eyes went wide with surprise clearly shocked by this detail.

“No,” he said

“Why not?” she said.

“I don’t have the answer,” he said.

“Was this in Montreal?” she said.

“No. We were in Toronto attending university and she simply took off one day without saying anything to me about being pregnant,” he said.

He was aware they were talking as though Tyler was not sitting right there in the room with them. Zen seemed to sense he was uncomfortable talking about this with Tyler not taking part in the conversation and she directed her next question to him.

He was impressed with her caring and intuitive nature. It was unusual at such a young age. It was an odd thing to be thinking about but he was glad Tyler had her as a friend or maybe they were more than friends. She did not seem particularly abashed that he was outside naked when they found him. It told him something important about her values and priorities and obviously Tyler was a priority for her. As his father, though that concept still felt odd, it was heartening to know this about her.

“What do you think, Ty? Dr. Mann is your father. It’s like in Star Wars,” she said.

She spoke brightly trying to relate this news to something he could relate to but then she thought about what she said and added, “Well, maybe not exactly.”

Her face turned red when she realized she compared him to Darth Vader. There was a pause in the conversation then Tyler looked at her and said,

“Does that mean you are my sister?”

They looked at each other and started laughing and Tyler joined in though he was not exactly sure what they were laughing about.

“So what do you think, Ty?” she said.

She was excited by this surprising news. In all the years they knew each other the subject of who his father was never came up. The one time she heard her mom and Andrea talking about it, they were drinking wine and aside from tears and generally disparaging comments which seemed to apply equally to all men, she heard nothing specific about his father.

She knew Tyler was born in Montreal but that was all. She did not know Andi changed her name from Worthington and she was only peripherally aware that she did not communicate with members of her family back east.

“Think about what?” said Tyler.

“That Dr. Mann is your dad?” she said.

He did not answer because he was scanning her face to see if she was talking loud because she was upset with him. He could not determine for certain because her cheeks were red but she was smiling with all her teeth and those two things cancelled each other out.

“Didn’t Andrea ever say anything to you about him?” she said.

“Who?” he said.

“Dr. Mann,” she said.

Her voice was rising and she was practically yelling at him barely able to contain her frustration. She could not understand why he was not excited by this news. It would be a big deal for most people to meet their father for the first time.

“Don’t you have any questions for him?” she said.

She was prompting him now because she was feeling bad about Tyler’s seeming lack of interest.

“Yes,” he said.

“Well?” she said glaring at him. “What is it?”

“Do you have an SEM?” he said.

Tyler quickly looked at her face to see if it made her more upset but her mouth was hanging open. He could not read this but he decided it did not mean she was upset and he relaxed.

Mann smiled at them, they were like a lot of couples he met over the years where one partner, usually the female, has stronger verbal skills and becomes impatient and answers for the other.

“Yes we have a scanning electron microscope at the school why Tyler? Do you want to use it?” he said.

“Yes,” he said

“Do you need it to work on your project?” he said.

“Yes,” he said.

“Have you and Andrea ever been to Thunder Bay?” he said.

He and Andi did a lot of catching up when he came for dinner but he did not know all of their history after they left Montreal. It was possible they were in Thunder Bay and he would not have known. Tyler did not answer but Zen piped up.

“What’s in Thunder Bay Dr. Mann?” she said.

“That’s where I live,” he said.

He could see by the look on her face she had not considered the possibility he did not live in Victoria. He watched the swift progression as thought and emotion subtly reshaped her features as she connected the dots deciphering what that might mean. He knew Tyler was important to her and he watched her calculate; Tyler is only sixteen and if Dr. Mann is his father and Andrea is too sick to look after him it means he will move to Thunder Bay.

“No,” she said the barely audible word leaked from her throat as this fearful calculation struck home.

He smiled at her reassuringly then winced because his face hurt.

“You don’t need to worry Zen, Ty will not be going anywhere without you,” he said.

The look of relief which spread across her face was quickly followed by embarrassment at being so easily read. It would have been comical if it was not so completely affecting. He realized then, no matter what happened to him or Andi, Tyler would be okay because she would see to it.

“We should go to the hospital now and see how Andi is doing,” he said.

“No,” Tyler said.

He looked at him and then at Zen and she shrugged her shoulders.

“Why not, Ty?” she asked.

He did not answer her he got up from the chair and went into the bedroom and closed the door.

Dead Western

Vancouver, British Columbia

Jonas McLean had known all along that Western was a hard ass but he had no idea the guy would go nuts and start shooting people. Two dead Americans, one of them an NSA agent. This was going to be hard to explain to his contact, especially when he was the reason they were there.

He knew they would be looking for him to explain what happened. The only way to put things right was to grab that kid. When he and Fran decided to go freelance he knew there would be dangers he just didn’t expect them on the first freaking day or come from his own freaking side.

Before he left the scene he wiped the gun he shot Western with and put it in the hand of the rookie CSIS agent and took his gun. He was closest to the bathroom door and, he reasoned, that should roughly coincide with the trajectory of the rounds that killed Western as long as the cops did not check too carefully. He took one last look around trying to remember what else he touched in the room. He gave the bathroom door handle a quick wipe and put up his hood and left the room.

He took the fire escape down three floors before summoning the elevator. He pulled the fire alarm as he exited the elevator on the main floor and left the building through a side exit to the parking lot. He made his way out to the street as a police car pulled to the curb. The cops who got out were met with a crowd of people rushing out of the building. He joined the fleeing mass and walked towards the bus depot. He checked his watch. If he hurried he could catch the four p.m. bus to Victoria.

Andi’s Place

Mann ducked under the yellow police tape and walked into the house through the unlocked back door. He planned to start cleaning while he waited for Zen. She was going to shower and change and try and to convince Tyler to come with them to the hospital.

He was appalled by the mess he found inside; the house stank of rotting food. He found garbage bags and started by removing spoiled food from the refrigerator. He could not understand why the police unplugged it in the first place. What was the point of that? The destruction they left in their wake was extensive and looked like the worst kind of vandalism. It added to the anger he already felt about Andi.

When it was empty he pulled the racks out and wiped the inside down with warm water and bleach because the fridge was the source of the smell. When he was finished he closed the door and plugged it in again. He walked around closing drawers and picking things up that had been knocked over. The police had installed a sheet of plywood over the smashed front door but they did not clean up the pieces of splintered wood all over the place.

He could see the spot where Andi’s head hit the floor as well as patches of his own dried blood. He went back to the kitchen looking for a broom wondering how much time he had before Zen would be ready to go. She said she would try to find out why Tyler did not want to go and see his mom but she would need some time to talk to him about it. He suspected the reason was simple: he was probably afraid to go and see her. It was difficult to know for certain what he thought or felt about what happened to her but he reasoned it must have some affect. It dawned on him as he dumped a gallon of sour milk down the drain that, if Andi did not recover, it would be up to him to take care of Tyler.

The significance of this crashed on him as he realized he was now the parent of a sixteen-year-old boy with all the challenges and responsibilities that went with it. This line of thought raised other questions for him, some of them legal, that might need to be addressed before he could officially take on the job of being a father. Did he have a legal right to him or would someone in Andi’s family fight for custody of Tyler?

He supposed a genetic test would clear up any doubts about paternity, and if someone challenged his right to the boy, then it would be a matter of applying to the court for a decision on custody. The glib promise he made to Zen when she was worried about losing Tyler was now looking harder to keep. It was while he was thinking about which school in Thunder Bay would be best for Tyler to attend it hit him. Everything he was thinking about was based on Andi not recovering. He had let his mind race ahead and became caught up in the myriad details of becoming a parent.

He stopped and let those thoughts go because of what they meant. Losing Andi was too painful to contemplate. He found her after all this time and now he was in danger of losing her again this time forever. The reality of this possibility was depressing and he tried to shift his mood by thinking of something happier. It took a while for him to find something positive to think about.

At least we do not have to worry about the police for a while, he thought. That thought reminded him he was supposed to call his lawyer when he located Tyler because she needed to talk with him before the police did ‘in case they were dumb enough to continue to pursue the issue,’ she said.

He flattened the empty milk carton, tossed it into the garbage bag, rinsed the stale milk off his hands and rinsed the sink. He dried his hands on a tea towel and took a step towards Andi’s phone but it rang before he reached it. He thought it was probably Zen and he picked up.

“Dr. Mann?” a woman’s voice said.

“Yes,” he said.

“It’s Patricia Hunter. I can’t talk long but I wanted to tell you Colonel Western is dead. He died yesterday in a hotel room in Vancouver. It might be unrelated but I don’t think it is. I believe Tyler might be in danger,” she said.

“Danger from whom?” he said.

“I don’t know Doc. I’m in Europe and I’m AWOL. All I know is he’s dead and I plan to disappear for a while maybe forever. I can’t tell you who killed Western or if his death is connected to Tyler but I thought you should know. If you decide to get him and his mom out of there you need to take the girl too because whoever is looking for him will definitely use her to get to him. One more thing Doc, the kid and me, we are even now I have to go,” she said.

He was staring at the dead phone in his hand when the back door flew open and he jumped with a start. It was Zen and her eyes were wild.

“Tyler’s gone. I was in the bathroom getting ready and when I came out he was gone. His bike is gone too, “she said.

“Where would he go?” he said.

She shrugged her shoulders. She could think of lots of places he might go but none that made any sense. She talked with him about seeing his mom but he said no. He made it clear he did not want to go to the hospital. When she went into the bedroom to talk to him he was on the computer looking at a map of Ontario.

“Do you think he would try to go to Thunder Bay?” she said.

Other than asking him about his electron microscope she could not remember anything else he said that might indicate where he might go.

He was not listening to what she was saying to him because he was processing what Hunter told him seconds earlier, and while she was talking, his mind was working through all the ramifications of Western’s death and Hunter’s phone call. If she was on the run she wouldn’t have risked a phone call unless she was certain they were in real danger.

Western must have told people about Tyler and what he created. If those people believed Western it would be reason enough to want to get their hands on Tyler. There were lots of people who have a huge monetary incentive for controlling POrna which could mean controlling or eliminating those who know about it.

The people who make money from human conflict are not going to celebrate Tyler’s work. They will kill him without hesitation and it would not make any difference to them if POrna virus was real or not. They would eliminate all of them simply on the slim chance that POrna is real.

“I had a call from Patricia Hunter. She’s one of the soldiers Tyler helped and she told me Colonel Western is dead. He died yesterday and she wanted to warn me someone might be looking for Tyler,” he said.

Zen’s eyes widened in shock and she put a hand over her mouth. What little colour she had moments before drained from her face and she looked terrified.

“When you and Andrea were gone he talked about contacting Colonel Western. Oh my God. We have to find him. What if he tries to contact him and they’re waiting for him?” she said.

“Did he say how he planned to contact Western?” he said.

“No, he only said he was going to try,” she said. She was slowly shaking her head and there were tears welling in her eyes.

“We need to find him. Give me your cell number,” he said. She recited it and he punched it into his phone and hit send. A few seconds later her phone chirped.

“Okay, now you have my number too. Do you think he would go to the hospital to see Andi? Maybe he had a change of heart?” he said.

She shook her head.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so but he can be weird sometimes. Maybe he did go to see her,” she said.

“I’ll go to the hospital and see if he’s there. Maybe he changed his mind about seeing her. How do you feel about riding around the neighbourhood? You could check his usual places and see if you can spot him? If you see him make sure you grab him and stay together until I can get to you,” he said.

She sniffed and nodded her head.

“When we find him we need to get out of Victoria for a while until I can figure this thing out. Please be careful and if you see anyone suspicious hanging around call me immediately. Does Ty have a cell phone?” he said.

“Yes but he never turns it on except to take pictures. He doesn’t talk much,” she said.

She gave him Ty’s cell number anyway and he gave her a quick reassuring hug. She was crying as she flew out the door. He could see she was in a panic as he watched her grab her bike off the back porch.

She did not see the street person rummaging through the recycle box at the front gate of the farm next door as she rode from the yard. Her mind was elsewhere trying to figure out where Tyler might go. It was the wrong time of day and he would not be doing his fence thing at Layton’s. She set off in the direction of his lab at the old factory to see if he went there. It did not seem likely, given the fact his lab stuff was gone, but she was at a loss for where else she should look.

She heard an engine start and gravel fly and she turned her head and saw Dr. Mann driving away in the rental van. That was when she noticed a man standing at the side of the road watching him drive away. She was stricken with fear when the man turned his head and looked directly at her.

Andi

The Intensive Care Unit was dark and relatively quiet compared to the rest of the hospital. When he entered the room he noticed Andi was deathly pale and he held his breath a long time waiting to see her chest rise and fall. Her respirations were almost too shallow to see and he thought for a moment she was was gone.

He spoke briefly with Dr. Sing and Sing told him they were planning to bring her out of the coma within the next twelve hours if all went well. He was concerned about the swelling in her brain it had gone down considerably but he wanted to try for a little more reduction before they woke her.

Tyler was not there and in a way he was glad he did not see his mother like this. He spoke briefly with the ICU nurse when she came in to check on Andi but she had not seen Tyler. She told him unaccompanied children were not allowed onto the neurology ward anyway. He gave her his cell number and extracted a promise she would call him if he showed up. The nurse left the room and his phone beeped. It was Zen.

“A man was watching the house when we left and now I think he’s following me,” she said.

Her words were whispered breathlessly and he could hear the fear in her voice.

“Where are you now?” he said.

“I’m near the old factory I’m scared, Dr. Mann. What should I do?” she said.

“Stay out of sight I’m on my way,” he said.

He clicked off and took one last look at Andi before running out of the room. He was within a block of the old factory when he spotted a dark sedan parked on the street out front. He was heading for it when he was startled by the blip of a police siren and flashing colour bar behind him. He pulled over and stopped and as the cop was getting out of his patrol car Zen raced up to the front of the van on her bike. Her eyes were wild with fright. He rolled down the window and mouthed the words
did you find him
? She shook her head and then stood back and waited as the cop approached the van.

“Good afternoon sir. Would you mind stepping out of your vehicle?” he said.

As he was getting out he watched the parked car pull away from the curb and make a U-turn and drive away.

“May I see your operators permit?” he said.

He fished out his Ontario driver’s license and handed it to him.

“Dr. Lee Mann is that correct?” he said.

“Yes,” he said.

“Would you mind opening the back door of the truck, sir?” he said.

“Sure,” he said.

They walked to the rear of the van and the cop watched as he undid the clasp which held the door closed. When he lifted the door the interior was in shadow and the officer used his flashlight and shone it into every corner but it was completely empty. That’s odd, Mann thought, what happened to the bio-suits? The officer told him he could close the door and handed him back his license.