The Zen Gene (27 page)

He looked at Barbara Knight for a moment but said nothing. He placed the rock back in the indent it came from around the fire pit. He gathered up and threw on the last of the firewood and went back inside the tent zipping it closed behind him. The amazing thing about what occurred in the last few minutes was that neither Zen or her mother woke up. The loudest part of the whole exchange was the sickening sound of bones cracking under the force of the rock.

Mrs. Knight was leaning over Sedulca weaving back and forth while trying to make sense of what she was witnessing. He did not know how much she knew about the virus but figuring this out was the last thing he wanted her to do. In an effort to get her off the track, he said “Do you want me to come with you to check your partner?”

Seeming to surface from where her mind had traveled she nodded yes. She might be an agent of the Government but he could see she was badly shaken from being Tasered and appeared to be somewhat short of breath. He was not sure she would be able to deal effectively with whatever was waiting for her back at her vehicle.

Before they left to check on Owen she handed him plastic zip strips and insisted Sedulca’s hands and feet be bound. He did it though he knew full well Sedulca would likely never walk away from anything again. When he held out his arm to steady her she took it and held onto him. They walked back to the place she left her partner and the van.

They found Owen in the back of the van alive and embarrassed but basically unhurt. He swore a blue streak when they freed his hands and he ripped the gag from his mouth. It took them a few minutes to get him completely loose and a few more for him to walk off the leg cramps he got from being bound. It was during this time he explained how Sedulca came to sit behind him and that’s when he got zapped.

When they got back to the camp site Sedulca was gone. Mann ran to check on Tyler and Zen as Owen and Mrs. K. checked the rest of the camp. The kids were okay and there was no one lurking in the woods.

She examined the ground where he had been when they left him and when she was finished she sat at the picnic table and let out a breath. After he checked on Ellie in the truck he joined her.

“Someone picked him up and carried him away. We didn’t hear a car so they were probably here all along and they could still be somewhere in the area. It is essential we set up a perimeter,” she said.

When she awoke, she retrieved her gun from the grass where it landed when she fell, and now she checked it over and clicked off the safety. He looked at her.

“I don’t believe two people would voluntarily allow themselves to be Tasered simply to make me believe they are the good guys but Barbara, without putting too fine a point on it, I can’t help wondering why the fuck Sedulca was with you in the first place?” he said.

At this point he did not know what to believe because nothing made any sense.

“I made a mistake. I assumed Sedulca was a missing American agent the one we were supposed to keep an eye out for. We found him unconscious beside the old factory where a military van exploded, which is presumably, where you left him last night after Tyler nailed him the first time,” she said.

They sat looking at each other in the soft light each wondering how to play this situation. How much info either could share before it might have unintended consequences.

“He had no wallet or ID. He must have figured out we were looking for Tyler. He might have been awake and listening to us talk when we drove him to the Emergency room. Because he knew what we were looking for he simply played along and let me believe he was the missing American agent,” she said.

Owen was hobbling around walking off his leg cramps and he decided it was probably okay to give him the gun Sedulca dropped. It turned out to be Owen’s gun. Although he was livid at being taken out so easily by Sedulca he managed to mutter a curt thank you to him for returning it. He checked it over and jacked a round into the chamber and clicked the safety off then walked away from the firelight into the darkness to guard them against the possibility of Sedulca’s return.

“Oh shit,” Mann said. It was his turn to confess to a blunder.

“I think I know who carried Sedulca away. Sedulca was involved with an old colleague of mine from my university days, Jonas McLean. They were both working for Western. When Western dragged me out here McLean was the one who briefed me. He mentioned he was romantically involved with a soldier but at the time I assumed he was talking about a woman. The name he mentioned was Fran something,” he said. “Frank Sedulca.”

“Okay, so it looks like we both made a mistake, but right now Dr. Mann we need to get organized and establish some basic cover until I can arrange for backup from the RCMP. I want you to sit in the truck and cover us from that direction,” she pointed her thumb over her shoulder. “Owen and I will cover the other directions. It is going to get dark when the fire dies down but it will be to our advantage. Don’t worry about the kids. They will be safe inside the tent because Owen is prepared to shoot anyone who comes anywhere near them. Please stay in the truck so he doesn’t accidently shoot you.

Keep your gun out and ready to use but remember to keep your finger off the trigger. My gut says they are gone but like you I’m not willing to bet our lives on it. In case there are more than two of them it’s better to be prepared. Okay?” she said making sure she had his full attention. He nodded an okay.

Mrs. Knight was talking on her cell when he climbed up into the cab. It was odd how he didn’t feel the least bit tired. He was trembling but he attributed it to the cold and being pumped full of adrenaline. He sat quietly with the gun in his lap, safety off, concentrating on the deepening darkness beyond the windshield as the last of the firewood burned down to ash. He managed to stay awake for almost ten minutes before he fell into a black hole.

He dreamt he was in a frozen wasteland with snow all around him and nothing but the howling wind for company. The sound of the wind became a woman’s scream of agony and he woke startled by the piercing whine of a turbo-jet engine under full power.

He thought his eyes closed for only a few seconds when he jolted upright. The gun fell from his lap and he was lucky he did not shoot himself. When his vision cleared he looked out and saw the campground bathed in harsh light. Shielding his eyes from the glare he could make out the shapes of Tyler and Mrs. Knight standing together in front of the truck heads tilted up looking into the beam.

The scene resembled a movie poster about an Alien Invasion. Then he saw the light source and the black outline of tires under a huge twin rotor helicopter emerged. It descended smoothly to the road in front of them as though lowered by a crane. He climbed down from the cab and Mrs. Knight shouted something in his ear. He could not hear what she said but he found out later that Zen was having convulsions and Tyler came out and found her and she called in a favour from the commander of the airbase at Comox.

The flight to Victoria General Hospital was rough, noisy, and fast. He would never know for certain if it was the four serious looking combat soldiers running into the Emergency room with Zen on a stretcher that made it happen but she did not have to wait long to be assessed by the duty neurologist. She was rolled into the Neuro-ICU less than an hour after lifting off from the campground in Parksville.

Show Down

He sat beside Andi watching her breath; Dr. Sing had begun the process of bringing her out of the induced coma. They started raising her body temperate an hour ago, at around the time the military helicopter touched down on Vic General’s helipad. He listened to her soft steady respirations and the sound of life calmed him. Her eyelids fluttered as he held her hand and spoke quietly to her.

“I’m here Andi, I’m waiting for you to come back. Everything is okay now I want you to be here with me. Do you hear me Andi?” he said.

The nurse instructed him to speak softly and use her name and use short phrases emphasizing the expectation that she will soon awaken and rejoin him. Before she left the room she reminded him to be patient, it can be along process. He spoke steadily to her and after ten minutes she squeezed his hand. He knew this signaled the beginning of awareness as she began her journey from the depths of unconsciousness.

The ICU nurse instructed him in great detail how to support Andi as she regained consciousness. He found it helpful but she could not or would not give him any indication of what to expect when she awoke. The staff did not know if she had suffered brain damage or if she would be able to fully awaken.

He was using positive thoughts and words to
will
Andi back to him. It did not matter how changed she was he wanted her back; no matter the damage she may have suffered he would care for her. He tried to make his words sound light and cheerful and not let the deadening fatigue he felt seep into his voice.

His head was bowed and his eyes were closed when her eyes fluttered and opened. When her vision cleared she turned her eyes towards him.

“Lee?” she whispered.

He looked up and saw her eyes and knew at once that she was back. Those wonderful beloved eyes told him she was awake and present and most importantly, she was there.

“Hi,” he said.

He was smiling then grinning, trying hard not to cry, relieved to see the spark of intelligence in those beautiful eyes focused so intently on his face. When she smiled that was all the assurance he needed.

He did not notice the nurse enter the room, she was behind him watching. An alarm at the nurses’ station alerted her to Andi’s wakefulness and changing condition. She waited as long as she could trying not to break the spell of Andi’s awakening but something she saw on the over head monitor caused her to abruptly ask him to wait outside. Upon waking, coma patients may experience a drop in blood pressure which can be life threatening; Andi’s pressure was headed for zero.

He stood up numbly watching as she called the code.

Another nurse guided him out of the room reassuring him it was a routine precaution as a crash team raced down the corridor and into Andi’s room pushing equipment laden carts ahead of them. The nurse in charge told him it would be awhile before he could go back in and be with Andi and directed him to a waiting room on the second floor. He would head there and try to rest for a few minutes but only after he checked on Zen.

He was fatigued and wandered the empty predawn hallways until he spotted a familiar landmark and found his way to her treatment room. A nurse intercepted him at the door refusing to let him in. She assured him Zen was okay and resting and told him there was a patient conference happening in the waiting area on the second floor.

When he arrived he saw Dr. Sing, the neurologist, heading into the room and he followed him. He told Sing that Andi had regained consciousness and the ICU nurse made him leave. There was a problem with her blood pressure.

“They told me it was routine. You are probably going to be paged momentarily,” he said, his statement conveying the worry he felt and the unspoken question—
will she be okay
?

The neurologist recognized him and thanked him for the update and told him not to worry it was routine but then he looked confused when Mann announced to Ellie and Tyler that Andi was awake.

“Dr. Mann, are you also connected to Hazen Michaels?” he asked.

“Yes, but it’s complicated Doc. How is she doing?” he asked.

Ellie was watching Sing with tears forming in her eyes waiting to hear about her daughter’s condition.

“First of all I can tell you Hazen is going to be fine. We administered medication to control her seizures and they’ve already stopped. She is sedated and resting now and will likely be awake in an hour or so,” he said.

Ellie let out a sob of relief at this news and Mann put a comforting arm around her shoulder and felt her sag against him. When he looked at Sing again he noticed he had a mischievous smile on his face.

“The other good news,” he began and paused waiting to be certain he had their attention.

“Hazen will not lose her baby.”

“Baby?”

They spoke in unison and the neurologist could not help but laugh.

“I suspected as much,” he said, smiling broadly. “According to the blood work your daughter Hazen is pregnant. Congratulations. Her pregnancy is very early and I do not know if she is aware she is pregnant so I would caution you to be…” he considered his words, “circumspect about speaking to her about this. She is a strong young woman but she has already suffered a severe shock to her system.”

It was clear Ellie was stunned by this news. She turned to look at Tyler with an unreadable expression on her tear-streaked face. Tyler must have heard what Doctor Sing said but he gave no outward indication. He never took his eyes off the rerun of
The Price is Right
playing on television. His only comment came over his shoulder.

“Gene,” he said.

Dr. Sing looked from Mann to Ellie and shrugged questioningly. Mann nodded his head as if to say,
yes he is the father
, to which Sing commented rather comically.

“Oh, my.”

Sing looked back at Tyler and wondered, but did not ask, if the boy had a disorder. He did not dwell on it as his pager was vibrating in his pocket and he needed to discuss one more thing before he leaving. He got their attention again when he said.

“There is another issue we need to discus and in some ways it’s as serious as Hazen’s health issues. It is clear from your statement upon admission that, and the burns and bruising on her body confirm it, she has been assaulted. She has received injuries from a restricted weapon and by law I must file a police report,” he said.

At that point Mrs. Knight who had been sitting quietly observing events stood up and spoke for the first time.

“Doctor Sing may I have a word.”

Mann saw her reaching for her ID wallet as she took the bemused doctor by the elbow and steered him out into the hallway.

When Mann turned around he saw Ellie staring at Tyler. There were outward signs of strong emotion on her face but, as far as he could tell, they did not contain lethal intentions. They sat down to wait each lost in their respective thoughts. An hour had passed before a nurse came in to tell them Zen was awake and they were encouraged to go and see her.

He stayed with Zen for a few minutes assuring himself that she was going to fully recover. The room was crowded and he squeezed her hand once more before he left; he wanted to get back upstairs to see how Andi was doing. Ellie and Tyler stayed with Zen and he smiled at the knowledge he was escaping a tense situation in a room full of unsaid things.

He was buying a cup of coffee from a vending machine and wondering what the energy would be like in the room with Tyler and Ellie and the knowledge of baby Gene. He was still smiling thinking about that when Mrs. Knight caught up to him.

“We need to talk and it can’t wait,” she said.

He frowned he did not feel like talking but she looked upset and he owed her for saving Zen so he followed her back to the waiting room. It was empty and he flopped down in a green vinyl chair and began to work the tension knots from his neck while she paced the floor.

“Owen is dead.”

She had left him behind to coordinate the search for Sedulca and his partner while they were flying Zen to Victoria General. When the police arrived they discovered his body inside the rental van, he was shot to death. She flopped down opposite him on a two person loveseat and, leaning back, closed her eyes.

“I’ve been on the phone to Ottawa, it looks like your buddy McLean and his partner tried to cut a side deal with the Yanks,” she said, “they tried to cut Western out of the deal agreeing to deliver Tyler and the virus to them in two days,” she said.

Fatigued, she spent the last half hour on the phone with the director of CSIS, and appeared to be half awake as she spoke.

“The Director has received additional information from reliable sources which convinced him Tyler is the creator of this viral weapon,” she said.

She waited for a response; he was slumped in the chair across from her sipping ugly vending machine coffee making a face.

“There is no virus,” he said, his tone emphatic, “Does the US Government condone the kidnapping of children?”

“Don’t be absurd Doc, the NSA was laying a trap and CSIS was in on it from the start. Contrary to what you may think neither Government engages in illegal activities,” she said.

He glanced at her over the rim of his coffee cup with an expression of disdain and snorted, “I’m too tired to debate that one Barbara, so your point is what?”

“One of the observed effects of Tyler’s virus is the victim curling into a fetal position and is unable to move,” she said.

He looked at her through mostly closed eyes to see if she’d been watching his face when she said it. She was, damn!, he thought.

“Barbara, no legitimate researcher in the field of virology or genetics would believe for a moment that anyone, let alone a sixteen-year-old, could create such a virus. Labs with real scientists and real budgets could not create something with the attributes you are ascribing to this thing. If it were possible to do that kind of work it would require, a team of scientists, a huge budget, and years of research,” he said.

“Not many sixteen-year-olds have a geneticist for a father as a matter of fact I can only think of one,” she said.

He did not recall telling her he was Tyler’s father but then he had not tried to keep it a secret.

“I met him for the first time three days ago. Prior to that I didn’t know I had a son,” he said.

“Unfortunately Lee the only person who can corroborate your story is upstairs in a compromised state,” she said.

She said the words with no threat or accusation or even unkindness behind them she was stating the facts as she knew them.

“Believe me or not Barbara, that is your decision to make but before you act on a hunch please keep in mind we are talking about the lives of a couple of kids. You are a parent, I’m sure you can imagine what will happen to them if they get caught up in this mess. Their lives will be over,” he said, “and as for your assertion that I created your imaginary virus, all I will say about that is, I will be asking the warden for a day pass to collect my Nobel Peace Prize.”

He didn’t know why, possibly it was the fatigue, they both laughed at this way more than it warranted and then sat quietly for a few long contemplative minutes.

“Okay, Doc I agree we don’t want the world to jump all over these kids so what do I report back to my boss about the virus?”

Mann shrugged and closed his eyes and yawned.

“If you didn’t create the virus,” she continued, “and for the moment I will take your word for it, that means you are unaware of its side-effect. A small but significant percentage of our infected military personnel had extreme reactions from being exposed to the virus. They become hyper-violent.

This information is, for obvious reasons, not widely known and I ask that you keep it to yourself. The deadly nature of this side-effect was discovered when they debriefed the soldier who recovered the stricken members of his sniper team. It turned out he destroyed an entire village. He killed every man, woman, and child, as well as all of their animals. It is our belief the late Colonel Western was one of that small percentage of people who were affected in this way. We think that is why he shot and killed three people in a Vancouver hotel room. We are hoping the autopsy will tell us what caused him to do this,” she said.

That was not what he was expecting to hear but it made some sense. At any time a viral agent could spontaneously mutate or maybe Tyler missed something along the way. He wondered if the boy knew about this side-effect and that was why he was determined to finish his project.

“The effect we are seeing, though our sample is small, does not seem to be a statistical anomaly. There must be a common denominator amongst those who become hyper-violent and we are looking for it. There is a team of researchers working on the problem as we speak.”

He lolled his head back and stared at the ceiling. He was tired and there was so much to consider but this new development, if it is true, was not good.

“Do not take what I am about to say as acknowledgement or admission of anything. I am not promising anything but an anti-virus may be possible. I will do my best to help your people sort this problem out but right now I need to see Andi,” he said.