Apocalypse Island (35 page)

“That’s because the work there was classified. The government kept a tight lid on the place. They set up a lab and began to do studies. Before long they began to see curious, even astounding things, stuff that went beyond the physical.”

“What things?” Jennings said, even as he felt a strange species of dread creeping over him.

“Stuff to do with the mind,” Spencer replied. “Psychic stuff. It was discovered that some of the islanders were able to read people’s thoughts, others had the ability to tune in to people from a distance and know what they were thinking or where they were located at any given moment, sort of like human radar. Still others could move things with their minds. Telekinesis. You’ve heard of that haven’t you?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of it, Spencer.”

“Together it all added up to a wealth of previously untapped knowledge,” Spencer continued. “But the people who possessed these abilities weren’t able to control them. Most of them didn’t even realize that what they had was unique. So, it was up to the scientists to teach them.”

“You mean brainwash them, don’t you?”

“Listen, Rick, the government wasn’t about to let a resource like that go untapped. These experiments were cutting edge. They led to important work with telepathy, teleportation, telekinesis, all sorts of fringe shit that’s beyond the understanding of most people. I told you, I don’t even understand it. It’s not what’s important here.”

“Not important?” Jennings said staring down at Spencer. “It’s important to me.”

“Listen, Rick, none of this is new. The government and their scientists have been screwing around with shit like this since time out of mind.”

“Looking for ways human beings can be used as weapons, right?”

“Maybe,” Spencer said. “I don’t know. And I don’t care. I told you, it’s classified, and it’s not my problem. I’m just a soldier. I do what I’m told. What matters is what’s going on right here and now in Portland.”

“You mean these murders? You think these murders are connected to those experiments?”

Spencer cleared his throat. “Indirectly, yes. There was a Catholic orphanage over on Apocalypse Island and they needed help, so the government made a deal with them. In exchange for funding they would house and feed some of the subjects for the right to use them in tests.”

“Subjects? You mean homeless children, don’t you?” Jennings said, his blood boiling. “You’re telling me that our government used children as test subjects for some sort of mind control experiments and that the Catholic Church went along?” He turned to the chief staring accusingly at him. “Did you know about this, Red?”

“Now hold on, Rick.”

“They were orphans,” Spencer said without missing a beat. “Nobody wanted them. Nobody cared about them. Most didn’t even have names. They would have died of neglect or starvation anyway. That island and its human gene pool was a veritable treasure trove of information about the way the human mind and body can adapt to adverse conditions and environments. Some of the stuff is being used today by agencies like NASA. They figure it could come in handy in helping human beings live and work on long duration space missions.”

Jennings glared at Spencer. “I don’t care how you sugar coat it, the government used kids as lab rats.”

“Wasn’t the first time,” Spencer said coldly, “And it won’t be the last. Similar experiments are going on all over the world as we speak and all the heart bleeding in the world isn’t going to change it.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Jennings snapped.

“It was a good deal for both the government and the church,” Spencer continued. “But then in the early nineteen-eighties someone torched the place. It was gutted, almost completely destroyed. We thought it ended there. We were wrong. Recently we’ve learned that several of the most...gifted children survived the fire.”

“I don’t get it,” Jennings said, looking from Spencer to the chief. “You mean you know who these survivors are?”

“Well, not all of them. That’s the problem. It has come to our attention that one of them is your number one suspect in these recent killings, a young man named Daniel Wolf.”

Chapter 84

“Jesus,” Jennings said, “are you sure?”

Spencer picked a sheet of paper up off of Robeson’s desk and scanned it. “A recent audit of the Maine State foster care system shows that several children of the right age were placed in state custody just after fire destroyed the orphanage. One of the names was Daniel, one was Siri, one was John, and one was Shaun. These kids didn’t have any last names. The original foster parents provided them. Daniel became Wolf, Siri became Donavon, John became Redman and Shaun became Talbot. Some were named for the families that took them in, others, well, who knows? Any of those names jump out at you, Rick?”

Jennings’ mind was spinning wildly. “Jesus wept,” he said. He needed to think about this. Two of those kids were dead, both brutally murdered, and Siri Donavon disappeared on the night Talbot was killed. As far as he knew Wolf was the only one on the list still alive.

“Who saved them?” Jennings asked. “Who placed them in foster care?”

“That’s a bit sketchy, Rick. Records are missing but we’re working on it.”

“Wouldn’t be a couple of nuns, would it?” Jennings glared at Spencer.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Spencer said.

“Bullshit! Four nuns were murdered execution style last night in a small convent in Peaks Mills, Maine. Two of them were veterans of Apocalypse Island. They were there, Spencer.”

Spencer and Robeson exchanged looks. “How do you know about that, Rick?” Robeson asked.

“Well, it’s only all over the news.”

“No, I mean, how do you know
that two of them were veterans of Apocalypse Island?”

“Are you kidding me? I’m an investigator. It’s my job to know things.”

“You have a source,” Spencer said, “We need to know who it is.” The hard tone of his voice told Jennings he meant business.

Jennings grinned. “Sorry, Spencer.”

“You work for me, Rick,” Robeson said calmly. “You
will
reveal your source.”

“Not until I get some answers.”

Spencer’s eyes were bright with carefully controlled fury. “OK, what do you want to know?”

“How many others survived the orphanage fire?”

“We believe there were nine altogether,” Spencer replied. “One was captured wandering the island shortly after the fire. This one was a big kid named Sam. He was confused and he couldn’t talk but that didn’t mean he wasn’t smart. Actually he was the most amazing physical specimen we’d ever seen. Not only was he physically strong, he was a master at survival and adaptation. He was able to live out in the elements for months at a time without any of the common adverse effects.”

“What happened to him?”

“He was taken to a facility in New York State for further study. Five years ago he escaped and made his way back here on his own.”

“Jesus,” Jennings said. “That’s what all the secrecy was about?”

“Right,” Spencer replied. “We believe he’s been living locally ever since.”

“Well wouldn’t he be easy to spot?  Considering his size and everything?”

Again Spencer and Robeson exchanged looks.

“What’s going on?” Jennings said.

Spencer cleared his throat. “That’s the tough part, Rick. And this is absolutely classified. I mean it. What I’m about to tell you cannot be leaked under any circumstances.”

Jennings nodded. “I’m listening.”

“Some of those kids were equipped with...cloaking technology,” Spencer said.

Chapter 85

The room was silent for a long moment. “Cloaking technology?” Jennings smile was tentative. It was as if Spencer had just told the world’s nuttiest joke. He looked from Spencer to Robeson in confusion. Both men looked dead serious. “I don’t understand. Sounds science fiction to me.”

Spencer cleared his throat. “You’re not far off. Let’s just say it’s a way for someone to blend in with his surroundings.”

“You’re talking about becoming invisible, aren’t you?” Jennings said.

“Well, yes, in a way, Rick. You see, years ago, scientists discovered that some folks, when given the right combination of drugs coupled with certain kinds of intensive psychotherapy, were capable of fooling those around them into believing they weren’t there. Sort of like a post hypnotic suggestion. It doesn’t work on everyone, but on most it’s reasonably effective. In summary, these individuals are able to use the power of their minds to disappear in plain sight.”

“I’m not in the mood for this, Spencer.”

“Believe me, Rick, it’s real.”

Jennings frowned. “So are you saying they could make
me
believe they’re not there?” Jennings thought back to what he’d seen, or what he thought he’d seen at both recent crime scenes, and he wondered.

“Depends on your individual level of tolerance for things like hypnosis,” Spencer said. “Most people don’t have the strength to resist a strong hypnotic suggestion. So yes it’s reasonable to assume that it would work on you. Unfortunately the experiments had to be terminated. Early on it became apparent that the treatments were causing psychotic behavior in nearly all of the subjects.”

“And you don’t know how many more of these...subjects are out there?”

“We believe there are several but don’t yet have a workable number. And it’s possible that they’re in cahoots.”

“Some sort of conspiracy, huh?”

“Maybe.”

“What would be the motive?”

“Revenge,” Spencer said. “Someone is killing everyone connected to those tests.”

Chapter 86

The room went quiet. Jennings looked from Spencer to Robeson, knowing that these men were in the process of bullshitting him. “So you don’t think this Sam character is the killer?” he said.

“No, but we need to find him. We think he might lead us to the mastermind.”

“And you don’t have any idea who this mastermind is?”

“Only that we believe it’s one of the children grown up,” Spencer said. “Trust me when I tell you this person is a psychopath.”

Robeson said, “We have footprints from both recent crime scenes that point to a very large individual. And, as you know, the same prints showed up near that woman five years ago, along with a smaller set.”

“So you think the person who owns the smaller set of prints is this, ‘mastermind’?”

“We don’t know, Rick.”

Jennings looked from Robeson to Spencer. “Something doesn’t smell right,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think you’re telling me the entire story.”

“That’s all we’ve got,” Robeson said, “and if you don’t start cooperating I’ll pull you from this investigation. I swear I will.”

Jennings turned on his boss. “Try it, Red, and I’ll blow the doors off your nasty little secret.”

“These aren’t normal human beings we’re dealing with here, Rick.” Spencer said. “These are monsters.”

“Monsters you assholes created,” Jennings exploded.

“Doesn’t matter now,” Spencer said. “It’s too late for any of that. They’re all unstable. Including Wolf.”

“Because of the shit the government did to them!”

“Irrelevant,” Spencer said coldly. “We need to find him and we need to find him fast.”

“You’ve known where he is for years,” Jennings said. “You could have had him anytime. What’s changed?”

Again Spencer and Robeson exchanged looks.

“You had better level with me!” Jennings said.

“The feds were the ones that got Wolf out of prison,” Robeson confessed.

“You fuckers ever stop playing games with people’s lives?”

“We thought his presence back in Portland would draw the others out of their hidey-holes,” Spencer said, ignoring Jennings’s comment. “We didn’t count on someone murdering young women in his name.”

“You think that’s what’s going on? You think someone is murdering these girls in his name?”

“It’s a possibility. I told you these people are psychotic.”

“Do you think the big guy and Wolf are connected?”

“Yeah, I think they are,” Spencer said. “Actually I believe he and Wolf are brothers.”

Chapter 87

Jennings almost fell over. “What makes you think they’re brothers?”

“After the fire the agency managed to retrieve undamaged records from the orphanage ruins,” Spencer explained. “They came to the orphanage together. Testing showed them to have the same rare blood type. It seemed obvious that they were related.”

“Are you kidding me?” Jennings said. “You’ve had these records all along?”

Spencer nodded.

“I want a list of names of all the kids that spent time in the orphanage,” Jennings said.

Spencer glared at Jennings. “Wouldn’t do any good. Most of them are living with aliases.”

“I’d still like the list.”

“Can’t do it.”

Jennings grinned. “No, of course you can’t. But you still want
my
help? You still want
me
to reveal
my
sources, right?”

“It would be the patriotic thing to do.”

“Ah, yes,” Jennings said. “God and country, huh?” His blood was boiling.

“I could think of worse reasons,” Spencer replied.

“I’m not one of your fucking soldiers, Spencer!”

“No, you’re one of mine,” Robeson said. “And I want you to start cooperating.”

“Not till I get some answers.”

Spencer looked over at Robeson. “There was a shrink named Hardwick,” he said. “He was one of the agency’s most promising young psychiatrists. He’s been doing contract work for us ever since. He’s the one that got Wolf out of prison. We’ve been watching Wolf for a long time. We knew he was having problems with memory and we needed Hardwick to work on him, see if he could help jog it.”

“What for?” Jennings asked.

“See if he could lead us to the remaining survivors. Now it seems that both he and Wolf have disappeared.”

Jennings grunted out a laugh. “Sounds like you boys have gotten yourselves in a fine little mess here,” he said.