Crime Zero (38 page)

As they neared the grave, Decker and the other pallbearers lowered the coffin. Decker couldn't believe how heavy it was when Matty had been so small. "You OK?" whispered Joey Barzini as they laid the coffin on the straps to lower it into the earth.

Decker nodded and smiled at the big man. He was touched that in his absence this Catholic had taken it upon himself to contact all of Matty's friends and help arrange this funeral in keeping with the Jewish traditions. Decker had never been a religious man, but his mother had brought him up to follow her husband's Catholic faith. Still, he took comfort from the fact that Matty was being buried according to his most cherished values.

As was the custom, the funeral had been arranged as soon as possible--to allow the healing process to begin. Then, following Kavod Ha-met, the Chevra Kaddisha had carefully prepared his body, washing Matty and dressing him in the special hand-sewn soft linen clothes of Tachrichim before placing him in the Oron, the wooden casket.

Despite his sadness and anger at the circumstances, Decker found the funeral and the service that preceded it an oddly joyous occasion. It was a glorious blue-sky day, and more than two hundred people had gathered on the emerald lawns of the Hills of Eternity, including the two FBI agents McCloud had assigned to watch over Decker. At the service a selection of Matty's friends from the San Francisco Symphony had played Matty's favorite passages from Paganini and Debussy. At least Matty's funeral celebrated his zest for life as much as marked his death.

Now as he listened to the Kaddish, Decker felt suddenly alone. To his surprise he thought of how much he would have liked to have had Kathy standing beside him now. It seemed strange that after all they had been through recently, she wasn't here now.

He thought then of what his grandfather had always believed in, Matty's conviction that we were far more than the sum of our genes. He recalled the night Matty had comforted him after learning Axelman was his natural father, touching his face, telling him that he was a good man; that he was more his mother and Matty's son than Karl Axel-man's--regardless of blood.

In the madness of Crime Zero Decker realized the wisdom of his grandfather's words. A man could be judged only by his deeds. Nothing else mattered. There were influences brought to bear, from the past and the present, but those deeds were ultimately his choice, his responsibility. For the first time in the longest time Decker felt a kind of peace within his soul.

But as the grave filled with earth, hot tears stung his eyes. Decker was not a vengeful man--he had seen too much and learned too much to think that revenge brought anything more than fleeting satisfaction and then greater pain--but if he ever met Associate Director William Jackson or his cohorts again, he might settle for that.

Blinking back tears of loss, Decker didn't see the Chrysler pull up beneath the copse of trees fifty yards from the edge of the mourners. Three men were in the car. The face of the powerful man in the front passenger seat was partially obscured as he held a pair of binoculars to his eyes, studying the crowd. Scanning the heads, he smiled when he alighted upon the flash of blond next to a huge man at the front.

If Luke Decker had turned at that moment, he might have recognized the car and realized that meeting Jackson again wasn't going to be a problem.

Associate Director William Jackson had already found him.

Smart Suite, ViroVector Solutions, Palo Alto.

11:12 A.M.

Standing beside President Weiss in the ViroVector Smart Suite, Kathy Kerr was shocked by how passionately both women believed in what they were doing. And how desperate Alice Prince was for President Weiss to understand her reasoning.

Madeline Naylor and Alice Prince had known Kathy for almost ten years, and just over a week ago they had tried to kill her. Yet there was no shame in Naylor's eyes, only hatred. Alice Prince wouldn't even look at her. Behind them on the screen wall Kathy noticed the tiny cameras on the corners tracking her and the President, as if TITANIA were studying them.

"You must understand, Pamela," said Prince, standing and leaning forward as if giving a sermon. Kathy had never seen her so animated. Behind her lenses her eyes shone with frightened zeal. "Crime Zero is the cure for all the world's violence. Within three years we'll virtually eradicate all violent crime, including war. Surely, Pam, you of all people must realize that with its weapons of mass destruction Homo sapiens is the one species on earth with the power for self-annihilation. The Iraq crisis, which almost brought you to the brink of nuclear war, proves that humanity has only one mortal enemy left to fear: man himself.

"Years ago we needed men. Apart from reproduction they protected us from predators and supplied food and nourishment. Their aggression and drive helped us develop and eventually rule the planet. But as a species we have become too successful too fast. Evolution has lagged behind. Now that we dominate the earth, men's roles have changed, but men haven't. Technological advances in a host of areas mean that we no longer need their protection or even their hunter-gatherer role. Physical strength, their key asset, is now redundant. We don't even need them for procreation."

Alice spoke quickly and fluidly, her words bursting forth in a torrent. Her face glowed as if she had a fever, and she seemed desperate for Weiss not only to understand her motives but to approve of them. Even if the President wanted to interrupt her, Kathy knew it would be in vain. Alice Prince barely seemed to pause for breath. All the time Pamela Weiss stood stock-still, her weight seemingly on her toes as if she were standing in a rushing stream, braced against a relentless current.

"Even men's drive, which years ago was such a positive asset," continued Alice, "means they aren't content to nurture our position as the lead species and husband the resources of the planet. Now they turn their predatory and protective impulses on each other. Pamela, they are no longer an asset to the species but a liability. Over ninety percent of all violent crimes are committed by men. The rest usually involve them. Virtually every war has been waged and fought by men for no purpose that benefits us. We are a species imploding in on itself because men haven't evolved.

"Evolution needs help, and with Crime Zero we can give it. Don't you see? In three years only women and children need exist. All the corrected boys will grow into and sire a new breed of men more genetically relevant to today's needs. Within one single generation the world will be born anew, its future assured. No more violent crime, no more wars, no more mass destruction. Don't you see?"

Before the President or Kathy could reply, Madeline spoke. Her voice was calmer and more pragmatic than Alice's but still weighty with a searing conviction. Made-line's dark eyes shone like polished jet, and her usually pale face was flushed. "Think about it, Pamela, one purge, one cull, and the world will be changed for the better. And it'll happen; we've tested it. After Iraq we know that men will be rendered incapable of acts of violence. Crime Zero Phase Two stopped what could have become World War Three. We also know that no children below puberty will be harmed. Boys will be allowed to grow into men, but better men. There need be no more rapes, no more senseless murders--"

"No more Libbys," interrupted Alice.

"We won't need the FBI," continued Madeline, "or armies, or weapons. Christ, you wouldn't believe the things I've seen in the bureau and in the courts, the abominations men perform for no real motive. Their violence doesn't even bring them any significant benefit. Pamela, Crime Zero is the only way to stop this. We are protecting man from destroying himself. If ever there was a necessary evil, then this is it. Can't you see? This isn't about killing people; it's about saving them. It's about saving us all."

"But why didn't you just go with Project Conscience?" asked Kathy, trying to make sense of their insane logic. "I could almost understand your deciding unilaterally to infect everyone with the Conscience vector. But killing almost two and a half billion people in order to eradicate violence--"

"You're missing the point," said Alice desperately, as if Kathy must understand her. "Project Conscience was always going to be too little too late. All men alive today are genetically and environmentally tainted. Men have become a cancer. They were once healthy cells in the 'body human,' but now they are threatening the very existence of the species. To cure cancer, you must remove the malignant cells, and you must remove them all because any remaining cells will spread the disease. We must start afresh with a new wave who will benefit the 'body human,' not undermine it. We must do this precisely because we don't want to eradicate men. In order to protect them, we must help them evolve."

"Put it into context," urged Naylor. "What's a few lost decades and deaths in the grand scheme of things? We've been evolving for thousands of years, and if we act now, we'll survive to evolve for thousands more. In thirty or forty years men will see the wisdom of what we've done. They'll live in a more equal, matriarchal society, and their aggressive, destructive past will be a bad memory."

Naylor gripped her hands together. "Pamela, you can, you will lead the transition. You are currently the only female leader of a major power. You are perfectly placed to lead this country and the world through the transition."

Weiss's face was gray with shock as if her old friends were strangers she was seeing for the first time. "But what about the good men? Not all men are bad! What about my husband? What about my sons, Alice? Sam is your godson, for chrissakes, and he's just reached puberty. How can you justify killing all of them? Killing my children won't bring your child back!"

Kathy saw Alice falter and look down, sadness creasing her face.

"Everything has a cost," said Naylor. "Surely you understand that? Nothing comes free."

"Alice, there must be vaccine for Phase Two and Phase Three," demanded Kathy. "You create an antisense vaccine for every vector you develop. You've always told me it was good practice in case they mutated and needed to be neutralized."

"Alice"--the President was almost pleading--"it's not too late. We can still stop the deaths in Iraq. You can still help end this madness."

Alice Prince glanced uncertainly at Naylor. Kathy tried to read her look but couldn't.

"There is no cure for Crime Zero," stated Madeline firmly. "Crime Zero is the cure. And, Pamela, you have to accept that."

It was too much for Kathy. Instinctively she moved down the table toward the two women. As she walked toward them, Weiss turned to the door and opened it. Bill McCloud and four armed men in black body armor entered the room. "I can't believe I got you both so wrong," she said to Madeline and Alice. "How could you have ever thought I wanted any part of this abomination?" She turned to Bill. "Arrest them and keep them under armed guard."

"You won't stop Crime Zero, Pamela," said Madeline. "You can't escape your destiny."

Alice looked down at her feet. A study of discomfort.

"Oh, yes, she bloody well can," said Kathy, standing two feet from Naylor.

Then Naylor opened her right hand and revealed a small black tablet that resembled a TV remote. "I think Phase Three should start now," she said.

At that point Kathy lunged for Naylor and the remote.

Or tried to.

Her hand missed, and she almost lost her balance. Steadying herself, she took one step forward and knocked into Naylor. Except Kathy didn't knock into her; she didn't make any contact at all.

In a split second of confusion Kathy looked down and saw the black pad on the floor beneath her and registered that the green light was on.

Suddenly everything was clear. She had used the KREE8 technology herself to present and examine enlarged 3-D images of viral vector DNA molecules. She thought of the guard at the gate and the camera lenses watching from the screen wall, which allowed Prince and Naylor to see them via TITANIA.

She turned to the stunned McCloud and an uncomprehending President Weiss. "They're not here," she said slowly, not wanting to believe what had happened. "Neither Madeline Naylor nor Alice is physically here."

"What do you mean?" demanded McCloud, the blood draining from his face. His men had seen Alice and Madeline enter the campus and were now in charge of the whole site. "They have to be here."

"This is a holopad area. TITANIA's projected their three-D image from another source."

"So where are they?" Weiss stared at the hologram, at the smiling faces of her old friends. "Ali, Madeline, stop this madness. Where in God's name are you?"

"Finishing what we started," said Naylor, looking at the remote. "As I speak, at least six airports worldwide are equipped to release Crime Zero Phase Three into certain bacteriophage air purifier tunnels. And I can activate each of them from here." Then with a wintry smile she and Alice vanished.

Kathy put her head in her hands. "Christ, we've got to find them," she said. "They could..." She trailed off, not knowing what to say.