I Am Phantom (Novella): Subject Number One (2 page)

CHAPTER 2

“You’re sure you checked every possible angle?”
Lucius asked, head in his hands. He sat in the middle of a destroyed pile that,
until yesterday, had been his life’s work for the past five years.

Ryans waded through the discarded papers, trying
his best to shift them into some kind of order. “I checked, sir. The doctors
requested to not have cameras in the offices. But I’m having my men investigate
as we speak.”

He moved another stack of papers, then stood straighter,
his hands clasped in front of him. “If you want to fire me, I completely
understand. I take full responsibility—”

“Nobody’s firing you, Ryans,” Lucius said
wearily. “Now that this has happened we’ll need you more than ever.” Lucius
glanced over at the man, noting the barest hint of relief in his stiff posture.
Yes, they’d need him for sure. Someone had gotten away with breaking in this
time, but who knew how much it would happen if Ryans
wasn’t
here.
Corporate sabotage was a very real possibility. As was somebody finding out
what they were doing and trying to replicate it for the highest bidder.

Lucius heaved a sigh, letting all his building
frustration and anger go with it. “I’m sure you did the best you could, Ryans.”

“We’ll figure out who did this, sir,” Ryans
said, a harsh glint in his eyes.

Lucius shook his head. “I’m not concerned with
who so much as why. All my files are still here. And the most important data
for the project isn’t even in here. If they wanted that they could have taken
it, no problem.”

“Regardless, we’ll get them.”

“I’m beginning to think there was another
reason.”

“Like what?”

Intimidation
, Lucius
thought. It was just too convenient, wasn’t it? He voiced his thoughts about
shutting the project down and slowing the production process, and the next
second all his work was mysteriously destroyed. Far too convenient.

Ryans was watching him, waiting. Lucius waved
his hand. “Nothing. Forget it.”

Ryans made another wobbly pile of paper on the
desk. “I can get my men in here to help, sir.”

“No, thanks. I’d prefer to do it myself.”

Shoes clicked on the linoleum floor outside. All
day the rest of the team had stopped by to apologize or offer help. They meant
well, but Sykes had seen the anxiety behind their eyes, the unsaid thoughts of
glad it wasn’t me
. Regardless, he appreciated their
gestures, hollow as they were.

This time the visitor was less than welcome.

“You haven’t made much progress,” Dr. Van said,
appraising the room like a used car salesmen. “I would have thought you’d at
least get some of this mess cleaned up by now. There’s still work to be done on
the serum.”

“Oh, you know,” Lucius said, trying to keep his
cool, “the first couple hours were spent wallowing in my own self-pity, but now
that that’s out of the way, I’m getting down to the real work.”

Ryans snorted. Dr. Van looked less than amused.

“Just thought you’d like to know,” he said, “that
we submitted the proposal to begin testing on the chimp. We’ll know within a
week or two.”

So that’s why he looked so incredibly smug. If
Lucius had been holding a more solid object in his hand, like a paperweight,
rather than a bunch of useless papers, he might have been tempted for some
target practice. He took another deep, calming breath. He was having to do that
a lot lately, and he didn’t like it. But there was no point in getting upset.
His office was already destroyed and unchecked anger would only cloud his
judgment.

“That’s great to hear, Dr. Van. I’m sure you’ll
be just as happy to hear that I’m getting my proposal ready, too.”

Dr. Van scowled. Lucius stared right back,
unflinching, challenging. Ryans merely looked confused, and Lucius was okay
with that. There was no reason for him to know about the project ending just
yet.

Dr. Van was about to retort when Dr. Lin
appeared behind him.

“I just wanted to check in again on how you were
getting along,” Dr. Lin said. She took in the massive mess with some amusement.
“Still a long way to go, I see. Are you sure you don’t want any help?”

“Dr. Sykes is pretty self-reliant,” Dr. Van
said. “He’s used to taking on things that are way over his head.” Dr. Van put a
gentle hand on Lin’s upper arm, stepping closer to her. She winced minutely, as
if scalded by a hot iron. “We’ve still got more to discuss about the serum’s
genome mapping.” He moved his hand down towards hers, drawing closer. “Why
don’t we leave Dr. Sykes to his work and go discuss it over dinner?”

Dr. Lin didn’t look at him. “No thank you.
Strangely, I’ve just lost my appetite.”

Lucius and Ryans moved to intervene, but she
yanked her arm away from Dr. Van and brushed off her sleeve. “I’ll be feeding
Bobo.”

Then she was gone. Dr. Van glared after her,
then stalked off in the other direction.

“I could file a sexual harassment claim, sir,”
Ryans said, still staring at where Dr. Van had been. “It’d be my pleasure.”

Lucius sifted some papers with the toe of his
shoe. “No. Dr. Lin wouldn’t want him to see he got to her. She’s…what’s the
word?”

“Stubborn?”

“Oh-ho, don’t let her hear you say that. Let’s
go with strong-willed.” Lucius picked up another pile of papers and stacked it
on his desk. Now his mind wasn’t on it. It was on Dr. Lin.

“Maybe she would like to go to dinner,” he said
almost to himself.

“That’s the spirit,” Ryans said. “I’ll clean up
the rest—”

“No, don’t worry about it. Just make sure a new
lock’s installed. I’ll clean up the rest.” He took another look around and
resisted sighing. “Eventually.”

He paused at the door. “But what if she doesn’t
like younger men? What if she doesn’t think of me that way?”

Ryans rubbed his jaw, grinning. “Listen, Dr.
Sykes.”
“Lucius.”

“Sure, Lucius. When you get your doctorate at
twenty, then any co-worker tends to be older than you.” He glanced at the
shattered face glass of the framed diplomas on the floor. “How’d you do that,
anyway?”

“A lot of extra classes,” Lucius answered,
making sure the collar of his lab coat was down. “Thanks for the pep talk.”

“You’re welcome.”

The other doctor’s offices were empty. It wasn’t
surprising. Until they could get the go ahead to try the next round of tests,
there wasn’t a point to hanging around. The few people who were still on the
main production floor were either finishing up last minute projects or were the
lingering members of Ryans’ security team.

Lucius found Lin where she said she’d be: in
Bobo’s containment room. The chimp had an entire outfitted room in the back
with a large steel cage all to himself. The decision to even bring Bobo in, not
to mention attempt testing on him, had been beyond controversial. Dr. Lin had
lobbied to at least put some creature comforts like plants and a swing to make
Bobo feel more at home. Others thought it would turn him into a pet. It sort of
had, but Lucius wasn’t complaining. To do anything less than try to make him
comfortable seemed like a crime.

Lucius leaned against the doorframe. Lin smiled,
but continued slipping some apple slices to Bobo through the open cage door.
The chimp happily accepted them and swung back to his swing to eat them.

“He likes you,” Lucius said. “A lot. More than
he likes me, for sure.”

Dr. Lin closed the cage door, sealed the tub of
apples, and replaced them in the fridge. “He’d like you too if you gave him
treats. He only likes me because I feed him apples. Isn’t that right, Bobo?”
She waggled her fingers through the cage.

“I know your appetite was a little…put off
earlier,” Lucius said before he could stop himself, “but I was wondering if maybe
it came back.”

“Did you hear that, Bobo?” Lin said, not hiding
a grin. “Dr. Sykes wants to get some dinner. Would you like to join?”

Lucius tapped the toe of his shoe on the floor.
“Ah…I think Bobo would find dinner boring. They probably wouldn’t allow throwing
food.”

Lin took off her lab coat and put it in her
shoulder bag. “Well, Bobo’s missing out.
I’d
love to do
dinner. Any place in mind?”

“Sushi?”

“Sounds great.”

He stepped back and allowed Lin to leave the
room.

“’Night, Bobo,” she said, flicking off the
lights. The chimp hooted, taking another bite of his apple.

“I worry about leaving him sometimes,” Lin said,
pulling herself away from the room. “I’m afraid that when I’m gone that
horrible Dr. Van will get permission to test on him.”

“I won’t let that happen. I’ll contact the board
tomorrow and ensure they don’t give the go ahead. I’m not sure how, but I
will.”

She gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks. Still
worries me, though.”

Lucius thumbed back to the hallway where Bobo’s
room was. “We could always reserve a table for three.”

Lin laughed. Lucius found himself grinning, the
previous stressors of the day sliding off him. He’d definitely need to thank
Ryans later.

They left the hallway, passing only one
scientist going the opposite direction. Two things struck Lucius as odd about
the man: one, Lucius had never seen him before. And as one of the heads of
their small project he knew everybody, if only by face. The second was that the
hallway the man was heading to led to Bobo’s room. Maybe another caretaker to
clean Bobo’s cage? Lucius thought Lin was the only one who did that.

But before he turned back to check, the man had
vanished.

CHAPTER 3

“I want you to come home, hon. You haven’t seen
your mom in forever.”

Lucius tried not to sigh too much into the
phone. It wasn’t his mother’s fault she was lonely. But then, it wasn’t his job
to remedy it 24/7. He loved her; but once he had left for school the
relationship had morphed into a long-distance one. Lucius had been happy with
that. She had not been.

“I’ll visit as soon as my project is over,”
Lucius promised.

“You need to tell me more, Lucius. It sounds so
exciting!”

Lucius let out a breath. The traffic swooshed by
him and he had to turn away to avoid breathing in the smog of a passing truck.
“I just can’t. Not right now.” He glanced into the sushi place at Lin. She had
chosen a secluded corner booth right next to the window. She looked nearly done
with checking out the menu.

“Listen, mom, I have to go. I’ll call you next
week.”

“Call more than that, hon!”

“Next week it is. Bye!”

“Love you!”

“Love you too, mom.”

Relieved, Sykes hung up and hurried inside
before Lin could think he’d abandoned her completely.

“Clingy girl?” Lin asked, a glint of mischief in
her eye. “I’m sure they’re just clambering to get a hold of you.”

“Yes,” Lucius answered. “Clingy for 23 years.”

“Nice to have a mother who’s interested,
though.”

“If you say so.”

The waiter came and took their order, then
removed the menus and replaced them with tableware and chopsticks. Lin continued
staring out the window.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Lucius said. “Or,
where the project’s concerned, a lot more.”

“I’m just glad you’re applying to shut it down,”
she said.

“What?” That had been the last thing he’d
expected her to say. None of the other doctors had voiced such strong opinions
about his decision, though he was sure there were those who felt that way.
Nobody would dare say anything in front of Carlyle, though. “I’m not doing it
because I want to, but with what we’ve seen I should have done it earlier. But
you’ll be out of a job. We all will.”

Lin unraveled her napkin and laid it delicately
in her lap. “We’ll find another one easily enough. But this whole thing gave me
a sour taste from the beginning. I mean, super humans? How can any good come of
that?”

“The patron of the project, other than the
Defense Department, felt it was necessary for the advancement of the human
race.”

Lin merely cocked an eyebrow at him.
“Advancement of the human race? And what happens to the ones left behind?”

“Well, I mean not
all
humans.
Those who need the strength, speed, and mental enhancements to do their job.
Firemen, police—”

“Soldiers,” Lin said quietly.

“Soldiers,” Lucius echoed eventually.

There was a lull at their table, like some dead
thing that had been their conversation had flopped between them, stinking up
the whole place. Lucius waved his hand like he was clearing the air.

“You’re right, Lin. The project was a grand
idea, if flawed when you take a hard look at it, which I should have done
before now.
 
This gets into the
wrong hands…even in the right ones. Humans aren’t exactly known for making the
best decisions on a consistent basis.”

“Carlyle will try to stop you,” Lin said. “He’ll
counter your proposal. Come up with a new way of manufacturing it. Maybe put
genomes in play like Dr. Van suggested.”

Lucius snorted. “You know where Carlyle can
shove his proposal. That man has been patronizing me from day one. Just because
I’m—” He paused on the last word. He’d been about to say younger. But not
with Lin there. Not when she seemed comfortable with the situation so far.

“Younger?” Lin offered, smiling. Rats.

“Yeah,” Lucius grumbled.

She reached across the table and placed her hand
on his. “There’s nothing wrong with your age. Sure, it’s a bit unusual, but not
all wisdom comes with age.”

The restaurant suddenly seemed much brighter.
All the drama from the office was insignificant. Just as long as Lin continued
holding his hand—

Lin’s phone rang. She looked down at her pocket,
then reluctantly removed her hand from his. She pulled her phone out. Looked at
Lucius.

“It’s the lab. Probably one of the other team
members just heading out for the night. You mind if I…” She mimed picking it
up.

“Go for it,” Lucius said.

Lin answered.

It is amazing the range of emotions the human
face is capable of conveying. The amount of muscles required to perform
something as paltry as smile. More fascinating to Lucius was how those emotions
could switch so fast, mirroring the internal thoughts of the brain almost as
quickly as they happened.

Lin’s face was like that. It stayed neutral
enough. Then it wasn’t. Then it was falling, acting as a deep crescendo into
horror. The blood slowly leaked from her face.

Lucius knew they wouldn’t be eating sushi
tonight. He reached for his coat just as Lin snapped the phone shut.
 
She tried to speak. Failed. Tried again.

“The lab,” she managed. “Something terrible. We
need to go. Now.”