The Colony: A Novel (12 page)

“You guess wrong. I’m a consultant, same as you.”

“Yeah, right.” He clicked his tongue. “When are you going to realize Paul’s work will always come before any woman. You deserve better, Kendra. You can’t replace love with the social order of
Solenopsis Invicta.
”

“What is it with you two? Why do you have to disagree about everything?”

Jeremy frowned and then snarled, “It’s that blasted Paul and his stupid theories about ants. I hope this disaster proves him wrong, once and for all.”

Kendra sighed, weary of their endless bouts.

“Any scientist in his right mind knows that ants are savage warriors, not to be admired. Let’s be sensible. Other than man, ants are the only creatures on the planet that go to war. They fight for territory, food and sometimes no reason at all. They show no mercy. They take prisoners and make them into slaves. Kendra, ants are no better than we are.”

“You’re talking about a small number of species. Most ant colonies get along fine.”

He shook his head vehemently. “If this catastrophe proves anything, it’s that Paul O’Keefe is full of crap.”

She forced a smile. “Let’s just hope you can find those queens.”

He seemed to calm a bit. “My technicians are setting up Gwendolyn now.”

Kendra figured Gwendolyn was one of Jeremy’s supercomputers. He had a habit of naming them after women he fell in love with. She wondered if he still owned the prized Cray-2 that he renamed Kendra when they were dating.

“We should have the entire DNA strand soon. You want to sit in?”

“No thanks. My focus is anatomy. You know—the actual ants.” She stood, ready to leave, but he caught her wrist.

“If Paul hadn’t come between us…”

Kendra could see the hurt in his expression. Things were never right with Jeremy. His jealousy of Paul could be maddening, but there was something sweet underneath his bombastic nature. Kendra realized she had failed not just one relationship but two, and touched Jeremy’s cheek. “I’m sure it would have been wonderful,” she said and headed toward the door. “See you around the watercooler.”

“Looking forward to it.”

CHAPTER 16

PAUL SAT IN THE
mayor’s office, across from Russo. It was a perfect replica of his study in Gracie Mansion, adorned with cherrywood walls, leather furniture, marble tables and a collection of antique guns in gilded frames. It gave the appearance of a stately office, one of a mighty municipal warrior, instead of an underground hideout padded with six inches of steel.

Paul shifted uncomfortably in his snug wooden chair. In any laboratory field or lecture hall he was a voice of authority, a tutor among colleagues. But now he had the feeling of being back in the principal’s office. A nine-year-old caught with a locker full of spiders, ladybugs and termites, forced to sit in front of a domineering man listening to lectures on the dangers of bringing vicious animals to school.

Russo pushed a stack of papers toward Paul. “Here you go.”

Paul stared, daunted at the reports, but didn’t pick them up. No doubt they all had reached the same conclusion. Besides, he’d finally mustered enough courage to confront the mayor and didn’t want to lose momentum. “I think Kendra is right about evacuating the city. We’re gambling with a lot of lives.”

“Now, Paul. We’ve been down this road before.” Russo waved a dismissive hand. “It’s my gamble, not yours. This is my city, my people and my responsibility.” He leaned back with a trace of sympathy. “I’m a military man, you know. Served four years in Iraq. I understand the casualties of war when you’re facing an enemy, human or not. It’s painful, sure, but you don’t risk the lives of many just to save a few.”

“What if it’s not a few? What if things get worse? We should be preparing for a possible disaster. Kendra and I have a theory that the ants might actually launch—”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down, Paul.” Russo held up a palm. “Why do you think we’re all down in this bunker? We
are
following emergency procedures. I’m fully staffing this place. By Monday we’ll be able to completely run Manhattan from underground. But evacuating civilians? We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“I think we have come to it.”

“Hey, you’re the one who told me you could get rid of these bugs. I’ve given you all the authority, unlimited resources—just do it.”

“It isn’t that easy. We haven’t even been able to figure out
why
they attack.”

“Well, that’s why I hired you. To figure them out and kill them. I didn’t hire you to run around the city like those other lunatics, panicking the public. You’re different, Paul. You understand business and finance.”

He said it so offhandedly. Paul was taken aback at the idea that the mayor would put money ahead of human lives. He tried to sound more forceful. “I have to insist that you’re grossly underestimating the threat to this city. We need to make the facts public. At least that will free our consciences if anyone else gets hurt.”

“Free whose conscience? I don’t have a problem with mine.”

Paul blinked back his anger. He fought off his role as a scientist always to reveal the truth. What exactly was his role? It was all so confusing. He was part of a team, brought in by the mayor to solve a crisis without causing a citywide panic, yet he was tired of the lies, the cover-ups, evading the press. “We have a moral obligation to tell people the truth.”

“What truth is that?” the mayor asked flippantly.

“That New Yorkers are on the dinner menu of a trillion insects, thanks to the United States military.”

“That’s funny, Paul. You have a real gift for comedy—if you think going public is an option.”

Finally, Paul appealed to the bottom line. “What about our legal obligation? If you have no moral qualms, then consider the enormous liability to the victims.”

“Our asses are covered by the Homeland Security Act. This falls under federal jurisdiction, notably the United States Army, and believe me, I’m getting plenty of pressure from those bozos to keep the lid on this.”

“So that’s it? You’re rolling over for the general?”

Russo was losing patience. “What do you propose we do? You want to be responsible for the stampede out of town? It took me four years to get our fiscal house in order, now you want to balance a ten-billion-dollar deficit next year?” He stood up and strolled around the desk with a hearty grin. “Come on, Paul, you said so yourself, these deaths are probably isolated incidents. You didn’t find a single colony.”

“I was wrong. We know they’re out there. Hoards of freak insects created by some ecoterrorist experiment that I didn’t even know about.”

“Well, now you do. So take a look at these reports and think about it for a couple of days. Then I expect you to come back with some real solutions. If you can’t kill these ants, I don’t know who can.”

Paul walked out of the office feeling the mayor’s hand on his back. Russo nearly pushed him past his secretary. As they reached the hallway, Paul started to speak but the mayor shoved some folders into his hands. “Don’t forget the reports, huh? I’m sure there’s something useful in there. And we have dozens more coming in tonight.”

The door slammed shut and Paul stood alone in the hallway, once again feeling like he was back in the third grade.

CHAPTER 17

KENDRA WALKED INTO THE
laboratory, where Paul was feigning deep interest in a computer screen. He immediately forgot his trouncing by the mayor and replaced it with thoughts of jealousy.

“So what were you and the illustrious Rudeau discussing?”

“Usual ant chitchat.” Kendra busied herself with an assortment of glass slides. This was not the time to be making marital confessions, but she felt an overwhelming need to confront Paul, to talk about the affair, get it out of the way once and for all.

Kendra took a breath. “Paul. Jeremy and I—”

“Let’s not go there.” He stopped her with a raised palm.

“Fine.” She moved closer, but he eased back. “So tell me, why is he here?”

“Jeremy? I told you, to help us find the queens.”

She gave him a sideways glance.

“Like I said, the army wanted him here.”

The lab was suddenly stifling and Kendra felt a need for unsterilized oxygen. “Is there a way out of this tomb?”

“We’re not supposed to leave.”

Her eyes were pleading.

Paul held out a hand. “Let’s see that map.”

*   *   *

It felt like they were walking in circles. Paul continually turned the map of the bunker upside down and then right side up, scratching the side of his head. “Right … no left,” he kept muttering. Kendra fought the urge to confiscate the map, having learned that men had fragile egos when it came to directions. Choose your battles, she told herself as they headed toward the south end, the deepest part of the bunker, composed mostly of bedrock tunnels with few working lights. It was dead quiet, musty and dark, but according to the diagram this passage was the only place, besides the elevators, marked with an exit sign.

“That must be it,” Paul said. At the end of the tunnel was a steel door cut into bedrock and a sign marked
NO ACCESS—AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
A sensor for a card key was placed beside the door, along with a final warning that entering was strictly forbidden without authorization. Paul took out his ID.

“Sure you’re authorized?” Kendra asked.

“We’ll know in a second.”

He slid the plastic through the scanner and the light blinked red. He tried again; still red. He turned it around, upside down, rubbed it on his pants and bent it straighter; red, red, red.

“Damn.” He sat down and leaned against the cold metal door.

Kendra took the card from his hand and glided it gently through the slot. The light flashed green. The door slid open with a
swish.

“Ah. Must have loosened it,” he said, as they crouched through the doorway.

They were at the bottom of a circular pit dug from the earth. A black light in a metal cage gave their skin a blue zombie-like sheen that matched the glistening surface of the rough bedrock walls. Kendra’s white shirt and Paul’s lab coat glowed bright violet. There was a damp, clammy texture to the air, along with the sound of a slow water drip somewhere.

“Where the heck are we?” Kendra asked, her voice rising into an echo.

“The end.”

“The end of what?”

“The end of the bunker,” he said, looking at the diagram. “I suppose this is the way out for any survivors of a nuclear catastrophe.”

“There’s no elevator or even a door.”

“No. Just a hatch, way up at the top.”

“Where?”

“Up the ladder,” he said, pointing to the map. “Far end of the wall.”

She walked over to a steel ladder painted red and looked up into the darkness, already feeling dizzy. “Wonder how high it goes?”

“Mayor said we’re three hundred feet below sea level.”

“Great.”

“I can promise you sky at the top. It looks like all we have to do is open a hatch door and you’re out in the cool air.”

“Yeah, like you opened the last door.”

“Hey, we could go back to the ant maze, hunker down in the laboratory and share a bologna sandwich.”

“Now you’re being an ass. Let’s go.”

They began to climb.

*   *   *

Night had fallen. The horizon was a marvelous smear of pink and lavender, the sun just a sliver between two skyscrapers. Paul and Kendra emerged from the bunker onto the roof five stories above the streets. She was out of breath and shaking from the climb. A cold wind chilled the air but the blacktop was still warm and spongy. Kendra breathed deeply into the breeze, relieved to be outside again.

“How does it feel?” Paul shouted over the wind.

“Great. But it’s cold.”

He took off his lab coat and swung it gently over her shoulders. Kendra turned from him, feeling suddenly self-conscious, but Paul wrapped his arms around her waist. He leaned over her warm cheek and smelled the scent of honeysuckle and desert sand in her hair, touched the short blond locks and examined them curiously.

“New look?” he asked.

“New everything,” she answered.

“Well … I like it.”

Kendra was fairly sure he hated it, but was glad he hadn’t said so.

“I missed you,” he whispered.

“So what happened, Paul?”

“I don’t know. My job. Your job. I guess whatever we had just slipped away.”

No, she thought. Not for me. Kendra walked to the edge of the roof. Below, the East River shimmered like glass and to the west endless smokestacks stood against the deepest blue.

“Eight million people,” she said. “What if the ants really do launch an attack? It might happen any day. Next rainfall, next high tide or some other trigger.”

Paul followed her to the ledge. “We’re going to destroy these monsters. Then maybe we can put us back together.”

“I can’t play second fiddle to your career again.”

He nodded, knowing he’d screwed up the first time.

Kendra’s gaze drifted to the skyline. Twilight brought out the stars in the east and they twinkled.

“I’d forgotten about the lunar eclipse.” She was staring at the moon, an oversized sphere of orange, slowly darkening to red. “My students will have some crazy day with the ants. An eclipse always sends them into a … frenzy.”

Kendra gaped at Paul, his face as stark as her own.

CHAPTER 18

THE FIRST SOLDIER APPEARED
on Ninth Avenue, along a strip of soil lined with dogwood trees. From the center of a mound, a hole sprang open. The ant peered out, her oversized head pivoting right and left like a water sprinkler. Over jewel-cut eyes stretched long antennas, wiggling fingers assessing wind currents and ground cover. Her exceedingly long jaws were shaped like elephant tusks and could pierce through a rattlesnake.

Like a leviathan from the deep, the ant emerged. Her sleek black body was immaculate, as she was compulsively neat and incessantly cleaning herself. The ant stood on hind legs and her head sprang up toward the cool night sky like that of a hunting dog sniffing for scent.