The River (21 page)

"What are they?"

Lawrence shifted uneasily. "The serum must be administered weekly to those who have crossed twice to the future―otherwise aging resumes. The nanobots are injected along with the serum to rapidly distribute it to each molecule of the body within half an hour. But this makes the injection excruciatingly painful."

"Obviously you've been injected."

Lawrence nodded. "Arnold and I were both injected, numerous times. Which is why I look younger. Paughter wouldn't trust the serum until we tested it first. We were our own lab mice."

"What's the third problem?"

"Over the years, it's become more and more difficult to manufacture because of the base we use. We can't keep up with the demand for the serum. Especially for the ones who've doubled the dose in order to dramatically reverse their age―like Paughter and VanBuren."

"What's the base?"

"Active brain stem cells."

"But that means…" Jake's voice trailed away, horrified.

Lawrence eyed him warily. "We suspected for decades that live brain tissue was a possible solution but we didn't understand how to use it. Now we know that the nanobots can use stem cells to repair damaged cells. Otherwise, waiting for total reconstruction by the nanobots would take too long."

"How'd you know to use brain tissue?"

"Paughter was actually the first to stumble across that link. He went back after the McLeod brothers, a few months after stealing their gold. He sliced off their heads and brought them back here. I don't know if he took them as trophies or if he suspected the crossing might rejuvenate the cells."

"Did it?"

"Temporarily," Lawrence said. "When his scientists studied the brain stem cells, they discovered that they could use them to regenerate other cells. And they realized they needed more brain cells. Of course…you know what that means."

"But that's mass murder!"

"Paughter's been using the past as a hunting ground for stem cells. That's why so many people have gone missing or been found headless along the Nahanni River. That's why they brought Neil's head back."

Neil Parnitski had been a good man. And a decent boss. Lawrence had admired his dedication to the search for the extermination of all disease. It was sadly ironic that a man who devoted his life to finding a cure for diseases like cancer would become a
cure
himself.

Lawrence was suddenly exhausted. "Perhaps we should leave the rest for another day."

"No! I want to know what these assholes have planned for us."

Lawrence knew exactly what the Director wanted. The men would become nothing more than bodiless heads, their brains kept alive in the Specimen Lab by artificial means. And the women?

He swallowed hard. "You and the other men are scheduled to be…specimens. They'll slice off your heads. Paughter uses the women in the Centre as breeding mules, impregnating them. We use the babies' brain cells for the serum."

"But the babies would―"

"Die." Lawrence eyed him, unblinking.

"That's obscene!"

"It's easier than hunting down people along the Nahanni. In this year, no one comes here anymore―unless they're brought here by the Director. The women, including the nurses, are prime real estate. And VanBuren and Paughter have first dibs. Their property is marked by a silver or gold ankh symbol stamped on the women's ID tags."

"Del and Francesca?" Jake whispered.

Lawrence shook out his clenched fists.

The thought of either of those men laying their hands on his daughter made him want to lash out.

"Paughter and VanBuren will rape them. Repeatedly. Unless you all escape."

Jake jumped to his feet. "Where's Del?"

"In one of the recovery rooms on this level."

"She's okay?"

Lawrence heard the concern in his voice and he smiled.

Jake and Del?

"She's fine."

Jake rubbed a hand over his pale face. "Lawrence, why haven't you tried to escape?"

"The Director has unlimited funds. He's the chief investor and he developed a safeguard―just in case anyone tried to steal the serum, or escape to the past with it. Everyone who's been administered the serum has been also injected with a rogue nanobot. It can be set to self-destruct."

Jake threw him a questioning look.

"It'll attack every cell, plus the other bots, Jake. The rogue bot mimes a Progeria-like effect. You'll die a painful death."

"Like your friend."

Lawrence nodded. "Arnold's body is shutting down, cell by cell, and there is nothing that anyone can do for him."

"How did he escape?"

"We stole a passkey, knocked out one of the guards and made it down the tunnel. Arnold crossed first, after Blackwell's men shot at us."

Lawrence paused. "Only one person can cross at a time, Jake. Otherwise, the two sets of DNA will scramble. And you don't want to see what that creates."

"So why didn't you go through, after Schroeder?"

"It takes five minutes for the crystals to recharge on this side. That's how the bastards caught me. I was still waiting."

"What happened then?"

"VanBuren took me down with a bullet to the shoulder. The bots in me rejected the bullet and reconstructed the damaged cells within ten minutes. By then, the bastard had me in handcuffs. If he had hit me in the head…I'd be dead. It's the only way to shut down the bots permanently."

Lawrence stood up suddenly and paced the room.

He felt like a caged animal, ready to lunge at those responsible for imprisoning him. He wanted to rip open their throats.

Especially Paughter's and VanBuren's.

"What's VanBuren's role?" Jake asked.

"He's Paughter's right-hand man. When Paughter reached this side, they hooked up for mutual gain. He needed VanBuren's business connections, VanBuren needed money."

"But he must get more than money out of this."

Lawrence stopped, gritted his teeth.
"Eternal life.
Hans VanBuren is over one hundred and forty years old―same as Paughter. And neither of them looks a day over thirty. Pretty damned good deal, huh?"

He saw the shocked expression on Jake's face.

"It's a lot to take in. I know."

"So Paughter has seniority?" Jake asked after a while.

"Only the Director ranks higher. But no one seems to know who he is, except Paughter and VanBuren."

"You've never met him?"

"Not that I know of. For a long time, I thought the Director was VanBuren."

"Could it be Paughter?"

"Could be. But I haven't seen him in almost a year."

Jake cocked his head. "How'd he know you'd be on the river?"

The answer to that question still filled Lawrence with rage. It was difficult to admit how deceived he had been, how clueless…how trusting.

"There was an intern at Bio-Tec. The one who talked me into coming to the Nahanni River."

"He was connected to the Centre?" Jake asked.

Cold fury rose from the pit of Lawrence's stomach.

"The intern was Vance Paughter."

Del heard her father's voice in the dark.

"Honey, wake up!"

I'm having a nightmare, she told herself. A cruel nightmare. Her father was dead. Dead and buried, her mother had said.

"Come on, Delila! It's time to open those eyes."

But she didn't want to. She knew what she would see if she did. Not her father, but his corpse. Lying in a coffin. The one that she and her mother had picked out. The one they had buried in the ground.

But it had been empty, her mind reasoned.

Yes, but the investigators had said that there was no way her father could've survived without medical care. Because of all the blood he had lost. And where would he have found medical care on the Nahanni River?

Nowhere…

Her father was dead. The voice she heard calling to her was nothing but a trick.

Maybe the Giardia Lamblia had finally struck. After all, she had drunk the water. The dirty parasitic Nahanni River water. Someone had filled her water bottle with it.

My friends wouldn't do that!

But someone had given her the infected water.

And now she was sick…delirious.

That's what's wrong! I'm hallucinating because those damned parasites are in me.

Jesus Christ!

I can feel them invading my body. They're crawling all over me. They're under my skin…burning me.

I'm on fire.

Oh my God!

Get them the hell out of me!

Pleeeeease!

Seventeen

D
el opened her eyes cautiously, blinked.

She twisted her head, letting out a relieved breath when she saw peach-colored walls. The room was immaculately clean, barely used. State-of-the-art medical equipment surrounded her. An IV was inserted into her left hand, feeding a clear liquid into her veins.

A strong chemical smell filled the room.

She was in a hospital.

She wrestled with her memories, but the last thing she remembered was passing out on the shore of the Nahanni River. Search and Rescue must have airlifted her out.

The door opened.

A young, redheaded nurse entered the room, her stomach bulging, swollen. She was about six months pregnant and still in her teens.

A child having a child…

Del bit back the surge of jealousy.

"Where am I?"

"Glad to see you're finally awake, Miss Hawthorne."

Actually, it's
Professor
, Del wanted to say. But she didn't.

As the nurse checked the heart monitor, Del noticed an ID tag clipped to the left pocket of her aqua-colored jacket.

Kate O'Leary.

Beneath the name was a silver ankh symbol.

"Where am I?" Del repeated impatiently.

The nurse leaned over, adjusting the IV before speaking. "You're at the Centre. You need to rest for another thirty minutes to promote healing. The doctor is taking very good care of you."

She moved toward the door.

Del frowned. "And which doctor is that?"

The young girl paused and gave her a startled look, the freckles across her nose twitching slightly.

"Why, you're father, of course."

As the door closed behind the nurse, Del swallowed hard.

Her father
was
alive!

To her dismay, her eyelids fluttered. Every inch of her body vibrated with exhaustion. All she wanted to do was sleep.

Give in, Del. Surrender…sleep.

Before she fell into the deep cocoon of oblivion, Jake's face flickered before her.

Where are you, Jake?

Jake sat at Lawrence's computer in the main lab. He stared at the monitor, fascinated by the files and 3-dimensional illustrations that were displayed on the screen. He studied the doctor's work, trying to make sense of it all.

Lawrence sat a few feet away, chugging back a beer.

"One of the perks," he said. "VanBuren wants to keep me mostly happy. Although I suppose the order comes from Paughter or the Director himself."

Jake raised his eyes. "I can't believe we were so close."

So bloody close!

"In 2008, nanotechnology will be in the forefront of all medical findings," Lawrence said. "That's when it becomes a legal, viable option. But anti-aging won't be its mission for a few more years. First it starts with disease annihilation. And that itself will take over a year before it's successful."

He tossed Jake a medical journal dated
January
2009
.

Leafing through it, Jake stopped abruptly at a familiar name.

His!

He read the passage aloud.

"Dr. Jacob Kerrigan, who formerly studied under the esteemed Dr. Lawrence Hawthorne, finds an answer to molecular reconstruction of human cells with the use of nanomachines―microscopic computers…"

Jake was stunned. "Our nanobot project."

"
Your
project," Lawrence said. "Your findings lead to more efficient nanomachines, and that leads to the slow eradication of common diseases, culminating in a final cure for AIDS and cancer."

"My findings? How can that be if I'm here?"

"When I looked back over the archives, I found references to your work. But now…I'm not sure, Jake. By coming here you've changed things. Maybe even the future. I wasn't even sure if that article would still appear in the journal. I simply don't understand how it all works. No one does, not even Paughter."

Jake thought for a moment. "So he wants you to find a way to halt his aging, without having to resort to the painful serum injections. So that he can stay young forever."

"And so he can go back to the past whenever he wants and change things in his favor."

The door to the lab buzzed.

"We have company," Lawrence said.

Escorted by Blackwell's men, TJ, Hawk and Gary stepped into the room. Gary's face was withdrawn and his glasses were mangled.

Spike and Baldy disappeared without a word.

Hawk rubbed his arm. "Good to see you're still here, Jake."

Jake smiled wryly. "Where would I go?"

"Jesus!" TJ blurted. "What's going down, man? Those bastards gave us some kind of shot. Said it was vitamins, but the damned thing hurt so bad it knocked us out."

Jake knew that it was only a matter of time before they came for him. Before he had a deadly nanobot injected into
his
bloodstream.

He motioned the men inside the small room and closed the door.

"This is the only safe place to talk. For now."

TJ's eyebrow arched in shock. "It's bugged out there?"

Jake nodded.

"Do you know what they gave us?" Hawk asked.

"You need to sit down. All of you."

Once introductions were made, Jake told them about the Centre and Paughter. Then he told them about the anti-aging effect of the portal.