Chapter Four
The phone rang in Cameron’s office, the one phone he never used because whoever was on the other line was the only person he was…leery of pissing off. He did not know the man’s name, he only knew that he was the one in charge of his lab, the money and the ultimate owner of his research. He didn’t know the man’s identity but had been told to call him Mr. Chase. Cameron picked up the phone with trepidation.
“Hello?”
“Dr. Cameron. I hear you’ve had some problems,” the unctuous voice stated. “Do you know how much money we have funded your little project with these last ten years?”
Cameron said, “Millions, I imagine.”
“Try 227 million and counting, doctor. And what have we to show for it? Nothing but dead Indian babies.”
“I do have something,” Cameron offered and there was an uncomfortable silence on the other end. The doctor rushed to fill it. “One of my early subjects showed promise but was involved in a car accident in which his mother was killed –.”
“Ah yes, the inquisitive Agent Strong. Rachel Strong. I thought her son was a…vegetable.”
“Not quite,” Cameron said dryly. “But definitely brain-damaged. Yet, we have evidence he found the lab and I have his laptop.”
“His computer? He’s able to use a computer?”
“Not only use it but it’s encrypted and I can’t get in it. I did open it up and the thing is structured like you would not believe. Also, I found a Wi-Fi device that’s homemade and simply unbelievable. It looks like it came out of a Silicon Valley R&D lab.”
“The grandfather?”
“Great-grandfather. No, he doesn’t even have a landline and they barely had the modern conveniences until last year. Now, the house uses solar energy and wind power for the well. Someone is mechanically and electronically gifted. No one else lives in the house but the boy and the great-grandfather.” The doctor hesitated, knowing what he said next would make him sound as crazy as a fruitcake. “There’s a problem. I found the boy’s image on the security tapes in the lab. He brought his grandfather down into the cryo-lab where the bodies are stored yet neither of them went through the complex’s elevators or corridors. No doors were accessed or opened. They appear and then disappear. I sent two men to bring them back in and there wasn’t a problem until they stopped at the clinic doors.”
“What kind of problem?” Mr. Chase asked softly and that frightened Cameron more than if he’d yelled. “And?” He prompted.
“The both of them just disappeared right in front of my eyes. I caught it on the hospital CCTV. I think you should see it, Mr. Chase.”
“Send it to me.”
Cameron uploaded the feed directly to the spook's phone and both watched as the slender twelve-year-old moved gracefully and quickly in the SUV to exit with his grandfather. He spoke and his face was bright, intelligent and curiously adult, not the image of a drooling mentally challenged fetal alcohol child. But it was the way he disappeared that shocked the scientist most. The boy stared hard with an intense focus, leaned forward as if he were opening a door and stepped through as parts of him simply vanished in a shimmer of yellow light. By the time security reached the area nothing remained but scuff marks and the two bewildered agents.
“Interesting,” Mr. Chase commented. “Have you sent anyone out to the home?”
“Yes. A team of your men. They found his laptop and Wi-Fi device as I told you.”
Mr. Chase hesitated. “I will be flying out there, doctor. In light of this development, the Director has decided to close the facilities and move you to a more secure location.”
“Close the lab? But I’ve succeeded in producing a prototype!”
“Yes and you’ve lost him. I want all your data on the projects sent to me. I will be there in–.” Mr. Chase looked at his watch, an inexpensive Timex. “Seven hours.” He did not say goodbye just the phone went dead and the computer dark.
Cameron backed up everything on a flash drive and burned the rest. He had no need to inform the regular clinic personnel, they would most likely keep the legitimate hospital up and running as a cover for the lab. When he was certain all traces of the project were destroyed and the only thing left were the bodies, he triggered the electronic sequence that activated the C-4 buried in the walls and floor. As he left the underground labs for the last time, he did not spare ten years of disappointments and research a second glance.
Cameron was in the agent’s SUV when he felt the subtle ground tremor as the detonation occurred. He knew it was powerful enough to blow the lab to oblivion yet would only be felt as a mild burp in the hospital above. Not that he cared but the powers that be would pass it off as a natural gas explosion deep underground to stifle any curiosity.
“There’s nothing left at the house,” Aiken said. He was the agent the boy had seen wearing the LA Raiders hat, the other was named Ferron. Both were ex-military, CIA and on loan to Cameron for dirty work.
“Your definition of nothing and mine may not be the same, Aiken,” Cameron said shortly. He was quiet the entire two-hour ride back out to the house.
As they arrived, the sun was just coming up and as it stole over the plateau where the house was nestled in a fold of trees and meadow, it lit the area with a golden glow as if the whole scene was painted in molten metal. Sheep with lambs were grazing on the front lawn and chickens were just beginning to come down from their roosts.
Aiken stopped at the front door which he had left open but was now closed. “They came back here, and let the animals loose. I thought you said nothing was left in the house.”
Cameron said, “Something was valuable enough for them to risk returning.”
Aiken exited the driver side and went inside. He came back after only a few minutes to explain, “Clothes are gone. Some food, ammo but we took his rifles and handguns. All they might have are knives. Nothing else is gone.”
Ferron returned from the barn. “Horses are gone, saddles and gear. I found some tracks.”
Cameron snorted. “You think you can track an Indian? Be my guest. But don’t bother. What the little sneak doesn’t realize is that I planted a GPS chip in every one of my…subjects. Including the boy and wherever he goes, I can find him.”
“Then what are we doing here?” Aiken asked.
“Waiting for the cavalry to arrive. We can set up in the house until Mr. Chase gets here.” Cameron stared, picked up his briefcase in which he'd placed his laptop and went inside the house.
The front door opened into a great room, a living, dining, and kitchen all in one. To the left was the master bedroom and bath done in soothing earth colors and southwestern theme. Neat as a pin and without the usual bachelor clutter. There were no photos anywhere but prints and oil paintings done by local artists of landscapes and horses.
To the right was a short hallway leading to two smaller bedrooms. The boy’s room was the typical mess of a pre-teen with colorful posters of Star Wars and superheroes. There were eagle feathers and dream catchers on the walls and hanging from the bedposts. The other bedroom had been Agent Strong's and was left the same as when she had last used it except for the corner where her desk had been.
There, the boy had made it his own, his laptop had rested there and the desk held his mementos - feathers, curiously shaped rocks and smooth chunks of carved wood, fossils and his mother's collection of hair combs.
As before, there were no photos on the walls or in the room. Cameron did not comment but set his laptop down on the desk, pulled up the wooden chair and hooked the power cords into the socket. He had his own remote Wi-Fi hotspot and it uplinked immediately to the nearest satellite. In seconds, an image appeared on Google Earth of a moving icon of an Indian chief in eagle headdress. Aiken, looking over the doctor's shoulder snorted.
“You know where this is?” Cameron asked and the agent studied the topographical map. He traced the contour lines of the mountain.
“We're here.” He pointed to a flat spot that denoted the plateau and the image widened as the satellite view enlarged. It showed the flat gray of the roof and the black SUV parked in the yard.
“Real-time images? I'm impressed,” Ferron said. “That’s not far from here mileage wise but considering the terrain and the elevation, it'll be a real bitch to track him down. Can you get a helicopter?”
“Yes, but that would attract more attention than Mr. Chase wants. I assume both of you can ride?” At their nods, he continued. “I’ll have horses and another team here by morning. Till then, let the rabbits run.”