Finally, the antidote needed to neutralize completely the weapon in the host body. It couldn’t simply attack the agent that compromised the weapon’s DNA, nor could the agent regress and lay dormant waiting for the right conditions to resurface. The antidote had to completely search, find, and eradicate the weapon — and they’d done it. Remarkably, Lance and Isabella had created a super weapon with the ability to eradicate populations and an antidote with the ability to destroy the weapon. In the wrong hands, someone could feel like God. No wonder people would kill to get their hands on the antidote.
Finally, all their work was paying off. Within a few days, they would have Isabella’s research reconstructed, as well as the recipe for the antidote.
“Oh, shit!” Lance screamed as he suddenly pushed away from his desk and rolled completely to the other side of the room.
“What is it?” Basil asked. He and Teddy rose and headed to Lance. “What’s wrong?”
“You won’t believe it,” Lance said. “Isabella encrypted a message in her formula.”
“A message?” Teddy asked. “What kind of message?”
Lance, visibly shaken by what he had found, paused to catch his breath. “Apparently,” he said, in a voice so low it was barely audible, “she discovered something.”
“I didn’t see any message when I looked at her notes,” Basil said. “Let me see.”
“Yes, you did, but it seemed insignificant to you,” said Lance. He looked at Basil and rolled his eyes.
“Show me where it is. What does it say?” Basil replied.
“The language is in code,” Lance said. He stood and started pacing the room. “When we were in the FSA program, there was a lot of competition going on. Everybody was trying to one-up each other and in some instances, people were sabotaging other peoples’ work. So Isabella and I devised a coded language that allowed us to protect our findings from the other participants and prevent our work from being stolen.”
“Brilliant,” Basil said. As a scientist, he knew exactly what they’d experienced and why they’d done what they did.
“Well, what did she say, Lance?” Teddy asked anxiously. “What did she say?”
“Wait a minute. Cool your jets. I’ll tell you in a minute, after you let me finish deciphering it.”
It took Lance a good hour to decipher the message. As he worked, Basil and Teddy waited, occasionally pacing back and forth, having difficulty controlling their desires to know.
“Okay, you guys, I think I have it all.” Lance turned to stare at Teddy and then Basil in disbelief. Without saying anything, his face told an unimaginable story.
“Okay, enough already, Lance,” Teddy said as she tried to maintain her cool demeanor. “Read the damn message.”
Lance’s new discovery was clearly taking a toll on Teddy. For eight years she had been searching for answers. Could it be, she was about to find out the information from Isabella herself?
November 9, 1995
My Dearest Teddy,
I always knew you loved me, but the fact that Lance is reading this message confirms how much I meant to you. Thank you for not giving up.
Until we meet again, my love — Isabella.
Finally, after just that brief communication, Teddy could exhale. The message confirmed both Isabella’s love for her and that she was doing what Isabella had hoped she would do — finish the work she had started.
Dear Lance,
If you are reading this message, then I’m dead and it is my sincere hope that you get this before it’s too late. What I am about to tell you may seem unbelievable at first, but unfortunately, it’s the truth. The world is in trouble and it pains me to admit it, but you and I are to blame.
About ten months ago, my partner, Teddy, befriended a friend of mine, Dr. Basil Rhodes. She was intrigued with his theory that HIV did not cause AIDS. At first, I didn’t pay too much attention to what she was saying. Yes, Basil was my friend and he was also my mentor, but in this particular case, I didn’t support his supposition. Why not? Maybe because I was too interested in career advancement? Or maybe because if I did support his position, it meant I would also have to believe our government knowingly and with malice engaged in a conspiracy that ultimately would lead to worldwide genocide?
It wasn’t until Basil started experiencing serious attacks from the scientific establishment that I began to question their motives. It wasn’t like he was asking too much. After all, his only crime was to state publicly that he did not believe HIV was the cause of AIDS. Basil asserted that the government was doing the science community and the world a disservice because the evidence that pointed to HIV as being the causative agent had not received an exhaustive peer review. And as a result, he was denigrated and vilified and his credibility was destroyed. Watching my peers constantly assault Basil moved me to do my own research. And in the process, I was drawn back to the research we did for the FSA.
What I discovered was shocking. First, the key dissenters claiming Dr. Rhodes was no longer credible had never done or published any research in the field of HIV disease. However, they were well connected. Of course, I found that to be strange, especially considering the fact that scientists in the field of AIDS research had become the most powerful, elite, and influential group of researchers in the world. So not to have earned their stripes seemed suspect.
As I continued my research, I then found out that every one of these so-called AIDS experts was connected to the FSA and from there, things only got worse. I discovered that every one of the students in the program (with the exception of you and me) were dead. Once I figured out that our lives were in danger, I began secretly to reevaluate our work and to my surprise, I discovered that the biological formula we created maintained the same DNA structure of AIDS. I then discovered something else. Our formula had a flaw. I found that under the right conditions, our weapon could mutate, cross over boundaries, and possibly become airborne.
I know what I am saying sounds incredible, but it’s true, and only you — with the help of a few others — can stop this worldwide pandemic from happening. I only hope it’s not too late. Work with Teddy, Lance. She will protect you. Reach out to Dr. Basil Rhodes. He has the mind-set needed to help you navigate this maze of deception.
Also, there is another man that I think you can trust. He will help you get your antidote to the right authorities and help you expose the conspiracy. He brings to the table the resources and street credit your team will need when this is exposed. His name is Blake Jones. Find him and together, you can blow this conspiracy wide open. People’s lives depend on it.
They were all silent, needing time to reflect, especially considering that the message had been written more than eight years earlier, and that Isabella had had the wherewithal and discernment to link the three of them together. Clearly, Isabella had known she would have to die for the truth to be exposed. Now, eight years later, all the players were present and accounted for. Except one.
As the room stood still, Lance, Teddy, and Basil began to grapple individually with their emotions. For Teddy and Basil, they were experiencing her death all over again; once more, they were in a state of mourning while, at the same time, grappling with their own newfound realities.
For Lance, things were different. He and Isabella had drifted apart and gone their separate ways. Now he found himself skeptical. His disbelief centered mainly on the fact that the person Isabella identified eight years earlier as his “protector” was in fact the person who ruined his marriage. Nor could he believe that, in his early twenties, he had been instrumental in developing a weapon of mass destruction and now, some twenty-plus years later, he had to go back to a life he had run away from, a life in which he had felt unworthy and inconsequential. What had everyone else seen in him he couldn’t see in himself?
Now, all these newfound realities also came with newfound doubts. He was again being forced to use his skills — skills buried deep within him — to create an antidote that could prevent death and d
estruction. The same death and destruction he had helped create! What was being asked of him was in direct contradiction to who he had become. He had gone into journalism so he could hide behind words on paper. And when a story was done, it was truly over. His motto was “Today’s news, tomorrow’s history, archived and done, only to be resurrected for a source.” But now, more was being asked of him.
Like Lance, Basil couldn’t believe his role either. He could not believe he had been right all along. The character assassination and the loss of his marriages, colleagues, income and respect had been based on the fact that he had brought into play that everything about HIV was a fraud, a fraud tied into the most sinister criminal enterprise known to humanity. And the government, including some of his colleagues, may have been part of the cover-up. More importantly, he had lost a friend and a colleague who had been trying to understand the truth. Isabella had lost her life because she had thought the treatment he had received was not only unfair, but unconscionable, too.
Teddy could tell by Lance’s and Basil’s expressions that they were deep in thought and like her, trying to put all the pieces together. But, for her, the well water ran much deeper. She had to come to terms with the fact that for eight years, the truth had been right in front of her, hidden away in the attic of a home she had refused to visit because it was too painful. At that moment, all she could think about were the times she and her partner had gotten into heated discussions, discussions in which she would bombard Isabella with questions regarding Basil’s theory and the integrity of science.
These were the questions Teddy had asked Isabella over and over again and she wouldn’t stop until Isabella had given in. She had believed she was the one who, ultimately, had put Isabella in harm’s way. Now, eight years later, she learned — from Isabella herself — that her partner had predicted her own demise, identified the reason for her death, and listed players needed to uncover the world’s most imminent death threat.
As Teddy sat on the couch respecting the silence, she breathed what felt like a sigh of relief. In that brief second, she saw the air leaving her body as if it were the dead of winter instead of early summer. As she surveyed her surroundings, everybody Isabella had said was needed — with the exception of Blake Jones — was present. This was, in her mind, either six degrees of separation or a divine plan. God had instructed her to have faith and to trust in Him and at that moment, that’s all she could do. So Teddy went to her room and prayed. She needed to know if this was God’s plan. As she sat silently with her eyes closed, waiting for an answer, she started to hear Shug Avery’s voice from The Color Purple, singing the chorus line, “God is trying to tell you something.” Unable to shake the song from playing over and over in her head, she went to the Lord again.
“Is this your will, Lord?” she asked. And within seconds, she heard a very calm voice say, “Yes!”
“But I am afraid. I don’t know if I can do this, Lord.”
What are you afraid of Teddy? Where does this fear you speak of come from? I will never give you the emotion of fear. Know that I have not given you more than you can handle, and this calling is much greater than your own.
Believing she had received confirmation, Teddy began to weep as she felt the protection of God. She knew that wherever He was taking them would require a strength and protection bigger than all three of them put together.
In a very short time, Teddy had come to realize that life had no coincidences. Everything was ordered and all that had happened, including how they each came to be in each other’s lives, had been decided long before they had met. If confirmation was once needed, it had been needed more now. And Isabella had confirmed everything.
Now they were in the position to do what had been foretold. Now the only thing left was find the enigmatic Blake Jones.
The impact of Isabella’s missive had taken everybody by surprise, so much so that, like Teddy, both Lance and Basil retreated to their rooms to digest the cataclysmic message and make sense of the realization that more than eight years earlier, they had been tied together.
For several months, Lance and Basil had worked tirelessly in hopes of eradicating a monster, and now, except for the radio playing in the kitchen, the house was eerily quiet. Until Teddy yelled, “Hey, Basil! Lance! Could you come downstairs? I have something I need to tell you.” It didn’t take long for the men to respond to Teddy’s request. Both looked as if they had wrestled with a giant and lost. When the system has been shocked, the toll on the body is apparent and within hours, all three had aged.
“What a day, right?” Teddy said.
“You can say that again,” Basil said. “I’m still in shock. What about you, Lance? How are you feeling?”
“How do you think I feel, Basil?” he replied sarcastically. “This thing … whatever it is we are doing … is the gift that keeps on giving.”
Both Basil and Teddy knew exactly what Lance was referring to but neither had the strength to engage. Plus, Teddy had other things on her mind.
“Listen, after I left you guys and went to my room, I felt compelled to call Blake Jones.”
“You called Jones?” Lance yelled.
“Yes, I did,” Teddy replied.
“Without discussing it with us first?” Lance said.
“Yes!”
“So now you are thinking for us, too,” Lance said, obviously perturbed. “What happened to the ‘we are in this together’ motto?”
Basil sat back and watched the exchange. He too had questions and would have hoped they could have all weighed in on the decision to call Jones, but he also knew why Teddy had done it. Where they sat, they were eight years behind the eight ball and if what Isabella had predicted was true, they were embarking into new territory. Which also meant new rules.
“Do you think we can trust Jones?” Basil asked, in an attempt to refocus the discussion.
“I don’t know,” Teddy said.
“For all we know, he could be part of the Velvet Mafia,” Lance interjected.
“He’s got a point,” Basil said pensively.
“Listen, you guys. I know how you feel. We don’t know anything about this Jones character, but we do know Isabella’s character. We have to follow through and find Jones for Isabella and for Kennedy. Isabella lost her life trying to expose this conspiracy, but before she did, she took the time to instruct us on what we should do. And now, with Kennedy in harm’s way, we have no other choice.”
In Teddy’s mind, if Isabella trusted Blake, she would have to trust him, too. In reality, her own angst had nothing to do with whether Blake belonged to the Velvet Mafia but with her own insecurities about Isabella.
When Teddy met Isabella, Isabella had been what Teddy called a taboo woman. And taboo women were a no-no. They presented too much drama: one day they wanted to be with you and the next day, they couldn’t be with you. They guaranteed you a ride on an emotional roller coaster and usually, the only way to get off was to jump. If you were brave enough to stay on and ride it out, chances were you would end up wounded anyway because you would lose your self-respect trying to be someone you could never be.
For Teddy, taboo women had always made her feel as if she had to question who she was and that was something she had stopped doing at fifteen. But Isabella was different; she never became emotionally crippled because of whom she had fallen in love with. Teddy, on the other hand, had her moments.
Right from the beginning, she had prepared herself for the bottom to drop. She knew Isabella loved her, but at times, she questioned whether Isabella missed being with men. Especially since Isabella never thought of herself as a lesbian. In Isabella’s mind, labels were too restricting and created self-imposed boundaries when it came to love. But Teddy was all those labels. She was gay and was never going to wake up some morning and decide she preferred men. Isabella, however, could do exactly that and this put Teddy in a precarious and vulnerable position.
Years had passed since the last time Teddy had felt this insecure and
she couldn’t believe she was again questioning — and yes, fearing — that the woman she had loved more than life itself may have betrayed her.
As expected, the preparation for the sale of the K Street property took time; and despite the chatter surrounding Taylor DuBois’s murder, it was business as usual. In an effort to create the property as a historical treasure, Yeager was marshalling his resources and collecting the political rewards for being the architect of the maneuver.
With everything in place, Blake could now focus on other things. For several days, he had been out of the office and being at his desk brought him a sense of comfort and familiarity. As Blake settled in, he could see he had been missed. Invoices needed to be reviewed and finalized, requests for meetings with Board members needed to be placed on the calendar, and other acquisitions needed his attention.
While Blake checked his phone messages, he found himself listening to some, skipping others, and transferring calls he felt could go to others on his payroll. By the time he finished, only one call remained and it was marked urgent.
Hello, this message is for Mr. Blake Jones. My name is Teddy Alexander and your number was given to me by an old and mutual friend. If this message reaches you before the weekend is over, would you please call me at the number listed? Also, this is a very sensitive matter and your immediate attention to my request would be extremely appreciated.
Blake could not believe his ears. The person he and Charlie wanted to reach out to had called him directly. Who was this old and mutual friend she was referring to? One thing for sure, she wasn’t in Chicago. Based on his caller ID, she was in Maryland. Before he could go any farther, Blake had to call Charlie. Like him, Charlie would not believe that the one person who could help them uncover the mystery had called him directly.
“Charlie! Charlie! Are you there? Pick up the phone, man. Hey, listen, when you get this message, call me. You will not believe what —”
Velvet Mafia Page 34