John grabbed the bag from the table and reached for the small box he’d hidden beneath the shirts and placed it beside her. “That sounds great, really it does, but I’m kinda selfish when it comes to problems and I’d hate to drag you into my mess. Besides,” he smiled while joining her on the sofa, “judging by those shirts you picked out for me I’d be jumping out of the frying pan into the oven.”
“Boy those shirts tell the world you don’t follow no rules,” Vanessa laughed as she juggled Bobbie and opened the box.
“I saw the way you looked at it so I grabbed it when you disappeared to the washroom,” John confessed.
Vanessa popped the top of the box and her hand shot up to her open mouth. Glistening from a bed of tissue paper was a gold pendant shaped into the letter “V”. Small diamonds that accented the lines began to sparkle beneath the lights as she hooked the chain across her fingers and lifted it high.
“You’re not serious…” she gasped.
John soaked up the surprise and joy that lit up her eyes and wished there was even something more he could do to let her know how much he appreciated the warmth she never failed to bring him. They had wandered through a high end jewellery store just after the coffee and music in Little Havana, and when he had seen the way she’d looked at the diamond and gold pendant he knew he had to get it. Thanks to a little luck and the fact they’d been drinking water all day as a result of the heat, a quick trip to the ladies room had presented the opportunity he needed.
“It’s the least I could do to say thank you,” he said.
She leaned forward and attempted to clasp the chain around her neck, only the fingers of her damaged hand wouldn’t let her. John slid forward, eased the chain from her fingers into his, and hooked the eyelet through.
“The last person who gave me jewellery wouldn’t even share the candy it came with.”
“Well whoever it was obviously had his head up his arse,” John assumed.
She turned to John, her fingers caressing the “V” hanging from her neck and concern creasing her brow. “I know you probably don’t wanna hear it but everyone in this city knows Nick Takhalov is a crazy son of a bitch who pulls a lot of dirty strings. It ain’t none of my business how you and your boss have come under his radar, but after what he did last night? He’s not gonna stop till he gets what he wants, whatever the hell that might be, so you should really think about staying with me.”
“We’re talking about a guy with a Star Wars tattoo, how bad can it be?”
“He’s not your normal mafia boss,” Vanessa said with a shake of her head, “I’ll give you that. Things used to be pretty simple in Miami, you had your coke cartels shooting up cheap hotels and dumping bodies off the side of boats, and you had the old school mafia lurking in the shadows making bank off construction and real estate. Then the Russians figured they needed a sea change, men like Nick, and they came with fingers in every pie you can think of. I’m talking drugs, human trafficking and prostitution, kidnap, money laundering, cyber hacking, hell anything that brought in money. Most knew how to stay in the shadows but Nick did things a little differently. He liked seeing his picture in the paper, and when him and his pathetic lap dogs starting moving up in the criminal world he wanted the city to think of him as some sort of Robin Hood and started to invest in schools and different charities around the place. One day he’s chopping up bodies, and the next he’s handing out ice cream to under privileged kids.”
“You really think he’s a killer?” John asked.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and in an instant the muscles along his spine pulled tight with a surge of blood as Bobbie’s ears pricked up.
“Expecting company?” Vanessa asked with concern.
“Not at all,” John replied before cautiously making his way down the short hallway with a wave of anxiety on the rise. He paused for a second to weigh up his options if things were about to turn south and, realizing those options were almost nonexistent, leaned forward and peered through the tiny glass keyhole with a nervous apprehension. When his eye focussed on the source of the knocking his pulse jumped a little. Her hair was dishevelled and make up was smudged, and as Candice stood waiting she was struggling to tuck in her shirt.
“You know how to surprise a guy,” he said as he opened the door.
“Nice hat,” Candice replied with a shy smile before stepping towards the living area, only to stop short when Vanessa stood with shoulders pulled back and piercing eyes filled with suspicion.
“Oh… hi,” Candice managed.
John was quick to join them but struggled with the introductions. “So Vanessa, this is, ah, this is Doctor Garland, and Doctor Garland, this is Vanessa, a good friend of mine.”
Vanessa studied Candice up and down before offering her hand. “A doctor? It’s nice to meet you.”
“And you.”
Although John knew he had no reason to, he felt awkward none the less. For the moment he had refrained from telling Vanessa any real details about what he had caught himself up in, so trying to explain how a doctor fit into the equation wasn’t exactly simple. Thankfully, Vanessa stripped away the challenge before it needed to be addressed.
“This girl needs a long bath and some fresh nail polish,” she announced while grabbing her bag and kissing Bobbie goodbye. “Have a think about my offer John cause I want you to know there’s a good side to this city too.” She shook Candice’s hand once more and then headed for the door. “Don’t forget to rock those shirts!” she called over her shoulder, and then she was gone.
“I’m sorry,” Candice apologised, “I didn’t know… I mean, I didn’t want to interrupt anything.”
“It’s okay, really. I’m surprised to see you, but as far as surprises go, it’s one of the better ones.” And it was true, he was glad that she had knocked on his door, even if it was probably for business reasons.
“Sorry for looking the way I do,” she said, still trying to straighten her shirt.
“You look great.”
Bobbie climbed down ever so slowly from the sofa and sniffed his way to her legs, squeaking a small cry of recognition.
“Well hello there Bobbie,” Candice swooned, placing a black box on the dining table before scooping him up. “You are so gorgeous…”
John offered her a chair and then joined her at the table as she fawned over her new friend. Although curious as to the reason for her visit, he avoided the question for now and instead gave a brief rundown of the afternoon’s tourist adventure and bad fashion bounty. As he talked and joked he couldn’t help but notice how exhausted she appeared, and how even when she smiled or laughed there was sadness staining the edges of her eyes.
“So would you like to see them?” he asked with a little hope of keeping the mood light for as long as possible.
“The shirts?”
“Of course. I’ll do a fashion parade and everything.”
“Absolutely!”
John grabbed his swag of treasure and dashed into the bedroom. As quick as he could he stripped off his sweat stained shirt and donned the first selection, leaving the price tag to dangle against his hip. With an exaggerated strut he stepped back into the dining room and completed a wobbly twirl.
“Well, what do you think?”
Candice stared at the bright purple shirt dotted with machine gun strapped dolphins with amazement and drew a hand to her mouth.
“That’s horrible in so many ways,” she laughed.
“You’re right,” he agreed as he twirled once more and headed back to the bedroom. “They should have used a different shade of purple.”
Candice felt her cheeks flush. She had been quite certain she would probably never have a reason to laugh again, and the sudden feeling of letting go felt good. How long had it been since she’d laughed like that?
“Now this one I’m told is a guaranteed lady killer,” John announced strutting from the bedroom. This time the shirt was baby vomit green with red and white palm trees surroundin
g muscle swollen squirrels wearing sunglasses.
“A jacked squirrel is always a turn on,” Candice giggled.
John repeated his signature twirl and dashed back for the final switch. It was hard to believe but he was actually having fun, a brief moment to dance in the centre of the clinically mad tornado, and it had been so long since he had felt any sort of real, carefree joy that the feeling came with a strange touch of guilt.
He stepped out onto the make believe catwalk and extended his arms for the final reveal. This one was black and on the front was a bright, warm coloured spiral galaxy. Above the breast pocket was a bad rendition of the NASA logo, and when he turned around and pushed his shoulders forward the back of the shirt presented a cartoon like solar system with a large silver arrow pointing to Earth with the caption, “You are here!”
“I think this is my favourite,” he said.
Candice found the laughter slipping away as she stared at the planets lined up from the sun. “I don’t know if it’s as charming as dolphins strapping machine guns, but I like it.”
John sensed the mood shift and sat back at the table. He was pretty sure she had come to find out if he had managed to locate Hendrix, and knew sooner or later the conversation would swing to the investigation, but having laughed for the first time in so long, and suddenly feeling a level of attraction he thought he’d never feel again, he didn’t want to bring up the elephant in the room just yet.
“Candice I don’t know if this is just a quick stop or if you have to be somewhere else, but if you can handle being seen in public with this shirt the restaurant downstairs is supposed to be pretty good.”
As soon as the words left his mouth he realised how forward he’d just been and silently cursed his sudden bravado. If she felt the same way though, it didn’t show. If anything the pink scars on her cheek and tiny lines tracing from the edge of her eyes lifted while she massaged the back of Bobbie’s neck, and a hint of the smile that had lit up the room just moments ago threatened to resurface.
“Actually I’m going to decline your offer of dinner,” she revealed slowly, “because I’ve seriously had one hell of a day, a long hell of a day, and I was kind of hoping you might want to join me for some of this.” She reached onto the table, slid the top of the black box open and retrieved a fancy looking bottle of Scotch. “The label says it’s been aged fifty years, so maybe the hangover comes with a bit of wisdom.”
Surprised at the invitation, John adjusted his new baseball cap and inspected the bottle. “I’ll get some glasses.”
The first mouthful of the amber liquid sent a burning sting down the back of his throat, and Candice was quick to pour them another. The conversation was a little wobbly to start, made of up questions about his impression of the city and the places he had visited with Vanessa. He welcomed the opportunity to tell her how they had met, and made it subtly clear that they had become great friends but nothing more. As the drinks continued to flow they shared tales from childhood adventures and skirted around the dreams they had both once carried, but as the nervous tension began to melt and the warm glow of alcohol embraced them both, the elephant in the room began to stir.
Candice peered into the bottom of her glass as though searching for the answer to a silent question. “When I got to work this morning there was an email from Devilian wanting to know if there’s anything more about Hendrix.” She ran her finger along the edge of the bottle. “Between you and me, I think our FBI agent has a bit of a thing for cults.”
“As far as law enforcement goes,” John suggested, “it’s nothing too surprising. Cults are like natural disasters, only the destruction comes straight from twisted minds. What makes them so bad is usually they fester away in the shadows like a cancer that doesn’t show up until it’s too late.”
“Is that what the project is, a cancer ready to do bad things?”
“Actually,” John said with a shake of his head, “I don’t know what to make of it to be honest. But as for your missing doctor goes, I’m pretty sure he’s got a role in it somewhere.”
Candice leaned forward with a start. “You mean you found him?”
“No, not quite.” He poured another drink, unsure of how much information to spill. “I’m not even sure you’d believe me if I told you about last night’s little journey.”
“Try me.”
And so he did, although even knowing that Candice and the agents knew some of what the Hallucigenia Project was up to he edited some of the details and chose not to mention being drugged or anything about the structure of the various departments. For reasons he couldn’t explain and probably didn’t make sense, he only spoke of being in a bunker and the feeling that Hendrix might be there. It was, he suggested, a hunch.
“So I didn’t see him or anything,” John continued, “but as far as a professional opinion’s concerned, I’d be surprised if he’s not in there somewhere.”
“God I wish he would just get it over with and contact us,” she replied.
“What’s so important about talking with him anyway?” John asked genuinely curious.
“Careful, you could get me in a lot of trouble.”
“That’s all I’ve had since I got here.”
She looked down at Bobbie and began to scratch his ears. “When he disappeared on us he took with him a whole stack of information, and not the kind that only ruffles a few feathers. I, or should I say we, have been doing some very classified research and the results of that research could cause real big problems if someone makes it public. Hendrix might believe he’s doing the right thing, but he’s playing with fire.”
“So what you told me the other day at the restaurant, it’s all true isn’t it?” John asked with a raised eyebrow.
Candice grabbed the bottle and topped up her glass. “Well, what I can tell you is that there’s a big change coming whether we like it or not, and the reason why we know about it at all has something to do with a particular code that’s been discovered. So yeah, it’s all true. We need to keep this code hidden though, and that means Hendrix has become a threat.”
John felt the room spin for just a second as flashbacks of conversation from the previous days came rushing back. The hidden code, the orbital predictions.
“I thought they were lying,” be muttered to himself.
“Are you telling me…”
“… that they told us about the hidden code?” he interrupted. “Yeah, they did.”
“Please, you have to tell me what they know. It’s more important than you think.”
John rubbed the side of his chin. “I thought it was bullshit, all this talk about a hidden codes wrapped in DNA and computers, and yet you’re sitting here telling me it’s true.” His eyes quickly began to widen. “This whole asteroids crashing into Earth thing is really going to happen isn’t it?”
Candice wanted to lie, wanted to tell him that it wasn’t going to happen, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. “If what we’ve worked out so far is right, yes, something is heading our way. Hendrix knows what’s coming, but like us doesn’t know exactly when. We think he might have corrupted data, and that could prove to be one hell of a big problem if the information spreads.”
“I think I need another drink,” John said while refilling his glass.
“A toast to the end of the world huh?”
“Something like that.”
“This whole mess is so fucking big there’s no shovel in the world strong enough that’s going to dig us out of it,” Candice groaned, “and then today I find out there’s even more to throw into it.”
“Unless this whole damn planet is going to explode, I can’t see what else could possibly go wrong.”
If only you knew, she thought while scrunching her lips to hold back the revelation that was dancing on the tip of her tongue. “So here we are, two people who know about the mother of all storms heading our way and soon to be drunk, while down on the streets the city keeps ticking along without a clue. I guess… I guess you an
d Bobbie are ready to get the hell out of here.”
There were so many questions that John wanted to throw onto the table but, even with the fact that they were both well and truly glowing from the Scotch, they were still cautiously circling the truth of what had brought them together.
When he had left Klementina and the underground bunker he hadn’t been totally sure what he believed, and was probably more pissed off than anything at the shocking accusation that Sebastian was back in Australia helping to drive a final nail into his coffin. He had tried calling him several times during the day, but each time he’d been greeted with silence on the other end. It didn’t make much sense of course, considering he had set John up with a fat bank account to help him infiltrate the cult he was so worried about, but then Sebastian probably hadn’t planned on anyone finding out about his role in the divorce and plans to take the house. Now though, did it even matter?
Candice, peering back at him in a way that stirred a longing he thought reduced to dust, had just changed everything. She had confirmed that the Hallucigenia Project was telling the truth, and that meant the insanity he’d been sucked into had sharp teeth as real as could be.
“I don’t know what to do,” he said honestly. “I mean, part of me wants to fly back and put a gun to the head of the person who got me into all of this.”
“And the other part?” Candice asked with a wanting in her eyes.
“The other part of me wants right now to last a lot longer than it probably will.”
“You mean being in Miami?”
“No,” he said with a fear of screwing things up, “I mean being here with you like this.”
Candice diverted her eyes to the table with a touch of embarrassment and in an instant he regretted his stupid statement, even if it was nothing but the truth. Figuring the moment was about to end, he poured a final drink while quietly cursing himself.
The Hallucigenia Project Page 39