The Devil's Vial

by Brumbaugh,Byron

  “That's who was following me,” said Richard. “Aha...”

  There was this big accident – I was about four cars behind and just missed being part of it. I pulled over and got out to see if I could help. Srivastava ended up as a fireball. I nosed around and found out you were taken to Georgetown Hospital. I looked around the smoldering Caddy and this big blond guy came up behind me. He didn’t appear to be very friendly.

  “Was that Martin?” asked Richard, looking at Alex as if for confirmation.

  “He was real interested in the Caddy and its contents, so I pretended I was a wide-eyed lookie-loo and faded off into the swarm of cops, fire trucks and ambulance folks. I made it over to the hospital as you and Alex left to go over to his place. I followed and found out where Alex lives, then went back to the hospital and started talking to people, trying to find out what I could about you guys without raising too much suspicion.”

  “That’s how you found out we’re innocent?” asked Richard.

  “That, research on the web and intuition. Next day, I was outside the house in my rental car, trying to decide what to do next, when a black and white drove up and this same big blond guy got out with a cop; only now Blondie was dressed in a police uniform.”

  “Ah, that was Martin alright,” said Alex.

  “The next thing I knew, shots were fired and more black and whites showed up.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Richard. “If you thought we were innocent, why didn’t you try to intervene? We could’ve used your help just then.”

  “What could I have done? Start shooting at the police? I was persona non grata as it was. No, there was nothing I could have done and that was not a place I wanted to be. I made a hasty retreat; I thought you guys were history. A few blocks away and I still heard shooting. Then a large search party spread out and canvassed the neighborhood. I retreated further. I figured you must have gotten away somehow – nice job, by the way.” He looked in the rear view mirror at Alex. “I wouldn’t have been able to find you if I hadn’t learned about your plane and made an educated guess about the Flying W.” He shrugged. “It’s amazing what you can find out about people on the web if you know where to look.”

  “That sounds like a wild stab in the dark,” said Alex.

  “It was, indeed. I knew you were being railroaded. I was pretty sure you wouldn’t last long without help. And, frankly, I really wanted to find you because I’m hoping you can give me useful information. How did you get involved? What did I miss?”

  “I don’t know what you missed, but I missed it too,” said Richard. “I have no idea what happened.”

  “I realized I needed help locating you guys, so I called Emily. I told her a little about what I knew about you; enough to get her to help you. I did call a couple of other people to check some longer shots, but, of course, they came up empty.”

  “Well, you’re gonna come up empty here too, because we know nothing,” said Alex.

  “Perhaps. Or maybe you know more than you think you know. You did find that vial.”

  “How did you know about that?” asked Alex.

  “Richard and I talked a bit while we were waiting for you and Emily.”

  Alex glanced at Richard, who nodded.

  “I’m anxious to hear your thoughts on just what it is you found. Anyway, since I sent Emily to find you, I’ve been nosing around discretely, trying to pick up whatever else I can. I must not have been discrete enough, because they got onto me this morning and almost captured me. I ran into Blondie, who you call Martin, again in New York. Only now, he’s wearing a gauze bandage on his head and civvies.” He raised his left arm. “Got a little too close to some lead. I was able to shake them and thought I was safe to meet you guys at Hoboken.” He looked at Emily. “I still think they just got lucky with a small search party back there.

  “Now it’s your turn. I’m afraid I don’t know much yet. I don’t know why these people are shooting at you, but I might be able to guess. First, tell me what you know or think might be relevant. Try to include anything unusual, even if you don’t think it has anything to do with what’s going on.”

  For the next forty-five minutes, Doug listened as Alex and Richard told what happened to them. “Not enough, not nearly enough,” Doug said when they were finished. “I still don’t understand why Srivastava was following you, Richard. Think carefully. Was there anything else that happened to you before you got to Boston?”

  Richard replayed his trip in his mind. “If there was anything, I can’t think of it. It was a long, tiring trip. I’ve already told you as much as I know.” He shrugged. “That’s it.”

  “You’ve never seen Srivastava before, never had anything, even remotely, to do with his lab? You never did anything except travel to and from the monastery and you spent your whole time in India at the monastery?”

  “That’s it.”

  Doug shook his head. “Well, it’s what we’ve got. For now, everybody chew on what we’ve learned. We’ll get settled in the motel and then we’ll put our heads together.”

  . . .

  Alex was dressing Doug’s left arm. On the way to the motel, he insisted they stop at a drug store where he picked up some gauze and antibacterial cream. Earlier, Emily got two rooms at The Wayside Inn, a twenty-room two-story older motel on the east side of White Plains just off of Interstate 287. It was cheap, and most importantly, accepted cash instead of ID. The two rooms were next to each other and no one was registered on either side. They each had two double beds, TV, easy chair, couch, small table and internet access. There was a slight mildew odor mixed with the smell of cleanser and dust. Alex and Doug were on the couch, Richard was sitting at the table and Emily was sitting with her legs coiled up on the chair.

  “Doesn’t look too bad,” said Alex. “Not so deep it won't heal well without stitches. It’ll probably be stiff for a day or two.”

  Doug reached in his pocket, pulled out a pen and tossed it to Richard. “Here, take notes. Use the motel stationary. It’s time to do some brain storming.” Alex finished his job and Doug put his arm back in his jacket sleeve, stood up and started pacing. “What do we know?” He looked at each of the other three in turn. “Please feel free to interject anything you feel might be relevant at any time.”

  “I know I don’t want to be here,” said Alex.

  “First, people are after us, perhaps each of us for different reasons. Except maybe you, Emily. You may still be a wild card to them. Though we don’t know who these people are, they have demonstrated they mean to kill the rest of us if they can.

  “These people seem to have friends in very high places. This almost certainly includes the hierarchy of the FBI, some in the present US administration, if not the President himself, major corporations, local and state police, and judges. I’m sure of this because of my own research and the fact certain things have happened, like shooting at us in public places without apparent concern for repercussions. That couldn’t be done without the knowledge and aid of some highly placed police and judges. Some of the people after us probably are police, FBI, and, who knows, government agents and maybe even the military. But here, I’m guessing.”

  “Whoever they are, they seem to have a lot of resources available to them,” said Emily.

  “Indeed,” said Doug. “Let me look at that vial.”

  Alex reached in his pocket, unscrewed the pen, opened the padded cylinder and handed the vial to Doug.

  Doug rolled the vial in his good hand, examining it carefully. “A laboratory specializing in virology research is involved.” He paused and looked at Alex. “You and Richard are in a better position than Emily or I to figure out this piece of the puzzle.” He handed the vial back to Alex and started pacing again. “Somehow, a lab in India is also involved.”

  “At the moment, I don’t feel like I can figure out how to get out of my own way,” said Alex.

  “Richard, you came into the possession of something these people want, and want badly enough to k
ill for. It’s likely it’s that vial, Alex.” He stopped and looked directly into Alex’s eyes. “By the way, we should come up with a safer place for that.” Doug turned toward Richard and started pacing again. “Anyway, I can’t think of anything else they might want from you - except your silence; to make you disappear. That, I think, is why they are trying to kill you.”

  Alex grunted. He put the pen and vial back together and returned it in his pocket. He couldn’t think of a better place for it at the moment. But he would keep his eyes open.

  “What must have happened was Srivastava was bringing the vial to the lab in Cambridge and got spooked in Paris so he slipped the pen into Richard’s bag. If so, he undoubtedly planned on trying to retrieve it once he got into the States. I don’t know, maybe he had it set up to pass through customs unmolested in New York, but with the plane change, didn’t have time to set something up in Boston.” He looked at Richard. “He could have put the pen in your bag figuring you would more easily bring it into the country as a citizen than he could as a non-citizen. Or maybe he sensed I was following him and he freaked. Maybe he thought if I were to stop and search him, he wouldn’t lose it because Richard had it in his bag. In any case, he died before he could retrieve it, but not before he could let his friends know where to find it.”

  “My karma sucks,” said Richard.

  “You got that right,” said Alex.

  “Karma had nothing to do with it,” said Emily. “Somebody’s in the driver’s seat here. We just have to find out who and why. And who is this blond guy, Martin, that keeps popping up?”

  “Yes, indeed,” said Doug. “Who is he? He seems to have some authority, but I haven’t been able to get a bead on him yet.”

  “If this vial we have is a lab vessel, I think it’s reasonable to suppose it has something to do with the labs in Cambridge and India, and therefore with virology,” said Alex. “More than that, I don’t think we can guess with what we know now.”

  “Are we sure we can’t just anonymously give up the vial and get on with our lives?” asked Richard. “Maybe we could just mail it into the FBI?”

  “I don’t think that is even a remote possibility,” said Doug. “These guys are out to kill us; they’ve proven that on several occasions. There seems to be a very large, very well-organized conspiracy going on here. Their actions point to wanting to do something that, if the general populace was to know, would not find it acceptable. Otherwise, why go to such extremes to keep it quiet? I think we have to assume whoever this group is, they do not hold close to their hearts the greatest good of the people of the United States, and maybe even of the entire world. Therefore, they have to treat us as collateral damage to minimize the risk of the story getting out.”

  “Shit,” said Alex and laid his head on the back of the couch. “That’s just great.” He leaned forward. “Hell, can't we just get new identities, maybe leave the country? You made it to India.”

  “They weren't actively looking for me then. Hell, I'm having trouble making it out of town right now. There's no way I, or you, are getting out of the country. Changing our names and social security numbers won't help. They know who we are, not just our drivers' license numbers. And if we’re caught, with or without the vial, they will kill us. I don’t see anything we can do about that.”

  Doug looked directly at Emily. “Like I said before, I’m not sure that’s true of you, Emily. They may not know who you are yet. You might be able to leave without repercussion. I’m guilty of getting you into this because I couldn’t cover all the bases. I could trust you without a second thought, and I know you are capable of doing whatever needs to be done, and done competently. You should consider leaving us here, now.”

  Emily raised her eyebrows. “You know I can’t do that. Not only do I trust your instincts, mine are screaming there’s something sinister going on here that needs to be stopped, or at least investigated very closely. Until I can satisfy my own gut, there’s no way I can leave. Count me in.”

  Doug looked at Richard and Alex in turn. “Now you two. You’ve been brought into this against your will and I don’t see any alternatives for you. However, if this is going to work, if you’re going to be more than passive victims here, if you’re going to help get to the bottom of all this and decide the right way to deal with it, we’re going to need more than your cooperation. You’re going to need to sign on as full-fledged partners. You do have expertise that will be very helpful in figuring all this out.” Doug paused and raised his eyebrows. “Or you could keep on running and hope for the best.” He stopped pacing and faced them. “What do you say?”

  No one said anything for a moment.

  “There's just no way out, is there?” said Richard. He sighed. “So, I’ll do whatever I can to help, short of violence. I will not actively take part in violence, or act in a way that’s contrary to my understanding of Buddhist principles,” said Richard.

  Doug paused thoughtfully. “That’s good enough for now. We may have to feel you out later as to just what those principles are. Alex?”

  Alex took a few moments to answer. “Damn it! God damn it! I didn’t want any of this! Everything was going so well. I had a good job, a comfortable home, enough discretionary income to pursue a hobby I love…” He looked at Richard. “I can’t blame you either. Emily's right, other forces are directing what’s happening here.” He took a deep breath. “I’m probably going to lose everything I have, aren’t I? And get shot at some more, too. And I’ll probably be put in situations where I’ll be shooting at other people.” He paused again, frowning and flexing both hands in fists.

  “Alex,” said Emily. “We all have a lot to lose. I can kiss my career goodbye. And I’m probably facing prison time… If we survive.”

  “I know, I know. It’s just hard to let go of what I had.” He took a deep breath. “Shit! I can’t turn my back on what’s going on. I, too, sense there’s something very wrong here and I can’t ignore it.” He sighed deeply. “Okay, I’m in, all the way in. I’ll do whatever I need to do to see this to the end.”

  Doug gave a satisfied nod. “Good, that’s settled. Any other thoughts or ideas?”

  “Yeah,” said Alex. “I still need to contact the hospital, and soon.”

  “I’m working on an idea,” said Doug. “I think I’ll have something for you in the morning.”

  Richard looked up from what he had written. “I guess the real question for us now is: what do we do next?”

  The four of them were silent for a moment, each lost in his own thoughts. “I think we should sleep on that,” said Emily as she stood up and moved toward the door. “I’ll see you boys in the morning.”

  “Goodnight, Emily,” said Alex as he watched her leave.

  Chapter Eleven

  The room was dark. The only light came from the parking lot, whose glow seeped around the edges of the heavy curtains covering the one window. It was quiet, if Richard overlooked the low hum of the air conditioner, the occasional tire noise of a passing car and the heavy, regular breathing of Doug and Alex. He sat on the folded-out sofa bed, where earlier, he slept. As a place to meditate, it wasn’t bad, though not nearly as comfortable as his cushion in the monastery.

  Richard focused his attention on his breathing. He felt the air go in through his nose, then out again. What was he doing? Maybe he should just run away and take his chances… I’m meditating. Focus on the breath. The air goes in, the air goes… Maybe he should let them take him, kill him if they must… Breathe… No, his friends will die anyway… In… out. Those people out there want to cause harm to who knows how many. He could feel the truth of it. If he didn’t help stop them, he would passively be helping them. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Not helping to figure out what was going on was not an option.

  Sighing, he leaned against the couch-back. For the past hour, he had been meditating – or trying to. But thoughts kept intruding. Meditation is a funny thing; you can’t judge what happens. But t
his didn’t seem much like meditation at all. Too many thoughts. The best way to avoid trouble is to stay out of trouble’s way. All kinds of alarms kept going off in his head, telling him he was purposefully putting himself in a dangerous situation that would likely lead to his having to make difficult choices. Choices that could result in injury to himself and others. But what other path could he take?

  The tenets of Buddhism were rapidly moving from the theoretical to the applied. He was beginning to understand why his lama wanted him to leave the monastery. What he knew and held sacred about Buddhism was no longer ideas and beliefs, they were becoming the basis of action. At least he hoped they were. If his friends’ lives were threatened, would he have the presence of mind to find a way to avoid using violence to protect them, as he failed to do when he felt he had to protect Julie all those years ago? If he didn’t act at all, would events spiral out of control and end in disaster? If that happened, could he live with himself afterward?

  He heard Doug rustling in one of the beds; Alex was sleeping in the other. Richard volunteered to sleep on the sofa bed because he thought he could get up early and meditate on it without disturbing, or being disturbed. It surprised him how difficult it was to fit a simple thing like meditation into everyday western life; especially when he shared a motel room with two other men. For now, he gave up on meditation, slid back beneath the covers and tried to go back to sleep.

  Doug got out of bed, dressed and went toward the door. Apparently, he noticed Richard was awake because he turned toward him, put his index finger to his lips, then left. Whatever Doug was up to, Richard would have to wait until later to find out about it. Alex slept on. Richard gave up on sleep too and rose to go take a shower.