The sergeant thumbed through a directory, then picked up the receiver on his phone. “It’s not that I doubt your word, sir, but I’m obligated to double check,” he said apologetically.
Brandt waved off his apology and sat back in his chair as he dialed a number. There was a large window on one side of the room, and through it Brandt watched the activity around his truck. One soldier was walking a German Shepherd on a leash in a circle around the vehicle. Bomb-sniffing dog, he realized. Another soldier was walking ahead of the dog, sweeping a mirror on a long pole under the edge of the truck. The sergeant was talking into the receiver and watching the two men circling his truck. One of them gave him a thumbs up, and he returned it before focusing on his conversation. The two soldiers outside moved on to the next vehicle in line.
The sergeant hung up the phone and gave Brandt a smile. “Everything checked out fine, sir, though it’s not like I expected otherwise.” He pointed to the camera mounted on the top of his computer monitor. “Please look right here. I need to make your visitor access badge.” Brandt obeyed, and seconds later, a machine attached to the computer started making noise and then spit out a hard plastic badge. The sergeant attached a clip to it and then offered it to him. “Have you ever visited the CDC before, sir?”
“I have not,” Brandt said.
“Okay, well, there are a few rules I’m obligated to cover with you before you enter the facilities,” the sergeant said. “Mostly basic stuff. Leave any cell phones, cameras, and recording devices in your vehicle, as they’ll be confiscated if you take them in with you. Keep your badge on at all times, and make sure you wear it in an easily visible place. And lastly, leave this on your vehicle’s dash in plain sight.” He passed Brandt a parking decal, and Brandt glanced at it with a nod. “Other than that, you’re free to enter the facilities.” He scribbled something on a sticky note and offered it to him. “Here’s Dr. Rivers’ office number. Have a good day.”
And with that, the conversation appeared to be over. Brandt rose from his chair, and the sergeant did as well, giving him a crisp salute. Brandt returned it halfheartedly and headed for the exit, parking pass in hand, to move his truck to the nearby parking lot.
Finding Dr. Rivers’ office was no easy task. The sergeant hadn’t supplied anything in the way of directions, and Brandt hadn’t thought to ask until he found himself standing in the middle of a featureless hallway with no idea where he was or how he’d gotten there. When he found Dr. Rivers’ office, it was purely by chance, and the doctor was waiting for him at the door.
“Good God, Doc, I thought I’d never find your office,” he said, stretching out a hand to shake. Dr. Rivers grasped it firmly and shook it before stepping back so Brandt could enter. “This place is a bloody maze.”
“Intentionally so,” Dr. Rivers said, closing the door behind them. “There’s a lot of sensitive materials in this building, and it wouldn’t do for someone with ill intentions to be able to get around easily.”
“So it’s a security feature,” Brandt said. “Smart.” He dropped into the chair across from Dr. Rivers’ desk without being prompted, scrubbing both hands over his face and sighing. The doctor sat down in the chair behind his desk and leaned back in his seat, watching Brandt silently, waiting for him to speak.
After a long moment, Brandt said, “Truth be told, Dr. Rivers, I almost didn’t show up here today.”
The man’s eyebrows rose. “Oh?” he murmured. “I told you to call me Derek.”
“Right. Derek. Sorry.”
Derek laced his fingers together, resting his forearms on the desktop. “Why did you almost bail on me today? Are you having doubts?”
“I haven’t not had doubts about this, Derek,” Brandt admitted. “I would feel a lot better about it if I knew what was going on.”
“As would we all.” Derek glanced around his office, as if checking for someone listening in, then said, “I can tell you a little bit. Not much, but maybe enough to either settle your mind or make you run screaming from this office.”
“You make it sound so enticing,” Brandt said. “I thought you were wanting to encourage me to participate.”
“I do,” Derek said. “I also want you to make an informed decision, not a bad one.” He rocked in his chair, studying Brandt for another moment. “If you agree to participate, I’m about to slot you in on a program that involves the testing of an experimental pathogen developed in a lab by DARPA scientists. It’s intended for military use only, and the government is hoping to have it ready to introduce to certain sectors of the military by the end of next year.”
“What is it meant to do?” Brandt asked, envisioning the prevention of foreign illnesses or perhaps vaccination against biological weapons.
“The idea is to create soldiers who are stronger, faster, tougher, and smarter,” Derek explained. “Soldiers who would need less food and could go days without sleeping and feel no ill effects.”
“Sounds like something out of a bad science fiction novel,” Brandt remarked.
“It does, doesn’t it? It appears to be becoming scientific fact, though.”
“So you’re testing it here,” Brandt said. “And you want me in on it. Why me?”
“I assure you, it’s for purely altruistic reasons,” Derek said. “Your sister Olivia is one of my best and brightest. I don’t want to lose her. I know you don’t want to see her give up such a lucrative education. This way, all three of us would benefit from this.”
“I understand how you and Olivia would benefit,” Brandt said, “but how do I benefit from this arrangement?”
“Well, if you end up in anything but the control group and all goes according to plan, you’ll have a lot of the benefits that elements of our military will be given in a year’s time,” Derek said.
“Side effects?” Brandt asked.
“We don’t know yet,” Derek replied. “That’s the whole point of the testing, to figure out potential side effects from the pathogen so tweaks can be made.”
Brandt sat back in his chair, propping on his hand and gently rubbing his finger against his lower lip. “There’s a lot of potential risks involved in this. I’m not positive the risks are worth the money I’d get out of it.”
“What about the benefits to your sister?” Derek said. “To your fellow soldiers? This could be a boon to society. You’d be helping to usher in a new age of military might.”
“Or I could be committing slow suicide,” Brandt countered, though a niggling thought at the back of his head said, Weren’t you already doing that anyway? If he was going to kill himself the slow way, the least he could do was do it in a way that benefitted someone else. He sighed and looked up at the doctor, who sat patiently, apparently waiting for his next question.
“So, where do I sign up?”
Derek looked surprised. “You’re ready to sign up? You sure you don’t have any other questions?”
“I don’t,” Brandt said. “Anything I ask at this point isn’t going to do much to change my mind. Hell, I think I’d already decided to do this before I even showed up here, and it was just my nerves wanting to keep me from walking through the door.”
Derek stared at him, studying him closely, as if he were searching his face to see just how resolved he was about his decision. He nodded and pushed himself out of his desk chair. “Well then. Do you have anything you need to do this evening? You’ll be living here for the duration of the testing, so this will be your last opportunity to do anything that needs to be taken care of in the immediate future.”
“No, nothing in particular,” Brandt answered.
“Good,” Derek said, beckoning. “Come with me then. I’ll take you to the medical ward and get you slotted in for the testing, and hopefully we’ll have you settled in by the end of the day.”
Chapter 6
By the time he was released from the initial medical tests, exams, and questionnaires from the CDC personnel and had been escorted to clean, if not exactly cozy, private living
quarters, Brandt felt like the CDC’s doctors, nurses, and scientists knew more about him than he did. He’d been stripped to his skin, weighed, and measured; he’d had blood taken; and he’d been stuck with enough needles that he could start an acupuncture clinic. His heart had been examined from all angles, and an EKG had been run on him. He’d been asked dozens of entirely too personal questions. He felt scraped raw, like he’d been flayed by the CDC in a quest to find out every scrap of information they could about him.
Now that he had, blessedly, escaped their clutches, even if only temporarily, he examined the room he’d been taken to. It was very basic, mostly in industrial whites: a bed, a dresser, a desk, and a chair, all with rounded corners and padded edges. He went to the dresser and slid a drawer open. Inside the top drawer was a stack of plain white t-shirts and white drawstring pants, in the middle drawer were boxers, and in the bottom drawer were several pairs of soft-soled slip-on white shoes, all identical to the clothes he’d been given to wear after his physical exams. The desk drawers were empty.
There was a door on the other side of the room, and when he crossed to it and peered inside, he discovered a shiny, clean bathroom attached to his quarters. In one corner was a white-tiled shower stall with shampoos and soaps lined up on the ledge inside it. White towels hung from hooks on the wall beside the shower. The sink and toilet were plain white porcelain, and a packaged toothbrush and a brand new tube of toothpaste were on the edge of the sink. A mirror was mounted on the wall above the sink.
It wasn’t the Holiday Inn or the Hilton, but it would be comfortable enough for the month or so that he would be here.
There was a knock at the door. Brandt went to answer it, surprised to find a tall, pale-skinned, red-haired woman standing on the other side. His first thought was that this was yet another doctor or nurse that was there to jab him with yet another needle, then he realized that she was wearing clothes similar to his own. This was another patient.
“Can I…help you?” he asked cautiously.
She stuck her hand out in an authoritative manner. “Hi, my name is Alicia Day. I hear you’re the new kid on the block, so I thought I’d swing by to say hello.”
“Hi,” Brandt said, feeling a little awkward as he took her hand and shook it. “I’m Michael Evans.”
“What branch?” Alicia asked.
“U.S. Marine Corps,” Brandt answered. “You?”
Alicia smiled brightly. “I’m an MP,” she said.
A smile quirked at the corner of Brandt’s lips. “Should I be backing away very quickly?”
Alicia laughed. “You can do anything you want around me. I’m off duty,” she told him. “For now, anyway.” She motioned over her shoulder. “Shall I show you around?”
“Are we allowed to do that?” Brandt asked, peering around the edge of the doorframe to look down the hall.
Alicia waved her hand dismissively. “Oh yeah, we can go anywhere we want so long as we stay in this wing,” she informed him. “And believe me, there’s plenty to keep us entertained. I think the CDC spared no expense to make us feel like they give a shit about us.”
“Well, that’s not cynical or anything,” Brandt commented.
Alicia laughed again and grabbed his arm, tugging at it insistently. “Come on, let me give you the grand tour.”
Brandt allowed the redheaded woman to drag him out into the hall and to the right. “So are you the welcome wagon for guests of the CDC?” he asked as she led him past several closed doors.
“Only for the cute ones,” she quipped, grinning widely and pointedly looking him up and down. He didn’t comment. She waved a hand, indicating the doors they were passing. “These are the guest quarters for men.” She pointed to a hall that branched off to the right. “Those are the women’s quarters. My room is the last door on the right. Just in case you need to know for future reference.” She winked suggestively, and despite himself, Brandt filed the information away in his mental bank. “Generally, they discourage fraternization among the men and women, but that hasn’t stopped most of them. Place is turning into a borderline frat party, especially in the evenings.”
“Is that what people do here for fun then?” Brandt asked. “Fuck?” His language was crude, and he was well aware of it, but he was curious what her reaction would be.
She didn’t appear to be phased at all by his coarse language. “Don’t make the evenings sound so fun,” she quipped. “In all seriousness, this place is the pits. It’s about as boring as it can get.” She took the next left and pointed to the first door on the right. “That’s the cafeteria. Meal times are eight, twelve, and five. They strictly monitor everything we eat, ostensibly so it doesn’t affect testing. If you miss a meal, you’re probably not going to get a replacement one.”
“Good to know,” Brandt said. “Anything else?”
“The rec room or whatever you call it is down there on the left,” Alicia said, stopping in the middle of the hall and pointing. “That’s where most everyone hangs out when they’re not shut up in their rooms. There’s a movie shown every evening around eight. Lights out is at eleven, and they recommend we get up in the mornings no later than seven. Rest of the day is filled with all the exciting tests the CDC has planned for us.” She smiled. “Any questions?”
“Yeah, just one,” Brandt said. “Where did you say your room was again?”
Alicia laughed and stepped forward, trailing her fingers down his chest with just enough pressure that he could feel it through his t-shirt. “Won’t be quite that easy, Mr. Evans,” she murmured. “Check with me again after dinner, once we’ve had time to get to know each other a little better.” She stepped back and slunk down the hall in the direction of the women’s rooms. Brandt narrowed his eyes, wondering just how seriously she’d taken his question. Judging by the sway of her hips, entirely too seriously.
He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He’d vowed to turn over a new leaf when he’d decided to enlist in this medical study, and sleeping with the first female test subject he came across, no matter how attractive, didn’t really fit in with the concept of straightening his life out.
Chapter 7
The following morning, a nurse showed up at Brandt’s quarters with a plastic box and a businesslike manner. Brandt’s head was still foggy from lack of sleep and disorientation as she inserted an IV catheter in a place where it wouldn’t get in the way of any activities he would be participating in. She placed a heparin lock, taped everything down, and nodded silently before leaving the room just as briskly as she’d come.
Brandt stood in the center of his room, staring at the heparin lock near the crook of his elbow and wondering what he was supposed to do now. Other than the rundown Alicia had given him the day before, no one had offered him any sort of schedule for the day. Was he free to do whatever he wanted until breakfast? He glanced at his watch, saw it was already seven-thirty, and slipped his shoes on. Maybe he could check out that rec room Alicia had mentioned the day before. At least it’d give him something to do until breakfast at eight.
He was halfway down the hall cutting through the men’s quarters when a tall, muscular man stepped out of one of the rooms, still slicking his blond hair back from his forehead, dressed identically to Brandt. He had a heparin lock of his own in his arm, and he looked like he hadn’t slept a wink the night before. Seeing Brandt approach, he smiled and offered his hand.
“Hi,” he said in greeting. “Welcome to the party. I’m Rick.”
“Michael,” Brandt said, shaking his hand. “How long have you been here?”
“A few days,” Rick said. “Most of us have been here about three days or so while we waited on the doctors to find the thirty they needed for the testing. I take it you’re number thirty?”
“As far as my understanding goes,” Brandt replied. “I was just about to head toward the rec room thing and check that out.”
“Eh, ain’t much to it,” Rick said. “Just some couches, chairs, and tables, and a big projector
and screen, some books, that kind of thing.” He motioned vaguely down the hall. “I was headed for the cafeteria. Breakfast is being served soon, and I’m starving.”
“How’s the food?” Brandt asked as they began walking toward the cafeteria. “Anything like hospital food?”
“Actually, the cooks here are really good,” Rick replied. “They spoil us here, considering they’re about to medically torture us over the next month.”
Brandt stepped into the cafeteria, stopping to take a look at the large, wide-open room. Four-seater tables were scattered around the room, and a serving station lined the far wall. Brandt assumed the door behind it led to the kitchen. Several men and women were going in and out of the kitchen, bringing out food, and a delicious smell filled the air.
There were already several people in the cafeteria, mostly other patients, and Brandt was surprised to see Derek sitting at one of the tables, jotting something down into a file folder. Rick split off to try to get some food a little early, and Brandt headed to the table, dropping into the chair across from Derek.
“Hey, Doc. What are you doing in here?”
“Whenever there’s testing going on, I always eat my meals with my patients,” Derek said. “It makes me more accessible to you guys and your questions.”
“Makes sense,” Brandt conceded.
“How was your first night here?” Derek asked.
Brandt shrugged. “I surprised myself by sleeping like a rock through the whole night. I usually don’t sleep that well in new places. And I met a woman named Alicia who gave me a bit of the rundown on how things operate here.”
“Alicia?” Derek repeated. “Tall, a little too skinny, red hair?”
“Yeah, that’s her,” Brandt confirmed.
“You watch yourself around her, Michael,” Derek said. “It’s only been two days, and I’m already hearing rumors about her.”
“What sort of rumors?”
“That she’s bad news,” Derek said. “That she’s been stirring up trouble among the male test subjects. There are twenty-seven of them, and she’s doing everything she can to cause dissention between them. Seems she’s one of those types of women that enjoys that sort of thing.”
Origins (The Becoming Book 6) Page 4