The Immortality Virus

by Christine Amsden

  Grace heaved a heavy sigh. “Alex, I need a private word with you.”

  Sam raised his eyebrows, but Grace ignored him.

  “Um, sure,” Alex looked back at Sam and shrugged. There seemed to be a silent competition between them. Why had she named her computer after Sam? Now he would think she still had feelings for him. Maybe she did. It wasn’t like you could love a man for fifty years and then start thinking of him like a stranger.

  Alex and Grace headed to the bedroom, prepared to ask Meg to leave, but Meg walked out and went to sit on the sofa. She didn’t say a word, but she must have been listening at the door.

  Grace’s bedroom was just as she’d left it–a bit of a mess. She hurriedly shoved some clothes in the closet and then turned to face Alex. “I know where your grandfather was for four hundred years. Stanton Sr. had him locked away.”

  Alex sucked in his breath. “He was a prisoner?”

  “Yes.”

  “And now Matt wants to imprison him again?”

  “Yes.”

  “I won’t let him do that.”

  “I don’t want to do that, but Alex, your grandfather knows the secret to aging. Is there any way you can convince him to help Matt of his own free will?”

  Alex turned away. “I guess I can try, but it may be a moot point. We don’t know where he is. If my uncle has him, I’m not sure how to get him. If we find him, we can be sure at least three other parties will be right on our heels ready to fight one another over the rights to have him, hold him, or kill him.”

  They just couldn’t get past the fact that wherever they went, someone would be following them. Grace started to sit down on her bed to give it more thought when inspiration struck. She stood up before she even hit the bed. “If they’re going to follow us then maybe what we need to do is send someone else.”

  Chapter 27

  It was a stupid plan. Grace checked the time for the millionth time and continued to wear a hole in the living room carpet. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Where was Meg? She should have been back hours ago. Alex had given her specific instructions and Matt had provided an escort and access to an underground tunnel leading out of the city. No one had followed Meg. They had all followed Grace as she checked the apartment where Jordan had once relocated his wife to keep her from being killed. It turned out to still be standing, after a fashion.

  She started to pace. Pace, turn. Pace turn. Grace didn’t have enough space in her living room for a truly satisfying gait.

  Something crashed next door. Then she heard a high-pitched shriek. Then a door slamming.

  “What was that?” Alex asked.

  “Neighbors fighting again,” Grace said. She checked the time again. Barely thirty seconds had passed since the last check.

  Sam opened the door and peaked outside. A wheezing, choking sort of cry came through the open door. It sounded like someone was dying out there. For a moment, Grace forgot about Meg and ducked her head into the hallway.

  Lissy was lying on the floor in the fetal position, crying in gasping, choked sobs that were not at all feminine. She hugged her belly as if someone had threatened to take her baby away.

  “What’s going on?” Grace asked.

  Lissy shook her head. She didn’t seem capable of speech.

  “Let her inside,” Sam said. “Come on, we can’t leave her like that.”

  Sam and Alex helped Lissy inside and sat her on the couch, where she doubled over and hid her head in her hands.

  Grace checked the time again. Thirty more seconds. Still no Meg. She went to get Lissy a glass of water, though she expected the woman would choke on it before she could drink it.

  To her surprise, Lissy managed a half-smile when she handed her the water. She stifled a sob and managed to get down a few swallows. “Thanks for inviting me in,” Lissy said.

  “What happened?” Sam asked.

  “Roy kicked me out.”

  It sounded more like he’d beaten her out, but Grace didn’t say so. She got a better look at Lissy’s face, which was smeared with tears and something Grace now recognized as blood. “He broke your nose!”

  Lissy hid her face again. “What am I going to do? I don’t think he’ll take me back.”

  Grace had a sudden flash of another conversation much like this one. Years ago her sister had been with someone who had not only beaten her, but their son as well. Yet she’d also wanted him back.

  “Who else have I got?” Lissy finished the water and fell into slow, sporadic sniffles.

  Grace looked at Alex and Sam, who just stared back helplessly. When had she become the sort to take in strays? All of a sudden she had Meg and Lissy. Although Meg hated her for it and might be dead for all she knew. Grace checked the time again.

  “Are your parents alive?” Sam asked in what he must have thought was a gentle tone, although Grace heard the tension in it.

  “Yeah, but they won’t take me back.” Lissy sighed. “They sold me to him in the first place. One hundred credits. That’s how much I’m worth.”

  The apartment fell silent for a moment. In the background, Grace could still hear the shield bombardment going on. She went to the window to look out and saw the same scene she’d seen for two days–planes in the air; some friend and some foe.

  “They’ll be getting in the city soon,” Alex said. “The shield can’t hold out forever.”

  “Maybe we should turn on the news and get an update,” Sam suggested.

  It would be better than pacing and trying to console Lissy, so Grace jumped on the idea. “Holoset on. News channel 38.”

  “We have reports of fighting within the city now,” a reporter was saying. “We’re trying to get a hovercar up to the St. Joseph area. As far as we know, the shield is still up, so we’re not sure how Edgers’s troops are getting in.”

  “What’s wrong with your set?” Sam asked.

  “No 3-D,” Grace replied.

  “Hard to see what’s going on,” Sam said.

  “Fine. Holoset off.”

  “I didn’t mean for you to turn it off,” Sam said.

  Grace shrugged. “What else should I do? Edgers is getting inside. Probably has some help from someone on the inside. We know there are tunnels in and out. Meg should have taken one and been back by now.”

  “Who’s Meg?” Lissy asked.

  The doorbell buzzed. Grace raced to it, paused, grabbed her weapon–a new Smith and Wesson disruptor with stun capability–and looked through the peephole. She expected to see Meg, but it was Roy.

  “I know she’s in there!” Roy called through the door.

  Lissy stiffened.

  Grace did not open the door, but she replied loudly enough for Roy to hear her. “You kicked her out. It’s none of your business now.”

  “I don’t give a damn what you do with that lying blip, I just came to drop off her stuff.”

  Something thudded to the ground outside the door, and Roy walked away.

  “I’ll get it,” Grace said with a sigh. She opened the door, grabbed a bag full of clothes, then locked the door again. Why she had let herself get involved in a domestic dispute was beyond her. Maybe it was Lissy’s pregnancy. It was making her soft.

  To her surprise, Lissy was sobbing even harder. Alex had an arm around her. “You can’t let words hurt you like that.”

  “But it’s true,” Lissy sobbed. “I am a blip.”

  Grace looked at Lissy with a great deal more interest. Blips were rare–less than one in a million people were born with the genetic anomaly that caused them to age as people once had. Most of those lived alone as they were feared and hated. For twenty to thirty years they could get along unidentified, but after that people started to notice.

  “How do you know?” Alex asked.

  “They did blood tests when I got pregnant.” Lissy said. “The doctor told me six months ago. She told him a couple of weeks ago.”

  That explained a lot. Grace had noticed that the intensity of the fighting had gone up noticeably
in the last couple of weeks.

  The doorbell buzzed again.

  Grace ran to the door, readied her weapon, and for the second time looked out the peephole hoping to see Meg. It wasn’t Meg. It wasn’t Roy again either.

  It was Captain Flint.

  Grace blinked. “What?”

  “Can I come in?” Captain Flint asked.

  Grace turned to look at the faces of her guests. Lissy seemed preoccupied with her recent revelation. Alex and Sam looked curious.

  “May as well,” Grace stepped aside and let him in.

  “I had hoped for a private word,” Captain Flint said, “but the man we have tailing you said the two men staying with you weren’t showing signs of leaving and this just can’t wait.”

  “So they did get to you,” Sam said. “Matt thought they might have.”

  “You don’t understand,” Grace said.

  “No, he doesn’t,” Captain Flint said. “There are rumors going around that you’re looking for the secrets of aging.”

  Grace kept her face completely impassive.

  “I won’t ask you to confirm or deny,” Captain Flint said, “but I want you to know that the people I work for are questioning whether it’s worth it to let you live. Mostly, they’ve decided it’s not, and they’re questioning whether it’s worth it to let you finish this investigation before you die.”

  “Terrific,” Grace said. “I suspected as much.”

  “Of course,” Captain Flint said. “There’s something else, though. Someone out there is protecting you. One assassin was already sent in here and he was shot down. Now, I don’t know who did that, but something tells me it wasn’t Matt Stanton’s men. When you find what you’re looking for, you may have a war on your hands.”

  “I figured that, too,” Grace said. “So, did you come here figuring I couldn’t add two and two, or did you come here to plant that listening device you’re so casually trying to press into the carpet?”

  Sam rushed forward and snatched the device. Then he put it on the card table and smashed it with the butt of his disruptor.

  Captain Flint looked oddly relieved. “I had to try. They wouldn’t have let me in here otherwise. Look, I don’t know exactly what you’re after but I suspect the rumors are true. I also suspect it doesn’t matter anymore if they are or not. A dozen different parties are fighting over you even as we speak. Oh, and Matt Stanton has gone missing.”

  “What?” Sam said. “When?”

  “I don’t know,” Captain Flint said. “Everyone’s looking for him, though. Everyone wants to get their hands on him. We went to arrest him a couple hours ago, but he wasn’t at home or at Medicorp. He might have gotten wind that someone was after him and then gone into hiding.”

  “Arrest him for what?” Sam asked.

  “For the murder of his father.” Captain Flint gave Sam a contemptuous look.

  “What evidence do you have?” Grace asked. She hadn’t turned any over to them.

  Captain Flint shrugged. “They don’t have anymore than they did the day I spoke to you, but they’re worried. They’re worried about the armies outside the city, about the possibility that he really is after some aging secret, about a lot of things.”

  “So they’re basically kidnapping him,” Grace said.

  Captain Flint waved her comment away. “The point is Mr. Stanton’s gone. He’s out of the picture. There are people out there who will decide who gets whatever you’re after. Edgers’s troops are inside the city. The Kansas City Establishment has its own troops and a close eye on you. I think there are others–maybe loyal to Matt–maybe someone else. I’m not sure you have that choice.”

  “Anything else?” Grace asked, trying to make it sound as if the thought of several distinct armies with an intense interest in her didn’t faze her one bit.

  Captain Flint shook his head. “For the record, I hope you don’t die.”

  Grace opened the door by way of saying good-bye, but Captain Flint didn’t take the hint. He stood there so expectantly that Grace followed him out into the hallway to indulge him for a minute. She didn’t talk. She just waited to hear whatever he had to say.

  “I was really hoping to groom you for captain one day,” Captain Flint told her. “Back when you were on the force.”

  The news startled her. “What?”

  “You cared, which was more than I could say for most. Trouble was you cared too much. I should have helped you more back then; kept you working within the system more so you had a chance to do some real good.”

  “Why are you saying all this now?” Grace asked.

  “You wanted to know why I saved your life back then. That’s why.”

  “Oh.”

  “I know you don’t want to trust anyone and you’re smart for that, but maybe before this is all over you can trust me.”

  He looked so sad, but Grace couldn’t give him much. Not then, anyway. “Maybe.” She turned and walked back inside her apartment, closing the door.

  “Now what?” Sam asked.

  Grace’s mind remained with Captain Flint in the hallway. “I don’t know exactly, but I think it’s time to get more proactive. Perhaps what we need is a goose to chase.”

  Chapter 28

  “We still have the same problem,” Alex pointed out. “If they start fighting one another, we get caught in the middle.”

  “Yeah,” Grace said, “but sitting and waiting for something to happen is not an option, either. It’s at least as likely to get us killed and it’s far less likely anything good will come of it.”

  “Where do we start?” Sam asked.

  Grace started pacing again, but this time with more purpose. She began to interpret Meg’s long absence in a way she hadn’t before. Perhaps Meg had been gone so long because she had found something. Part of Grace wanted to go after the girl, but if Jordan were there, it defeated the point of a wild goose chase.

  “We could go after Mr. Stanton,” Grace said finally. She didn’t trust the man, she didn’t even like him. She believed him capable of murder, whether or not he had actually killed his father. But he was a known quantity and besides, he was her boss. People would expect it.

  Sam smiled and nodded, but Alex frowned. “Are you sure? Maybe you can find someone else to develop a cure, assuming my grandfather will help.”

  “I’m sure. He’s also the one who’s paying me and someone people would expect me to find.”

  She looked up at Alex, studying his reaction. His eyes were dark, pensive, beautiful. She tore her eyes away and spotted Sam, studying her.

  “You’re right,” Alex said, finally. “But there is still a problem with your plan. The people who are following you are all waiting for you to find my grandfather to act. What makes you think finding Matt will encourage them to make a move?”

  Good question, but it didn’t take long for Grace to think of an answer. “Because I’m not going to be the one to find Jordan. You are.”

  “Huh?” Alex said.

  “You’re not coming with us,” Grace told Alex. He started to argue, but she cut him off. “No, listen. You’re his grandson. It makes sense you’d know where he is even better than I would. It even makes sense you wouldn’t have told me in order to protect him.”

  She stopped. It made so much sense she had to wonder if it were really true. Shaking her head, she went on, “You can go somewhere that would convince everyone else you’ve found your grandfather. Somewhere where armies might come together but not hurt very many people.”

  “Like the cabin?” Alex asked.

  Grace shook her head, but didn’t say that she thought Jordan might really be there. “Like...like the graveyard where your grandmother is buried. Nobody goes near that place.”

  Alex got a haunted look in his eyes. “I haven’t been there since my grandmother’s funeral.”

  “Can you think of someplace better?” Grace asked.

  Alex shook his head. “I’d like a private word before you go, though.”

&nb
sp; Grace glanced at Sam, who shrugged. “All right. My room.”

  They headed back to her bedroom for the second time. “Do you trust him?” Alex asked without preamble.

  “Who?”

  “Sam.”

  The intense look he was giving her made her think he was asking the question on many levels. “I want to.”

  “Does that mean you’re still in love with him?”

  “What? No!” The words came out so abruptly she barely had time to think them through. When she did, she wasn’t sure she believed them. She had spent years convincing herself she wasn’t in love with him–wasn’t in love with anyone. There was no such thing as love. Yet, when she had seen Sam again after all those years, her heart still did flip flops and now, looking at Alex... She looked away.

  “You can’t get over someone by convincing yourself never to love again,” Alex told her.

  She wished he wouldn’t make so much sense. “I have to go.”

  * * *

  She wasn’t sure about leaving Lissy alone while they all went on their errands, but Lissy insisted they couldn’t do anything for her anyway and really, she was right. So Grace gave her a pile of nutri-bars and set up a voiceprint ID so Lissy could work the holoset.

  “All right,” Grace said as they made their way out of the apartment building. “Do you know where Medicorp’s escape tunnel goes?”

  Sam hesitated. “What escape tunnel?”

  “You’re still a terrible liar. Besides, it only makes sense. I’m guessing the entrance is in the basement, where Matt’s father was killed. I’m thinking he was on his way out.”

  Sam’s face went a little pink. “All right, I know about it.”

  “Well then, I think we should pick up the trail at the exit. Lead the way.”

  They didn’t head downtown. Instead, they headed to North Kansas City. The tunnel apparently came out in the basement of a boarded up, two-story apartment building swimming in homeless people.

  “I’m surprised the recruiters haven’t swept them up,” Sam muttered as they approached.