by D N Simmons
“I'm saying sometimes it good to be insignificant to some people. Once you're on their radar, you never know what they'll ask of you.”
“Spoken like a true chump.”
“I guess your ass wants to wait in the back of the line tonight, right?” Jesse taunted. “I plan on letting little, gray-haired old ladies in the club before I let you in, jerk.”
Aaron laughed. “Don't be that way. So are they here?”
“Oh right, that's how this little conversation got started.” Jesse sighed. “Yes, bootlicker, some of them are here.”
“Fuck you for calling me a bootlicker.”
“Fuck you for calling me a chump, just 'cause I'm not about to readily kiss ass if I don't have to.”
“Fair enough.” Aaron conceded. “So, can I go in, buddy?”
“Yeah, yeah, have fun.” Jesse removed the red velvet rope and let his friend inside the club.
Aaron walked into the main interior of the club. Red velvet and black satin—as clichéd as you want to be—the club was still very stylish in spite of its pretentiousness. There was a certain level of elegance in the décor. Crystal chandeliers hung from the high ceilings along with crystal balls that reflected multicolored lights throughout the club. Red velvet booths were lined with the club’s patrons. Some were chatting. Others were in various levels of making out—one or two to the point of needing their own room. It was the norm for a club like this. Decadence, passion and debauchery. It was The Den and he loved it. That's why he'd been trying to get a job there for over a year and, even with his friend putting a good word in for him, he was still unsuccessful. He knew he had to prove himself worthy to the owner.
He looked around the club towards the VIP section, and there they were. Well, some of them, like Jesse had said. He recognized the one people called Chloe right away. She was easy to spot since she had her male plaything, Patrick, faithfully by her side. His collar fastened securely around his neck and the leash held lightly in her delicate fingers. No one dare try to take him from her and the boy-toy wouldn't dare leave her side. To her right were the Twins.
The fucking Twins. If he believed the rumors about them, they had more blood on their hands than Capone's mafia. By their side was Veronica and, if the rumors were true about her, she was as bloodthirsty and freaky as her twin lovers. Aaron couldn't help but be fascinated by their relationship. How did both men enjoy sharing the same woman? And how did she like being with two men who looked exactly alike? He shook the thought from his mind. He didn't want to be caught staring.
He looked around some more and sighed. That was it. Three of the Elite inner circle, but not the head honcho himself. Cassian wasn't around tonight. He was the one Aaron had dressed in his best for.
“Shit,” he mumbled.
“Hey, handsome,” a female slipped her arm around his waist, gaining his attention.
He turned around, facing her. She was pretty, brunette, blue eyes, with a delicious body. Totally fuckable and just what he needed after the day he’d had.
“Hey there, sexy,” Aaron said, offering her his charming smile.
“So are you here by yourself?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Good. My name's Allison.”
“Aaron. Listen, do you want to get out of here?”
“I thought you'd never ask.” She gave him a come-hither smile as she led the way to the exit. He followed her and gave his friend Jesse a wink as he passed. It didn't take him long to get to his car and back to his apartment for a little more fun before the sun rose and his shift started.
Chapter Three
Vincent’s cell phone started ringing, jarring both he and Sarah out of their slumber. He unwound himself from her and staggered out of the bed, searching for his tan Dockers with his phone in them. He found the pants discarded carelessly in the chair by the vanity. He snatched them up and fumbled through the fabric until he located the pocket with the ringing phone.
“Hello?” he barked in an irritated tone.
“You know you're late to work right? But I’m glad I caught you, I think I made that breakthrough we were hoping for,” was Philip’s eager reply.
“Philip?” he asked, still discombobulated.
“Yes, it’s me and I need you down here right away.”
“All right, all right I’m on my way.”
“See you soon.”
The two men ended the call and Vincent checked the clock on his cell. It was 8:28 in the morning. Philip was right, he was late for work. Had Philip not called him when he did, there was no telling how long he would have slept. His head throbbed courtesy of the hangover from his extensive partying just hours before. He knew he should have called it quits after his third beer. This day was going to be hell, but he hoped it was worth it.
“Is everything all right?” Sarah asked with her face still buried in the pillow.
“Yeah, might be some good news after all, sweetheart. Shit, I'm late as hell and my head feels like a jackhammer's gone out of control,” Vincent said as he walked toward the bathroom.
Sarah was far too exhausted to pry any further. Her eyelids fluttered closed and she was fast asleep before Vincent got into the shower. He climbed out and dressed quickly; then scooped up his keys, wallet and ID badge before leaving. It took him a little longer than usual to make it to SciTech labs with the morning rush hour. Because his average work day started at 7:00 AM, he normally beat the traffic. He parked in his designated spot, checked in with security then made his way to the sixth floor where his lab was located. After donning his decontamination suit and going through the process, he entered the highly restricted area.
“Okay, what was so important that you had to drag me out of my bed at 8:00 AM?” Vincent was cheerful in spite of his headache.
“Good morning to you, too, sunshine,” Philip replied. “And what do you mean, 'drag you out of your bed'? You should have been here over two hours ago.”
Vincent gave him a crooked smile. “Yeah, I know, but you see I was stuck behind this guy driving a Mustang slower than my grandma walks—and she uses a cane.”
Philip chuckled. “Is that so?”
Vincent nodded. “Yeah, I hate when I see a slow driver behind the wheel of a fast car. Imagine how the car feels being shackled to someone who doesn't fully appreciate its value. It hurts my heart.” He placed a hand over his chest for emphasis.
“Uh huh, is that the only reason you were this late, Mr. Philanthropist?”
“Well, I may have partied a little harder than I thought last night.” Vincent held up two fingers an inch apart to indicate the amount.
Philip nodded. “Ah, yes... that'll do it.” He chuckled. “Listen, the sweet talk was nice, but now it's time to get down to business.”
“That's why I'm here. What's up?” Vincent asked, approaching him.
“I went back to the drawing board and took a look at the RTX-52 compound. I added three ounces of the RTS-14 to a five-ounce mixture of the RTX-52. And then I added two milliliters of VH-0 to the solution. But the real gem came when I added four milliliters of an AB positive blood sample from an anonymous donor and that seemed to neutralize those troublesome G-cells we saw in the VH-0 and its derivatives.” Philip gave Vincent a toothy grin. He was quite proud of himself for having made the breakthrough they'd all been searching for.
“How did you figure it out?” Vincent asked relieved that he finally had something he could present to the board and the military next week.
“Well, I can’t take all of the credit, I wish I could, but Dr. Henrick’s theory about the VH-0 played a huge part in the discovery,” Philips said, standing there with his chest stuck out and full of pride.
“Wow, this is wonderful news. I can't believe you figured it—wait a minute—what do you mean an anonymous donor? What are you talking about?” Vincent asked. What Philip said about the blood sample finally registered.
Philip held up his hands, pleadingly. “It was a theory I'd been working on silentl
y. I didn't want to bring it to you or Dr. Henrick until it panned out. Like I said, I'd been thinking about the VH-0 and how its properties resemble human blood, but it's also like a blood borne pathogen. As far as the human donor is concerned, I didn't necessarily go through the proper channels to get the sample.”
Vincent's arched an eyebrow. “You stole it?”
“Not exactly. I have a friend that works at the local free clinic. People go in there all the time and donate blood. I just asked her for a small sample from someone who may be under the influence of drugs. Well, to be more exact, I asked her for several samples of blood that seemed to be healthy, but with some form of narcotic present. She was able to narrow it down to a few donors. At home, I ran my tests until finally one was successful and neutralized the compound. I don't know why that particular blood sample worked when so many others didn't. That's the next thing we need to figure out,” Philip said. “I'm sure you can understand why I didn't want to tell you about this right away. If things went wrong, you could have plausible deniability.”
“Really? You want me to honestly believe you were protecting me in this scheme?”
Philip lips pursed. “Regardless of what you believe, had this been a failure, or I was discovered, you would have been telling the truth by saying you had no knowledge.”
“I'm sure you just wanted the credit,” Dr. Martin Henrick chimed in.
“This breakthrough means success for us all. What with Morris breathing down our necks, threatening to take the lab from us if we lose this contract. I did what needed to be done.” Philip pointed at his chest. “I took the risk for the team and I think a thank you is in order.”
Vincent sighed. “We're going to have to explain how we figured out the missing element and it can't be the blood of some nameless donor. If this is successful, the military is going to want a lot more where that came from and we need to be able to produce it.”
Philip nodded. “That's why I suggested we need to find out more about that blood sample.”
Vincent nodded. He didn't have a good feeling about what Philip had done, but he did have to admit the other man was right. They were running out of time and he really didn't want to lose control of the lab. That promotion was one he worked hard for; he earned it, damn it! The department head director, Dr. Steve Morris, had been holding it over his head the entire time they worked on the project. In his own words, he had told Vincent, “I gave you the lab; I can take it away if I don't think you're ready for it.” Needless to say, the pressure was on, but breaking the law was something he didn't want to resort to. Maybe that's why Philip did it, he thought. Still, how deep was this hole they were digging? And where in the hell was it going?
“Are you still with us?” asked Dr. Pierce.
Vincent blinked, coming out of his deep thought. He nodded.
“Have you tested the new solution on our subjects, yet?” he asked, getting back on track. He'd have to deal with their other problem later.
“Not yet,” Dr. Martin Henrick said, looking up from his microscope and swiveling around on his stool to face the two men. “We were waiting for you.”
“All right. Let’s get the video feed ready and, Dr. Henrick, could you prepare test subject 08-15?” Vincent directed.
Both men went about completing their directives. Philip loaded the camera to record the results of their test. Martin pulled a female monkey infant from her cage, gently placing her on the sterile stainless steel table.
“All right, let’s start off with one milliliter of the… what are you calling it now?” Vincent asked Philip.
“PVM-1. Simple, I know, but it’s in honor of the three of us,” Philip said.
Vincent chuckled. “Well, I suppose then I can’t knock you for your lack of originality. PVM, eh? Our first name initials?”
Philip nodded.
“I had suggested Elixir-21, but he shot that down,” Martin said.
Vincent laughed. “Why Elixir-21?”
“If this thing does what we want it to do—what we're being paid to make it do—then it’s no doubt the ultimate elixir made in the twenty-first century,” Martin explained.
“And you called me unoriginal,” Philip teased.
“All right, gentlemen, let’s see if we're going to make history or not,” Vincent said. “Let’s start off with one milliliter of PVM-1.”
Philip filled the syringe with the dark red liquid that looked almost black in the plastic tube. Very carefully, he injected the needle into the chimpanzee’s vein and pushed the serum through. The chimpanzee was silent at first, looking very curiously up at the three men standing over her. Philip removed the needle, tossing it into the bio-hazard trashcan.
“Put her back into the cage, we’ll observe her from there,” Vincent said.
Martin did as he was told, and put the chimpanzee back into her stainless steel cage, locking the door securely. They monitored the ape’s vitals from wired sensors they had connected to the sticky pads on her chest, arms, head and legs.
“Does everything look normal?” Vincent asked Philip who was watching the monitors and checking for any increase in the beeps and multicolored lines that ran across the screens.
“So far, there hasn’t been a decrease in vitals, and that’s a step in the right direction,” Philip said.
“Let’s try something else,” Martin said.
He walked over to a contraption used to test the animal’s strength. He opened the door and tied one end of the device to the chimpanzee’s arm. Then he closed the cage door, locking it again. He turned the machine on and immediately, the ape reacted to the low pulse electrical current, pulling back on the strap of the machine as the machine pulled back in a game of tug-o-war.
“Well, there’s something. The test subject’s strength has increased by about thirty-seven percent from her last readings,” Martin said.
“Her adrenaline levels have increased by five percent,” Philip added.
“That’s good. This is definitely progress,” Vincent said with a satisfied smile.
They watched the ape pull on the cord even harder.
“Okay, that's impressive!” Philip commented.
“What happened?” Vincent turned from the ape to take a look at the monitors.
“From these readings, she has the strength of an adult male chimpanzee,” Philip said.
“That is impressive. This is what the military wants, what the government wants. Soldiers with this kind of strength—I honestly don't know if this is a good thing, or bad,” Vincent commented.
“She's removing the band,” Dr. Henrick said.
Philip and Vincent turned back to the ape in the cage just in time to see her unfasten the rubber strap around her arm.
“Unbelievable,” Vincent said in a hushed voice.
“They've never been able to figure out the mechanic of that band before and she just takes it off just like that. My God...” Philip said as he ran a hand through his hair.
“Okay, so far we've seen an increase in cognitive reasoning and strength. How about her healing capabilities?” Martin pointed out.
“The test subject seems to be of sound mind, I don't see any irrational behavior... still, I don't think we should remove her from the cage,” Vincent said.
“Oh, I wasn't going to even think about doing that. Not without a sedative, at least,” Martin said.
“I don't want to give her a sedative until we test her healing capabilities. We need to see if she can heal instantly without the interference of another drug designed to slow down her functions,” Vincent said. “I'll make the incision.”
Vincent approached the surgical drawer and removed a sterile scalpel. He turned and made his way over to the cage where the female chimpanzee watched him innocently with big brown eyes. She made excited noises as he came closer then wrapped her fingers around the bars of the cage. Very gently, Vincent stroked her exposed fingers as he spoke to her in a soft, calming tone. He raised the scalpel and made a small incision on h
er index finger. The ape yelped and pulled her hand away from the cage. All three scientists leaned forward, observing the wound as it healed instantly.
“Gentlemen, I think we've just hit rock star status in the medical world,” Vincent said, beaming with joy. “Do you know what this means?” he asked, looking from one man to the other.
“It means the United States will definitely have the advantage and other countries will no doubt try to replicate the elixir,” Philip said.
“It means we are going to be famous. This thing we created will put us on a whole new level. There's going to be billions involved with the demanding production of this product. We'll be able to name our price,” Vincent said. His smile widened as he thought about the possibilities.
“Not only will the military benefit from this, but with a more diluted version of it, we can heal every disease known to man without the extra benefits of turning a human into a super soldier,” Philip said.
“Well, we aren't there yet. That's our next step. The good news is we've achieved our primary goal.” Vincent patted Philip on the back. “We wouldn't have come this far without your brilliant mind. Now we need to figure out how to cover our tracks and make our research valid and above all, legal.”
“We need to study the subject to make sure this success isn't temporary. Or if it is, just how temporary,” Philip said.
“No doubt, but let's enjoy phase one; bask in success,” Vincent joked.
Philip smiled, “Why not?”
“I have an idea...” Martin began.
“What is it?” Vincent inquired.
“Philip mentioned using this elixir to heal the sick. Why don't we test it on Subject 12-19? He's still alive, but barely. Why don’t we inject the new serum into him, see what effects it may have?” Martin asked.
“I think that's a good idea. We'll see if it can heal someone gravely ill,” Philip said.
“More importantly, I want to see the effects PVM-1 has on a subject that has already been infected with other variations of the compound,” Vincent said.