Rare Traits (The Rare Traits Trilogy Book I)

by David George Clarke

  Chapter 36

  Frank Young pulled his car onto the grass verge beyond the junction with the lane that ran around the Peterson Biotech estate. Ced jumped out almost before the car had come to a halt. Moments later his SUV turned onto the main road and stopped a few yards in front of the professor’s car.

  Sally threw open the driver’s door and ran to Ced, launching herself into his arms and bursting into tears.

  “Ced! Hon! Are you OK? Every minute has seemed like an hour. What happened in there? Have you really got John Andrews out in one piece?” All of this was broken up with a flurry of kisses, hugs and sniffs.

  Ced laughed. “Yup. One piece and very much alive and kicking. He’s a useful chap to have around when things get tight.”

  He felt Sally tense at his words.

  “Not, of course, that they did. Not really,” he added.

  “And you’re OK, Ced?” she gasped, leaning back to scrutinise him as she frantically wiped her eyes.

  “Yes, Sal, I’m fine. Look – two arms, two legs, a head; all in the right places. No problems.”

  “God, I was getting really panicky, hon,” said Sally. “You were gone for ages.”

  “It wasn’t really that long, was it, Sal?”

  “It was pushing two hours, Ced. An eternity when you’re waiting out here imagining what that nutcase and his henchmen might be doing to you.”

  “Two hours? It seemed like a few minutes.”

  “Yeah, well, I was all for hitching up the car to that gate, ripping it off and charging into the place blowing a bugle. The others had to hold me down to stop me.”

  “Christ, I’m glad you didn’t do that, Sal, it could have ruined everything.”

  “That’s what they said as they sat on my head.”

  “It all went perfectly, hon,” whispered Ced as he held her tightly to him. “Bit of an adrenaline rush, though; more than running a marathon. But I think I’ll stick to those in future, even so.”

  As he held the sobbing, laughing Sally, he saw the front passenger door of his car open and Claudia get out. She smiled at him, the relief etched into her face. She walked slowly over to the professor, who had also climbed out of his car, and fell into his arms as he opened them to her diminutive form.

  “Oh, Prof, is it really all over? I can’t believe that all this has happened. You’re not hurt in any way, are you?”

  “I’m absolutely fine, Claudia. Really. There’s no need to be concerned about me.” He looked over to where Ced and Sally were standing and then back towards his car as he heard John Andrews get out.

  “It was the most remarkable piece of teamwork. It couldn’t have worked out better if we’d rehearsed it a hundred times.”

  He saw that John was smiling at his words and he nodded back to him.

  “Now tell me, Claudia,” he added, holding her away from him to look her in the eye. “Ced tells us there are three of you. How has that happened? Who’s the third?”

  Claudia bit her lip in excitement as she glanced at John Andrews, knowing he had overheard the professor’s question. She looked back at Ced’s SUV and saw the rear passenger door open. She let go of the professor and reached out for John’s hand.

  “Mr Andrews. John,” she said. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am to see that you’re not hurt, that these wonderful men have helped to resolve this awful situation that I think was all my fault. I want to explain it all to you and to say how sorry I am that it happened. But there’s time for that later. Right now, there’s someone here who’s been waiting to meet you, to see you again after a very long time.”

  She turned, and still holding his hand, led him towards the other car where Lily was now standing. The headlights of the professor’s car were shining on her, but she was shielding her face with her arm, trying to keep her composure.

  Puzzled, John looked across at the figure, then back to Claudia. She smiled up at him.

  “This is Lily,” she said softly.

  He turned his head towards Lily as she dropped her arm and looked up, the headlights now showing her face in stark detail. She smiled at him and it was the smile that had stayed with him for more than a hundred years, the smile he had last seen when she sat at the bow of a sailing junk in the South China Sea.

  “Lei-li,” he whispered.

  “Papa!”

  Frank Young looked on in bemusement at the scene playing out in front of him. Sally’s sobbing had turned into floods of tears as she’d watched John and Lily fall into each other’s arms, while Ced had buried his face into Sally’s hair. Claudia had moved to the rear of the SUV where she was leaning against it for support as her body shook with emotion.

  Not understanding the significance of the moment, the professor coughed loudly. “Look,” he said, “I really think we should go. It won’t be long before some sort of alarm is raised. Worse still is the thought that Peterson and his guards might, as we speak, be regaining their equilibrium and deciding to come looking for us. We need to get right out of the area.”

  Nobody moved, so he coughed again. “Ced, are you going to be OK to drive your car?”

  Ced nodded, his head still buried.

  “Good,” said the professor, matter-of-factly. “I suggest that you and Sally take John and, er …”

  “Lily,” said Claudia quietly.

  “Yes, Lily. While you, Claudia, can come with me. And while we are driving, perhaps you can tell me what this latest surprise is all about.”

  John and Lily weren’t really listening, so Claudia ushered them into Ced’s SUV, after which she guided Ced and Sally in the same direction.

  “Where are we going?” asked Ced.

  “I suggest we go to my house,” replied the professor. “It’s a couple of hours from here, down near Tenterden, in Kent. I very much doubt Peterson has a clue where I live; I’ve certainly never discussed it with him.”

  They set off, with the professor’s car leading the way.

  “OK, Claudia, tell me all. Who is Lily? If I remember rightly, you said John’s wife was called Lola, not Lily, and anyway, from that little speech you made to him, you clearly weren’t referring to his wife.”

  “I take it, Prof, that you didn’t get a chance to see her eyes.”

  “Her eyes? No, I didn’t.”

  He paused as the significance of Claudia’s remark hit him. “You mean they are the same as John Andrews’ eyes? Is she the same as him?”

  “She’s his daughter, Prof, born over a hundred years ago.”

  “Well I never. So there are others. Claudia, that is the most fascinating piece of information. Tell me more!”

  Claudia told him all she knew about Lily. As she did, she realised she knew almost nothing about her apart from a brief outline of her time in Hong Kong as a child and young woman, and of her quest to find her father in the past few weeks. But the professor soaked it up, nodding at all she told him.

  “I can’t wait to talk to her in more detail. I hope she’s willing to let me test her DNA. It will be fascinating to compare it with John Andrews’; it will add a whole new perspective to the research on Andrews’ genes. Gosh, Claudia, this is really exciting. And I can quite understand why you kept her secret from me earlier. I presume she was waiting for you somewhere when the rest of you came to my laboratory.”

  “Yes,” replied Claudia rather guiltily. “As always, you’ve anticipated what I was going to say. As we explained earlier, we were worried that you were in cahoots with Peterson. If that had been the case, then obviously you shouldn’t find out about Lily, and nor should Peterson. We resolved that one earlier, but then we thought it would still be better if you didn’t know in case Peterson kidnapped you as well as John Andrews, and then tortured you.”

  Young laughed. “Torture is perhaps a little melodramatic, but he certainly had every intention of holding me there. You were very wise, Claudia, all of you, not to tell me. What I didn’t know, I couldn’t have told anyone. Protecting the truth about Lily was of paramou
nt importance, as it still will be once we get beyond whatever is going to happen now.”

  “What do you think is going to happen now, Prof?”

  “Hard to say, Claudia. It all depends on how Peterson reacts and whether he throws in the towel. He must know that he’s got very little chance of getting what he wants now. One thing I would say is that I think you should give up that job of yours and get back to frontline research with me.”

  Claudia laughed. “Prof, you’ve just been through the most incredible ordeal and you’re still thinking about your research!”

  Young shook his head. “My ordeal was nothing compared to John Andrews’. That madman Peterson and his equally deranged assistant Hannah Frobisher had every intention of subjecting him to a horrific barrage of tests in order to find the limits of his immunity. They had no scruples whatsoever. Peterson even had a crazy dream of some sort of eternal youth for himself. It’s that sort of thinking that emphasises the need for total anonymity for Andrews, and now for Lily as well. It’s essential that their secret is known to as few people as possible.”

  “Do you think that Peterson and his assistant knowing will complicate things?” asked Claudia.

  “It doesn’t help. However, he’s broken the law in kidnapping John Andrews, so we should have a bargaining tool.”

  “I’m not so sure,” said Claudia. “He sounds like a clever man. It won’t take him long to realise that he needs to clean up any trace of John ever having been there. If he manages that, it’s your word against his.”

  She turned to look back beyond Ced’s car. “Is there a chance that he’s following even now?”

  “I doubt it,” smiled Young grimly. “We left him securely tied up and he’s been knocked around a bit in the last twenty-four hours, mainly by John. You know, that man really knows how to look after himself. He has lightning reactions and his aim with a bottle is excellent.”

  “With a bottle? Sounds like there was a bit of a struggle,” said Claudia, raising her eyebrows in interest.

  “Well, he had his two heavies, as I think they’d be called. But between them, Ced – who, I should add, is no slouch either when it comes to self-defence and martial arts – and Andrews pretty effectively sorted all three of them out.”

  Very modestly, Young neglected to tell Claudia of his own part in overcoming the guards.

  In the following car, Sally finally took her eyes off Ced for a moment and turned to John.

  “You really should call your wife, John; she’ll be at her wits’ end. I think the last time Lily called her was about three hours ago when we were driving down here.”

  John turned to Lily in surprise. “You’ve spoken to Lola?”

  “Oh yes, Papa. I’ve been keeping her informed of progress. We’re the best of friends, you know. I really couldn’t ask for a sweeter stepmother.”

  He shook his head and laughed. “I can’t believe how much has happened in the last two days. May I use your phone?”

  “Use this British one that Sally lent me,” said Lily.

  John punched his home number and Lola answered almost immediately.

  “John! Where are you? Are you all right? Is Lily with you? Oh, God, I’ve been out of my mind. They haven’t hurt you, have they?”

  He spent several minutes reassuring Lola that he was fine, glossing over most of the details. “I’ll tell you all about it when I get home, sweetheart, but that’s not going to be until tomorrow, I think. We’re now heading for the professor’s house in Kent to get a good night’s sleep. I suspect that after what’s happened, the police are going to be involved, but we all need to sit down and talk about it.”

  Once she was calmer, Lola asked to speak to Lily.

  “Hey, Lola. Yes, we’re all fine.” She turned her head to look at John as she was speaking. “Yes, really, he’s OK. As chipper as the last time I saw him! What? Yes, that was a while ago. No, honestly, he’s in one piece. We haven’t heard the full story yet, but apart from his having had a gruelling experience, I’m sure he’s fine, so don’t worry. We’re all together now and that’s how it’s going to stay. Yes, OK, I’ll pass you back. We’ll see you very soon, Lola, big hugs and kisses for my little sisters.”

  She passed the phone back to her father and hung onto his arm as he spent the next few minutes continuing to reassure Lola.

  When he shut off the phone, he turned to Lily and smiled warmly.

  “Little sisters. What a lovely thought. I’m not quite sure how we’re going to explain you to them.”

  She laughed. “Lola and I have already talked about that. I’m going to be a long lost cousin.”

  “You two certainly seem to have everything sorted out,” he replied, shaking his head.

  “It’s lovely having two sisters, Papa, even if they are quite a bit younger. Have there been any others?”

  “Others?”

  “Between Sophie, Phoebe and me?”

  A look of sadness clouded John’s face. “One, Lei-li, only one. A brother. My son, Dominic. He was killed in the Spanish Civil War.”

  She rested her head on his shoulder. “Oh, Papa, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think of bad things. I didn’t mean to bring up unhappy memories.”

  He smiled and kissed her hair. “We have a lot of catching up to do, Lei-li.”

  They made good time driving to the professor’s house. He had called ahead to his wife, Janet, to explain that he was bringing five guests for the night but that he wasn’t able to tell her all the details. Janet was used to his enigmatic ways, knowing that some of his work was classified, so she greeted them with a welcoming tray of sandwiches and drinks, made sure they were comfortable and then discreetly disappeared to bed, claiming she had a busy day ahead of her.

  As Janet left the room, Sally turned to the professor. “Your wife’s an angel, Prof. If Ced came home with five strangers who looked like they’d been through some awful experience, I’d be beating his head to find out what was going on. She’s taken in all in her stride.”

  Young laughed. “You might think I’m an eccentric old fool, Sally, but I’ve had a few interesting jobs over the years that Janet has learned not to ask about. And because of those jobs, I’ve made a few contacts that I think are going to be useful to us.”

  He sat down on a sofa near John and Lily.

  “John, we’re going to have to decide what happens from here on. The decision’s yours, of course, but I think you are still in a difficult position. There are going to be many questions about what happened tonight and they are not going to be easy to answer. Your secret, if I may call it that, is still known to very few people. It should remain that way. Unfortunately, among the people who do know are Peterson and Frobisher.”

  John shook his head. “You can discount Frobisher,” he said and explained how she had come to inject herself.

  “After that,” he added, “I was determined to destroy the blood she’d taken from me. We were doing that when Peterson and his guards found us in the laboratory.”

  Young nodded. “Peterson found Frobisher in the room where you left her. The guards prevented me from seeing what was going on in there, but there was a lot of shouting and when Peterson ran from the room to the laboratory, he no longer had the bandage on his hand. He was rubbing it with paper towels. Something must have happened in there to make him rip his bandages off.”

  “Now I think about it,” said John, “when we left Frobisher tied up, the whole syringe was still in her neck. But when I checked on her as we left, she was unconscious in the chair but no longer tied up, and I’m pretty sure the syringe wasn’t there. In her neck, I mean. Maybe Peterson pulled it out and spilled some of the contents on his hand.”

  Young nodded thoughtfully. “If he spilled the mixture you described onto an open wound, he’d be in trouble. Perhaps that’s what all the shouting was about. Certainly when he ran from the room, there was more than anger on his face: there was fear as well.”

  “So perhaps they are both going to die,” said
Claudia.

  “Was Ced in the room when this stuff was flying around?” said Sally, panic in her voice.

  “Shortly after, yes,” replied Ced. “John ordered me to the corner of the room while he tied up Frobisher. I touched nothing and nothing spilled on me. Don’t worry!”

  “So,” said the professor, “while Dr Frobisher is not likely to be a problem, we don’t know about Peterson. If he washed his wounds well, he might be lucky.”

  “I’ve been thinking about what I overheard the guards saying,” added Ced. “They’d been told that John was some sort of industrial spy. They mentioned something about Peterson eliminating spies in the past and Frobisher helping bury bodies. If that’s the case, then Peterson is hardly going to make a fuss to the police. I mean, what’s he going to say? He’s not going to tell them about John; they’ll think he’s mad. And now there’s a possibility there are bodies buried in the grounds. I think he’s on thin ice.”

  Young got up and paced the room for a few minutes before returning to sit with them.

  “I’ve known Peterson for quite a few years, and I can assure you that he’s completely ruthless. If he thinks there’s a chance of getting his hands on John again, he’ll try. We can’t possibly handle this ourselves; he’s far too dangerous. We were lucky this time because he didn’t suspect we knew about him. We wouldn’t be so lucky the next time; he would take every precaution, I can assure you.”

  “You’re sure he doesn’t know where you live?” asked Sally.

  “Fairly sure. And given the state he’s in, I don’t think he’s likely to come bursting through the door. Equally, I don’t think he’s going to go charging up north looking for John – not yet anyway. But we are going to have to start taking some precautions tomorrow.”

  Janet interrupted him, calling from the hallway. “Frank. Sorry to butt in, but there’s something that I think you ought to see.”

  “Come in, darling,” called Young. “What is it?”

  Janet came into the room wearing a dressing gown and carrying a mug of tea.

  “Sorry,” she said again. “I don’t know if it’s got anything to do with whatever you’re talking about, but I couldn’t sleep so I switched on the television to Sky News. I was starting to doze when a news flash came on the screen. It was the name that caught my attention since I know that you’ve had a lot of dealings with them.”

  “What name do you mean, Janet?” asked Young.

  “Peterson Biotech.”

  “What about them?”

  “Well, the news was reporting that there’s been a major fire at their research headquarters in West Sussex. Somewhere near Horsham, I think they said. It sounded quite serious and I thought you’d want to know.”

  “My God!” exclaimed Young.

  He looked around. “Where’s the remote control? Here.” He switched on a television in the corner of the room and pressed the channel button for Sky News. A ticker-tape news flash was running across the bottom of the screen with the information about the fire. They watched while the newsreader finished the lighthearted report he’d been reading. He then paused as he listened to a message in his earpiece, switched his smile into a look of concern and continued.

  “More on the fire in West Sussex at the research headquarters of the major British biochemical company Peterson Biotech. Our reporter has now arrived at the scene and it would appear that the fire is not in the main research building as originally thought, but in a large house on the grounds of the estate. The house is thought to be the home of the founder and chairman of Peterson Biotech, Sir Wallingford Peterson. Firefighters are attempting to tackle the blaze, but the fire officer in charge has expressed his surprise at the intensity of the fire, given that, and I quote, ‘It’s a domestic premises, albeit a large one.’ Firefighters are said to be concentrating their efforts on preventing the fire from reaching the main research buildings. At present, it is not known if Sir Wallingford or any of his staff were in the house when the fire started. We’ll be updating this bulletin as soon as we have more.”

  Young switched off the television. The six of them sat in silence, not believing what they’d heard.

  Ced was the first to speak. “What on earth’s happened? The place was perfectly fine when we left it.”

  “I imagine we’ll find out soon enough,” said Young. “But for now, I think we can stop worrying about Peterson or his people searching for any of us.”