The Phoenix Project Series: Books 1-3: The Phoenix Project, The Reformation, and Revelation

by Pritchard, M. R.

  “Andie, we deal with animals here, we don’t have many people.”

  “But what about your other Sovereign?”

  “There’s just a few of us. I’ll get the others on board,” he promises me.

  I let out the breath I’ve been holding, relieved.

  “Well, now that that’s taken care of, I have someone who’s been waiting for your arrival. He asked to see you.”

  “Who?”

  “Dr. Belamy Drake.”

  “So you found him? After all of that?” When I was here last there was a man impersonating Dr. Drake. And I shot him in the head, adding another tick to my list of bad things I’ve done since The Reformation took over.

  “Yeah,” John replies.

  We walk to a nearby barn, a smaller one this time. I recognize it immediately; it’s the one which held their genetics laboratory. This time when John opens the door there is not a handful of workers milling about. There is just one man in a white lab coat. He turns as the door opens. It’s Dr. Drake, with the same paunch belly, same yellowed eyes, same white tufts of hair around his balding head.

  “Mrs. Somers,” he smiles as he crosses the room. “Of all the people I would expect to see I have to say you are the last.”

  “Was that a compliment?” Sam asks under his breath.

  I don’t answer. I just keep my eyes on the man who made me decide to leave the genetics field so long ago.

  “I’m so glad you came.” He stops in front of me. “I wanted to thank you personally.”

  “For what?”

  “If you hadn’t identified my imposter they would have never sent another team out to find me. And well, you saw what was happening here, all those horrid creatures that were being created.”

  He’s talking about the mutated animals. The ones they sent me here to fix, but when I got here I had figured out their true problem. The person running the lab was not qualified, it was not Dr. Drake. Just an imposter, a plumber.

  “Well,” Dr. Drake continues. “It’s a good thing you came here. We didn’t need any more tinkering with the genome. We are getting things back in order here, back to nature, breeding strong animals, sending them out to repopulate in the wild like God intended.” He smiles at me.

  “Good for you,” I tell him. “I’m glad to see you’re doing a great job.”

  “Yes, well, I’ve heard you’ve been busy yourself. District Matchmaker,” rolls off of his tongue like a curse word. “That’s quite impressive, Mrs. Somers.”

  “We’ll go get the horses loaded up,” John interrupts. As they wander away from us I hear John mention something to Sam about the horses and grain.

  Dr. Drake looks towards them and as soon as they are out of earshot, he leans towards me and says under his breath, “Put me on your team.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “I’m sure you need someone to check your work. Make sure you know what you’re doing.”

  “I don’t think so,” I tell him. “Besides, I don’t have a team. I work alone.”

  “Yes, you always did. I remember what you were like. It was years ago but I still remember that we could never replicate your work. What are you going to do when what you’re doing doesn’t work out? When these Residents turn into some horrible creatures.”

  “I know what I’m doing! The data doesn’t lie, Dr. Drake. I don’t need your help. I didn’t need it when I worked for you and I don’t need it now.”

  “You are still so cocky. Think of how they will make you suffer when this doesn’t work. You know what they did to my imposter?”

  Of course I know. I’m the one who shot him. I stare at him, reliving those moments in my head.

  “They killed him,” Dr. Drake spits the words from between gritted teeth.

  I can see what he’s trying to do. He did the same thing when I worked for him. He’s trying to put uncertainty in my mind. He’s trying to make me doubt my work. “This conversation is over. I’m done talking to you.”

  “I heard you abandoned all of those babies the day they took over your town.”

  “You don’t know anything,” I tell him.

  “I know some things.”

  “No, you don’t. I had to find my family and there were more than enough nurses on the unit when I left.”

  “The Residents here have received their injections. The ones that will alter their DNA and shrink their amygdala and then they will be the perfect docile humans Crane desired. I couldn’t have done it better myself.”

  “You couldn’t have done it yourself,” I mutter.

  “Well, I don’t have to, thanks to you.”

  “What?”

  “You’re the one who made this possible.”

  “I didn’t have a choice-”

  “Are you sure?”

  “What do you mean am I sure? Crane was holding my family. He... He told me I had to.”

  “And you never said no. You just did it.”

  “He forced me!”

  “Did he hold a gun to your head?”

  “He threatened my family!”

  “He threatens everyone’s family!” Dr. Drake’s face turns a bright purple as he yells.

  I quake with anger, trying to decide whether to walk away or scream at Dr. Drake.

  “Do you believe in coincidences?” he asks.

  “No. Not when it comes to Crane. Nothing is a coincidence with him. He has some twisted plan. He always has a plan.”

  “And if I told you there was someone higher than Crane?”

  “Why should I believe you? You have been a member of this District for what? All of five minutes? You don’t know what’s been going on. You have no clue who these people are and what they are capable of.”

  “Why should you believe anyone?”

  “This conversation is just going in circles. I don’t know what you want from me.” I wave my hand at him and start to walk away.

  Dr. Drake grabs my arm. “Protection!” He glances behind me at the Guardian that has been following me around ever since we arrived. “I want protection.”

  “From what?”

  “Changes.”

  “I can’t protect you. You know better than that.”

  “Yes, you can.”

  “What makes you think that? What does Crane have over you?” I ask. “What is he dangling over your head that’s got you so scared?”

  “The future. It’s all about the future. I can’t go back out there with the Survivors. It’s bad.”

  “There will be more changes in the future. I can’t help you. And I don’t need you on my team. I don’t need your help so don’t ask me again.” I wretch my arm out of his grasp.

  He leans forward, his face flexed in seriousness. “This is why they chose you. Not because you were smart or strong. They chose you because you are weak and selfish and malleable,” he tells me in a perfectly hurtful manner. “You’re really not so different from the Residents. What’s to stop them from altering your genes?”

  “I’m done listening to you.” I tell him. “Goodbye, Dr. Drake. I hope this time I truly never see you again.”

  He chuckles lightly as I walk away.

  I move as fast as I can without running to the train. Sam and John are standing near it talking and I can see the District Volker and Tim leading horses onto the rear cars, as well as bins and troughs.

  “What’s got you running like that?” Sam asks as I approach.

  I shake my head at him. “Nothing,” I reply, almost out of breath.

  “Don’t let him get to you,” John says.

  “Who?” I ask.

  “That old crank Drake. He’s been unpleasant since the day we pulled his sorry ass out of the slum he was holed up in.”

  “Shouldn’t he be a little more grateful?” Sam asks.

  “Most are. But Dr. Drake,” John points towards the barn I just exited. “He has to make himself worthy here or he’ll be out. We have plenty in Hanford who can take his place.”

  “I nev
er saw him set foot in the lab when I worked for him,” I admit to John.

  “Seems the type.”

  “If there are others in Hanford who will work here then why go looking for Dr. Drake?” I ask.

  John gives me a look. One that signifies I just asked a question that I should have been able to figure out on my own. I guess I know why he was here. Who better to make me doubt my work than my old boss asking to double-check everything that I’ve worked so hard on? If I had said yes that would have done nothing but show everyone that I don’t have confidence in the vectors we created or the pairings. Maybe Dr. Drake already realized his job here was done. It was complete the moment he asked to be on my team. And now that this District has done so well reintegrating the livestock back to the wild, I wonder if Drake is on his way out already.

  We make small talk as the horses are done being loaded on the train. Then I turn to John with one question I need to ask. “John, if this doesn’t work, if Crane does something before we make it back to Phoenix, will you give my family refuge?”

  “Your family is in Phoenix, what would they be doing out here?” he asks with a blank face.

  “I told my husband to escape with the children. Crane has threatened them before and I just want to be prepared in case something happens and I’m not there.”

  “Yes, Andie, they are welcome here.”

  “Thanks, John. I was worried there would be no place for us to go if this doesn’t work out.”

  “We won’t shut you out here,” he nods at me sincerely. “We’ve been looking out for you this entire time.”

  “Thanks, John.” I give him a short smile and feeling the cell phone in my pocket, I’m antsy to call home and let Ian know that if he has to leave he can find refuge in Wolf Creek.

  Tim reluctantly rides in the engine car with us. He was adamant about staying in the rear cars so he could monitor the horses but when Sam told him how fast the ride to Hanford would be, he decided to sit in the front with us.

  As the train starts moving, I leave Sam and Tim, headed to the sleeping bunks to find my bags. I search the pockets for the cell phone I hid. My fingers grasp the cool plastic and I pull it out. Closing the door to the sleeping bunk, I turn on the phone. The battery is still at full power from when I charged it. Now if I can only get a signal. I wait as the train moves and the icon on the phone circles until it pauses, flickers, and connects. Three bars of service.

  Punching in the phone number to home, my heart beats fast, afraid that I might lose the signal before anyone answers. It rings one, two, three times.

  “Hello?” I hear Ian’s voice on the other end.

  “Ian?”

  “Andie, are you okay?”

  “Yes, Ian I just wanted to check in.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Just leaving Wolf Creek.”

  “And-”the other line crackles and statics.

  “Ian!” I move the phone and see that there are only two bars of signal. “Ian!”

  Between the static I hear his faint voice. “A… Andie?”

  “Are the children safe?” I ask, afraid that I’m about to lose him and might have to finish this trip without knowing.

  “They’re,” he replies between the static, “fine. Everything’s fine.”

  Before I can answer the line goes dead. I check the phone. There’s no bars, no signal.

  chapter sixteen

  Hanford

  As we enter the Hanford District the sign comes into view. It’s still rusted, the blue and white, sun-bleached lettering states that this is a Restricted Government Area, property of the United States Department of Energy. And then there’s the abandoned high school that holds the elevator to the underground District floors.

  There is one person waiting on the train platform for us. I recognize him right away, George Crossbender. He’s dressed in the same khaki pants and a red button down shirt as the last time I met him. The summer breeze blows at his bangs, covering up the thick glasses perched on the end of his nose. He takes the glasses off, cleaning them on his shirt as we prepare to step off the train.

  It’s so nice to see a kind face and as I step off the train, I have to control the urge to hug him. Since I haven’t spoken to him since the last time I was here, it would be an inappropriate gesture.

  “Welcome, Andie!” He grips my hand hard and shakes it.

  “So great to see you, George,” I tell him.

  “And this must be Colonel Salk?” He looks Sam up and down. “You’re tall,” he says and then looks to me. “He’s your brother isn’t he?”

  “Don’t you already know that?” I ask him.

  “Nope, didn’t know that. But it’s easy to see. Who else do you have here?” he asks as Tim steps off the train.

  “Oh, George, this is Tim Johnson from Wolf Creek. He’s the handler for the horses.” Tim walks forward and shakes George’s hand.

  “Howdy,” Tim tells George with the tip of his hat. The horses whinny and stomp from the rear train cars. “If y’all don’t mind, I’m goin’ to stay here with the horses. Check on ‘em, water ‘em.”

  “Sure,” I say.

  “Well, if that’s the case we had better hurry,” George tells us. “We don’t want the horses getting too stressed.”

  As Tim walks towards the back of the train to check on the horses, George leads us off the train platform towards a truck.

  “We aren’t taking the secret elevator?” I ask, pointing towards the abandoned High School.

  “No, this will be much faster. We can cross the grounds and go directly to the Artillery Research Unit and get you what you need.”

  There is an old Jeep Wrangler waiting for us, the doors and roof removed. Sam looks at me expectantly. He can’t sit in the back, his legs are too long. I give him an exaggerated huff before I climb into the back of the vehicle.

  George gets in the driver’s seat and starts the engine. He takes off with a heavy foot, speeding across the grounds. As he drives, I hear a strange noise coming from the tires, and when I look over the side I can see it’s the sound of the Jeep speeding over the transparent roofing of the underground levels of Hanford. The thin layer of sand swirls and blows around the Jeep. And being able to see the drop of the multiple underground levels makes my stomach lurch. I lean back and focus ahead at the buildings coming into view. George stops just as we reach the first building and as we get out of the Jeep I recognize a few of the buildings. As we pass the building labeled Natural Birthing Center I notice that the building is dark and there is a board over the door.

  “Whatever you told them last time you were here,” George tells me as I stare at the empty building. “It worked well. Not a single birth in almost two years.”

  “Great,” I tell him. All I did was threaten them with the loss of their children. I threatened that Crane would break up their families.

  We follow George and as I take in the view of the buildings and people milling around us, my thoughts are interrupted by the sound of soft footsteps behind me. I turn to find two of the Guardians following us, panting. Strange.

  George takes us to the building that leads us to the underground Artillery Research Unit. It’s still massive, the rocky walls lined with the familiar green vines from the last time I was here. The ceiling is the same as before, thick glass with a thin coating of sand. Bright sunlight that filters through lights most of the space. The unit is filled with workers.

  He collects a few of the workers, Sovereign, identified by the images burned into their wrists, just like most of the people that live here, the intellectually elite. Someone brings a large flat cart as we walk towards a small door in the rock wall.

  “This,” George informs us, “is storage. I like to call it the Gun Safe.”

  He pushes the gray metal door open and fluorescent lights illuminate the space in a long tunnel. There are boxes piled to the ceiling, and rows of neatly stacked weapons and supplies. Enough for three armies it seems.

  “What do yo
u think you might need to protect yourselves from the Survivors and Crane?” He gives me a soft wink

  I don’t like it when people wink at me. I look down the room at the rows of strange guns, weapons I’ve never seen before.

  “I don’t know much about these,” I turn to Sam. “I’m not sure what to take back.”

  “I’ll get this.” He walks around me and down the room, the person with the cart follows him. I watch as Sam selects an assortment of pistols and assault style weapons. He tells the man with the cart how many of each to include. Next we come to crates of bullets. Sam discusses what’s needed with the men and they collect the necessary bins and crates, loading them onto the cart. Next we come to the armor. Helmets, vests, padding, everything an army could need.

  “Enough of these for two hundred men,” he tells the man with the cart.

  “Impressive, isn’t it?” George asks from next to me. I turn to find him pushing up his glasses with this index finger.

  “It’s too much I think,” I tell him. Sam and the man with the cart wander further away. “I don’t think we even have two hundred Volker in Phoenix.”

  “He’s collecting enough for Crystal River,” George reminds me.

  “Oh, yeah.” I push my hair out of my face. “I guess I’m a little distracted.”

  “About what?”

  “Do you know why President Berkley is so afraid of Crane?” I ask.

  “You don’t need to refer to him as the President anymore,” George says with a frown.

  “Okay. Why is Berkley so afraid of Crane?”

  “Berkley was safe. He was one of the original Funding Entities, one of the very first, the leader of the free world, even in all of its great depression. Crane approached him with this plan to create the Districts, to start over. And Berkley agreed.”

  “He just agreed? Crane didn’t have to threaten him with anything?”

  “No. There were no threats needed. He wasn’t going to be President for another term and after what he did to this country there wasn’t enough funding to keep his security detail up until he died. He knows that someone would have assassinated him. The promise of safety, of running his own District, that was enough.”

  “So what changed?”