by Peter Hoole
Jane nodded, and pressed a series of buttons to begin the insertion process. The needles lowered slowly into James’s skin, teasing the minutest drops of blood from his veins. Jane paused, nodding to Helen to confirm that she was ready.
Helen checked the insertion points, ensuring the needles were correctly placed in each of James’s veins. Satisfied, she motioned to Jane to continue. “Please proceed.”
Jane typed swiftly on the keyboard, carefully starting the injection sequence, and as everyone watched, the cloudy, viscous liquid was plunged into James’s body.
“How’s it looking, sweetheart?” asked Zach. He sounded a little nervous, knowing that his long-time friend was the first person of importance to undergo the refined procedure.
“It’s looking perfect,” Helen replied. She ignored the hushed gasp which came from the onlookers, as James lost consciousness. “Remove the injectors, please, Jane.”
Jane pressed another series of buttons. The device withdrew the needles, and slowly lifted the injection system up and away from the patient.
The room lapsed into a tense silence as the machine itself shut down, and everyone waited, hardly daring to breathe.
After a minute or so, James remained unconscious, and John spoke up, his portly figure barely covered by the gown he wore. “Is he okay?”
“This is normal. The blood is adjusting to its new form—” Helen began to explain, watching James avidly, but she abruptly stopped speaking, and a tiny smile appeared on her lips when she noticed the changes beginning in her patient.
James’s hair began to change colour, the grey morphing and darkening as it returned to its original dark brown pigment. The wrinkles on his face started to disappear, the lines smoothing out as his overall muscle tone improved, and skin on the back of his hands tightened, smoothing out, the liver spots disappearing to leave his hands blemish free.
The entire process took about thirty seconds, and before them, the old man had grown young again.
Not just young, but strong, fit and healthy.
In unison, Helen, Jane, Zach and John gasped, amazed by just how quickly their leader had been rejuvenated by the injections. They had seen similar results before, but never quite so fast nor effective.
It was as though James had lost thirty years from his life.
James’s eyes slowly began to open, fluttering as he adjusted to the light in the room.
“How do you feel?’ Helen asked.
“A little tired,” James began, before he reached up to touch his face anxiously. “Did it work?”
“Yes.” Helen whispered her response, her emotions beginning to get the better of her. She had worked towards this result for so long, to see the end result like this – it was better than she could ever have imagined. After so many trials, so many heartaches and failures, her leader’s dreams would be realised. Her family’s dreams would be realised. Her whole community’s dreams would be realised.
James sat up in the chair, and caught his reflection in the metal plate as the machine continued to slowly rise higher above him.
For a moment he stared, his expression stunned, until he broke out into a broad grin and began to chuckle loudly. “Ha ha ha…” he laughed, “Helen, oh my God, you did it!”
“We all did,” Helen responded, motioning to Jane who was smiling brightly.
“Yes, yes, yes. Well done, to both of you!” James continued to study his reflection, angling his head first one way, then the other. He grew serious. “Now Helen, I need you to tell me something…”
“Yes?” replied Helen, a note of concern in her voice.
“Is it permanent?”
Helen grinned. “Yes, it is.”
Relief sparked in James’s eyes and he smiled. “Good, excellent. Now the next question. Nightfall? Does it survive the virus?”
Helen nodded. “Yes. All the signs point to it being resistant, sir, which is why it took so long. We’ve been able to make the Source permanent for some time. But, with Nightfall? That was a bit trickier.”
“How sure are you?” James questioned sharply.
“One hundred percent, sir. We trialled it with five outsiders last night. The virus had no impact, once the serum was injected.”
“Five outsiders? And no deaths?” James queried.
“None.”
“Excellent. I trust the outsiders were dealt with?”
“Indeed they have, sir. The serum might save them from most external threats, but a well-placed bullet will always do the trick” Helen said, a casual smile spreading over her face.
“Well done!” her now youthful leader praised, “and to you, Jane,” he added smiling at Helen’s assistant.
“Thank you, sir.”
The news of the leader’s success had begun to trickle down the line of waiting people. The talk was enthusiastic, and James knew the excitement throughout the community would continue to grow. James turned his attention to Zach and John. “Alright, you two are next…” he said. Zack and John both moved forward, eager to take their turn and have their youth and vitality restored and James turned his attention to the first person waiting in the bigger queue. “Sarah, you and the first group can come in,” he announced to the elderly woman standing at the front of the queue.
Sarah smiled and nodded, motioning for the group standing behind her to come in.
As the people began to file into the room, Zach took his place in the chair James had just vacated.
“Helen, you can continue,” James announced proudly.
“Thank you, sir,” Helen said. She motioned to Jane, and the two began their work, preparing Zach for his injections.
“How long will it take for everyone to be treated?” James questioned. He ran a hand across his face again, obviously pleased at the tightness and smoothness of his skin.
“It should all be done in the next few days,” Helen reassured him.
“Good… continue, please.”
James turned and strode across to the table holding the terminal Jane had worked on. Next to the terminal was a phone, and he lifted the handset.
James pressed the speaker button, “Attention,” he began. “I have good news for everyone. The serum has worked and is completely successful.” He paused, waiting for the news to sink in around the colony and heard a loud cheer coming from outside in the hallway. As the news spread, the noise from outside grew louder and he knew the entire colony was rejoicing.
“Now,” he continued as the noise quietened, “you all know your instructions. You will be given a time for your procedure. Please be patient as you wait. You all have your jobs to do.” Again he paused, and total silence overwhelmed the colony. “Phase Two… has now officially begun!”
James smiled when an even louder cheer erupted around the colony.
Chapter Nine
Caleb and Darcy had been driving for hours, and Darcy had used the time to contemplate over what Caleb had told her.
Caleb saw it as a positive that she hadn’t asked him to turn around, or asked him to drop her on the side of the road. He was relieved to know that Darcy was with him, regardless of what he’d kept from her in the past.
“Caleb… I’ve been thinking,” Darcy announced some time later.
“I assumed as much,” Caleb said, once again lightening the mood. He offered Darcy a grin. “Anything in particular?”
“Not really… and well, yeah,” Darcy replied, fidgeting in her seat.
Caleb glanced across at her. “Well babe, you’re in now; ask me anything you want.”
“Okay.” Darcy paused, considering how to word her question. “Caleb, I just want you to know, that, I… I…”
“Go on Darc,” Caleb prompted. “There’s nothing you can’t ask.”
“I guess I want to know…” She straightened in her seat, took a deep breath. “No, I need to know.”
“Yes?”
“What do you feel when you kill someone?” The words came out in a rush, as if she had to say it in a hurry b
efore she lost courage.
Caleb considered his response for a minute. He hadn’t been expecting her to be so blunt. It wasn’t an easy answer to admit, but it was one that he needed to word precisely.
“I guess… nothing” he replied. “I mean, when I first started, it was difficult. Contrary to what people say, the Marines are not all about fighting and killing and blowing stuff up. A lot of it, at least when we were doing our work, was planning… and travel. Tons of boring-ass travel. So, when I was away each time, we would spend most of it either planning our entry into the building, or wherever we were headed… or travelling. I mean, it wasn’t like we could just catch the next commercial flight out of LAX. If we did our planning right, then we didn’t have to kill anyone. But, sometimes Darc… it was unavoidable.”
“So… you don’t feel anything?” Darcy sounded incredulous.
“Let me finish, babe,” Caleb responded. “I learned to turn off my emotions, but that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Of course I feel something. I guess it’s a combination of guilt and remorse and… I dunno, I guess I feel uncomfortable with what I have to do. But it didn’t happen when I actually killed someone. The guilt happened afterwards. And you know what? It never goes away”.
Darcy sounded perplexed when she spoke again. “But, I’ve never even noticed it. I mean, you never acted depressed—”
“Babe… I never was depressed. I felt guilty, yeah, but I don’t get depressed over the decisions I’ve made. One of the first CO’s I had, the one who really showed me what being a true Marine would be, he taught me something I’ve never forgotten. Yeah, the killing is shit, and if I can avoid ever doing it again, I will. But he taught me that I needed something, how did he say it, he said I needed to find ‘light, when there was darkness’. I had no idea what he was talking about at the time. But after I came back from Iraq, and you were there, and I knew exactly what he was talking about. I knew that day, that you were my light, and whenever I felt guilt about what I’d had to do… I just thought of you. About the time I get to spend with you. And that, babe, has been more than enough to get me through the tough times.”
It was a shame they were driving, Darcy thought as she stared lovingly at Caleb, watching him as he drove.
All the doubts she’d had, any of the negative feeling she’d experienced over what Caleb did… they had all seemed to disappear with his honest response to her question. She’d made the right decision. Not only to get in the car with him and drive to Arizona - it was more than that.
She knew that all the lonely nights she had experienced while he’d been serving overseas, or on secretive missions, when all she could think about was being with him – he had been thinking the same.
“So, Dunleavy…” she began
“Yeah… Dunleavy” Caleb replied.
“How do you know he’s even in Phoenix?” Darcy questioned.
“Well… the honest answer is that I don’t. Not one hundred percent. But, I’m sure you’ve probably heard, he’s taken a job in the Arizona Governor’s Office.”
Darcy was surprised by Caleb’s response. “He has? Nope, I didn’t know that.”
“Well, I’m guessing he’s got a place there, so, with any luck, we’ll be able to make contact him.”
“Why don’t you just call him?” Darcy asked curiously. It was the way she’d usually resolve a question – pick up the phone, make a call, get an answer. She wondered why Caleb hadn’t considered calling Dunleavy, make sure he was even in Phoenix, before they’d started this road trip.
“Babe, from what I can tell, this is the last thing we should be discussing on the phone. Besides, going to Arizona solves two problems. One, we get to possibly meet with Dunleavy, and two, it means we’re not in LA.”
“You really believe someone is coming after us?”
“Like I said earlier, Darc, I’m not sure. But I’d rather be somewhere other than where your laptop is. At least we’ve given ourselves a head start.”
“Shit Caleb… are we in a lot of trouble?”
“Babe… if we are, I’m promising you, I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. Remember, this is what I do for a living,” Caleb said, offering her an encouraging smile.
“Shit… what the fuck are they gonna do in Phoenix?” Pierre asked loudly down the phone line. Then it occurred to him. “Wait, that’s where Dunleavy is, isn’t it?”
“Dunleavy? Yeah, I think so.” William replied, his London accent filled with condescension.
“Fuck! Alright, Will, I’ll do what I can,” Pierre said, angrily. He was annoyed that he needed to clean up a mess that William and his people had created. Even though they were friends, Pierre didn’t have time for incompetence. In his mind, there were far more important things he needed to attend to – helping Emmett not the least of them.
“Has your man arrived in LA yet?” William asked
“He should be touching down in a few hours,” Pierre replied
“Is it our plane?”
“No, he had to go commercial.”
“Dammit Pierre, it’s not like Phase Two is about to start,” William said, sounding disappointed Pierre had taken such a risk.
“Relax, Will. All our Kites are transporting our people back to the colonies. There was no other option. You can trust me though. I’ll sort it.”
“Pierre, I don’t need to remind you of the mission’s importance, do I? You’ve done well with the diversion, but we need to make sure there’s no-one looking our way for the next few days.”
“I know, I know. Just leave it with me.”
“Okay.”
William hung up, leaving a seething Pierre on the other side of the world.
Pierre and Will had always gotten along – you could even call them friends. He knew the stakes, but he didn’t like to be spoken to like a recalcitrant child.
What did William expect? Pierre thought. He was the one who was tracking Darcy’s phone…
The day was drawing to a close, and the sun was starting to set. They had been on the road for several hours.
“Now it’s your turn,” Caleb said, turning to Darcy.
“Okay,” she responded slowly. Caleb remained silent, watching her expectantly, and Darcy huffed out a breath. “You’re gonna have to give me a clue...” exclaimed Darcy.
“Fair enough…” replied Caleb, “I need you to call someone. Someone that can locate Dunleavy. Someone you trust. If you can trust them, so do I.”
“Okay. And…?”
“We need to know exactly where Dunleavy is. Is he at the Governor’s office, or is he at his home? And we need an address.”
“Okay, let me have think,” Darcy said, running through the list of contacts she normally used for such a task.
She had two criteria to meet. She needed someone who could definitely get the information, and quickly, which usually meant bending a law or two. And she also needed someone who was absolutely trustworthy.
She thought hard, because the two criteria seemed mutually exclusive.
Making a decision, Darcy called Chuck, ’her favourite nerd’ as she had dubbed him in the past.
The phone only rang once before it was answered. “Darcy!” Chuck said excitedly.
“How’s my favourite geek goin’, Chucky?” Darcy said, trying to keep the mood light.
“Great, just great, Darc. Haven’t heard from you for a while. I thought you’d forgotten about me?”
“Now Chucky, how could I forget you? You’re one of my favourites.”
“Ha-ha, Darcy,” Chuck laughed. “I’ve missed you. You still with that meat-headed Marine of yours?”
“Yeah, Chucky. I’m with him right now, actually.”
Darcy sensed the change of tone in Chuck’s voice. “Oh shit. I’m not on speaker phone, am I?” While he had often helped her, Darcy knew Chuck was quite fragile, and any wrong word could put him on edge.
“Of course not, Chucky,” she said in as much of a big sister voice as she could manage. At times, th
at’s exactly how Darcy had to treat him. While he was the best hacker Darcy knew, she also had to temper him.
“Phew… anyway…” Chuck began, his caution lifting, “I guess you’re not calling to ask me on a date?”
“Well, not yet Chucky,” she giggled. While she didn’t share his feelings, she was still able to use them to her advantage.
“Actually, I need you to find someone for me…”
“Ahhh, that’s easy Darc. Who do you need?”
“Ummm… I can trust you? Right Chucky?”
“Of course you can,” Chucky replied, sounding somewhat offended, “You’re my girl.”
Chuck’s flirtations, while harmless, were never well executed. All Darcy could do was laugh it off.
“Thanks Chucky,” she replied, “Now, I’m gonna give you a name, and then I need you to find him.”
“Okie dokie. What do you mean, find him?”
“I mean ‘Where is he right now’.”
“Like… right now, as in, ‘Where does he live’?”
Darcy shook her head, speaking slowly. “No, Chucky. I need to know his exact location. Right now.”
“Ahhh, well, that’s not as easy…”
“But doable?” Darcy pressed.
“Absolutely. What’s the name?”
Darcy paused. She pondered over whether giving Chuck the name was the right choice to make. Was she certain she could trust him?
Darcy thought about her and Caleb’s circumstances – the events of the past twenty-four hours, and realised she had no choice. “Michael Dunleavy.”
“Shit, Darcy,” Chuck said, his voice full of concern. “What have you got yourself into?”
“It’s okay, Chucky.” Darcy smiled at Chuck’s concern. “No need to worry, I’ll tell you a bit more when I can.”
“Okay, Darc. I trust you… I think. Just hang on a sec.”
Chuck opened his own tracking program. After dropping out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – according to Chuck, they were just holding him back – he’d spent the majority of his time in his apartment, developing new ways to get information from people. And, at times, he would sell that information to the right people.