Ashby smiled. “I can see you’ve given this some thought.”
Alexander shook his head. “No, actually it was Kevin who suggested it. He is much shrewder about all of this than I am.”
“I can see that, Tom. Perhaps I should think seriously about inviting this young man into my employ. I can always use a man who can think on his feet.”
Alexander laughed. “You could do worse, John.”
Ashby squinted and stared at the doctor. “Tell me something, Tom. Everyone else in the world calls me J.P., yet you persist in calling me John. May I ask why?”
“Everyone else you know is either an employee or an underling of some sort, John. They call you what you order them to call you. I, on the other hand, consider us to be friends, not an employer and employee. That’s why I call you John and not J.P.”
“You don’t consider yourself my employee, yet you take my money to provide care for me. How is that different?”
Alexander smiled. “As I said, I consider us friends, John, and the difference is that I would continue to care for you if you lost every cent you owned and were destitute and could pay me nothing. I do take your money ’cause it means little to you and it is a great deal to me, but the money is not why we are friends. It is just a convenient by-product of our friendship.”
Ashby grinned, tears in his eyes, and pointed his cigar at Alexander. “Maybe we could make hiring Kevin a package deal, Tom. After all, it shouldn’t be too difficult for the doctors to make two doses of serum instead of one. How would you feel about joining me in taking the serum?”
Alexander nodded and smiled, not bothering to tell Ashby he’d already decided to do just that. “How about I pour us a nip of that Napoleon brandy on your side table and we’ll drink to it?”
“Sounds good . . . partner.”
When he stood and went to the table and poured the brandy, Alexander didn’t notice the small camera and parabolic microphone attached to the top of the window drapes behind Ashby’s bed.
* * *
Two hundred yards away, in a vacant house next door to Ashby’s sprawling mansion that had a FOR SALE sign in the yard, two FBI agents sat watching a monitor and listening to the voices in Ashby’s bedroom.
One turned to the other, a quizzical look on his face. “What the fuck do you think that is all about? Mysterious doctors importing human fetal brains and kidnapping homeless bums down near the ship channel?”
The other answered, “Yeah, and then there’s this super-secret formula Ashby keeps harping about. Maybe we’d better reach out to the boss and see what he thinks about these latest recordings.”
“Yeah, won’t hurt to cover our asses in case it’s something important.”
CHAPTER 26
Kevin stood in the doorway and watched as Kat checked the sleeping Jordan Stone’s vital signs, fiddled with the IV fluid bottle, and generally acted like a nurse in a hospital intensive care unit. It bored him to tears, even though he did enjoy the sight of her bustling around the room.
He yawned, covered it with his hand, and said, “Well, if there’s nothing I can do to help, I think I’ll go play with Angus.”
Without turning around, she waved a hand in the air and said, “Good, ’cause you’re making me nervous standing there watching me.”
He smiled and shrugged; making her nervous was an improvement over being totally ignored, he reasoned.
When he went into the living room, Angus sat up in his bed, his ears perked and his tail wagging furiously.
Kevin pulled the dog’s favorite ball from his pocket and held it up. “I bet you thought I forgot this, didn’t you, big fellow?”
Angus barked softly, as if he knew others were asleep and he didn’t want to wake them.
Kevin sat on the couch and waved the ball in the air. “Are you ready?”
Angus practically jumped up and down in excitement.
Kevin flipped the ball toward the dining room, and Angus whirled and chased after it like a whirlwind.
Just before he caught it, the ball hit the dining room wall and caromed back over Angus’s head. He watched the ball fly over his head and stopped and looked at the wall and then at the ball as it bounced back toward the living room. After a second or two, he whipped around, chased it down, and grabbed it in his mouth.
Prancing proudly, he carried the ball back to Kevin and dropped it gently in his lap.
Kevin again waved the ball in the air and then pitched it toward the dining room again.
Angus took off after the ball, but instead of following it all the way to the wall, he stopped and waited. Sure enough, the ball bounced off the wall and straight into Angus’s waiting jaws.
“Holy shit!” Kevin exclaimed, not believing what he’d just seen.
When Angus again brought the ball back to his lap, Kevin thought he’d try a little experiment. This time, he threw the ball in a different direction toward the kitchen archway.
Once again, Angus followed, but he veered off halfway to the archway and moved sideways to the exact spot where the ball bounced when it hit the kitchen wall.
When he dropped the ball into Kevin’s lap this time, Kevin rubbed his ears vigorously. “I cannot believe how friggin’ smart you are, big guy. Hell, you figured out the exact angle the ball would take off the wall and you’ve never even had one lesson in trigonometry.”
Angus’s lips curled in what could only be a smile and he licked Kevin’s hand, as if to say thanks for the rub.
* * *
In the bedroom, Kat was adjusting the blanket on Stone’s bed, when she felt a hand cover hers gently.
Startled, she jumped back, her hand to her chest.
A low, gravelly voice said, “Oh, I am sorry, miss. I did not mean to startle you.”
Kat grinned sheepishly. “That’s all right, Mr. Stone. I just wasn’t expecting you to wake up so soon, that’s all.”
Stone returned the grin. “Or at all, perhaps, since I must look like I have one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel?”
Kat blushed at the accuracy of his self-description. “Oh, you’re not that bad.”
He gave a dry chuckle. “As they say, ‘don’t kid a kidder,’ miss . . . I am afraid I do not know your name.”
“Oh, excuse me, Mr. Stone. I am Kaitlyn . . . Kat Williams. I am a doctor, and I am one of several people who are involved in your treatment.”
Stone, with some effort, pushed himself up in the bed and managed to fluff the pillows behind his back so he could semi–sit up. He glanced around the room at the fine furnishings and expensive wallpaper.
“Unless I have, in fact, died and gone to heaven, I do not believe Ben Taub Hospital has such a luxurious room in its environs. So, if I may be so bold as to ask, just where am I, and how did I come to be in the care of such a beautiful creature as yourself?”
“Mr. Stone, if you would be so kind as to hold off on your questions for just a little bit, I would like to have my compatriots with me before we undertake to answer all of your concerns.”
Stone grinned and shrugged. “So be it, Miss Kat. However, whilst we are awaiting your compatriots’ arrival, I find that I have awakened with a mighty appetite for the first time in recent memory. Is there, by any chance, a kitchen nearby that could provide me with eggs and ham or bacon and perhaps some coffee, if my present state of health permits?”
Kat nodded vigorously. “Of course, Mr. Stone. I’ll see to it immediately. Coffee first, then sustenance.”
Kat rushed from the room and waved urgently at Kevin.
When he jumped to attention and came over to her, she said, “Kevin, Mr. Stone is awake and quite coherent . . . and hungry. Both great signs that he is not quite as ill as he looked. Could you go into the kitchen and whip him up some coffee, scrambled eggs, and ham or bacon while I wake up Burton and Sheila?”
“Sure, no problem. I’ll get right on it.”
“And, Kevin, don’t answer any of his questions until we can all be there, okay?”
“Absolutely.”
As Kevin walked into the kitchen and Kat rushed to begin knocking on Sheila’s bedroom door, Angus got up from in front of the couch and ambled into the bedroom where Stone lay.
Stone noticed the Scottish terrier walk into his bedroom and smiled. He had always been an animal lover, and one of his main regrets about living on the street was his inability to keep a pet.
He gave a low whistle and patted the bed next to his legs. “Come here, fella. It’s okay to come up into bed with me.”
Angus looked over his shoulder, as if to make sure no one was watching, for he knew that one of Kat’s rules was no dogs in the bed, unless invited on special occasions.
After a moment, he took a couple of quick steps and jumped up onto the bed, where he sat near Stone’s feet, staring at the man with quizzical eyes.
Stone nodded once. “Good boy.” He held out his hand, palm down so Angus could sniff him without fear, and waited.
After looking again at the door, Angus eased forward and lowered his head to sniff at Stone’s hand. Seconds later, he put his head under the palm and gave a little jerk.
“Oh, so you want me to scratch those big, beautiful ears, huh, boy?” Stone asked.
He was astounded when Angus looked up at him and seemed to nod.
“Hoo boy, you are a smart one, aren’t you?” Stone said as he began to scratch and rub Angus’s ears.
Moments later, with a soft groan of pleasure, Angus scooted up in the bed, sat on his haunches, and stuck out his right paw for Stone to shake.
Stone raised his eyebrows in wonder, when Kevin said from the doorway, “That means he accepts you as one of his pack.”
Kevin walked into the room and handed Stone a large mug of steaming coffee. In his other hand he held a tray with a pitcher of half-and-half and packets of sugar and artificial sweetener.
“Hello, Mr. Stone. I am Kevin Palmer, and I hope we will become fast friends.”
“If that is cream in that pitcher, young man, you have made an excellent start.”
Kevin grinned and poured a generous dollop of cream into Stone’s mug. “How about sugar?”
“By all means, young Kevin. Coffee, when living on the street as it were, is rare enough, but coffee with cream and sugar is often only encountered in one’s dreams.”
Kevin put several spoonfuls of sugar in the coffee and then said, “Eggs and bacon coming right up. It’ll just be a couple of minutes. Scrambled okay?”
“Scrambled would be delightful, Kevin, and I knew you were a scholar and a gentleman the moment I saw you.”
As Kevin left, Stone held out the mug toward Angus. “I do not suppose you partake of coffee, do you?”
He laughed out loud when Angus wrinkled his nose and shook his head.
“Jordan, my boy, I do believe you have fallen down the rabbit hole, so to speak,” he said to himself, smiling at Angus.
* * *
Kat and the others waited until Stone had finished his eggs and bacon and was on his third cup of coffee before they all entered the room. Kevin and Burton brought in dining room chairs and they arranged themselves around his bed.
Stone smiled and nodded at Sheila. “I do believe I see a familiar face. Good evening, Dr. Goodman. I surmise it is evening as the drapes are pulled and the room lights are on.”
Sheila grinned and glanced around at the others. “I told you he was sharp as a tack.”
“I have met Mr. Kevin and Miss Kat, and I know Dr. Goodman from previously, but I do not believe I have had the pleasure, sir,” he said, looking at Burton.
Ramsey stood up and offered his hand. “Dr. Burton Ramsey—but not the medical kind,” he could not resist adding, to Sheila’s chagrin.
As Stone shook Ramsey’s hand, he looked around at the group. “Unless you all belong to some weird religious group bent on saving homeless denizens off the street, I cannot imagine what I am doing here.”
As he spoke, he gently rubbed Angus’s neck, who was still sitting next to him in the bed.
Sheila noticed this and said, “Perhaps I can best explain by showing you some pictures and videos, Mr. Stone.”
He smiled and shook his head. “Please, call me Jordan. I do believe we are all to be friends here, are we not?”
Sheila got up, strode into the living room, and came back moments later with a stack of pictures and the video camera that had been used to film Angus both before and after his injection.
She handed them to Stone and watched as his eyes widened with wonderment at what he was seeing.
After a while, he put the pictures and video down and stared at Angus, who merely nodded.
“Am I to understand that this is the one and same animal pictured in those photos and videos?”
Angus whined and cocked his head at the word animal, whereupon Stone laughed and said, “Oh, excuse me. I meant to say, is this the same fine specimen of canine masculinity as is pictured there?”
Angus grinned and barked, his tail wagging happily.
When the group all nodded, Stone just said, “Oh my!”
No one spoke for a moment, until Stone gave a small chuckle. “I think I can see where this is headed. You good people have come up with a compound that caused those changes in . . . just what is this young fella’s name?”
“Angus,” Kat said.
“Okay, so this compound made an elderly, quite normal dog into this young puppy and evidently also markedly increased his native intelligence. Is that correct so far?”
Sheila looked around and shook her head. “Mr. Stone . . . uh . . . Jordan, you have a remarkably quick mind.”
“In spite of the alcohol abuse, you mean?” he asked, a smile on his lips.
“No, I mean you have a remarkably quick mind for anyone, much less someone as physically ill as you are.”
“That is not all that I surmise, Dr. Goodman, and gentle-persons.”
Ramsey narrowed his eyes and asked. “Oh?”
Stone nodded. “Yes. I further surmise that, because I am not in a medical institution surrounded by interns and residents, and am instead in a private dwelling, that you all are doing these medical experiments bereft of official sanction. . . on your own, and off the books, so to speak.”
Kat laughed, in spite of herself. “Oh, Jordan, you are a peach!”
“And you are entirely correct,” Ramsey said, shaking his head. “We are off the books and on our own, for various and sundry reasons that there is no need to go into at present.”
Sheila stood and moved to sit on the edge of Stone’s bed, taking his hand in hers. “Jordan, as a medical doctor, I am absolutely opposed to experimenting on humans without their full knowledge and also without prior years of animal trials to make sure the experiments are as safe as possible.”
He reached over and patted her hand with his. “But in this case, for various reasons,” he said cutting his eyes at Ramsey, “that is not possible.”
She dropped her eyes and didn’t reply.
“Don’t worry, Dr. Goodman. As you say, I have a quick mind, and I know that when a delightful, compassionate doctor comes to see me in the hospital and after seeing my lab and X-ray results can hardly bear to look me in the eyes, that it means just one thing. That I have used up just about all of my nine lives and am on the brink of facing my Maker in the very near future.”
As Sheila nodded, a tear escaped from her eye to roll down her cheek.
“I see,” Stone said, watching her intently. “It is that bad, is it?”
She nodded again, without speaking.
He glanced around at the group surrounding him. “I want you all to know that I have lived a full, and I think a relatively righteous life, and that I am not in the least afraid of facing whatever comes next.”
He paused and pursed his lips. “However, after meeting young Angus here and seeing what a joy of life he has, I would not be averse to casting the dice and giving this compound of yours a try. After all, the worst that can happen is
that I take the final journey across the River Styx a couple of months early.”
As the others smiled and grinned, Sheila held up her hand, her eyes on Stone’s. “Are you completely sure, Jordan?”
He thought for a moment and then said, “Yes, I am. You see, Dr. Goodman, while I have, as I said, always lived a righteous life, it has not been an adventurous one. I think after all of these years it is about time for me to spread my wings and try something totally outrageous.”
Sheila laughed and leaned forward to give him a hug, while everyone else gathered around the bed to shake his hand and clap him on the back.
After a moment, he held up his hands. “Just a minute, friends.”
Kat said, “Yes, Jordan?”
“Does this magical compound that is going to transform me have a name?”
“Uh, I called my part NeurActivase,” Kat said.
Ramsey shrugged. “I just called mine the Scrubber, from blood scrubber, which is what it did.”
Stone shook his head. “That won’t do . . . that won’t do at all. Give me a minute to think of something appropriate . . . and while I am thinking, young Mr. Kevin, might I have another mug of your delightful coffee?”
Everyone stayed silent until Kevin returned with a steaming mug and put it in Stone’s hands.
Stone nodded and held up the mug, “I give you . . . the Phoenix Formula!”
Everyone looked at one another with quizzical expressions on their faces.
Stone shook his head, a woeful look on his face. “I can see that none of you has had a classical education. In Greek mythology, a phoenix was a long-lived bird that was periodically reborn. Some said the bird died in flames and was reborn from the ashes. Some also said the bird could live for fourteen hundred years before becoming reborn again.”
He spread his hands with a grin. “In other words, friends, the phoenix is a symbol of rebirth and immortality . . . just like I am going to be.”
When he laughed, it became infectious and everyone joined in.
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