I jumped back and fell hard on my butt with my hand outstretched toward the closed cellar shutters. The shaded lawn behind the church was cool under my legs where I landed.
“They’re on a train. Ivan is really sick. Like possibly dying sick. That thing inside him can’t survive in our world for long. That’s why he wants to change the planet.”
“What is the status of Terra Nova?” said Jonah, gently but firmly.
“Where do they plan to release it?” Josh stepped toward me as though he might throttle the information from my head.
“I don’t know where, but they called it ground zero,” I said, grinding my fingers into my temples.
“That’s helpful.” Faith’s purple dreads splayed in the air as she tossed her head.
“They’re waiting for all the other Compendium projects first. It’s too complex to set in motion after all the people are dead. Whatever earthquakes and floods and poisonous shit he’s planning to unleash, he needs the unwitting accomplices working with Innoviro and Evonatura and Jinhua.”
“We should spend more time with The Compendium documents. We were tracking Terra Nova, because that was the worst of it, but if they’re putting that off, we need to know what comes next.” Melissa skimmed the ground around her as though the answers lay there.
“Especially if it’s disastrous enough to pave the way for more creatures like the one you’ve described,” said Jonah.
“Where did it come from? This thing that’s got Ivan,” said Cole.
I replayed the scene in my mind, as much to share it with Ilya again as to refresh my own memory.
“A fireball that fell to earth,” said Ilya.
“A meteor then,” said Jonah, rubbing his chin.
“I guess so,” I said, exhausted.
“Okay, they’re on a train. They’re not releasing Terra Nova right now. We have some time.” Josh scanned the buildings around us, evaluating.
“Where do we go from here?” Melissa looked to Josh for the answer.
“I’m starving. We’re going for dinner,” said Faith flatly.
“There’s a pub across the street.” Cole pointed at an awning with faded letters.
“Are you sure that’s actually a pub? That’s open for business?” Jonah squinted at the door and a man in a newsboy cap exited.
“It’ll do.” Cole started toward the pub and the others followed him.
“You guys go ahead. I’ll catch up,” I said.
Jonah took my hand and smiled. I was glad he wanted to stay. Unless I was lying in bed, I felt safer checking out of reality for the length of a vision with someone around to watch my back.
I walked through the red brick ruins, now totally under the shadow of the office building down the street. I found the altar where I had seen Ivan, my father, place his hand and get possessed by what I could only assume was the essence of a long dead alien monster.
My hand hovered over the crumbling stone altar for a moment. I hadn’t specifically told anyone how Ivan had picked up his inner demon. If I told Jonah now, he wouldn’t let me touch it. But, it would spark a vision. It would reveal something awesome, something amazing, wouldn’t it?
I stared at the stone. Who are you? Where did you come from? Why here? Why us?
I touched the cold limestone slab. Nothing happened. I wanted to cry out like Faith. Instead, I let tears roll freely down my cheeks. My voice shook. “This altar was supposed to have the answers.”
“This is where you saw Ivan and your mother?”
“That thing, however it got into him, it happened here.” “Maybe you should take your hand off that stone now.” Jonah’s protective instincts didn’t disappoint.
I complied reluctantly and let him lead me across the street and into the pub. It was mostly empty so we saw our friends right away.
The entire establishment stayed silent, focused unwaveringly on the television screen behind the bar. The volume had been turned up so we could all hear the newscast.
“BBC correspondent Janine Knight is on location in nearby Shanghai. Janine can you tell us exactly what is happening out on the Taihu Lake right now?” said the anchorman. The screen split between the anchor sitting behind his desk and a woman in front of a government building holding a microphone.
“Well, Roger, I can tell you that this disaster is very far from being contained,” said Janine hurriedly. “Chinese officials disclosed that a plastic manufacturing facility and a nuclear power plant both suffered small fires earlier this morning, not successfully contained. What is making this disaster so frightening is that two nearby wind-farms on the shore of Taihu Lake, one near each fire site, have somehow funneled the toxic fumes and radioactive fallout into an air current broadcasting poison out into the open ocean. If it continues at this rate, evacuation orders will be issued for the entire south coast of Japan. The attempts to evacuate Greater Shanghai have come to a virtual standstill on major highways. Air and sea evacuation efforts are ongoing, but hospitals continue to overflow with people sick and dying faster than authorities can move people out. I myself am going to have to evacuate after this broadcast.”
“That is heartbreaking and terrifying, Janine. Has there been no attempt to shut off the wind turbines of each of the farms directing the deadly fumes?”
“Officials have been desperately trying to coordinate with a company called Jinhua Energy, a subsidiary of Jinhua Enterprises, but the representatives of the wind-farms insist they could not possibly be responsible for the deadly air current. The next step will be for the Chinese government to take military action to shut down the wind-farms. It’s a devastating step when China has been making so much progress in moving to green energy sources. But, that’s all I have time for, Roger. I’m getting the signal that it’s time for me to board a helicopter.”
“We won’t keep you. Thank you for taking time to share this update, Janine. Have a safe journey.”
I leaned on a pub table reaching vaguely in Jonah’s direction. My friends stood nearby. We all stared, jaws dropped, at the terrible disaster coverage.
The TV screen displayed a map of the Chinese coast around Shanghai. Red fog represented the patch of earth affected by the poisonous cloud. It fanned out like an inverted comet.
“Did she say Jinhua?” said Melissa.
“Goddamn it!” Faith pounded the table with her fist.
“On the train just now, Ivan said that Jinhua hadn’t started Phase One, but he was waiting on it.”
“Is this Phase One?” Jonah stabbed his hand toward the television.
“I sure as hell don’t want to see Phase Two!” Cole paced in front of us.
“We can pore over Compendium documents for the next month and still not achieve the big picture already humming with precision in Ivan’s mind. If we don’t have time, I say we keep going after Ivan and Tatiana. At least we know what we’re up against there,” said Josh, checking each of us for agreement.
“You’re willing to allow mass destruction? Ecological disasters?” Melissa didn’t take her eyes off the screen above us.
“I’m saying we have no capacity to stop it. There are seven of us. Maybe, just maybe, we have a chance of killing Ivan and Tatiana.” Josh spoke as quietly as he could. We had already drawn the attention of every patron in the pub.
“I know you still don’t want to hear this, but I’m sorry I didn’t see through those two before. I’ll make up for my mistake. I’ll do anything to help.” Gemma’s voice soothed me in spite of the words themselves.
I allowed myself a momentary mental celebration that she was finally with us.
“Keep your voice down!” hissed Faith.
The bartender lifted his head and evaluated us.
“If we decide to keep chasing Ivan and Tatiana, we need to know where they’re going
.” Josh eyed me impatiently.
“I’ve already tried. Ivan’s getting smarter about keeping things from me.”
“No way. He can’t keep shit from you.” Ilya, of all people knew what Ivan was capable of, but wanted to believe my gift could fill in the gap left by his.
“You just need to focus. If they know where they’re going, and they do, you’ll find a way to see it.” Jonah leaned over, kissed me softly, and pulled back.
A thought occurred to me. I got out of my chair and walked over to Gemma. I hugged her and it felt good. I pushed the images of our parents and our home out of my mind.
I held my sister and closed my eyes. I thought about Ivan and Tatiana on the train. Nothing happened. I pictured the shiny steel canister from the lab under Chatham Park.
A gust knocked the wind out of me and I stood on a brick plaza facing a multi-faceted cylindrical tower topped by a disc. Flags bordered the plaza. Next to the tower, unfamiliar trees surrounded a large metal cone-capped hut. Dark-skinned pedestrians passed back and forth across the plaza. Instinct told me I was somewhere in Africa.
A shiny black plaque caught my eye and I willed myself toward it. My viewpoint surged forward and the inscription came into full view.
THIS CONFERENCE CENTER WAS OPENED BY HIS EXCELLENCY
MZEE JOMO KENYATTA CGH MP
FIRST PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA
ON TUESDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER 1973
IN THE TENTH YEAR OF OUR NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE.
Kenya? I assumed the city to be Nairobi.
Ivan and Tatiana crossed my path coming from behind me and I refocused on them. Ivan had recovered somewhat from his state on the train.
I hung a pace behind them as they walked. Ivan brushed his shoulders as if something irritated him. Perhaps he’d been improving his ability to sense my mind. They rode an elevator to the twenty-second floor and exited. They arrived at a door marked Kisumu Laboratory Services. Ivan swiped a card through a reader next to the door handle and a red light turned green.
They went into an empty office and turned down a hall. They entered a room with cabinets and containers. I had come to know a specimen library when I saw one. Tatiana extracted a tray of vials from a countertop fridge while Ivan rolled up his sleeve
Tatiana wasted no time in injecting a full vial into Ivan. He unrolled his shirtsleeve and buttoned the cuff before unlocking a cabinet above them.
Dozens of mirror-finish steel canisters glinted in the fluorescent light. They were exact copies of what I’d seen Tatiana remove from the basement of Chatham Park.
Ivan lovingly ran his finger across the canisters with satisfaction beyond just confirming the unchanged inventory. He caressed them. The vision ended when he relocked the cabinet door.
Chapter 12
“They’re going to Kenya.” I released my sister from our embrace and stepped back.
I scanned the pub and breathed a sigh of relief. The bartender busily polished the bar while the two pairs of aged patrons played an electronic lottery game.
“They’re going where?” said Ilya.
I closed my eyes and recalled the images for my brother’s benefit. The faceted tower, the metal hut, the trees, the plaque.
“She’s not kidding. They’re going somewhere called the Kenyatta International Conference Center.”
“And they’ve got a huge supply of Terra Nova stashed there,” I said quietly.
“How are we going to get to Kenya?” Cole put his hands on his hips accentuating the definition in his arms.
In unison, we all turned our heads toward Melissa.
“I’ve never been to Kenya. I’ve never been to Africa at all.” Melissa’s furrowed brow and sorrowful eyes filled my heart with pity. It wasn’t her fault we had a long road ahead.
“Does anyone have a valid passport with them?” Jonah plunged his hand into his black hair.
“We’re not going to Kenya, are we?” said Gemma excitedly.
Faith regarded Gemma with an angry frown. Gemma stared down at the table.
“The Evonatura office will likely have a collection of stolen or fake passports in their safe. Innoviro did,” said Melissa.
“Shit, are you serious?” Cole frowned with disbelief.
“Why should anything surprise us now?” Jonah dropped into a rickety wood pub chair.
“But stuff like that would have been lost in the fire. Or seized by the police,” I said quietly, leaning into our group.
“Not necessarily. If Claude used anything like the fireproof wall safe that Ivan did, it could have survived the fire and remained hidden.” Melissa fished her lip balm out of her purse and reapplied it nervously.
“We never did see how bad the damage was.” Cole took a seat with Jonah at the table.
“How will Ivan travel to Kenya?” Jonah asked Melissa.
“He’ll probably fly, as direct a route as he can, as soon as he can. But he’s still doing everything on the level, and with an unlimited budget,” said Josh.
Melissa nodded agreement.
“He’s like, crazy sick now, right?” Faith gestured as though serving up a platter.
“He was better when I saw him in Kenya. Tatiana’s injecting him with something that keeps his illness in check.”
“If he did it for me, of course he’d do it for himself,” said Jonah.
“Maybe that’s what he wants with us. He needs to study us or harvest something to cure himself.” Ilya rubbed his eyes and my heart broke for him. Ivan was my father too, but I’d never known him. Ilya had been peeling back layers of the man who raised him, finding more and more rot.
“I can’t tell what’s wrong with him,” I said. “From what I saw, it’s bad. Being invaded or possessed or whatever happened, it can’t be good for a person.”
“Back to these passports though, can you pull effective illusions from the photos?” Josh said to Ilya.
“It’ll be good enough for a customs officer. I’m more concerned about how many passports are there. If I created an illusory passport, it wouldn’t stand up to an airport security scan. Passports have digital crap in them nowadays. I can’t fake that. However many passports we can get, that’s how many go to Kenya.”
“We should get back to London before we worry about how many go and who.” Jonah’s blue eyes lit up with a flicker of anticipation.
“Yeah, there’s no point in arguing until we know what’s in that safe,” said Faith.
“Should we take the train?” I asked.
Faith tapped on her phone for a few moments. She glanced over at a grandfather clock. “We’ve already missed the last train to London for today.”
“Then we’ll take the van and ditch it in London.” Josh held out his hand to Ilya, silently requesting the keys.
“Your rental, your call.” Cole’s muscles flexed involuntarily as he shifted his stance. I caught Gemma staring at him. I wondered how many variants she’d seen since Ivan snapped her up in Vancouver.
Melissa went to the bar and paid the bill for a handful of beers we’d barely touched. Josh retrieved our van from its parking spot and we piled in quickly.
Faith directed Josh back to a major highway and he drove as fast as he could without attracting law enforcement attention.
I sat on the backbench seat of the van, wedged between Jonah and Gemma.
“So is this your boyfriend?” Gemma stretched her hand across my lap toward Jonah. He shook it with a polite smile.
“I wish I could say I’d heard so much about you, but my sister hasn’t exactly kept in touch,” said Gemma.
“You had your memory wiped! How could I just call you up?” I said indignantly.
“Well, I didn’t know
I’d lost my memory. I didn’t even know I was a healer, but if you’d taken a moment to reach out, maybe I would have got my memory back sooner.” Gemma’s familiar singsong tone of reproach went directly under my skin.
“How could I possibly have known you were a variant, let alone capable of correcting your own amnesia? As far as I knew, my variation came from my father—and we don’t have the same one. Remember?”
“Oh, your variations did come from him, but he also gave Mom some kind of ‘booster’ to make you guys more powerful. Didn’t you know that? How is it I know that and you don’t?”
“Because Ivan filled your head with a bunch of crap!”
A second later it clicked that Gemma said ‘variations’ plural. She really was up-to-date. But that meant Ivan and Tatiana were too.
“Actually, it does make sense. If your mother didn’t have any natural genetic variation, and Ivan introduced some kind of gene-altering agent during her pregnancy, it could have remained in her system and affected subsequent children,” said Jonah.
I glared at him and he closed his mouth. “I’m glad we got that figured out.”
“Ivan said you had two variations. I wonder if I can do more than healing. Is there some kind of test you guys can do?”
“Let’s worry about that some time down the road.” Jonah put his hand on my knee to keep me from barking at Gemma again.
Twilight turned to a dark night sky as we sped southeast on the highway. My eyes felt heavier and heavier as I watched the streetlights blip past the window next to Jonah. I put my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. Sleep came quickly.
I woke again as Josh parked on the street a block from Evonatura.
“I can switch us back to our Soho alter egos,” said Ilya.
Terra Nova (The Variant Conspiracy Book 3) Page 9