by Lee McGeorge
----- X -----
“I understand you were on television today,” Noica said.
“Yes. They’ve made a big deal out of McGovern, they’re looking high and low for him now. Look, something I discovered is he’s doing medical research. He was searching for data online, but he took a job at UCL which is a medical university...”
“...I studied at UCL,” Noica interrupted.
“Oh... well, I’m still waiting for some info-share through Europol but what I know so far is he was employed as an aquarium technician but he was spending his free time looking at medical texts in the library for private research. The locals are checking the details and will release notes on what they find. They also found his personal computer and they’re checking his internet history but I’ve been told it is loaded with medical texts also. It’s nice that we found the computer, but the downside is we were hoping to track him when he used it.”
Noica made a sound that was halfway between a groan and a hum of acknowledgement.
“There are some leads in play, the most promising is someone called in saying they had rented a room to McGovern. He was long gone before the police arrived but what I’ve heard is on the walls are large pieces of paper filled with notes. It sounds like what we saw him do in Noua, you remember how he was writing stuff on the walls.”
“Yes, it was his story project.”
“It was, but what he’s writing here is apparently split into two groups. The headers on the pages are Neurology and Violence and the other says Psychology. I haven’t seen these yet, they’re being photographed and the locals say they will share... But what I do know is under the psychology banner he has written in big bold words, ‘Sublimation, for Ildico.’ Now that’s got to be the Popescu girl.”
“Without doubt it means her. That is interesting.”
“Lucian, what does sublimation mean?”
There was a pause on the telephone. Corneliu imagined Noica formulating the words in his head, finding an easy explanation. “It means he’s trying,” Noica answered finally. “He’s trying very hard to do the right thing. But it can’t be. Sublimation, a man like that? McGovern cannot be capable of such high-level reasoning.”
“Lucian, this guy is not following your script. He isn’t some crazy lunatic howling at the moon. He’s a thoughtful, careful man. When he kidnapped the Khumari girl he did it with chloroform he synthesised from household chemicals. He had found a way to steal and adopt a new identity. He built an electronic warning system out of mobile phones and he used all of these skills to make a girl vanish into thin air like it was a magic trick. Chemistry, electronics, disguise and evasion. He is not some lunatic, Lucian. He is intelligent, he’s extremely resourceful and he is leaving nothing to chance.”
Noica went silent.
“Now tell me, Lucian. What does sublimation mean?”
“Sublimation comes from old Freudian ideas of the four ways people respond when under intense psychological strain. We call them pathological, immature, neurotic and mature. A pathological response to stress is denial, to pretend it isn’t happening. An immature response could be to behave passive-aggressively or to act out like a child having a tantrum. Neurotic responses are things like repression, intellectualisation, or withdrawal. But sublimation... Sublimation belongs to the mature defence mechanisms. It means to channel the negative emotions or stresses towards something good. To utilise that negative energy in a positive way.”
“I don’t get it, Lucian. Why is McGovern writing that?”
“There is a famous German novel about sublimation called Der Tod in Venedig, Death in Venice. It’s the story of a man who becomes sexually obsessed by a beautiful young boy, he is consumed by lust and suffocating desire but finds a way to sublimate his feelings into writing poetry. That’s what it means. McGovern is trying to sublimate his negative thinking towards something good.”
“And this good that he’s working towards... would be Ildico Popescu?”
“I imagine so.”
“Has he had any contact with her?”
“I don’t know,” Noica replied.
“Check, Lucian. Get Brasov police to check thoroughly and see if they can monitor any contacts she has from now on, telephone, emails, whatever. McGovern likes her enough to write her name on his bedroom wall, so I would expect him to contact her or to have tried to contact her.”
“Yes, I’ll see to that... it’s just... Cornel.”
“Yes?”
“Be very careful. I’ve only come across one other person like this... In fact, this goes outside our range of experience. I’ve never seen this and I cannot stress strongly enough how dangerous McGovern could be. When Bogdan arrives tonight, I’ll instruct him to tell you everything.”
“Bogdan? Is this the guy coming from America you mentioned?”
“Yes, Bogdan Pascu. He has experience. I’ll have him tell you everything. Full disclosure”
The call ended but the words were left hanging in the air. ‘I’ll have him tell you everything. Full disclosure’. It implied that Noica hadn’t been forthcoming. McGovern was crazy and dangerous. Full disclosure? What more could there be to know?
----- X -----
Corneliu waited in the hotel bar. He sipped a very large whisky whilst backed into a corner alcove. He had nothing to do, no book or magazine to read. At Noica’s request he’d spent the day parsing everything that had happened into chronological order. It had taken longer than he imagined and he found himself rushing and adding less detail the longer he worked at it just to get to the end.
A man in his forties approached the banquette, shaved head, a dark brown leather jacket, black trousers. “Buna,” the man said, “te Corneliu?” Are you Corneliu?
“Da,” Cornel replied.
“Buna,” the hand came out to shake, “eu sunt Bogdan Pascu.” There was a smile with it, a warm textured tone to the voice and what appeared to be a sincere attempt at friendship, but something about the man was off-putting. Corneliu shook hands, the skin of his hand was rough, the handshake grip tight. Bogdan stared straight at him with a thousand yard stare.
“Doctor Noica said you were travelling in from America,” Corneliu opened as conversation.
“Lucian... Yes. He sent a lot of information that I’ve been trying to read through on the journey.” He rubbed his eye and yawned slightly. “Excuse me. Long day of travel. I hear you almost stumbled onto Paul McGovern.”
“Almost.”
“Hmmmm, don’t do that again. He’ll kill you. Leave him to me if you think you’re near him.”
“It was an accident,” Corneliu said a little offended that Bogdan had decided he couldn’t handle the situation. “You think he would really kill me?”
Bogdan nodded. The expression serious. “Yes… Yes, he would.”
“Lucian said that he would instruct you to tell me everything.”
Bogdan nodded. “He told me that. He said I’m to give full disclosure. I’m not surprised. It sounds like you’re in at the deep end.” Bogdan waived a waiter over and ordered a drink of fine and expensive Russian vodka. “We should drink the good stuff while Lucian’s paying, eh?” He ribbed at Corneliu.
“Sure... I guess.”
“What do I need to know about McGovern that I didn’t know twelve hours ago?” Bogdan asked.
Corneliu talked about the nationwide TV coverage, something that made Bogdan wince a little and furrow his brow. When Corneliu talked about the cell-phone alarm system Bogdan stared at him directly, fiercely. When he explained the homemade chloroform he looked away with an unfocused gaze. When he talked about McGovern doing medical research he pulled his hands together like he was praying and clasped his mouth and nose between them with his elbows rested on the table.
“Fuck... Fuck... Fuck!”
Corneliu sipped his drink. “I think that’s what Lucian was thinking too. He was less vocal, but I sensed he was spooked by it.”
“Do you know why?” Bogdan asked with a pens
ive glare.
“I assume that’s what you’re going to tell me. Full disclosure.”
“McGovern shouldn’t be able to do that. What should happen is his brain turns to mush. Along the way he starts to lose his memory, his sense of right and wrong, his ability to reason. His higher brain functions should fall away. At the same time he will become more and more violent, but as the violence increases, his mind deteriorates until there’s nothing left. These things should turn into animals.”
“These things?”
“That’s right, things. Don’t think of them as human any more. McGovern especially. He is gone, he is lost. Think of him as a crazy dog, that needs putting down.”
“Is that how you see McGovern, like a dog?”
“No... No, he’s not a dog, not if he’s doing what you say he is. He’s a tiger, a thoughtful, cunning, brooding and vicious thing. And you... you and everybody else, you’re kittens against him.”
Corneliu folded his arms. “You sound very sure.”
“Have you ever seen one of these things?”
“Why do you call them, Things?”
“You ever seen a man that has become a vampire?”
Corneliu shook his head. “No. never. And for the record I don’t believe in vampires.”
“Well, I’ve hunted six of them. And I’ve caught all six. One of them is The Ukrainian.” He paused to see if Corneliu understood. He hadn’t. “Jesus Christ. Lucian sent you out unprepared. That’s not like him. I’m sure it was an oversight, we suspected McGovern would head for the United States which is why I was there. Lucian would never have knowingly put you in harms way.”
“I’m sorry,” Corneliu said. “I really don’t understand what you’re saying. Please, try and just explain what you’re thinking. Simple, make it simple.”
“Simple. Here is simple. Lucian Noica is the number one expert on this phenomena. That’s what it’s called. Phenomena. It’s so random we don’t even have a real name for it. Have you been to the institute?”
Corneliu nodded. “Yes, once.”
“Did you see the church at the centre?” Corneliu nodded. “Well, in that church, in the crypt, is the source. Nobody knows what it is. We can’t find bacteria, virus, radiation, nothing to explain it. But when men are taken into that crypt they change. They start losing their minds and they become bloodthirsty lunatics. Now, sometimes, for reasons that nobody understands, the source disappears from the crypt and this can happen for weeks and sometimes months at a time. Men are taken into the crypt and nothing happens, but low and behold, somewhere else, men start becoming vampires. There are a few hotspots around Romania and even into Bulgaria, but one of the key hotspots is Noua on the outskirts of Brasov, right where our friend McGovern was.”
Corneliu felt a cold shudder. “You say men are taken into the crypt, do you mean they are exposed deliberately?”
Bogdan stared earnestly. “What do you think Lucian is doing out there? Did you notice the dead town you drive through to get there?”
“Yes, I did.”
“That town was destroyed in the 1960’s. Something happened that has never been explained. The source. It moved amongst the people there and turned all of the men. There was a massacre. So the town was razed and the area evacuated and a lid put on the whole history. But what if it were to happen again? What do we know about it? How would we protect ourselves?”
“Noica is exposing men to this thing? Experimenting?”
Bogdan nodded. “Convicts mostly. But not always. The facility is a combination hospital, prison and scientific research centre.”
“Jesus wept.” Corneliu slumped slightly. “What the hell am I involved with.”
“You’re involved in a line of defence,” Bogdan said. “Our job is to minimize and contain the problems and buy time for the researchers. The aim is to understand and end this thing. It wasn’t always like that, in fact back in the 80’s they actually tried to weaponise the source. I think the idea back then was to drop vampire bombs on Western armies and watch them tear one another apart. A lot of money was invested into that stupid plan. From ‘89, the whole thing fell into disarray until Lucian came along as a young neuroscientist with fresh ideas and enough political savvy to get the whole thing back on track.”
“To weaponise it?”
“No. That’s all finished. Lucian is a caring kind of guy. I think he convinced the politicians and bureaucrats that we should care for those infected, have a response for whenever the source moved outside of the facility and finally have plans drawn up in case the source caused another vampire massacre like it did in the 1960’s.”
“And you are part of that response?”
Bogdan nodded. “I became involved in the early 90’s. I did extended military service and joined the Gendarmerie. I was only there for a few months when Oleksandr Chanov happened. Chanov was a drug dealer, part of a Ukrainian cartel that moved into the Black Sea resorts after the fall of communism. He was a ruthless guy to begin with but then something happened to him. Somehow he was exposed to the source and he started losing his mind. He killed twelve people that we know of before we cornered him at a drug deal that went very wrong. He killed three gendarmes and wounded thirty people in a nightclub before I put him down by shooting him through his knee.”
“Good shot.” Corneliu said.
“I was aiming for his chest... He jumped.” Bogdan swirled his drink around. “Chanov is the baddest I’ve ever seen. These things move fast and I mean lightning fast. You back a vampire into a corner and you’ll see that they can move faster than you can blink. It’s like they anticipate your movements and are just one split second ahead of you. You just can’t train a gun on them.”
“Lucian mentioned something like that. He said their nerves and thinking worked faster to speed up their reflexes.”
“At least he told you something. But this what I’m telling you, this is supposed to be their physical peak, that is supposed to be as capable as they get and it doesn’t last very long. Vampires can think faster than you and they can anticipate your actions, their reflexes do speed up but eventually those reflexes become uncontrollable, they degenerate into a painful shaking that never ends. It’s as though their nerve impulses speed up beyond what the nervous system can handle. It’s like overclocking a computer. You can make the chips work faster than they were designed but eventually they heat up and fry. That is what happens in ninety nine percent of these things. They end up with scrambled eggs for brains. Except in some cases, the brain function stabilizes and the vampire becomes very thoughtful and capable whilst still retaining the level of violence.”
“Do you think that’s what happened to McGovern?”
“It sounds that way. The only high functioning vampire we have alive is Chanov so there isn’t much to compare it to. Having McGovern as well would be quite valuable. This is what Lucian is wanting and it’s the reason I’m here.”
“You want to catch him, that’s the plan isn’t it. You want to catch him and take him back.”
Bogdan shrugged. “We’re hoping the Brits arrest him and we get a successful extradition for McGovern to face murder charges in Brasov. That would be the best outcome. But I don’t think the Brits can take him alive because they don’t know what they’re up against. Like I said, I’ve hunted and caught six of these things. Chanov was taken alive only because he became wedged in a mass of bodies in a blocked corridor, he was unlucky and we got him alive almost by accident. The other five I had to put down in self defence. But I’ve got to tell you, none of those things had the wherewithal to get on a plane, change their identity, or to evade police using self-made electronic warning systems. Even Chanov can barely speak beyond simple grunted sentences and we consider him to have kept his mind fairly intact. If Paul McGovern can do all the things you say he can, then there’s never been a vampire like him.”
----- X -----
Paul flattened the two knives under his jacket before going for breakfast. He was planning
ahead, thinking things through. Today he would apply for a passport in the name of Alan Jay and have it delivered here to the bed and breakfast. If the passport agency realised he was McGovern they would send policemen. To minimize the risk he would move to new lodgings whilst he waited for the passport to arrive. If the police came he didn’t want to be here. He would return at a time of his choosing after surveying the area, but he was under no illusions of what could happen. When he returned to Wendy’s guesthouse there could be police waiting for him. He would kill them.
“Oh, Wendy,” he said as he dropped in for breakfast. “I will be going away in a few days to see clients in Manchester and I may be staying there for a short while. Is it possible I can pay you for a few more weeks in advance. I may not be here, but things are a little up in the air for me at the moment and it would be really helpful if I could rely on having a fixed address.”
“Things up in the air?” she asked.
Paul nodded and tried to show a sadder face. “Yes. My girlfriend, ex-girlfriend and I, we have a business, but it’s all coming to an end.”
“I wondered what you did. What is your business?”
“Statistics. She does statistics and data analysis. Businesses with huge product lines ask us to analyse their structure. She does the maths and I write up the findings into easy to read reports... arghhh... I don’t want to go into it if you don’t mind.”
“No, no, of course, I wasn’t prying.”
“Anyway... It’s not easy to just break up when we’ve got contracts to finish. So I need to visit clients in the North and I may be there for a few nights but I won’t know exactly what’s happening until I get there. So is that OK? I’d like to pay in advance for a few weeks but I might not be here?”