Honor System (The System Series Book 4)

by Andrea Ring

  “Yeah, but I didn’t think he’d ever admit them.”

  Dr. Rumson sips his coffee. I pour myself a cup and sit beside him in the lobby.

  “Knowing this stuff, you probably hate the military,” I say.

  “Quite the opposite,” he says over the rim of his cup. “I hate war, of course, but I’m grateful there are men like your father fighting evil.”

  “What he said didn’t shock you?”

  “This isn’t my first rodeo,” he says. “I’ve counseled hundreds of veterans. And not all of them had the strength of character that Michael has.”

  I shudder. “Will this change my view of him?”

  “I don’t know. Is your view of him changed?”

  I think about that. “Not really. I’d probably do the same things in his situation.”

  Dr. Rumson pats my knee. “Empathy is required here. Think back to how bad you felt when you told Abby off in the first grade and made her cry. You felt so awful! You beat yourself up for weeks. Now multiply that feeling by a million, and try to keep functioning and keep doing the right thing. That’s what your father’s been dealing with.”

  I hang my head. “I’ve been a horrible son. I’ve been too hard on him.”

  “Nonsense. You are part of the reason he’s stayed on the right path. All that strength and power and influence…he could have gone wrong. He easily could have abused his power. And on the whole, he didn’t.”

  “Do you think he’ll come back to us?”

  Dr. Rumson sips his coffee. “Yes. Remember, your father always does the right thing. He’ll be back.”

  “It’s been a long day,” I say, dumping my coffee down the sink. “Think you could give me a ride home?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  I hobble my way to the front door and knock.

  “Just a minute!” Tessa calls from within.

  I smile.

  “Who is it?”

  “Just me,” I say.

  Tessa wrenches the door open and grins. X is perched on her hip, and Em is toddling below her, her chubby arms wrapped around Tessa’s leg.

  “What are you doing here?” Tessa squeals, throwing herself at me. I stagger under her weight, and she steps back laughing. “Sorry. Come on in. You need to sit.”

  “I’m fine,” I say as she guides me to the couch. “I just needed you guys.”

  Tessa’s eyes go soft. She sets X down on the floor next to Em as I take a seat. Then she leans in for a kiss.

  “We’ve missed you,” she whispers.

  Her lips are salty and her tongue sweet.

  When she finally pulls away, I whisper back, “Don’t go.”

  She smiles at me and straightens up. “We’re in the middle of movie night. Beauty and the Beast. Will you watch it with us?”

  I glance at the kids. “Isn’t that a little scary?”

  I like scary movies, X thinks to us.

  “Use your words, little man,” Tessa says.

  X sighs. “I like scary movies, Dad,” he says.

  I laugh and reach out to them. “Come here, you two. I need some hugs.”

  They both crawl over to me and pull themselves up using the couch as support. I scoop them up and bury my face in their necks. They giggle and give me sloppy kisses.

  “So where are we watching this movie?”

  “On my laptop in bed,” Tessa says, “but I can bring it out here.”

  “Let’s do that,” I say. “I know you guys have been sleeping with Mommy, but it’s time to go back to your cribs.”

  Can’t we all sleep together? Em thinks, and I watch Tessa bite her lip. She doesn’t want to be the bad guy.

  “How about this?” I say. “On movie nights, we’ll all snuggle up in our bed together, and after you guys fall asleep, we’ll put you in your own rooms.”

  Will you please leave the lights on? X thinks. I cannot sleep in the dark.

  “Of course,” I tell him. “We’ll always leave the light on.”

  ***

  This wasn’t exactly the homecoming I envisioned.

  But it was better.

  The kids fall asleep sandwiched between us. We each take one and put them in their cribs.

  We meet in the hallway.

  “You tired?” Tessa asks, taking my hands in hers.

  “I’m ready to go to bed, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  She leads the way.

  We don’t sleep for a very long time.

  ***

  I head back to Planarian after sleeping late and having breakfast with the family.

  My family.

  It’s so strange. I blinked, and suddenly I was a husband. Blinked again, and I was a father, twice over. Blink, blink, and I woke up three months later, and my life had gone on without me.

  Is going on without me.

  Which begs the question, does Tessa even need me?

  I thought my role in her life was essential. But Tessa is a parent and a caretaker and a homeowner and an accountant, all without me. She hired a gardener, even though she knows I love to mow the lawn, because I wasn’t there to mow it. The only thing she needs me for right now is to bring home a paycheck, but I haven’t even been doing that, except for the patent royalties, which are really just gravy at this point, and if I died, Tessa would get a nice fat insurance check and really wouldn’t need me at all, for anything, ever.

  This whole idea is depressing. I like to feel useful, and I especially want to be useful to my wife and children. But I’m barely able to take care of myself right now.

  Stop it, Thomas! I think. Tessa still needs me—she’s just doing what needs to be done. When I get home for good, I can make it up to her. I can be a real contributing member of this family.

  And I will be.

  Right now, I’m leaning hard on Tessa. And that’s marriage. It’s okay.

  As soon as I’m back, I will be able to return the favor.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I hold my breath before entering Dad’s room.

  What will I see? Will his soul have dropped—or maybe even entered his body? Will his brain be willing and able to communicate with me?

  I say a prayer and open the door.

  The light blinds me.

  Dad’s body radiates a silvery pearlescent light that’s so bright I have to shield my eyes. His soul is gone from the ceiling. Either Dad’s soul has changed color again and anchored itself in his body, or this is a real life version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

  I cut both of our hands and clasp his in mine. I make my connections.

  Before I can even take stock of his vitals, Dad laughs in my head.

  You did it, he thinks. We did it.

  Relief floods my body. I let out that breath and lean my forehead on his arm.

  Are you close to waking up?

  I want to be completely healed before waking, he thinks. I don’t want Erica to nurse me. I want to be the one taking care of her.

  I think she’ll just be happy you’re back. No matter what the challenges.

  A couple of days at most. Shouldn’t take me too long. Tyrion’s blood…it’s an amazing achievement.

  I nod. It is. If I think about the damage done to my body, and what it took to heal it…we’d be dead without Tyrion.

  Dad doesn’t reply, and I cringe. Why did I think that? Why did I bring that up? Dad doesn’t need anymore guilt!

  It’s okay, Thomas, he thinks. Credit where credit is due. Both you and Tyrion sacrificed much for me, but I’ve made my peace with it. You two, and the baby who helped me, you all made your own choices. I’ve come to realize…I just have to live the rest of my life the way you do, Thomas. I have to pay it forward. That’s all that God requires of me.

  He says the last with such conviction.

  Does that mean…have you communicated with God?

  Someday I’ll speak of it, he thinks, but not now. Now, I just want to heal.

  Am I interrupting? Should I let you get back to it?

/>   Dad chuckles. Never. My connection with you…Thomas, you mean the world to me. Any second I get to spend with you is the most precious of my life. I know I haven’t shown you that, or told you that, or made you feel that, but it’s the truth.

  I blink hard. Thanks, Dad. I will, though. Let you get back to it, I mean. I should be healing, too.

  Anything serious?

  No, I think. Just weak muscles. Nothing some time at the gym won’t fix.

  But…shouldn’t you be healed by now? he thinks.

  I’m getting there.

  But Tyrion’s blood…have you seen a doctor, Thomas? Something could be wrong.

  There’s nothing wrong, I think.

  But you should be—

  I cut him off. Dad, you had heart damage, and your other systems basically shut down, so they weren’t exerting any effort. But all my systems were working for two. Kenneth and I estimate I lost like twenty years. Not lost, of course, but it’s like I aged twenty years keeping you going, so I had to fix all that. I had to heal every cell in my body. And if you think about it, three or four months to dial back twenty years is pretty fucking amazing.

  Indeed, he thinks. You think you’ve really done that? Completely reversed the toll that was taken on your body?

  Yes, I believe I have. Except for my muscles.

  Mark your calendar, then, he thinks. In one week, you and I are signing up for a gym membership.

  ***

  I wander out of Dad’s room and into Kenneth’s office. He’s typing on his laptop, and looks up at me and smiles.

  “Hey. How’s your dad?”

  “Ready to wake up in a day or two,” I say, sliding into the chair in front of his desk.

  “Really?”

  I nod. “He’s back. His soul is anchored and he’s back.”

  “That’s such great news, Thomas. I was just renewing the contract with the staffing agency,” he says. “Mateo is available to stay on if we need him. Do we need him?”

  “I don’t know,” I say. “I’m doing better, even just today. I think all the worry about my dad was keeping me from healing properly. But I can manage without the help. Can Dad? I don’t think we’ll know until he wakes up.”

  “I’ll give him another week,” Kenneth says. “Then we can reevaluate.”

  “Actually, Mateo talked to me about a permanent job. Sounds like he has a background in both neuroscience and research. And with his nursing experience, maybe he can take the load off Kate with checking in with patients at the hospital.”

  “I like Mateo, and I think he’d be a good fit, but I need to go over the numbers. We just hired…someone, so our budget is stretched. But for the long term, we definitely need to bulk up our staff. It’s something I need to talk to you about.”

  “Okay, but wait. You hired someone? Who?”

  Kenneth rubs a finger over his lips. “Jack.”

  “Jack? But Jack doesn’t really have a medical background.”

  “But she has a strong connection to the soul. And this is an area of research that no one else is working on. Well, probably the Catholic Church has been working on it, but they’re the last ones who are going to share their findings. We can do this, and we can apply it in practical ways. I think this is the future of medical research. After all, since the soul does exist, we should understand it.”

  “I don’t disagree,” I say carefully, “but I’m not sure the soul is something we’re capable of understanding.”

  “We won’t know until we try.”

  I blow out a breath. “Okay, then. That’s what you wanted to talk to me about? A different research direction?”

  “That’s one of the things,” he says, “but not really. We’ll still do the medical stuff and the genetic engineering, the stem cell research, all of it. But it’s going to take money. We need investors.”

  “You’re an idiot,” I say gently. “If you’d just taken the patents like I told you to, you’d have the money.”

  “That was your research,” he says firmly.

  I roll my eyes. “Whatever. So sign me up. I’ll be an investor.”

  Kenneth shakes his head. “I knew you’d say that. And I have a contract for you. Kate and I would love to have you for a partner.”

  I narrow my eyes. “I sense a but coming.”

  He smiles. “No buts when it comes to you. But, we need more money than that. I’m thinking in the tens of millions at least. We can take our little podunk operation to the next level.”

  My heart starts thumping. To have access to millions of dollars, to be an international research laboratory, to affect millions of lives…it’s my dream.

  “Do you have an investor lined up?” I ask.

  “A biggie,” he says, nodding. “You know the guy who started his own car company and is funding trips to the moon?”

  “Christopher Calyx wants to invest in the Planarian Institute?” I say, my eyes as wide as saucers.

  “I’ve got a private meeting with him and his lawyers,” Kenneth says. “Three weeks from today. And I need you to be there. You’ll have to demonstrate.”

  I grin. “No problem.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Dad wakes up, sits up, and stands up. He gives me a crushing hug, shakes Kenneth’s hand, gets a hug from Kate, and walks out of the Planarian Institute to the car he insisted I leave in the lot, all on his own steam.

  He’s going home to Erica.

  No one’s allowed to call him for three days.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Despite Kenneth’s exacting preparations, Christopher Calyx looks a little bored with the presentation. He shifts impatiently in his chair.

  “There are four labs I know of doing the same research,” he says to us. “And the Morula Center is further along. The human trials for their new retrovirus started last week.”

  “With that trial, Morula is in violation of one of our patents, not to mention ethics and human rights. Our lawyer just filed the suit yesterday.”

  Calyx sits up a little straighter. “You’re legally pursuing the patent violation? Costly, and slow.”

  “Costly, yes,” Kenneth says, nodding his head, “but the research is worth billions, so it’s an expense worth paying. And we managed to halt the trials pending a criminal investigation, so the legal system works faster than you think.”

  “Criminal investigation? For ethics violations? I’m afraid you don’t know your own industry, Dr. Mullen. I’ve yet to meet a medical research firm that toes the line. You’re basically asking for the legal system to crawl up your own ass.”

  Kenneth doesn’t blink. “Yes, I am. Bring on the scope. We do things by the book, and we do things that are ethical whether there’s a legal basis for them or not. That’s who we are. Do you even know what Morula has done?”

  Calyx waves a hand in the air. “Every lab out there is experimenting on human test subjects before they’re officially approved to do so. You know it, and I know it.”

  “And how many of them have babies chained in their lab as those unwilling subjects?”

  Calyx’s mouth drops open.

  “That is what Morula has done. And Thomas and Kate and I will fight with every fiber of our being to stop such atrocities. If that is not acceptable to you, then you can leave now.”

  They stare at each other, and Calyx cracks first.

  “I’d never condone that. That’s…barbaric. But you’re in the business of medical research, not crusading. I don’t want my money going to legal battles.”

  “Understood. We can stipulate as such in our contract. We have other sources of money for the legal fight.”

  “I thought I was your only investor. You and your wife own 100% of the shares in the company.”

  “We just signed another investor last week, one who is more amenable to the crusading.”

  “And who is it? Do I know them?”

  Kenneth looks at me. “It’s Thomas.”

  Calyx turns his head sharply in my direction and bar
ks a laugh. “You’re what? Twenty?”

  “Seventeen,” I say. “Not bad, huh? A self-made millionaire before I’m a legal adult.”

  “Self-made? You just have a job here, right?”

  Kenneth grins and takes a stack of packets from the table. He hands one to Calyx and each of his three attorneys.

  “Now that you’ve signed the confidentiality agreement, we can share with you the full extent of our research and what we offer. But first, why don’t we get some coffee.”

  ***

  “Let’s start with a little background,” Kenneth says. “I’m going to turn this over to Thomas.”

  Kenneth takes a seat, and I rise.

  “I’m sure you’ve heard of the Attic, the military’s medical research facility based in San Diego.”

  Calyx nods. “Heard of it, yes. But it doesn’t generate any income for the government. It’s basically been a fifty-year money drain for the Navy’s budget.”

  I ignore the comment.

  “The research developed there has never been published nor implemented beyond the military. And the reason for that is the nature of the researchers employed there. They are called Dwellers. Attic Dwellers. My father is a Dweller, as am I.”

  “Nepotism is unattractive when we’re discussing money,” Calyx says.

  “Nepotism is not the reason I’m a Dweller,” I reply. “I was born to it. As is every Dweller. We have innate abilities much different from those of the average human being.”

  I hold my wrist out to Calyx. “Take my pulse for ten seconds. Multiply the count by six.”

  “Seventy-two,” he says.

  “Now take it again.”

  “One oh eight.”

  “One more time. Should be sixty.”

  “Sixty,” he says. “What’s your point?”

  “My point is that I can control my heart rate. Actually, I can control every single cell and process in my entire body.”

  I take my knife out of my pocket and flick it open. I open my palm and hold it in front of the men.

  “Watch.” I slice my palm. Blood wells in the deep cut. I heal it cleanly.

  Two of the attorneys gasp. The third leans over and whispers in Calyx’s ear. Then they both lean back and watch me.