The Compendium

by Christine Hart

  “Let’s worry about feeling bad for this guy when we find out what they blackmailed him with,” said Cole.

  “What really matters is that Waynesburg owned a fracking company contracted with major energy players. According to Kingston, Waynesburg’s reports include data on the success of ecological disruption. It looks like he intentionally polluted his work sites. There’s also a separate report on seismic disruption potential. Waynesburg believed selective, strategic fracking could kick-start another continental shift, bringing with it a whole new global climate, if they weren’t careful about where and how their extractions were done. It seems pretty unlikely to me, but I know zero about this stuff. Cole, you really need to look at this guy’s notes and see if it’s even possible,” said Faith, picking up speed and energy as she spoke.

  “There’s no way. Fracking operations don’t necessarily align with fault lines. How could Ivan–,” Cole’s voice trailed off as he rubbed his jaw, deep in thought.

  “Kingston’s open letter also talked about ‘The Compendium men’ as though Ivan was one of a group,” said Faith. She retied the strip holding her dreadlocks back.

  “Did he give any names?” I looked down to find my white-knuckled hands gripping the chair back.

  “No, but we do have something good to go on since Waynesburg’s reports are addressed to Innoviro’s San Francisco office. The street address is the same one I pulled off the Victoria server when I hacked it.”

  “We’ve got to get the hell out of Vancouver now. Maybe we should keep heading to San Francisco. We were going to go eventually anyway,” I said.

  “Maybe it’s time to get some kind of law enforcement involved. If we’ve got documentation–real evidence, don’t we have something to hand over?” Jonah had become fully alert.

  “On whom should we dump this fantastic disaster?” said Faith.

  “Let’s give it to the cops and start working with them.” said Jonah.

  I looked at him apologetically, but didn’t have a chance to explain.

  “Irina saw Ivan and Tatiana at UBC,” said Faith.

  “But, she wasn’t seen and didn’t make contact with her sister,” said Cole.

  “All the more reason to call the cops.” Jonah looked at me with a furrowed brow.

  “Screw the cops. I don’t think we’re in danger right now, but we can’t stay. Whether Ivan is on to us or not, it’s a bad idea to stay in the same city,” said Faith.

  “Well, I do think we’re in danger. What can the police do to help us? They wouldn’t take any of this seriously simply because we’ve got some files. We’re going to get killed and it’s my fault.” The energy drained away from me as I propped my elbows on the chair back and dropped my face into my hands.

  “Nobody’s getting killed. Irina, it’s not your fault we’re in trouble. We’re in trouble because we all have a connection to Ivan and didn’t stay on his bandwagon. Nobody thinks we’re in this situation just because you were the first of us to find out about the real Innoviro.” Jonah shifted in bed, trying to sit up straighter.

  “We never blamed you. We had a harder time believing what Ivan was involved in because we ate his bullshit for longer,” said Cole, rubbing his temples.

  “If there really is a Compendium plot, if Ivan really wants to unmake the world as we know it, a lot of people will die. Eventually, if not soon.” Faith sat down in the other dining chair as her energy level finally started to drain away.

  “What are the chances all variants would make it?” I asked the group.

  “Probably pretty fair that most of us would survive.” Cole looked at Jonah’s pale face as the latter rested against his headboard.

  “If we let Ivan cause an apocalypse, whatever is left afterwards would be hell on earth for the rest of our lives,” said Faith.

  “However long that might be,” said Jonah.

  “Can we really stop him? I mean, isn’t this a pipe dream? What was I thinking, dragging you all into some mission to save the world?”

  “Can we sit here and do nothing? We’re possibly the only people outside this Compendium group who know what’s coming.” said Faith.

  “Hey, I’ve got a better idea than cops. Let’s call the newspapers. Let’s get a reporter involved. If we do some research and find the right person, we can bring him or her up here, show off our variations for proof and hand over copies of everything we’ve got.” Cole paced as he spoke.

  I started making notes on the whiteboard about what we knew and what we wanted to know. We knew about human testing, plant cultivation, bees, fracking and pollution. The question remaining disturbed me even more. Who were the missing Compendium players? How could Ivan and The Compendium be stopped? Our goal involved exposing elusive and malicious rich men keeping dark secrets. It became more impossible by the moment.

  All the while Faith clicked away on her laptop researching potential reporters we could contact with our evidence.

  A sudden knock at the door startled all of us.

  “Hey guys, it’s me,” said Ilya from outside the door. “I brought a friend. Is everybody decent?”

  “Come on in,” said Cole. He crossed his arms and resumed pacing.

  Ilya entered the room with a tall thin man at his side. The man had a receding hairline with long, fine hair hanging down his back. It hadn’t been brushed in some time. A faint odor of sweaty feet and old skin oil filled the room.

  “This is Donald,” said Ilya gesturing towards the tall man.

  “Hey,” said Donald sheepishly with a waist-level wave.

  “Do any of you remember Josh Robertson?” said Ilya.

  “Yeah,” said Faith as she looked up from her laptop.

  “Sure,” said Cole.

  Jonah nodded.

  “Donald is Josh’s ex-roommate. He worked for Innoviro at the warehouse we found in North Van. And he helped move the seedlings out to Hope,” said Ilya.

  “You worked for Innoviro?” I said.

  “I’d been a tree planter, so Josh got me a job with their silviculture project here in Van.” Donald looked anywhere but our faces.

  “Tell my friends what else Innoviro did here in Vancouver.” Ilya looked encouragingly at Donald.

  “There wasn’t anything else. We raised crops the way the science guys told us. We were all let go when they closed the warehouse. I got a bonus for helping with the transfer to the site in Hope,” said Donald.

  “Are you absolutely sure Innoviro didn’t have any corporate offices here in Vancouver?” Cole’s intense frown made our guest visibly uncomfortable.

  “Really sure. That business lady, Tatiana, she had to work out of the warehouse when she came to Van. She was pretty pissed to be outside downtown,” said Donald, still avoiding eye contact with anyone but Ilya.

  “Thanks, man. That was all we needed to know.” Ilya slapped a twenty-dollar bill into Donald’s hand. He nodded at Ilya and backed out of the room.

  We all stayed silent for a moment digesting the news. Vancouver had no secrets left to tell us.

  “You didn’t need to bring him here. We would have believed you,” Cole said, his irritation undiminished. “What if Ivan and Tatiana find him and he gives us away?”

  “I seriously doubt that will happen. First of all, I’m sure they could care less about some old warehouse grunt. And second, couldn’t you smell him? That dude is living on the street,” said Faith.

  “She’s right. The reason I found him is because I could hear him thinking about how great the Innoviro days were. He hadn’t had a paycheck for years before then and definitely not since,” said Ilya.

  “So if Innoviro tested on street variants here in Van too, this guy would have been one of them,” said Faith. She wrote ‘No Van Variant Testing’ on the whiteboard and circled the text.
r />   “He could have lied about it,” said Cole.

  “Not to Ilya,” said Jonah, nodding towards my brother.

  Ilya grinned.

  “So I guess we should leave for San Francisco tomorrow.” I stretched my arms up already anticipating the discomfort of hours on the road.

  “Not directly. We need a quick detour. Donald gave me Josh’s address. He’s living in Seattle now. Josh worked closely with my father, before I was really involved with the company. He might have information for us,” said Ilya.

  “Or he might still be working for Ivan,” said Jonah.

  “What would we really have to gain from seeing Josh?” Cole crossed his arms again and stopped pacing.

  “He could be a decent person and feel the same way we do about Ivan and The Compendium people,” I said.

  “Let’s give it a shot.” Faith resumed clicking on her laptop.

  “I can protect us if something goes sideways,” said Cole.

  “We can all look after ourselves,” said Ilya.

  “Most of us.” I looked fretfully in Jonah’s direction.

  “Hand me the address and I’ll find it on a map,” said Faith.

  “Print it too. I don’t want to rely on computers and phones once we cross the border,” said Ilya.

  “Getting to Josh isn’t an emergency. And we won’t get to San Francisco overnight. We can stick around Vancouver long enough to still contact a reporter,” said Cole.

  “I’ve already got a few names. I’ll try connecting with someone tonight. A decent reporter should be able to meet us pretty quickly,” said Faith.

  “We need better than decent. We need amazing,” said Jonah.

  Faith rolled her eyes with her chill-out-I’ve-got-this expression, nodding as she continued typing and staring intently at her screen.

  Chapter 7

  The next morning we checked out of the Bella Maria shortly after eight o’clock. Faith had arranged to meet a man named David Wong at eight-thirty sharp in a downtown restaurant with a meeting room in the back. She’d given the man a fair chunk of verifiable information about us and Innoviro, along with the promise of corporate scandal. She left out any mention of variations. We had all agreed to save that for our meeting in person. Faith had even gotten David to reserve and pay for the meeting room.

  “So what’s the plan? Are we just going to throw a thumb drive at him, unveil our ‘powers’ and hit the road?” said Ilya as we all followed Faith through the front door of a noodle bar outfitted with steel and laminate wood.

  “Have you got something more elaborate in mind?” said Faith as she marched past the mousy blond woman eyeing us from behind the counter.

  Faith pushed open a frosted glass door and we followed her into a room with a large round table and a dozen black task chairs perfectly spaced. Each setting had a notepad, mini pre-sharpened pencils, and an empty glass tumbler. A pitcher of water stood placid in the middle.

  “Good morning,” said the small slim man with black spiky hair and horn-rimmed glasses. His plain white T-shirt and dark blue jeans looked brand new.

  “You must be Wong,” said Faith briskly.

  “What my charming sister means to say is, good morning to you too.” Cole stepped in front of Faith to shake David Wong’s hand.

  “I don’t want to rush this meeting, but we’re on our way out of town. All we can do here is give you a rundown on what we’re doing, hand over our evidence, and be on our way,” I said as slowly and politely as I could manage through my nerves. I took a breath to steady myself.

  “We have documentation connected to our former employer, a company called Innoviro Industries,” said Jonah as he took a seat. His ashen face and heavy eyes suggested he hadn’t slept at all, although I knew he had.

  Everyone in the room followed Jonah’s lead and sat. Cole frowned with concern looking at Jonah and he leaned forward to take over.

  “We have reason to believe Innoviro was engaged in unethical human testing and malicious environmental sabotage. We still don’t know how far-reaching the consequences will be, but we understand Innoviro’s intentions were to effect global harm,”

  said Cole. I sat speechless. Cole’s physical presence made it easy to forget how intelligent he was. Listening to him speak, I wondered if he was even smarter than Jonah.

  “This is pretty serious stuff. And you’ve brought me hard evidence of this activity?” said Wong.

  “Honestly we don’t know the full extent of what we’re handing you. This thumb drive is a copy of reports we haven’t reviewed in detail,” said Faith.

  Faith and Cole and Ilya took turns filling Wong in on what we had learned, not only from Kingston’s files, but from our own experiences. Wong took it all in with the best of poker faces.

  “This is a really wild story. I’m going to be honest. I don’t see my editor–or my publisher–backing me on publication of any article connected to what you’re saying,” said Wong.

  “Let’s cut to the chase then.” Glaring at Wong, Faith picked up a blank pad of notepaper off the table. She tore apiece off the top, and without breaking eye contact, she shot a flame from her fingertip at the crisp white sheet.

  Wong instinctively jolted backwards into his chair.

  Jonah poured himself a glass of water. Instead of drinking it, he coaxed the liquid out of the glass, into the air, and back into the pitcher.

  “Maybe you should actually have a drink,” I said quietly to Jonah. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Wong’s mouth gaping.

  “And the rest of you?” he said with raw fascination.

  “You’ll have to take my word for it that I could break this table in half without breaking a sweat,” said Cole.

  “Don’t worry man, he believes you,” said Ilya. He paused looking at Wong. “Yes, I can hear what you’re thinking . . . 6752, no, 53, dude, make up your mind.”

  Wong looked at me waiting for my story.

  “I have visions,” I said lamely. Wong looked confused and I felt heat rush to my cheeks.

  “I mean, I can see the past, present, and future. I’m psychic, but it’s hard to control. For the most part, I only get what comes to me. But I am getting better at seeing things I’m looking for,” I said, fumbling to explain something I still struggled to understand myself.

  “And on that note, I think we’re ready to go,” said Ilya as he stood up. The rest of us rose as well.

  “Wait, how can I reach you? This is huge. I still need your input. I need quotes. I need photos. You’re willing to go on the record, right?” said Wong.

  “We can’t stick around, especially not to get roped into an investigation–by your paper or the cops,” said Faith.

  “You’re joking! You can’t drop a science fiction mega-story in my lap and run off!” said Wong.

  “You’ve got my email. We’ll be in touch,” said Faith.

  “We just won’t be here,” said Cole.

  We left David Wong clutching our thumb drive and a singed sheet of paper. None of us looked back. In spite of the adrenaline surging through us after the huge risk we collectively took, we walked calmly back to Cole’s car and discreetly opened the doors.

  Faith sat in the front passenger seat. Ilya sat between Jonah and me in the back. I had purposely stalled getting into the car, hoping not to sit next to Jonah. I didn’t trust myself not to lean on his shoulder in my anxious state.

  As we crossed the Granville Street Bridge, sailboats sprinkled the blue water of False Creek. Clear blue sky overhead completed the illusion of serenity all around us. I didn’t feel at peace. Far from it. My stomach roiled, churning away with no more than a cup of coffee to process.

  “When we get to the border, we’ll need a cover story they won’t be able to poke holes in on the spot,” Ilya said as h
e looked around at each of us. “It should be something simple that doesn’t contradict anything they can find with our passports.”

  “What about recent graduates? We could say we finished our programs at UBC and we’re going on a road trip,” said Cole, glancing over his shoulder while changing lanes.

  “They might be able to access UBC’s registrar and find our names missing from the last grad class,” said Jonah.

  “All we need to say is that we’re going on vacation. We’re camping, so we don’t have a destination address,” said Faith.

  “What if the border guards do a search? They’ll see we don’t have any camping gear. Actually, they can scan the car now like they do with bags at the airport. They won’t even have to ask to search us,” said Cole.

  “Why don’t we tell the truth?” I said.

  Everyone in the car turned to look at me. Even Cole glanced at me in his rear view mirror.

  “I don’t mean the whole truth. We’ll tell them the company we worked for folded up and we’re unemployed. So we’re going to enjoy a summer road trip before we look for jobs. If they look up Innoviro, I’m sure the web site is still there. And if they access Revenue Canada information, we’re telling the truth.”

  “That could work. Irina’s right. We tell the truth, but leave out the part about looking for our ex-boss. We could give them Josh’s address if they want to know where we’re staying. What’s the likelihood they’ll call him to ask?” said Jonah.

  “It’s settled then. We’re unemployed. Used to work for Innoviro. Road trip to see Josh and wander around Washington. I’m sure it goes without saying, but everybody, be cool when we get to the border.” Ilya looked directly at Faith.

  “What?” Faith smirked back at him. “I’ll be good.”

  We cruised up to the Peace Arch border and took our place in the queue of cars waiting to cross. My heart pounded. I hadn’t crossed the border for several years, and never without one of my parents taking the lead. Would I be convincing if I answered their questions? I’m a crappy liar, even if I’m lying by omission. They’ll see right through me.