The Void Protocol

by F. Paul Wilson

  Rick said, “For want of a nail, a shoe was lost … for want of a shoe …”

  “They call it ‘chaos,’ but as far as I can see, it’s deterministic as all get-out.”

  “You got it. The ICE method, that’s their MO.”

  She groaned. “Back to them again?”

  “They fit right in. Chaos works best on complex systems because they’re very sensitive to initial conditions, very dependent on them. And what’s more complex—and nonlinear, to boot—than a civilization? So ICE test the butterfly effect of a panacea like the ikhar on human civilization.”

  “How’s the ikhar have a butterfly effect?”

  “Think about it. How can a panacea not have one? Here you’ve got this developing human civilization, merrily going its own way, and along comes an ICE and, just for kicks, changes just one thing: It gives these folks the ability to cure any illness and watches to see what effects that will have down the line in this huge complex system called human civilization. The result will be a civilization totally different from what we see today.”

  Laura couldn’t help a chagrined smile. “Not much call for doctors.”

  “Not to worry. They’d still need medical examiners. But then, when all that’s established, another ICE—maybe one with a mean streak—decides just for the pure hell of it to pull the rug out and make the panacea stop working. Diseases now go unchecked and everything falls into ruin because the panacea has left everyone unprepared to deal with disease.”

  “Pretty malicious.”

  “Don’t forget: To them we might be fascinating little sapient bugs, but we’re still bugs. I can see the same butterfly scenario with that creativity gene the dapis were carrying.”

  “Hsa-mir-3998.” Laura surprised and pleased herself at being able to remember.

  “I’ll have to take your word on that. It deserted my brain months ago. But anyway, an ICE gets the idea of adding a creativity gene like hsa-whatever to a hominid species to see what will develop.” He pounded his chest, gorilla style. “We happened.”

  “You really think the nadaný might be an ICE scheme?”

  “For me? Yes—until proven otherwise. And I say that because they shouldn’t be able to do what they do. In other words, they shouldn’t be. Just like the ikhar shouldn’t be, and the dapi shouldn’t be.”

  They’d passed through the warehouse warren, then continued along 48th Avenue past the upscale high-rise apartments until they came to a small park that overlooked the East River. Midtown Manhattan rose on the other side, with the UN Secretariat building dominating the view. Rick ad-libbed a parking space that faced the view and turned off the engine.

  “Isn’t that huge Pepsi-Cola sign somewhere around here?” Laura asked.

  “Off to the right. Wanna see it? Doesn’t look like much from the back end.”

  “No. This is fine.”

  Rick twisted in his seat to face her. “Sooo,” he said, drawing out the word. “Shall we discuss the elephant in the room?”

  Here we go.

  “Whatever do you mean? Certainly not my professing my undying love for you in front of strangers?”

  “Don’t remember the ‘undying’ part, but you came pretty close to knocking me off my feet. I mean, I thought we were kaput. What on Earth—?”

  “—possessed me to say it? I have absolutely no idea. When Ruth asked me if I still liked you, I intended to say something like, ‘Absolutely. He’s a great guy who’ll never let you down.’ But something else came out.”

  “Right. You said, ‘Like him? I love him.’ Or something like that.”

  She laughed. “Exactly like that. What’d you do, memorize it?”

  “Didn’t have to. It’s etched on my brain. Is it true?”

  Laura leaned back against the headrest and sighed. “Yeah, I suppose it is.”

  “Then why—?”

  “—are we apart instead of together? Me. All me. And please don’t ask for an explanation, because I don’t have one.”

  “I do. Düsseldorf.”

  “Yeah, okay, Düsseldorf.”

  “Pardon the cliché, but I can’t change the past, Laura.”

  “I know that. And it might not have become an issue if we’d been able to stay together in Mozambique and right after.”

  But she’d had to return home to Marissa while Rick was mired in dealing with the suspicious circumstances of his brother’s death, and then shipping the body back to Long Island once it was released. He’d been tied up for weeks in Africa while she’d been home safe and sound. That time alone had played a big part in the unraveling of their relationship.

  “While we were apart,” she said, “the Düsseldorf thing kept expanding like some toxic cloud, poisoning everything. You weren’t there to counteract it and it just sort of took over.”

  “But you just said …”

  “Don’t ask me for a logical, sensible explanation, Rick, because I don’t have one.”

  “Okay. You ‘suppose’ you love me. I know I love you, and I can’t undo Düsseldorf. Where do we go from here?”

  “Nowhere.”

  He blinked. “I don’t get it.”

  “Just because I have deep feelings for you doesn’t mean it will work. It doesn’t mean I can live with you. You’ve done things that I’m not sure I can get over. I need normal inside my house, Rick. Marissa needs—”

  “Marissa? We get along great.”

  “I know you do. But she needs to grow up with normal concerns—her friends, her school, the Mets—not worrying about whatever’s Out There.”

  “Why would she?”

  “Because she adores you, and you … you view the world differently from other people, and I don’t see how she can avoid picking up on that.”

  “So … I’m gonna infect her?”

  “Don’t put it like that. It’s just that you … you bring the Outside inside.”

  “And you don’t? Has Clotilde sent you your next dose of ikhar?”

  “Yes, but what’s that got to do—?”

  “And where are you keeping it?”

  “Hidden in a cabinet, but that’s not—”

  “Not the same? The ikhar is from Outside—you know that as well as I do—and you’ve brought it inside.”

  “But it’ll be gone soon.”

  “You mean, as soon as you effect another miracle cure.”

  “Right. But that will happen out of the house.”

  “But not out of your head. And what we learned on that island off Madagascar … is that out of your head? By now you know as well as I do that the world is not what we think it is, that all sorts of things nobody has a clue about are playing out behind the scenes. Face it, Laura: As far as your house is concerned, as long as you’re there, the Outside is already inside.”

  Was he right?

  The pickup’s cab suddenly seemed very stuffy. She rolled down her window.

  “You okay?” Rick said.

  Her mind whirled. She felt bad for him. She felt bad for herself. She felt bad for them.

  “I need to get back.”

  He was silent a moment, then he started the truck.

  “Okay,” he said softly.

  5

  Heart heavy, Rick watched Laura drive off.

  After cruising the crowded streets in silence, he’d brought her to her car so she could get home in time for Marissa’s return from school.

  He thought about how things would be so different now if he hadn’t come straight with her about Düsseldorf. But how could he not? He’d lived lies for years. He was through with that.

  As he crossed the floor he spotted Kevin fiddling by the flat-screen TV on the wall outside Stahlman’s office.

  “Heading over to the mattress place?” Rick said as he approached.

  Kevin looked up and smiled. “Hey, Rick. Been there and back.”

  “Already?”

  “Never had it so easy. Guess the Slumber Party’s wi-fi password.”

  Rick hated guessing
games, but … “Okay. You’re gonna tell me it’s ‘password,’ right?”

  “Even worse. Ever see Spaceballs?”

  On a different day, Rick might have laughed. “One-two-three-four-five? No way.”

  “Yes way.”

  “You get the camera feeds?”

  “Yep. Cloud storage, twelve-hour files, midnight to noon, and noon to midnight, archived for two weeks, then dumped. So I copied the two days you wanted, and this morning as well.”

  “Excellent.”

  “Um, what exactly are you looking for?”

  “Not sure.” Something in Kevin’s tone … “You see something?”

  He shrugged. “I was fast-forwarding through to check on the quality and thought I saw weirdness.”

  Weirdness … his life was weirdness.

  “Like what?”

  “I’ll let you see for yourself. Stahlman wanted a look too.”

  He stepped over to the office door and stuck his head inside. Seconds later the boss man emerged with Marie. Kevin had his laptop hooked up to the monitor and a tiny remote in his hand.

  “Okay. This is the morning feed two days ago from the camera on the eastern wall. I’m going to run it fast.”

  A dim image of the mattress showroom appeared, a digital time counter running in the lower right corner. Everything looked exactly as Rick remembered except—

  “Wait-wait-wait,” he said. “Can you stop it?” When Kevin did, Rick stepped closer to the screen. “Is there someone in that bed?”

  The queen bed at the lower end of the frame didn’t look right. An oblong, human-size lump huddled under the covers; the covers were pulled up high, leaving only a shock of dark hair visible on the pillow.

  Stahlman and Marie came up beside him.

  “Damned if there isn’t,” Stahlman said.

  Rick said to Marie, “That’s the night you sensed a nadaný in there, right?”

  “Yes.”

  Kevin laughed. “As the infomercials say, ‘But wait, there’s more.’ ”

  The digital clock started racing again. The store brightened as light from the rising sun leaked through the big front windows.

  As the clock neared seven A.M., Kevin said, “If I remember, it happened around now.”

  The clock slowed. Rick stared at the bed and saw the hair disappear. Then the covers flew back to reveal an empty bed. After a few seconds, the bed started to make itself.

  “Holy crap!” Rick said.

  Stahlman started laughing. “Well, well, well! Our mystery nadaný is an invisible man! I want him!”

  “But why does he sleep in a mattress store?” Marie said.

  Rick could think of only one reason. “I’m guessing he’s homeless.”

  “Perfect!” Stahlman said. “We’ll offer him a generous stipend and a place to live. How can he refuse?” He pointed to Rick and Marie. “I’m putting you two in charge of bringing him in.”

  Rick hid his dismay. He’d hoped, after Laura’s earlier declaration, that he’d be hanging at the Fanning house tonight. Yeah, right.

  “Sure, why not?” Nothing better to do. “We’ll apprehend him on sight.”

  Stahlman blinked, then laughed again. “Very good, Mister Hayden! Excellent, in fact. Do your very best.”

  6

  Rick checked the dashboard clock. “Fifteen minutes to closing.”

  He’d nosed the truck into a parking space in the lot under the subway trestle that ran down the center of Queens Boulevard. The space sat directly across the street from Slumber Party’s front door. He’d checked the store hours on their earlier visit. Tuesday through Saturday they closed at eight P.M.

  “Are you all right?” Marie said.

  “Yeah. Fine. Why?”

  “You seem down. You never seem down.”

  Was it noticeable? Couldn’t have that. He was security. Had to be a rock.

  “I’m okay. Is he coming?”

  “He’s close,” Marie said.

  Rick made a show of peering through the window. “Funny, I don’t see him.”

  She laughed. “I’ve been thinking. He can’t enter visible and then turn invisible. After his second or third time they’d recognize him and wonder what he’s up to.”

  Rick had been thinking the same thing. “Right. He’s got to be invisible from the get-go. The doors chime when they open, so he has to sneak in and out with somebody else, then wait around for the last employee to lock up.”

  Marie said something but was drowned out by the horrendous rattle of the 7 train on the tracks above.

  “Sorry. Come again?”

  She said, “I’m pretty sure he’s in there now, but he could be standing by the front door.”

  “We’ll just wait.”

  At eight sharp, a middle-aged man locked the front door and headed toward the rear. The overheads in the showroom went out, leaving a night-light at the end of the hallway by the rear entrance as the only illumination. Rick waited an extra five minutes to give the employee time to drive or walk away.

  “Okay, Marie. Walk over there and stare through the window for a few minutes.”

  “Why?”

  “I want him to get a good look at you. Because when we do catch up to him—and I’m pretty sure we will—I want him to know your face before you start persuading him to join your nadaný gang.”

  Marie shrugged. “I’ll give it a try.”

  He watched her cross the boulevard and approach one of the front windows. As she stared into the dark showroom she folded her arms behind her back and gave him a thumbs-up.

  Good. The nadaný was in there. They’d be back at opening time tomorrow to see—well, probably not see. They’d find a way to follow him from here.

  Rick dropped Marie off at her place, then headed back to the warehouse. As he was pulling in, he saw Ellis Reise pulling out. Rick started to wave but Ellis was looking elsewhere. Deliberately, he thought.

  Inside he ran into Iggy and Ruth.

  “You gals know where Ellis went?”

  Iggy nodded. “Back to his old place to get some things.”

  Uh-oh.

  “You suddenly got a worried look,” Ruth said.

  “Might run into trouble over there.”

  Iggy grinned. “He knows, but he say he can handle it. He been studying.”

  “Studying what?”

  “The body. He got a book.”

  “Anatomy,” Ruth said, nodding. “He know all about the neck now.”

  Shit.

  Rick hurried toward Stahlman’s office to find Ellis’s address. He still had time to stave off disaster.

  7

  Ellis cruised his block and spotted one of Vinny Donuts’s guys parked with a view of his building’s front steps. Not the same guy as earlier, but he’d seen this one around. Vinny didn’t have a real big crew but Ellis had watched this guy playing pit boss on gambling night. Not that he’d expected Tony or Joey to be waiting, what with the way Rick had busted them up. He wished one of them had come along as backup, though. Didn’t matter which—Joey with his wiseass cracks about Ellis’s name and his Kia—“we’re gonna make kimchi outta your car”—or Tony who’d taped him up and emptied the gas out of his car. The two of them had been all psyched up to stick Ellis and his Kia into the crusher.

  Well, Ellis Reise wasn’t the same guy as then. Ellis Reise had learned a few things about himself in the meantime. Not looking for more trouble than he already had, but he wasn’t about to run from it either. Not anymore.

  He’d considered sneaking in through a back window he knew how to open. But it was tricky and dirty and, seeing as it was just this one guy, he decided to go in the front. Tell the truth, he was just a little ticked they’d sent only one guy. Donato owed him over 400 Gs. Wasn’t that worth at least two?

  Whatever. Maybe Vinny couldn’t spare two guys to sit and wait for someone who might never show up.

  Well, here I am, baby. Ellis Reise, in the flesh and in your face.

  As usual, no
parking spots on his street this time of night. Never were. No matter. He wouldn’t be long. He parked in front of a fire hydrant, checked to make sure Vinny’s guy saw him, then bounced down the front steps to his basement efficiency apartment. Inside, he pulled the shades and flipped on the lights.

  He didn’t own a suitcase so he grabbed an old duffel and started stuffing it with clothes and underwear and sneakers and such. He didn’t have much so it didn’t take long. He was just about finished when he heard the door open and close behind him. He turned to find Donato’s guy standing there, twirling a nasty looking knife in his hand. Six-inch blade, easy.

  Despite all his preparations, Ellis felt his mouth go dry. This had better work.

  “Reise,” the guy said with a nasty grin. “I thought Vinny was wasting my time out there. Never dreamed you was stupid enough to come back.” The grin widened. “But here you are, right in my lap.”

  Ellis put on his best game face.

  “What’s your name?” Ellis said.

  “Whatta you care, fuckwad? You ain’t gonna need to know where you’re goin’.”

  “I just want to give you a chance, okay? You can turn and go and no hard feelings.”

  “Really? Ain’t that, whatchacall, gratuitous of you.”

  Ellis didn’t think that was the word he meant, but at the moment he couldn’t come up with the right one.

  With all the confidence in the world, the guy said, “Let’s get this over with,” and jumped forward.

  Then Ellis struck. He’d been checking out the human neck, wondering how he might be able to choke someone without touching him. Easiest would be to crush the windpipe. Karate guys could do that with a punch, but Ellis didn’t think his gift was strong enough to crunch all that cartilage.

  But the anatomy book had showed him two arteries in the neck—the carotids—like small hoses. If he could squeeze those—press them flat, really—he could cut off the blood supply to someone’s brain. Do it long enough and that someone dies.