The Void Protocol

by F. Paul Wilson

  Fine-fine-fine, Ruthie. Just do it.

  Now she sat on the sheet-covered pool table, dangling her legs and looking scared.

  Laura gave the skin of the target area an extra coating from the betadine swab, then donned another pair of sterile gloves. She’d bought half a dozen pairs just to be safe. Marie had volunteered to act as surgical assistant. She’d had no medical training but was willing, and that was more than half the battle.

  “Ready?” Laura said.

  Marie nodded.

  Laura looked at Ruthie. “Ready?”

  “I guess.” She sounded anything but sure.

  “Lie back.”

  “I wanna watch,” Ruthie said.

  “No, you don’t. Just lie back and look at the ceiling. You won’t feel a thing and this will be over before you know it.”

  She lay back and Laura put out her hand.

  “Scalpel.”

  Marie tore open the packet as Laura had instructed, allowing Laura to grab its handle without contaminating it. She preferred a number eleven blade—very sharp point with a straight blade, not the beveled number fifteen usually shown on TV. As she plunged the point through the skin of Ruthie’s thigh, she heard a gasp.

  Not Ruthie—Kevin’s face had gone white. His back was against the wall and he was sliding down to a squat.

  “You okay?”

  “I think I’ll be better off closer to the floor,” he rasped.

  Laura made a one-inch diagonal incision along the cleavage line of the anterolateral thigh—and hid her surprise as it started to bleed. Of course it would bleed, but all the skin she had been incising for years upon years was dead and never bled.

  Not much blood now. She’d used a lidocaine-epi mixture to minimize the bleeding and extend the local anesthesia as long as possible.

  She quickly slid the GPS recorder—wrapped in a fresh sterile glove finger—through the incision into the fatty layer beneath the skin, then closed the slit with three quick nylon sutures. Would the sutures go with her? Who knew? They were in terra incognita. She taped a lump of gauze over it to act as a makeshift pressure dressing. She had no doubt that would be left behind when Ruthie teleported but she felt compelled to cover the incision anyway.

  “Done,” she said, snapping off her gloves.

  “Already?” Ruthie said, sitting up and staring at the bandage. “You fast!”

  “But you’ve got to be even faster. Get back to wherever they had you, learn whatever you can about where it is, then jump back here and let us know.”

  “Okay.”

  Instead of jumping off, she sat there looking pensive, worried.

  “Well?” Laura said.

  “I’m thinking.”

  Laura knew what was going on in her mind. The room she’d left could now be full of people and she’d be popping into their midst stark naked.

  “While Iggy’s scared and alone,” Marie said.

  “Iggy ain’t scared a nothin’!” The heat behind her words died as she said, “Shit,” and disappeared.

  Her clothing collapsed onto the pool table as something hit the floor with a metallic clink: the bloody GPS tracker. The sutures, the tape, and the bloody gauze followed.

  “Shit,” Kevin said in the same tone.

  11

  LANGE-TÜR BUNKER

  Ruthie always closed her eyes during that sick-dizzy instant when she jumped. She couldn’t help it. And this time was no exception. She opened them immediately upon feeling the air on her bare skin, ready to jump straight back to her apartment if she saw anyone.

  No one. She released the breath she’d been holding.

  And yeah, same room—she’d pictured it before the jump. She saw her clothes in a pile under some weird sort of collar. She grabbed her underpants first and that was when she noticed the blood oozing down her leg.

  “Fuck!”

  She’d expected to leave the bandage, but what about the GPS thing?

  She felt the area above the bleeding cut. Nothing under the skin there. She’d lost the GPS—left it behind. She tossed the underpants onto the rolling bed. No sense in getting dressed now. Might as well go back.

  But Iggy was here. Maybe she could find out the location of this dump without the GPS.

  The underpants got bloody as she pulled them on. She needed to stop that bleeding. She grabbed her bra and tied it around her thigh, right over the cut. It seemed to work. She’d just ruined a good bra, but she could always buy another. She pulled on the sweatpants and top.

  Now what?

  Find a window and see if anything looked familiar. Like what? The Washington Monument? The Brooklyn Bridge? But damn if she could find a single window. The walls were solid concrete. Like a prison. But hell, even Rikers had windows. Not that she’d ever been there, but she just assumed. So what was this place? It gave her a shiver. Made her want only one thing: out.

  Okay, the fastest way out was to get to work. No windows, so what next?

  Go find Iggy, she guessed. Or even better, find Rick. Laura had said he’d been snatched too, and he seemed like a tough mother. Yeah. Find Rick first if he was here. She could use a tough mother on her side right now.

  She slipped into her sneakers and padded to the door.

  Please don’t be locked, please don’t be locked, please don’t be …

  She tried the knob and the door pulled open.

  Yes!

  A peek revealed a quiet hallway with lots of doors just like this one. Steeling herself, she slipped out, eased her door closed behind her, and sidled to the next door to her right. The knob turned but the door wouldn’t budge. Then she saw the big metal key sticking out. She gave it a quick turn, then tried the knob again. She pushed the door open enough to stick her head inside.

  Iggy sat on the bed staring at her in shock.

  “Ruthie! What—”

  Ruthie shushed her as she slipped through and closed the door.

  “Keep it down, girl!”

  Iggy was up and running at her. They threw their arms around each other and hugged. Iggy sobbed against her shoulder and Ruthie felt herself tear up as well.

  “How’d you get free?”

  “I jumped back to the warehouse and then came back here.”

  Iggy pushed back and grinned, dimpling her wet cheeks. “You came back for me?”

  “Believe it, girl.”

  “You bring help?”

  “That’s just it. Can’t bring no help because nobody knows where the fuck we are. Do you?”

  Iggy shook her head. “No clue.”

  Ruthie noticed the collar. “Hey, what’s that around your neck?”

  “I don’t know.” She tugged at it. “I had it on when I woke up. Maybe it’s some kind of tracking thing, so they can find me if I run away.”

  Tracking … that reminded her.

  “We’ve gotta find out where we are. I ain’t seen one window yet. You?”

  “I’ve been locked up in here. Had a couple of visitors but that’s it.”

  “Yeah, so did I, but I ghosted soon as I woke up. Maybe we can—” Ruthie jumped at a knock on the door. “Shit!” she whispered. “Someone’s here! What do I do?”

  Iggy pointed under the bed. “Go!”

  Ruthie dropped and crawled. A tight fit but she made it just as the door opened.

  “Oh, good,” said a woman’s voice. “You’re awake.”

  “Who can sleep?” Iggy said.

  “Yeah, I understand. I’m really sorry about this. But let’s try to make the best of it, okay?”

  Make the best of it? Ruthie thought. Fuck that. Get her outta here.

  “What do I call you?” Iggy said.

  “My name’s Maureen. I guess that’ll do.”

  “Where are we, Maureen?”

  Yes! Ruthie gave a tiny fist pump. Go, Iggy!

  “We’re …” She seemed to hesitate. “We’re on the edge of the Pine Barrens.”

  “The edge of the Pine Barrens,” Iggy said nice and loud, then st
arted coughing.

  I heard you, Ruthie thought. Don’t know what that means but maybe somebody else will.

  Then she realized the coughing was for a reason. People said she made a pop when she jumped, and Iggy was trying to hide it.

  So Ruthie jumped.

  12

  Rick handed Annie the swipe card.

  “This will open the big steel doors down the end of the hall. They make some noise but the two guards are out cold and nobody came looking when I opened it. Make sure you close it after you.”

  “What’s out there?”

  “A long corridor—good half mile, I’d say.”

  She groaned. “A half mile? Really?” She hated to walk.

  “But they’ve got golf carts—”

  “Golf cart? I can’t use no golf cart! What if somebody sees it driving itself?”

  “Nobody there to see you. And no cameras either.”

  “You been out there?”

  “I did a quick reconnoiter. The elevator at the end takes you up to ground level and out.”

  “You know that?”

  “Pretty sure.”

  “Well, if you been there, why didn’t you go get help?”

  He gave her a do-I-really-have-to-say-this look. “Unfortunately, I can’t turn invisible, and odds are about a hundred percent that it’s guarded up top.”

  “When those elevator doors open, they gonna know something’s up.”

  “When they see the elevator’s empty, they’ll think it’s some mechanical glitch.” He grinned. “Knowing how smoothly you got in and out of that Starbucks yesterday, I don’t think you’ll have any problem slipping past whatever security they’ve got posted up there.”

  Well, he had that right. She’d had plenty of practice moving along crowded sidewalks unseen and untouched.

  “Yeah, okay. Then what?”

  He pulled a cell phone out of his coverall and handed it to her.

  “You get a safe distance away and use this to call the state police.”

  “You got a phone? Why haven’t you—?”

  “No signal down here. When you’re safe, call the state police and tell them you just escaped captivity but your captors still have some of your friends locked up.”

  Annie saw a problem. “Where do I say I am? I don’t even know what state we’re in. That dead-eyed fucker said we were in Fort Knox but—”

  “Fort Knox? He told you that?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then you can bet that’s where we’re not. But anyway, tell the cops you don’t know where you are. They’ll lock in on your phone and locate you. I think we’re in Jersey, by the way. But no matter, just get the cavalry riding our way and soon we’ll all be out of here.”

  “ ‘All’? If Ruthie’s gone, who else is left?”

  “That’s what I plan to find out.”

  “You going out looking? What if you get caught?”

  Rick shrugged. “I’m already caught. But any of your friends who’re here may have collars that need removing.”

  This guy had fucked up her life by getting her involved in this mess, but she was finding him hard to hate. She kind of liked him, in fact.

  “They could put one of those collars on you and start zapping you just for fun.”

  His eyes went flat. “Yeah. They could. But they won’t.”

  She knew right then she wouldn’t want to be the guy who tried to do that.

  “Ready to go?” he said.

  “Yeah. I guess.”

  He eased open the door. “I’ll stay here and listen for those big doors. When I hear them close, I’ll start looking for others.”

  The first time she’d gone invisible was because she’d been scared out of her mind. Now she could vanish simply by thinking of that time. She didn’t have to feel scared, just had to remember feeling scared. After triggering the invisibility, she held on to it like holding on to a thought.

  The world shimmered and dimmed around her, which meant she’d vanished. The world got streaky as she stepped out into the hallway. Dr. Montero had told her that was from light bending and slipping around her as she moved.

  Whatever.

  He’d been totally amazed. To her it was like totally natural.

  She was about halfway down the hall when she heard a door open. She froze. Why, she couldn’t say. Not like she’d be spotted.

  Turning, she saw an older woman—sixtyish, graying, a little chunky—step out of a room three doors down.

  Hey. The bitch who woke her up with the nasty fucker who made the shock collar. Pretty clear to Annie she hadn’t known about the collar beforehand. And the way she’d flinched every time it zapped showed she didn’t like the idea at all.

  Still, Annie had to restrain herself from braining her as she crossed the hall and passed within a foot of her.

  The woman knocked on the door to room five. After waiting a second or two, she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Annie had the hallway to herself again.

  Who was in there? Annie was tempted to try for a peek but decided against it: Get out and get help. That was her mission. She’d have all the answers she wanted after the cops raided the place.

  The world began to streak again as she moved on.

  13

  The edge of the Pine Barrens …

  Maureen wondered why she’d phrased it that way. She’d meant to use the Fort Knox line, but then Lakewood Naval Air Station had leaped into her brain, yet that hadn’t been completely accurate. Yes, they were on the NAS property but not truly part of the facility proper. The edge of the Pine Barrens had been the most truthful.

  But since when did truth matter here?

  She shrugged it off, just as she’d shrugged off the unlocked door. She thought Greve had locked it but maybe he hadn’t. Not that any of the nadaný could leave anyway. Well, except for Ruth, of course.

  “Need a drink of water?” she said as Iggy controlled her coughing.

  She shook her head. “No, I’m fine now. But look, Doctor Maureen, if you’re—”

  “My friends call me Moe.”

  “Are we friends?”

  “I hope we can be.”

  “Well, okay, Moe, if you’re gonna ask me about what kind of gift I have again, don’t waste your time. The answer’s the same: I don’t. Marie says I’m a nadaný, but if that’s true, I’m a loser nadaný. I’m useless.”

  “Nobody’s useless. Especially you.”

  For some reason she felt protective toward this teen with the bleached pigtails. But that aside, what was the draw here? They couldn’t have any common ground. Maureen was white middle class with an advanced science degree, Iggy was a Puerto Rican high school dropout from the ghetto.

  And really, does anyone say “ghetto” anymore? That’s how far out of it I am.

  “No, you see I’m especially useless because that melis stuff you gave my mother before I was born didn’t work on me like the others. I wound up with zero-zip-nada-nothing.”

  Melis? What the—?

  “How do you know about—?”

  “You told me, remember? You said you were ‘intimately’ involved in the Modern Motherhood Clinics that gave them the stuff.”

  Had she said that? Yes. She remembered now. Whatever had possessed her to do that?

  “I was. I became Doctor Emily Jacobi and ran the places.”

  “ ‘Became’?”

  “Pretended to be.”

  What am I saying?

  “I spoke out of turn—I’m speaking out of turn.”

  “You mean you weren’t involved?”

  “No—I mean, yes, I was, but—”

  “Your pal there said it was a government thing. Really? Why’s the government trying to create human freaks?”

  “Freaks? That wasn’t the intention at all. Anything but. Melis was supposed to increase intelligence.”

  “Did it?”

  “It did in rats. When we mixed it with saline and injected into pregnant rats, their offspring
ran mazes like nobody’s business.”

  “So you decided to try it on humans. My moms wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box but I just know she wouldn’t say okay to that. Which meant you were experimenting on us without asking, right?”

  Maureen shrugged. “How could we ask? Messing with the brains of unborn babies? Who was going to go for that?”

  She couldn’t believe she was telling her all this. An alarm bell rang about how this could backfire big-time. But then again, how could it? Her word against Iggy’s—she said, she said. So why not? Maureen felt comfortable with Iggy, and it felt good to unburden herself.

  “But how did you rope the moms in?”

  Maureen smiled. “We used the magic word: free. We got the cities behind us. Look, don’t go making us sound like monsters. We had the best intentions. Melis had proved harmless in limited trials so we decided to go wide. We set up free OB clinics to serve the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. Increasing the intelligence of those kids would allow them to pull themselves out of the economic slums.”

  Iggy’s turn to shrug. “Didn’t make me smart. The only reason I got as far as I did in high school is they didn’t want to keep me.”

  “Yeah, well, none of the rest of your cohort turned out to be academic superstars either. We watched most of you through grammar school, but you were all average or worse. We closed down the clinics. We thought it was a bust. If we’d watched you all into puberty we might have seen the unintended results.”

  “So you dosed my moms with this melis. What is it? Some kinda super-vitamin?”

  “That’s what we told people. But the truth is, we have no idea what it is.”

  Iggy’s eyes widened as she straightened up. “No idea? That’s bullshit! You made it. You gotta know what it is.”

  “Truth is, we didn’t make it and we have no idea what it is.”

  “Bullshit! You gotta. Where’d you get it?”

  Maureen thought about how to respond to that, but couldn’t come up with an answer that wouldn’t sound completely insane.

  I can’t believe I’m doing this, she thought.

  “It’ll be easier to show you than tell you.”

  14

  QUEENS