Ann Marie's Asylum (Master and Apprentice Book 1) (24 page)

“I see.”

The CEO continued like he was on a roll. “The man has no authority,” he went on. “He gives this company just enough to keep control over us while he keeps the rest for himself. The Feds give him immunity to do whatever he wants. He has no allegiance to anything or anyone and he has control over a god damned futuristic arsenal.”

“No one stopped him.”

“He’s a violent, drugged-out lunatic!” The CEO exclaimed. “What could...” He started before realizing that Ivy was not pleased with what he was saying.

“Don’t you ever,” she said sounding simultaneously more pleasant and more threatening, “speak about Doctor Dade Harkenrider in such a disrespectful manner.” She leaned forward into the desk and said in a hushed voice, “You’re vile compared to him.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he said, flinching and hiding behind his hands like he was expecting to get shot. “I won’t say anything about wonderful Dr. Death ever again.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Ivy said. She raised her hands in the air as though she was going to deliver another supernatural blow. It sent the CEO cowering in his chair. She went on, saying, “I think the weight of your position is getting to you. It’s a demanding job and it’s understandable. My bet is that you’re going to step down as chief executive officer for the sake of your health. Phil, I worry about your quality of life if you stay in this job. I bet you’re thinking that you’re too high up and too connected for Bernard and I to just kill you. You may be right about that. Still, you’re going to step down and appoint the rightful man, well, woman for the job.”

“I don’t...”

“If that doesn’t happen,” Ivy continued. “Bernard and I won’t need to kill you because you’ll be sitting in a government torture chamber somewhere. Your little plan to let Chinese hackers into the system really won’t go over with the military brass when I tell them. Using the enemy to spy on your own people. That won’t go over at all.”

Chapter 13

Datura

Hours after their experiment was over and Ann Marie had gone home for the night, Dade was alone in his laboratory. He was staring at something on one of his large computer screens. Connected dots of red and black filled the screen as he analyzed the latest spectrographic data for a new hallucinogenic compound. The open door to the patio let in a little bit of chilly ocean air as well as some of this hiss of the surf. In the dark, his face danced with the reflections from the glow of the screen. His expression was that of complete focus.

He pointed his head toward the door like a fawn disturbed by a forest predator. He heard something outside, a sound barely audible over the ocean and the palm trees tossing in the breeze. It sounded like a person humming, like some kind of nursery rhyme melody.

Dade walked out to the patio and when he peeked below, he saw what looked like a little girl sitting right in the middle of the courtyard garden. The brunette girl sat Indian style, running her fingers through the soil and sand in front of her. She didn’t seem to notice Dade looking down on her from above.

When he reached the laboratory lobby, he could tell that the person playing in the sand in the garden was a grown woman. Her humming was childlike but she had long limbs and the full body of an adult. She wore a long cotton nightgown, which was covered with grass and mud stains as though she had crawled to the laboratory.

It was Ivy Cavatica.

She lifted some sand into the air with her right hand, then let it fall between her fingers. She seemed completely absorbed as though the simple action was fascinating.

“Hi, Dade,” Ivy said. “I’m glad you came outside.” She stood up from the garden and turned to face him. “I’m really sorry for what happened the other day. I didn’t want to do it.”

“I know.”

“I’m asleep right now. That’s how I can talk to you. I’m asleep.”

“Why did you want to talk to me?”

Ivy shrugged her shoulders like a baffled child, saying, “I dunno.” Looking away as though ashamed of something, she added, “It’s afraid of you. You’re the only thing it’s afraid of. It told me to stay away but I’m asleep and it can’t see what I’m doing very well. It hasn’t gotten in there yet.” She lowered her voice to a whisper and told him, “I don’t think I have much time left.”

“What has Bernard Mengel done to you?” Dade said to himself.

“When I’m awake, I have to share my consciousness with it. More and more. Everyday. I like being asleep. You can help me. You can stop it. That’s why it’s so afraid of you. It knows you’ve figured out a way. That’s how you saved yourself years ago.”

“What you’re talking about could kill you or worse.”

“What’s worse than becoming a monster?”

“I don’t know exactly what Bernard’s done to you. It could be too late.”

“You need to be careful,” Ivy said, looking like a startled little girl. “We’re coming for you and Ann Marie. I won’t be able to stop it. I’m sorry, Dade.”

She walked off into the trees.

...

The following afternoon, Ann Marie went by herself to pick up a package that was mistakenly delivered to someone in the Asylum corporate accounting department. The sample of rare earth nanopowder catalyst had been sent to her all the way from Japan. Ann Marie had gotten the call about the mistake that morning. The trip was sending her to one of the lower corporate buildings down the hill.

She and Dade usually avoided the lower corporate grounds. The place seemed, to her, to be populated almost entirely by polite and well-groomed zombies. As she walked down the concrete path, many of them stared at her, looking bewildered at the sight of her young face. They were trying to spot the name on her badge. She could tell that a few of them knew who she was or at least knew that she worked for Dr. Death.

The lower Asylum buildings all looked the same, three-stories of opaque black glass with lines of suits filing in and out. Very few people spoke to each other. It seemed to Ann Marie that most of the people there seemed like they were pulled straight out of a loved one’s funeral.

She heard some commotion behind her as a group of suits reacted to something out of the ordinary. “What is that thing?” Someone called out. “Holy shit!” cried another man.

“What the devil do you think we make at this corporation?” Asked Bernard Mengel, who, it turned out, was the source of the commotion. His DeathStalker drone was right at his heels, following like a loyal dog but eyeing him like an assassin. Bernard’s smile beamed confidence to the onlookers and he spoke with the authority of a Sunday morning preacher. “What you see here is a secret prototype,” he told the crowd of perhaps fifteen people. They all kept back from the thing like it was a poisonous snake. He held his finger in front of his mouth and said, “SHHHH!”

Someone in the crowd, a tall man with a tightly trimmed grey beard, asked Bernard, “Did Dade Harkenrider build that thing?” Then he just stared at the DeathStalker, shaking his head. “Been here thirty years,” the man said. “I know when I’m looking at something supernatural.”

Bernard noticed Ann Marie standing there and said to the onlookers, “We have his apprentice right here!” With a warm smile, he waved to Ann Marie to come over. When she got closer, Bernard told them all, “This young lady is the finest young scientist in the United States. Scratch that,” he started to add. “The finest young scientist in the world.”

The man with the grey beard respectfully nodded. He looked to her as though he had something to ask. After a few moments of internally rephrasing his inquiry, he finally asked. “You really work with Dade Harkenrider?” Then he looked almost confused, adding, “Closely?”

Ann Marie didn’t know what to say and she just nodded.

“Be careful with that man,” said the grey bearded fellow. He started unceremoniously in the other direction and left them.

“Dade has a fan club wherever he goes,” said Bernard to Ann Marie as they watched the man fade into the marching line of suits.

“I don’t understand,” she said. “Why is everyone so afraid of him?”

“Because that mentor of yours is very dangerous. You’re the only one that doesn’t see it, my dear.”

“He’s not dangerous,” said Ann Marie. “Not to me.”

“That is probably true,” Bernard admitted. “He loves you. At least as much as a vicious monster can love something.”

“He doesn’t love me. He doesn’t even like me. He just needs me.”

“I know Dade Harkenrider better than his own mother and he doesn’t need anyone. You are around him because he wants you around him.”

She caught herself looking as though she was hanging on Bernard’s every word and turned away from him. “I’ve been told you’re very dangerous, that even talking to you is dangerous.”

Bernard smiled even wider. “If I were to venture a guess,” he said, “these warnings have originated from either Dade or our friend, the Sheriff.” He looked her in the eyes and drew a breath. “Take a walk with me, my dear,” he said, pointing to his DeathStalker on the ground next to him. Flashing red laser light from its electronic eyes, the thing peered up as though to tell Bernard:
I’m watching you
. Bernard told Ann Marie, “I believe your safety is guaranteed.” Then, with a smile, he whispered to her, “Dade’s spawn will keep me in line.”

She felt a surge of curiosity and answered so quickly that Bernard could detect her excitement. “OK,” she answered. “I think it’s probably safe.”

Bernard started down the walkway with Ann Marie and the DeathStalker following. He asked her, “Did you ever think that perhaps I’m not as dangerous as your master would have you believe?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

“Did you ever consider that our dear Doctor Harkenrider has given you the wrong idea about me? He is a bit paranoid after all. You can’t spend all that time on the other side without some side effects.” Bernard studied Ann Marie’s face until he seemed sure that he had introduced some uncertainty. “I still love him. Don’t get me wrong. But I worry about him around you.”

“He’s fine around me. He’s my friend.”

“One should be careful around anyone, I suppose,” said Bernard. “Especially in this grotesque world we’re living in. Friendship is indeed an honorable idea. Not one fit for human beings, but honorable nonetheless.”

“Dade told me that you tell the truth,” she said to him.

Bernard looked surprised. “That’s the first semi-kind thing Dade has said about me in fifteen years.”

“He also said you mix lies with the truth. On purpose.”

A smile grew on Bernard’s face until it looked ripe enough to explode into laughter. “I do,” he admitted. “What can I say? I’ll try to be honest with you right now but I suppose that’s no guarantee.”

“There are some things I want to know.”

“Ha!” Bernard blurted out. “Me too, my dear.”

“Dade took me to the other side.”

Bernard studied her face and started grinning as though he could detect something. “I thought I saw it on you,” he said. “That’s fantastic! How did you talk the sour puss into it?”

“Well, it was an accident.”

“From your expression, I would say a happy accident. I remember the first time for me. It was quite a long time ago but it doesn’t feel that way. The moment I broke free for the first time is one of my most treasured memories. When are you planning to go again?”

“Well, we haven’t really talked about that. Dade says it’s dangerous. He seems to worry about what will happen to me.”

“Dangerous? Is that really what he’s telling you?” Bernard asked, sounding skeptical. “It’s his sacred duty to pass down his knowledge to the next generation. If I were you, my dear, I wouldn’t accept that. Just some advice from an old man that’s done some living.”

Then he walked away from her with his DeathStalker following like a paparazzo.

Chapter 14

The Red Formula

Judging by the extreme care Dade was taking to perform the first step of his new chemical recipe, Ann Marie knew that they were headed into dangerous territory. He mixed up two liquids, one green and one blood-red, and a cloud of black smoke erupted from the blend. The churning mass of smoke looked nearly alive as it was sucked into the powerful fume hood vents.

Dade took a step back from hood and inspected the setup like a sculptor. His intense look was a mixture of concentration and rivalry. It was as though he was daring the chemicals to defy him. After the smoke cleared, he put a laboratory spatula full of catalyst into the flask. Bubbles quickly began to form and burst. Each collapse triggered a small flash of white light in the flask.

“Is it sonoluminescence?” asked Ann Marie. “How is it lighting up without being pumped by an energy source?”

“They don’t teach you about this in your laboratory units,” said Dade. “This is a little different.” He tapped the side of the glass flask. Suddenly, glowing red bubbles rose to the surface of the liquid and burst. Like miniature fairies, white sparks began to surge out of the top of the flask and float into the vents.

Despite having spent the majority of her young life in a chemistry lab, Ann Marie had never seen anything like it. She took a step back with her head spinning from the sight. “What is that stuff?” She asked. “I’ve never even heard of fluorescent phenomena like this.”

“Very few people have,” said Dade. “Probably just Bernard and me. And now you.”

“Can you teach me how to prepare it?”

“Not this time,” Dade answered. “This isn’t like the green stuff. It’s too intense. It’s dangerous.”

“Wait a second,” argued Ann Marie. “Too intense? I’ve already flown out of my body and over the lab. I think I can handle it.”

“You can’t.”

“I handled the green formula fine. You said I was a natural.”

“This is completely different.”

“If it’s so dangerous, why are you doing it? Aren’t you afraid?”

“Very afraid. As afraid as I’m capable of being. I need to do this because there are things I need to find out. This is the only way to do it.”