Boy X (20 page)

Ash moved the torch beam around the edge of the hole to illuminate the canvas pack hanging from the reinforcement bar.

‘We should leave him,' Isabel said. ‘Go after Pierce and get the cure.'

‘You heard what he said. I have to know about my mum. I mean—'

‘And
I
have to have the cure,' Isabel snapped at him. ‘My papa and your mama need it.
I
need it. We are going to die.'

‘I can help with that,' Thorn said. ‘I have the cure. It's right there in my pack.'

07 hrs and 33 mins until Shut-Down

W
ithout hesitation, Ash reached down to grab the pack. He dragged it away from the place where it was snagged, and opened it as quickly as he could. He pulled out a syringe gun, shining like polished silver, and held it up to the light. It was the same as the ones they had seen in the lab.

‘That's your cure,' Thorn said. ‘
Zeus.
Everyone on Cain's team was injected, but I kept a dose. Just in case.'

Ash looked at the syringe gun in his hand.

‘Just put it against your arm and pull the trigger,' Thorn said. ‘It's simple. I'm just sorry I only have one. You will have to decide which of you is going to have it.'

Isabel opened her mouth to say something, but Ash
shuffled forward on his knees and pressed the barrel of the gun against her upper arm. He squeezed the trigger and the needle came forward, releasing what he hoped was
Zeus
into Isabel's system.

‘There.' Ash tossed the syringe away. ‘It's done.'

‘Very noble,' Thorn said. ‘Now for my water and painkillers.'

Ash took a metal canister from a pocket on the side of the pack and dropped it down into the hole. Thorn groaned when it landed on his stomach, and grabbed it before it could roll away.

‘Painkillers,' he said.

‘As soon as you tell me about my mum.'

‘There's a plastic box. Take it out. Let me see them.'

With an impatient sigh, Ash dug into the pack and found a white plastic box, with a red cross printed on the front. He popped it open and saw three narrow packets with a covering of foil, similar to a strip of tablets. Taking them out, he held them up for Thorn to see. ‘Tell me everything you know and you can have them.'

Thorn took a sip of water and wiped his mouth. ‘
Isla Negra
is unique,' he said. ‘There's nowhere else like it on earth. At least, not that anyone knows about. During the war, it was important because it's so close to the Panama Canal, but there was also a small research facility here.'

‘You mean, like Nazi experiments?' Ash asked.

‘No.' Thorn shook his head in a slow and weak movement. ‘Most papers were destroyed, but scraps and fragments were found in different languages – German,
French, Japanese, English. Whatever they did, whatever
happened
here, it changed the island. It could have been a virus or bacteria that leaked and altered the nature of the microorganisms, maybe the re-introduction of animals used for experimentation . . . no one's sure of anything except that something changed this island. For many years it was left to . . . evolve. The buildings crumbled, but the forest and the animals changed. They
thrived
.'

‘Which is why everything here is so weird,' Ash said. ‘Why the animals are bigger. I get it, but what's that got to do with my mum?'

‘When BioMesa came here, they noticed that the biggest changes occurred in one animal in particular. The monkeys.'

‘The howlers.' Immediately Ash remembered the way they had watched him from the glass cages in the lab – how they had stared at him from the treetops. A shivering uneasiness tingled in his scalp. ‘What kind of changes?'

‘They were strong, intelligent, resistant to disease, able to adapt to almost anything. That's where your mother and Pierce became involved. They worked together on—'

‘Mum
worked
with Pierce?'

‘Mm-hm. A research black site – a secret facility – was established on the island. Your mother and Pierce came here more than ten years ago to investigate what was happening, and they became interested in the monkeys. Pierce thought he'd identified some kind of . . . mutation in their blood. Something that made them different; something that could be used to enhance human performance.'
Thorn paused and grimaced in pain.

Ash waggled the painkillers. ‘Keep talking.' ‘Pierce wanted to test his mutagen on humans, but the days when that was allowed were long gone, so he tested it on himself. It was a failure. Nothing worked. After that, all I know is that something happened between Pierce and your mother. Pierce's research was closed down, he was dismissed from the company and your mother left the island to continue working at BioMesa in England. That's where she isolated
Kronos
from blood taken from the howler monkeys living here. Swimming in their blood right alongside it was the antiviral,
Zeus
.'

‘But that can't—'

‘I know you don't want to believe it, Ash, but it's true. Your mother weaponized
Kronos
. She made it airborne – that means you can catch it the same way you catch a common cold.' Thorn winced as pain burnt through his leg. ‘She was appalled, though, at what she had achieved. At how uncontrollable
Kronos
is. You have to believe that, Ash. All her energies were then focused on
Zeus
, on the cure.'

Ash thought back to the storage room in the BioSphere, to all that HEX13 nestled in the locker. What had Isabel said when he asked if they made guns there?

(
Not guns. Other kinds of weapons, I think.
) ‘Pierce wasn't working for BioMesa any more but somehow he found out how far your mother had progressed with her research,' Thorn said. ‘He demanded that his part in the discoveries should be acknowledged. He wanted the
details of how to isolate the virus. He wanted
Kronos
, but your mother refused to give it to him – she feared he might sell it as a weapon, sell to the highest bidder. She believes it's too dangerous, too unresearched. It begins like flu, but develops fast, spreading through the internal organs in hours, making them bleed, like the Ebola virus. And once
Kronos
has done its worst, even
Zeus
can't save you.'

‘Shut-Down,' Ash whispered.

‘Your mother destroyed her research. Everything to do with
Kronos
was wiped from existence, and that made Pierce mad. He hired Cain's team to help him – to force your mother to give him what he wanted. We were to bring her here to reproduce her work from memory. A private jet to San Jose in Costa Rica, a helicopter to
Isla Negra
and here we are – the only place on the planet where Pierce could force your mother to recreate her work. He needed a lab and he needed those monkeys. This is the
only
place where the right blood can be found. And if she didn't do as he asked, you would be killed. We had intelligence to that effect, so I infiltrated the team back in England. My job was to stop them.'

In a daze, Ash stared down at Thorn. ‘That's why they kept me asleep,' he said. ‘So I was ready to be killed.'

‘No one knows why you didn't wake up. But Pierce didn't care. He had you where he needed you, and when your mother's work on
Kronos
and
Zeus
was completed, Pierce planned to release the virus within the dome and lock down the BioSphere. Everyone was supposed to die in there, while we escaped with your mother's notes. With those,
and just one monkey, Pierce would have everything he needed to make as much
Kronos
as he wants. But things went wrong when your mother tried to stop him.'

‘How do we know you're not lying?' Isabel asked. ‘How do we know you weren't going to kill us?'

Thorn fixed his eyes on her. ‘I could have done it in the corridor. I was right beside you in the dark, remember? Or I could have done it in the storeroom. I could have killed you anytime.'

‘But you didn't.' Isabel glanced at Ash, but he was silent, still reeling from the idea that Pierce had ordered his death.

‘No. Because I wanted to help you. But it doesn't matter if you don't believe me. What you
do
have to do is stop Pierce from getting off this island. If you don't, millions of people will die. Pierce thinks he's going to sell
Kronos
to The Broker – a man who wants to control it,' Thorn said, ‘but he's wrong. The Broker isn't a man; it's an organization – a doomsday cult that wants to save the planet by wiping it clean and starting over. A few chosen people will be given
Zeus
, then
Kronos
will be released across the world and everything will begin anew. A simpler world.'

‘They want to kill
everyone
?' Isabel whispered.

‘The explosive from the storeroom,' Thorn said. ‘I have some right there in my pack. Detonators and handset too. Use it to put a hole in the boat. Whatever happens, they can't leave this island. And if you're lucky, you might even be able to save your parents.'

‘How?'

‘There's a radio transceiver on the boat. The only way to
communicate off island. Before you use the explosives, set the radio to channel seventy-two and broadcast a coded message. Repeat it every minute until you hear a response.'

‘What message?' Isabel asked.

‘
Titan Down.
I have people standing by on the mainland. They can be here in well under half an hour.'

‘Right.' Isabel looked at Ash, then at the painkillers in his hand. ‘Give them to him. Let's go.'

Ash hesitated, then threw the box down into the hole and stood up.

‘There's something else you should know,' Thorn said as they were about to walk away. ‘About your dad.'

‘My
dad
?' Ash stopped and looked back.

Thorn took a deep breath and rubbed a hand across his face. ‘I'm sorry, Ash. What happened to him . . . When your mother refused to give Pierce what he wanted, he organized a way to persuade her. What they were going to do to you . . . they already did to your father.'

‘No.' Ash felt a flush of grief and confusion. ‘It was an accident. Hit and run.'

‘It was murder, Ash. Your father was killed on purpose. Pierce ordered it. He wanted to—'

But Ash didn't hear the rest of what Thorn was saying. All he could think about was that car coming off the road and ploughing into Dad. It was the same thing he had seen over and over again in his head, except now it wasn't senseless and it wasn't an accident. It was a vicious murder.

And there was something else gnawing at the back of Ash's mind. A twisted thought with a terrible black heart.

What happened to Dad hadn't been his fault.

It had been Mum's.

And he was here because of her.

06 hrs and 53 mins until Shut-Down

T
hey left the bunker in silence, emerging into the fragrance of the jungle. Howler monkeys, watching in the dark from the treetops, tensed when the door opened. They sat forward on their branches and trained their eyes on the boy who emerged. The frogs and insects continued to croak and chirrup as if everything was normal, but nothing was normal.

They struggled up the incline towards the ridge Isabel had mentioned, the torch lighting their route ahead when necessary. High in the canopy, the powerful monkeys shifted and followed, swinging from tree to tree in eerie silence.

Ash was still trying to process everything Thorn had told
them. He was filled with anger and sadness, everything whirling in a muddle of misunderstanding. ‘I can't believe it. I can't believe what's happening. My dad . . . and do you think Mum
really
meant to make something so bad?'

Isabel pushed past a low hanging branch without moving it aside. ‘I think adults do the stupidest things.'

Ash had thought that telling Isabel about Dad earlier had helped him to feel better, but now it was even worse. His throat was tight and his mind was awash with so many feelings. He held back his tears and made himself think of something else. ‘Do you feel any better?'