Day 50 (The DMT Series Book 2) (16 page)

Just then a door burst open on the other side of the garage and the doctor came running out, mobile phone in hand. “Stop. Stop!” he yelled.

“Can’t do that,” Adam replied, more to himself than the doctor, still moving towards Cameron and the waiting ambulance. Then he changed his mind and stopped. “You go,” he instructed Hugo, who reluctantly continued alone.

“You can’t take my patient,” the doctor yelled. He was now only twenty metres away from Adam, who had turned around and was now facing the doctor.

“We believe your patient’s life is in danger,” Adam hollered.

“Doesn’t matter. You can’t take him. I’m responsible for him. He will die without proper treatment,” the doctor replied, slowing down to a walking pace as well.

“Martin Drecker is an old friend of mine. He’ll be safe with me.”

“Drecker? Is that his name?”

Adam nodded. “A secret government agency has been hiding him here because they are afraid of what he knows.”

The doctor stopped in his tracks. He stared at Adam. In his heart he trusted the stranger in front of him. It wasn’t because what he said made any sense, because it didn’t. Secret government agencies were something that belonged in Hollywood movies. Not in real life. Everyone knew that. But the doctor had only two days earlier been informed he was going to be transferred to another hospital, in rural Utah. He had asked a few critical questions regarding his government-funded John Doe patient, and shortly after, the doctor had been told he was going to be sent to one of the most desolate places in the US. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

“Unfortunately I can’t let you take him,” the doctor said, holding his phone up to show Adam he had already alerted the police.

“Freeze,” a voice yelled out from the emergency exit door, which was still open. And before Adam had time to react, the doctor turned around with the phone in his hand. A shot rang out and the doctor dropped to the ground with a gunshot wound to his chest.

Another gunshot immediately rang out, and the figure by the emergency exit door fell forward, tumbling down some stairs. Adam turned to see Hugo stand with a gun in his hand. He had obviously disregarded Adam’s order not to bring any weapons, and had brought the handgun they had bought from his cousin.

“Fuck,” Adam said, before kneeling down to check the doctor’s pulse. There was no point. He was dead. “OK. Let’s get out of here before the police arrive,” he said, running towards the ambulance.

Alejandro swore. He was standing inside the giant freezer, staring at the box containing his precious DMT. He had dispatched three separate search parties to look for Shawna’s cousin, but he didn’t have high hopes any of them would manage to locate Cody. Cody’s followers were extremely loyal. He knew, because he had personally recruited several of them. The main problem was, however, that none of them feared death. How do you intimidate somebody who thinks he is serving the prophet himself? He wondered. There wasn’t really anything Alejandro could do. Of course, he had to kill Nurse Shawna, and everyone else on her shift. Over the next few days he would track down her closest family members and execute them as well. It was another thing Marconi had taught him. It wasn’t sufficient to be ruthless. Everyone could be ruthless. You had to go one step further. To be so vicious that whatever people feared, they would always fear you more.

It wasn’t yet time, but he simply couldn’t afford to postpone it any longer. He had asked his most loyal servants to lock the door of the freezer from the outside, and keep it locked for exactly three days. He had seen it in their eyes: The doubt. How could Alejandro possibly survive inside the freezer for three days? It was humanly impossible. But Alejandro didn’t expect to survive. He expected to die.

He opened the box containing the DMT, and placed the carefully measured syringe on the metallic table.

Today was the day.

Today was the day he would die.

Today was the day he would become immortal.

PART 3

42

3 days later.

Outside New York,

June 2015.

Adam poked Hugo softly in the shoulder. “Did you see that?”

Hugo nodded. He had just witnessed Drecker open both his eyes. “Yes, I did. He blinked.”

“Get Cameron. She needs to be here when he wakes up.”

“I thought she was sick.”

“She should be fine. She is just drained for energy. It is one of the side-effects of healing. Just get her, please?”
“Sure,” Hugo replied, before leaving to get his girlfriend.

Hugo sat down on Cameron’s bed, and with his index finger he gently brushed away some wild strands of hair from her cheek.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Cameron said when she finally opened her eyes. “I look terrible.”

“You look beautiful,” Hugo replied, love beaming from his eyes. If he hadn’t witnessed it himself he would never have believed it. But he had witnessed it. He had witnessed a true miracle. They had arrived at the motel with a guy who was practically dead; he had been in a coma for more than a year. And now, three short days later, he was about to wake up. Make a full recovery. And it was all due to Cameron.

Cameron stared at the bucket on the floor with a horrified look on her face.

“Don’t worry. I’ve emptied it,” Hugo said.

“I’m so embarrassed.” Cameron buried her face in the pillow.

“Don’t be. It’s not like I’ve never puked before. It’s quite natural. In fact, I think I puked every single day for three months when I was on chemo.”

“You’ve had cancer?” Cameron asked, putting away the pillow.

Hugo nodded. “When I was a kid. Spent four months in a hospital. I know how hard it can be to let someone see you at your most fragile. You just have to forget about pride when you are sick though, and trust that the people who love you will take care of you.”

“You love me?” Cameron asked, straightening her back.

“You know what I mean,” Hugo smiled. “But what if I loved you? Would that be so bad?” He moved in to give her a kiss.

“No, that’s where I draw the line. You’re not allowed to kiss me until I’ve cleaned up.”

“OK. Join us in the living room when you’re ready. John Doe just blinked.”

“He’s waking up?”

Hugo nodded. “You’ve just performed a miracle.”

Cameron arrived in the living room fifteen minutes later. By that time Dr Drecker had already managed to drink some water and utter his first few words in a year. He had asked where Cody was, and then he had asked for forgiveness.

“Why did you decide to kill us?” Adam asked.

“I don’t know. I truly don’t know what happened to me. I’m a scientist. I’ve always believed in science. But as time passed by in Marconi’s camp I became convinced that Cody was a prophet, that he was the Messiah returned.”

“How is that possible? You knew how he acquired his abilities.”

“I don’t know. It’s almost as if I stopped thinking critically. I was constantly told how Cody was a Prophet, how he was going to become the saviour of our world. At some stage I guess I just started to believe in it.”

“You’ve been brainwashed,” Hugo said.

“What?”

“It’s happened to members of my family back in Mexico. They joined some Christian cult up in the mountains. They used to be smart people, sensible people. But the lack of impulses from the outside, the complete isolation and constant reinforcement of the community made them stop thinking for themselves. They blindly accepted everything the local church told them. They ended up taking their own lives - thought some spaceship was going to come down and lift them up to heaven or something.”

“I haven’t been brainwashed,” Dr Drecker snapped. “I think I would have known if someone tried to brainwash me.”

Adam shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever it was, I’m glad to have you back among the sane.”

“And I’m glad to be back alive. How did this happen?”

“She happened,” Hugo said, as Cameron entered the living room.

“Cameron, beautiful Cameron,” Dr Drecker smiled. “You have the same ability as Cody.”

Cameron nodded. “I just don’t advertise it so heavily,” she replied.

“Good thinking. If I could go back and change things I would.” A tear formed in the corner of Dr Drecker’s right eye as he thought back on all the mistakes he had made. All the wrong choices he had made. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s OK. You weren’t yourself.”

“I’m not myself now either,” Dr Drecker replied.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve changed. When I was in that hospital I couldn’t move my body, I couldn’t talk or do anything at all. But I was awake. I was awake every single second. And I heard everything.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I was conscious the entire time. My body was useless, but my mind was fine. I was trapped inside my own head. All I wanted to do was to scream. To let someone know that I was still in there somewhere. But no one listened. So I spent my days thinking, thinking about what I had done wrong, thinking about what DMT had done to my son.”

“Did you figure anything out?”

Dr Drecker nodded. “I think I’ve approached the problem in an entirely wrong way. I think I now finally understand what happens to humans when you increase the level of DMT in the brain.”

The living room went dead quiet. Adam put down his beer and moved closer to the couch where Dr Drecker was lying.

“And I know who is hunting us. I know his name. I know what his plans are.”

43

The guard put his ear closer to the cold metal door and listened. Had he just heard knocking from the other side? He couldn’t have. Alejandro Vasques, the boss, surely had to be dead by now. They had discussed his actions throughout the first two nights, he and the other guards. Why had Mr Vasques insisted on being locked inside the freezer? Did it have something to do with the Prophet going missing? Was the sorrow of the Prophet going missing so great he couldn’t stand living anymore? And what would happen if the Prophet, Master Cody, didn’t return? Who would lead them if both Mr Vasques and the Prophet were gone?

The guard pulled his head back from the solid metal door. He had just heard it again. It had definitely been knocking.

Nervously, he fumbled for his keys. He dropped them to the floor twice before he actually managed to insert the correct key into the lock. His hands were shaking, equally from cold and fear, as he turned the key and pulled the door open. What he saw on the other side of the door was something he would never have anticipated in a million years. His imagination was simply not vivid enough. Alejandro Vasques was standing, totally naked, with his entire body covered in frost. His beard and hair were frozen solid.

“Guard, fetch my robe,” Alejandro ordered as he walked past the guard into the hallway. Steam rose from his defrosting body.

It was impossible, it was just plainly impossible. The guard fell to his knees, hands folded in front of him. “Forgive me, Master, forgive me for having doubted you.”

Alejandro studied the frightened guard with curiosity. He felt like kicking him, or slapping him across the face. He had given him a simple order; to fetch the robe. Instead the guard had dropped to his knees, and was now spewing out apologies for not having been a true believer. Alejandro constrained himself. He knew very well this moment would be part of
The Legend
; it was the moment of his resurrection. The story wouldn’t be as powerful if the first thing he did was to slap around a simple guard. This was a historic moment. A clever one-liner would be more appropriate. Whatever he uttered in the next few seconds would go down in history, and stay there for eternity. “Behold my child, the True Prophet has returned from the afterlife. I have returned to bring salvation for mankind,” he said with theatrical enthusiasm.

44

James Carter marched across the room, swearing. Three days ago Adam and Cameron had managed to kidnap Dr Martin Drecker from the aged care facility at which MKULTRA had been keeping him. James Carter couldn’t believe the brazenness they had showed by returning to the US and snatching Drecker. They had even killed one of MKULTRA’s agents in the process.

Adam and Cameron had certainly proved to be worthier adversaries than Carter had first thought. So far Carter had funnelled most of his resources into catching or killing Cody, as he had considered him a much larger threat. There was little chance Cameron or Adam would reveal the secret of DMT, there simply wasn’t anything in it for them doing so. And Adam was a former soldier in the US Army; he would understand the consequences if the world was ever told the power of DMT. There were plenty of lunatics out there. You wouldn’t want something as dangerous as DMT ending up in the wrong hands.

Carter opened the door to his office and walked inside. It had been three weeks since he had last set foot there, and it showed; piles of unopened post were stacked on top of the desk. Carter wasn’t a bureaucrat stuck to an office though, he was a field man. It was in the field all the important work was done, and Carter’s real office was his encrypted satellite phone. But the Director of the CIA had decided, in his infinite wisdom, that everyone in the agency needed a base, somewhere they could call home. Even the Black Operations like MKULTRA. It was something about creating a feeling of connectedness. If one had an office, one felt part of something. The Director of the CIA had at one stage in his career been the chairman of one of the largest consultancy companies in the US, and he had witnessed how his consultants over time had grown more loyal to their customers than their employer. It was at the customers’ premises they spent their days anyway. The risk reward assessment had been easy for the consultancy behemoth. The savings in rent by disallowing the consultants to have their own desk had been greater than the cost of increased turnover of consultants. It was different with employees of the Government’s secret agencies though. One couldn’t risk a single one of them feeling disconnected from his employer. Their loyalty had to be absolute. Especially in an organisation like MKULTRA. Thus the CIA had funded a whole floor of office desks in the middle of Manhattan for MKULTRA. Ninety percent of the workstations had never been used. And on the few occasions James Carter had stopped by the office, he was usually the only one there. He wasn’t even sure if any of the other agents had been issued keys.