Gideon's Corpse (2 page)

“So you’ll understand what’s going on and why. And if the conversation gets personal, you might have to ad lib a little. But don’t go shooting your mouth off or making promises. Gain his sympathy, remind him of your friendship, reassure him everything’s going to be fine, that his concerns will be taken seriously. Be calm. And for God’s sake, don’t argue with him about his delusions.”

“Makes sense.”

Fordyce gave him a long, appraising look, his hostility softening somewhat. “We’ve been doing this a long time.” A beat. “You ready?”

Gideon nodded.

“Let’s go.”

3

F
ORDYCE LED GIDEON
through a final set of barricades to the front line of concrete barriers, armored vehicles, and Plexiglas shields. The armor under his shirt felt bulky and foreign. Now he could hear the megaphone clearly.

“
Reed
,” came the electronic voice, calm and avuncular, “
an old friend of yours is here and wants to talk to you. His name is Gideon Crew. Would you like to talk to him?
”

“
Bullshit!
” came the reply, in an almost incoherent scream. “
I don’t want to talk to anybody!
”

The disembodied voice was coming from the front door, which was standing ajar. All the curtains had been pulled and there was no one to be seen, hostages or Chalker.

A gravelly voice sounded in his earpiece. “Dr. Crew, do you read me?”

“I read.”

“I’m Jed Hammersmith, I’m in one of the vans, sorry we can’t meet in person. I’ll be guiding you. Listen to me carefully. First rule is, you mustn’t respond to me when I speak to you through the earpiece. When you’re out there, obviously you can’t be seen to be communicating with anyone else. You’re talking only to him. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“
You lie! All of you! End the charade!
”

Gideon felt a chill. It almost didn’t seem possible this was the Chalker he knew. And yet it was his voice, distorted by fear and madness.

“We would like to help you,” the megaphone said. “Tell us what you want—”

“
You know what I want! Stop the kidnapping! Stop the experiments!
”

“I’m going to be feeding you questions,” said Hammersmith’s calm voice in Gideon’s ear. “We’ve got to move fast now; things aren’t going well.”

“I can see that.”

“
I swear to God I’m going to blow his brains out unless you stop messing with me!
”

There was an inarticulate scream from the house, a woman’s pleading. And below that, Gideon could hear the high-pitched wailing of a child. It chilled him to the bone. His own childhood memories—his father standing in a stone doorway, Gideon himself running across a green lawn toward him—came back stronger than ever. He tried desperately to tune them out, but every blast of the megaphone just served to bring them back.

“
You’re in on it, you bitch!
” Chalker screamed to someone at one side of him, “
you’re not even his wife, you’re just another agent. This is all bullshit, all of it. But I’m not playing along! I won’t take this anymore!
”

The megaphone voice responded, preternaturally calm, as if talking to a child. “
Your friend Gideon Crew wants to talk to you. He’s coming out now.
”

Fordyce pushed a mike into his hand. “It’s wireless, set up to loudspeakers on the van. Go.”

He pointed toward a bulletproof Plexiglas shelter, narrow and enclosed on three sides and the top, leaving the back open. After a moment’s hesitation, Gideon stepped from behind the ARV into the glass box. It reminded him of a shark cage.

He spoke into the mike. “Reed?”

A sudden silence.

“Reed? It’s me, Gideon.”

More silence. And then, “
Oh my God, Gideon, have they gotten to you, too?
”

Hammersmith’s voice sounded in his earpiece, and Gideon repeated his words. “Nobody’s gotten to me. I was in town, heard the news, came down here to help. I’m not with anybody.”

“
Liar!
” Chalker shrieked back, high and quavering. “
They’ve gotten you, too! Has the pain started yet? Is it in your mind? In your guts? It will be! Oh yes, it will—!
” The voice suddenly stopped, replaced by a violent retching.

“Exploit the pause,” came Hammersmith’s voice. “You need to gain control of the conversation. Ask him, How can I help?”

“Reed,” said Gideon. “How can I help?”

More retching—then silence.

“Let me help, please. How can I help you?”

“
There’s nothing you can do! Save your own ass, get away from them. These bastards will do anything—look what they did to me! I’m burning up! Oh Christ, my gut—!
”

“Ask him to step out where you can see him,” said Hammersmith in Gideon’s ear.

Gideon paused, recalling the snipers. He felt himself go cold; he knew if any of the snipers had a clear shot, they’d take it.
Just like they did with my father…
He also reminded himself that Chalker had a family in there, at gunpoint. He could see some men on the roof of the row house. They were getting ready to lower something through the chimney, a device that looked like a video camera. He hoped to hell they knew what they were doing.

“
Tell them to turn off the rays!
”

“Tell him you really want to help him, but he needs to tell you how.”

“Reed, I really want to help you. Just tell me how.”

“
Stop the experiments!
” Suddenly Gideon saw movement in the doorway. “
They’re killing me! Turn off the rays or I blow his head off!
”

“Tell him we will do all that he asks,” came the disembodied voice of Hammersmith. “But he has to step out where you can talk to him face-to-face.”

Gideon said nothing. Try as he might, he couldn’t get the image of his father out of his head: his father, hands in the air, shot in the face…No, he decided, he wasn’t going to ask that. At least, not yet.

“Gideon,” said Hammersmith, after a long pause, “I know you can hear me—”

“Reed,” Gideon said, cutting off Hammersmith, “I’m not with these people. I’m not with anyone. I’m here to help you.”

“
I don’t believe you!
”

“Don’t believe me, then. But hear me out.”

No response.

“You say your landlord and landlady are in on it?”

“Don’t go off script,” warned the voice of Hammersmith.

“
They aren’t my landlady and landlord
,” came Chalker’s response, ramping up, hysterical. “
I never saw them before! The whole thing’s a setup. I’ve never been here before in my life, they’re government agents! I was kidnapped, held for experiments—
”

Gideon held up a hand. “Reed, hold on. You say they’re in on it and it’s a setup. What about the kids? Are they part of it?”

“
It’s all a setup! Aaaahhh, the heat! The heat!
”

“Eight and ten years old?”

A long silence.

“Reed, answer my question. Are the kids acting? Are they conspirators, too?”

“
Don’t confuse me!
”

More silence. He heard Hammersmith’s voice. “Okay, this is good. Follow up.”

“No confusion here, Reed. They’re children. Innocent children.”

More silence.

“Let them go. Send them out here to me. You’ll still have two hostages.”

The long silence stretched on, and then there was a sudden movement, a high-pitched scream, and one of the kids appeared in the doorway—the boy. He was a little kid with a mop of brown hair, wearing an I ♥ My Grandma T-shirt, and he came out into the light, keening in fear.

For a moment Gideon thought Chalker was releasing the kids. But when he saw the nickel-plated .45 shoved into the boy’s neck, he realized he was wrong.

“
You see this? I’m not kidding! Stop the rays or I kill the kid! I’m counting to ten! One, two—
”

The mother was screaming hysterically in the background. “Don’t, please don’t!”

“
Shut up, you lying bitch, they’re not your kids!
” Chalker turned and fired the gun once into the darkness of the house behind him. The woman’s screaming stopped abruptly.

With one brusque movement, Gideon stepped out from behind the Plexiglas cubicle and walked into the open area before the house. There were shouts, cops yelling at him—
get back, get down, the man’s armed
—but he kept walking until he was less than fifty yards from the front door.

“What the hell are you doing? Get back behind the barrier, he’ll kill you!” Hammersmith shouted into his earpiece.

Gideon plucked the earpiece out, held it up. “Reed? You see this? You’re right. They were telling me what to say.” He tossed the earpiece on the asphalt. “But not anymore. From now on we talk straight.”

“
Three, four, five—
”

“Wait, for God’s sake,
please
.” Gideon spoke loudly. “He’s just a child. Listen to him screaming. You think he’s faking that?”

“
Shut up!
” Chalker screamed at the boy, and, remarkably, the boy stopped. He stood, trembling and pale, his lips fluttering. “
My head!
” Chalker shrieked. “
My—
”

“Remember when those school groups came to see the lab?” Gideon said, struggling to keep his voice calm. “You loved those kids, loved showing them around. And they responded to you. Not to me. Not to the others. To you. Remember that, Reed?”

“
I’m burning up!
” Chalker screamed. “
They got the rays on again! I’ll kill him, and the death will be on your head, not mine! You HEAR me? SEVEN, EIGHT—
”

“Let the poor boy go,” Gideon said, taking another step forward. It deeply frightened him that Chalker couldn’t even count straight. “Let him go. You can have me instead.”

With a brusque motion, Chalker turned, aimed the weapon at Gideon. “
Get back, you’re one of them!
”

Gideon held his arms out toward Chalker almost beseechingly. “You think I’m in on the conspiracy? Take your best shot. But please,
please
, let the kid go.”

“
You asked for it!
” And Chalker fired.

4

A
ND MISSED.

Gideon dropped to the tarmac, his heart suddenly pounding so hard it seemed to knock itself against his rib cage. He squeezed his eyes tight shut, waiting for another explosion, a searing pain, and oblivion.

But a second shot did not come. He heard a confusing welter of noise, voices shouting over one another, the rasp of the megaphone. Slowly, slowly, he opened his eyes, looked toward the house. There was Chalker, barely visible in the doorway, holding the boy in front of him. He could tell from the way the man handled the weapon, his shaking hand, his stance and grip, that it was probably the first time in his life he had fired a handgun. And he was shooting from fifty yards.

“
It’s a trick!
” Chalker shrieked. “
You’re not even Gideon! You’re a fake!
”

Gideon got up slowly, keeping his hands in sight. His heart refused to slow down. “Reed, let’s just do the trade. Take me. Let the little boy go.”

“
Tell them to turn off the rays!
”

Don’t argue with his delusion
, they had told him. It was good advice. But how the hell should he respond? “Reed, everything will be all right if you just release the boy. And the little girl.”

“
Turn off the rays!
” Chalker crouched behind the boy, using him as cover. “
They’re killing me! Turn off the rays or I blow his head off!
”

“We can work it out,” Gideon called. “Everything’s going to be fine. But you have to let the boy go.” He took another step, and another. He had to get close enough for a final rush—if it became necessary. If he didn’t rush Chalker, tackle him, the little boy would die and the snipers would take Chalker out—and Gideon didn’t think he could bear seeing that happen.

Chalker screamed as if in agony. “
Stop the radiation!
” His whole body was shaking as he waved the gun around.

How do you respond to a lunatic? Desperately, Gideon tried recalling the advice Fordyce had given him.
Engage the hostage taker, stimulate his humanity.

“Reed, look into the boy’s face. You’ll see how truly innocent he is—”

“
My skin’s on fire!
” Chalker cried. “
I was counting! Where was I? Six, eight—
” He suddenly grimaced, his face contorted with pain. “
They’re doing it again! The burning, burning!
” Once again he pushed the gun into the child’s neck. Now the boy began to scream—a high, thin sound, otherworldly.

“Wait!” Gideon yelled. “
No, don’t!
” He began walking more quickly toward Chalker with his hands up. Forty yards, thirty—a distance he could cover in a few seconds…

“
Nine, TEN! TEN! Ahhhhhh!—
”

Gideon saw the finger tighten on the trigger and he sprinted straight at him. At the same time, with an inarticulate roar, the male hostage suddenly appeared in the hallway and fell upon Chalker from behind.

Chalker wheeled backward, the gun firing harmlessly.

“Run!” Gideon screamed at the boy as he dashed toward the house.

But the boy did not run. Chalker struggled with the hostage, who was clinging to his back. They spun around together and Chalker slammed him into the wall of the entryway and wrenched free. The man rebounded with a fierce cry and swung at Chalker, but he was a flabby man in his fifties and Chalker deftly sidestepped the blow and punched him to the floor, knocking him senseless.

“Run!” Gideon yelled at the boy again as he jumped the curb.

As Chalker swung the gun around toward the father, the boy leapt onto the scientist’s back, pounding him with his small fists.

“Dad! Get away!”

Gideon tore up the walkway toward the front steps.