Kingdom of the Seven (16 page)

Read Kingdom of the Seven Online

Authors: Jon Land

BOOK: Kingdom of the Seven
3.67Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
This time he waited until he had checked into a roadside motel fifteen miles away before calling Sal Belamo.
“Been a good day, boss.”
“Ratansky’s list of names?” Blaine questioned, expectations rising.
“Crazy nuts. I ran these names for hours, looking for
something that links them together. Came up with diddly-squat till I logged into a data bank even I never dare fuck with: the IRS.”
“Keep talking.”
“Turns out almost seventy percent of the names on the pages you salvaged have something in common in a big way: major donors, boss, and I do mean major. To the tune of over a billion dollars total.”
“And just who’s the lucky recipient?”
Belamo sounded like he was enjoying himself. “This is where things start getting interesting. That billion all went to something called the First Church of the Redeemer. But don’t look for the typical steeple and stained-glass windows. The First Church of the Redeemer is strictly a television ministry, and the names in question are its primary benefactors. Charter members of something called the Key Society.”
“Never heard of it.”
“You wouldn’t have, ’less you got nothing else to watch on Sundays, boss, or any other day of the week, for that matter. These boys don’t just sponsor their own TV ministry; they got their own TV network called the Future Faith channel. Ain’t theirs really, though. Belongs to a dude comes into fifty million homes with a touch of the channel changer.
“Dude by the name of Harlan Frye.”
The limousine’s engine was still purring when Karen Raymond stepped into the clearing that leveled off before one of the many sharp drops in Torrey Pines State Park. She had huddled amidst the trees that had given the park its name while awaiting MacFarlane’s arrival. Part of her breathed easier that Alex had at least lived up to this part of the arrangement, while another part remained wary of the man who was somehow part of a plot that had nearly killed her.
Trust no one.
That was easy: She had no one left to trust, except T.J. Fields and the Skulls, of course. A number were here with her now, all personally selected by T.J. He had wanted to come himself, but Karen reminded him of a greater responsibility she had entrusted to his care: her sons. The team he had selected had arrived hours ahead of her. They would be in position now, although Karen could see none of them through the thick tree cover rimming the area.
Karen stopped fifteen yards into the coarse expanse and
waited. As instructed, the limousine flashed its high beams twice. She watched its rear passenger door open and the shape of Alexander MacFarlane emerge. The night wind blew his shock of white hair this way and that, disarranging his careful coiffure. He approached her with hands stuffed in his overcoat pockets. Karen waited until he was twenty yards from the limousine and then started forward. They met in the open center of the grove encompassing the Overlook, alone in the dark with only the limo’s high beams and some stray light from the ranger station for illumination.
“Take your hands out of your pockets, Alex.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Your hands, let me see them.”
MacFarlane removed them from his overcoat, shaking his head. “This has to stop, Karen.”
“I’ll say.”
“You’re in danger.”
“That’s why we’re meeting here.”
MacFarlane took one step closer. “What you did last night was foolish.”
“Prove it, Alex. Tell me what’s going on. Tell me why my lab team had to die. Tell me why my kids almost joined them.
My kids!”
His mouth dropped. “You don’t think I could have had anything to do with—”
“I know you did.” Karen hadn’t been sure until that very moment. Something about MacFarlane’s tone convinced her, something about the way he held his eyes. “Don’t bother denying it. If you do, there’s no reason for this discussion to go any further.”
MacFarlane frowned. “I never would have hurt your kids. I never would have hurt you. That much is true.”
“What about the rest?”
MacFarlane’s eyes had grown sad, conceding. “I told them to let me handle it. They agreed, Karen. Do you hear me? They
agreed.”
Karen could feel her heart thudding against her rib cage. “Who, Alex? Tell me who.”
“The who doesn’t matter. It’s the what.” MacFarlane paused. “Your discovery.”
“Lot 35. The AIDS vaccine. Keep going, Alex.”
“This is so damn hard … .”
“I can wait.”
“It’s about power, Karen, it’s all about power. I’m talking about Lot 35.”
She glared at him. “Who wanted it buried? Who killed eight people and nearly three others to keep it from reaching the market?”
MacFarlane let out a long sigh. “Van Dyne.”
Karen heard the words again, a heartbeat after MacFarlane spoke them.
Van Dyne
… One of the largest, most powerful pharmaceutical companies in the world.
“I work for them,” MacFarlane continued without any prodding. “So do you. They own Jardine-Marra.”
The revelation hit Karen like a hammerblow. Disgusted, she looked away from MacFarlane briefly to disguise her emotion before her gaze was drawn back to him as he continued.
“Van Dyne’s the biggest in the world now, Karen. Their biggest concern isn’t their competition, but the government itself. Managed health care, price fixing, regulation—they knew their profit margin was headed for the shredder. They needed to expand quietly, buy out companies who weren’t in direct competition with them.”
“Like Jardine-Marra …”
“Because of our mail-order business primarily. Their buy-in was all done quietly, stealthily. Everything was perfect.”
“Perfect? Listen to what you’re saying!”
MacFarlane’s voice took on an edge. “
You
listen, Karen. Where do you think the money came from to finish your project? That’s right, without the cash acquired through Van Dyne’s buy-in, Lot 35 never would have happened.”
Karen stumbled over her thoughts briefly, then righted herself. “But they knew about it, didn’t they?”
“They knew it was a long shot. Knew the government had already rejected your request for further funding.”
“You told them,” she said flatly.
“I had … no choice.”
“When? When did you tell them?”
“At the beginning of our conversations. Well over a year ago.”
“Then they’ve known about my work that long and yet they waited until yesterday to strike?”
“We—I—had no idea Lot 35 worked until yesterday. You did a superb job of keeping your progress secret, even from me.”
“Makes us even, since you never told me I was working for Van Dyne.”
“And if I had?”
“I would have taken my work somewhere el—” Karen stopped herself, having made MacFarlane’s point for him.
“Exactly.” He nodded. “They couldn’t afford that.”
“Why?”
“Because they’ve got their own vaccine, Karen. Hundreds of millions of dollars already invested, final testing toward gaining approval well under way. Lot 35 would have offered them competition they couldn’t afford.”
“Then so long as it didn’t work, they had nothing to worry about. But once I revealed our success with the project at the board meeting, you informed your friends at Van Dyne, and they responded just like you knew they would.”
“No! No! I told them I could handle it. I told them it was under control. They agreed.”
“They lied.”
“But there’s a way out of this. I can save you. I can save your kids.” MacFarlane took a step toward Karen. “Lot 35. They want it. Give it to them and—”
“What do you mean they want it? After they destroyed
everything
last night …”
MacFarlane seemed about to speak, but didn’t.
“Wait a minute,” Karen said, realizing, “not destroy—steal. That’s what last night was about. They destroyed evidence of my research only after they thought they had stolen it.”
“The computers,” MacFarlane started.
“No single disk contains more than fragments that are virtually impossible to make sense of independent of each other. It would take even the most advanced technicians months. I alone possess the ones that contain everything. Only they didn’t know that. They
couldn’t
have known that.” Her expression tightened, confusion twisting it taut. “But according to you, they’ve got their own vaccine. What could they possibly need Lot 35 for, Alex?”
“It doesn’t matter. All that does is that it gives us a bargaining chip. If you agree, I can get them to guarantee your safety in return.”
“Like they did last night.”
MacFarlane’s face was expressionless. “This is the only choice we’ve got, Karen.”
“And accepting it means the killers of my team, my
friends
, go free.”
“If it means you and your kids stay safe, yes, absolutely.” MacFarlane swallowed hard. “You’ve got to trust someone, Karen, and I’m your best bet.” He extended a hand toward her. “Come with me to the car, Karen. Let’s walk out of this together. Now.”
“To the police, Alex? Will we walk out of this and go to the police with what you’ve told me?”
Frustration squeezed MacFarlane’s features taut. Anger reddened them. “Haven’t you heard what I’ve been
saying?
We can’t fight them, Karen. But if you walk out of this with me now and give them what they want, we can save ourselves.”
She stiffened. “I don’t think I can do that, Alex.”
The hand stayed out there. “You must. Please.”
“They may own you. They don’t own me.”
MacFarlane tilted his gaze briefly into the spill of the
high beams. “You’ve got to come back to the car with me, Karen. There’s no other choice.”
She felt her hands clench involuntarily into fists. “They’re watching. You brought them here.”
“P1—”
“They shoot me if I don’t accompany you, is that it?”
MacFarlane just looked at her.
“You know what, Alex? I don’t think they will. If they want Lot 35 so badly, I don’t think they’ll kill me. I think I can walk right out of this park and they won’t fire a single bullet.”
“You don’t know them.
Listen
to me.”
“I’m learning fast.”
“They’ll find you, Karen. They’ll find your kids.”
Her expression hardened. “I’m going to destroy them, Alex. I’m going to expose them and destroy them.”
“You can’t. Nobody can.”
“We could—together. It’s you who should come with me.”
“Don’t be a fool.”
“Trust
me
. We’ll turn and start walking together toward the car. When I tug your arm, we make a dash for the woods over there on the right.”
“You’re mad!”
“We’ll be safe. We’ll find someone in power who’ll listen to what you’ve got to say. Van Dyne has got to be stopped, Alex. You wouldn’t have admitted all this if you didn’t believe that yourself. I’m the one who can save
you
.”
“You’re not alone,” he realized.
“Neither are you.”
Just for an instant MacFarlane wavered, seemed ready to join her before his expression solidified once more, his eyes like the granite spheres of a park statue’s.
“Last chance, Karen. Last—”
MacFarlane’s words were interrupted when gunshots erupted their way from inside the limousine. Karen caught
the brief flares of orange muzzle blasts as she dove to the ground under the spray.
“What?”
MacFarlane blared. “No!
No!”
He turned back toward the car and began waving his arms. A pair of bullets thumped into his chest and blew him backward. He staggered briefly, puzzled eyes finding Karen’s, and then crumpled near her.
The doors to the limousine opened, allowing four figures to emerge. Rifles leveled, they began a slow trot across the park toward her, taking their time. No reason to rush.
Where were the Skulls? Why weren’t they firing back?
Fear poured through Karen as she lunged to her feet and started to scamper away.
A pair of the gunmen were bringing their rifles upward.
God …
Karen stumbled and lost her footing. All the gunmen had stopped now, the weapons of the two in the front trained upon her.
And then a pair of pounding roars split the stillness of the night. The two gunmen with rifles ready were blown forward, blood exploding from the chasms ripped straight through their chests by what could only be the Skulls’ shotguns. Another series of roars sounded where the remaining pair tried to swing. These two were blasted from all directions, it seemed, not even managing to get a shot off before hitting the ground.
Stuttering automatic fire from the limo raked the Skulls who had moved in the open. One of the bikers fell, whether from a hit or from evasive action, Karen couldn’t tell as she continued to hug the ground. The remaining members charged out of the woods and closed on the big car from both front and rear. Their fire peppered the limo in a nonstop barrage that had Karen covering her ears tightly to drown out the sound. Window glass exploded and sprayed the ground nearby. The tires blew out. Stray shotgun pellets punctured the car’s white body, leaving black holes from front to back. The firing from within the
cab had stopped early into the barrage, but the Skulls were not taking any chances. Finally a half dozen of the gang members converged on the doors, while the remaining pair rushed toward Karen.
“You all right, ma’am?”
“You hurt?”
She shook her head as one of them helped her to her feet. The second Skull grasped her on the other side, and then they were running, her body shielded between theirs. Karen wanted to tell them to slow down, let her catch her breath. But there were no words.
There was only the night and the wooded park that enveloped them as they fled.

Other books

TT13 Time of Death by Mark Billingham
Deadly Stakes by J. A. Jance
The Mating Ritual by Tory Richards
The Love Laws by Larson, Tamara
MRS3 The Velvet Hand by Hulbert Footner