Rx Missing (Decorah Security Series, Book #10): A Paranormal Romantic Suspense Novel (11 page)

“You said my brother saved you from an attack?” Grant said.

Her eyes never left him, but now it looked like she was considering her earlier reaction to him when she’d said, “You’re not Mack?”

Slowly she took a step closer, staring at his face. “No, you don’t have the scar on your chin.”

“Yeah. I’m Mack’s brother, Grant,” he answered, punching out the words, “And I want to know what the hell is going on here? You reacted like you thought I was him. Where the hell is he?”

Her expression took on a look of confusion. “Don’t you know? I mean, didn’t you give permission for him to join the program?”

Grant fought a surge of anger and his own confusion. “Christ. What is this, some kind of shell game? What program? Mack was supposed to be dead. I went to the funeral home and opened his coffin, and there was a blank-faced dummy inside instead of him.”

She drew in a quick breath, her eyes widening as she took that in. “But I thought. . .”

“What?” he demanded.

“That the families had agreed.”

Somehow he kept himself from shouting. In as normal a voice as he could manage, he said, “I’ve been trying to figure out what was going on since I opened that coffin. Is my brother alive or dead?”

He waited with his heart pounding, watching her face contort as she gestured toward one of the beds.

“He’s there. I was just going to see him.”

“You’re Doctor Wardman?”

“Yes. Lily Wardman.”

Grant followed her past several beds where men and women were lying with their eyes closed, hooked up to wires and tubes.

Mack was occupying the next bed. His skin was pale, and his eyes were closed. He looked like he was barely alive.

Grant struggled forward, feeling like his arms and legs were suddenly weighted down with lead.

“Mack?” He reached out and touched his brother, startled and at the same time reassured that his skin was warm.

When they’d been boys, they’d had a special bond between them, a kind of private communication. It was like they’d been able to speak to each other without speaking words.

They had lost the ability as their bodies had changed from boys’ to men’s. Now he reached out, calling to his brother, trying to get through to the unconscious man on the bed.

Mack? Can you hear me, Mack? I’ve been searching all over hell for you. I finally found you, in some kind of lab. Can you hear me, Mack?

His brother’s lids fluttered, and his eyes opened, focusing on Grant. Beside him, Lily Wardman gasped.

“Mack?” she said.

His lips moved, but no sound came out.

She stepped forward, reaching for his hand, squeezing it. “Mack? Can you hear me?”

“Yes.”

“Thank God.”

He kept his gaze focused on her. “Where are we?”

“At the Hamilton Labs.”

But Mack’s eyes had already closed again.

oOo

Mack Bradley felt his vision blur. He reached for the wall, steadying himself against the solid, vertical surface. For a moment the hotel vanished, and he thought he saw another scene. Then it was gone.

He fought to ground himself, and finally his vision cleared. Lifting his head, he looking around. He was still in the hallway of the hotel. He would swear he’d seen his brother—just for a moment. And heard Grant calling him inside his mind—the way they’d done it when they were kids. After the ability had slipped away, they’d been frustrated by not being able to rely on a form of communication that they’d taken for granted. But they’d finally had to accept that it wasn’t coming back

Just now Grant had said something to him—mind to mind. And he’d had the strong impression that Lily was with him, which was even more confusing. Or had he been talking to Lily and not Grant. That was even weirder.

He didn’t know where Lily had gone. And he didn’t know where his brother was, either.

“Grant?” he said aloud and also silently. “Grant, is that you?”

It was curious to be reaching out to his brother in the old way now—after all this time. But if it was going to happen anywhere, why not in this place where the laws of physics had no meaning?

He felt a buzzing in his brain, like Grant was still trying to speak to him. But it was only a buzz, as though the power of that first jolt had dissipated.

He was left with the confusion of trying to sift through who had spoken to him. Grant or Lily? Could they be together somehow? Both trying to talk to him.

He spoke aloud, calling out to his brother, then Lily, alternating their names.

But neither of them answered, and Mack sensed there was no point in continuing to try and reach them again. At least not now.

oOo

For a moment Grant thought he’d gotten through to the man lying in the bed. Then the connection disappeared like a fantasy he’d conjured in his own brain. Fighting a deep sense of defeat, Grant looked up to see the woman staring at him with an expression that wavered between compassion and something he couldn’t quite read. But perhaps her reaction was similar to his.

“I think he heard us,” she whispered. “He . . . he spoke.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve tried to get through to him before, but he never said anything back. This time was different.” She tipped her head to the side and looked at him. “He responded to you first.”

“As you noticed, we’re twins. We could speak to each other in our minds when we were boys. Then it . . . went away. We hadn’t done it in years—until now.” He gave her a defiant look. “I’m not making it up.”

“I know. I saw him open his eyes. I heard him say something,” she said, like she was trying to remember the details of a dream.

Grant looked toward her, feeling his gaze sharpen as he fought to keep his balance in a world that had suddenly tilted to the side. “Wait a minute. You thought I was him when you first saw me. Walking around—not lying in this bed. Did you meet him when he was okay? I mean, what’s going on?”

She dragged in a breath and let it out. “Not here. Well, I think he was responding to me here because I spent a lot of time with him. But I went into the virtual reality with him and the other people you see here.” She stretched out her arm, indicating the people in the other beds.

Grant’s eyes narrowed. “How about speaking English. Virtual reality? Maybe you’d better back up a couple of steps.”

“Right. You don’t really know about the program,” she acknowledged, then seemed to be gathering her thoughts. “Okay, this lab was designed to give people with severe brain injuries— another chance at life.”

“You have a way to wake them up?” he asked. “Like was that what just happened with Mack?”

“I’m sure he’s going to wake up, but not the ones who suffered catastrophic brain injuries.” She swept her arm toward the sleeping men and women. “All of these people, including Mack, are in a coma here, but at the same time, they can be in a virtual world where they can have something close to a normal existence.”

He listened to her voice catch on the word “normal.”

“You’re lying.”

“No. It was supposed to be pretty much like this world. Well, somewhere different. A nice place where they could relax. A luxury hotel.”

He still wasn’t quite getting it. Or maybe he didn’t want to. “A place to relax? What are you talking about?”

She turned one hand up. “As far as they’re concerned, they’re at a hotel in a lush foreign setting so they wouldn’t be focused on what was happening back home. That was the theory.” She made a low sound. “But when they woke up, they were all worried about where they were. We should have thought about that,” she added, as though making a mental note.

“You mean they woke up in a strange place and were trying to figure out why?”

“Yes.”

“How do you know?”

“I was in there with them. That’s where I was talking to Mack,” she answered softly.

The gentle way she said it, made him study her carefully. “Talking?”

She flushed and looked away, then started speaking rapidly. “But something happened in there that we didn’t plan. Some outside force has gotten in. That’s the only way I can explain it.”

“Uh huh.” The whole thing was beyond weird, especially the last part, but he wanted to know what was going on with his brother. “And what are you saying about Mack, exactly?”

He saw her swallow. “I told Dr. Hamilton he shouldn’t be part of the experiment. His neck got twisted when he had to bail out of his fighter jet. His lower brain functions were compromised, but they seem to be coming back. I mean, we both saw him wake up—briefly.”

“And that means he’s going to wake up and get out of that bed?”

“We don’t know yet. There’s no way to predict his recovery in this kind of situation.”

Grant nodded, knowing she was doing the medical tango—dancing around predictions when you didn’t know what was going to happen. Still, he was about to press for more information when a sharp voice interrupted the private exchange.

“What is going on here?”

The question came from the man who had left the room earlier—Dr. Hamilton. He stared at Grant.

“Bradley?”

“Yeah.”

“But that’s impossible.”

When he reached for his phone, Grant raised the gun he’d been holding and at the same time grabbed Dr. Wardman and pulled her back against his chest.

She gasped and tried to wrench herself away.

“Stay still and you won’t get hurt,” he said, punching out the words.

When his captive quieted, he looked at Dr. Hamilton.

“Put your phone away, and don’t come any closer to me,” he ordered. “You’re going to tell me how I can get my brother out of here and back to a normal life.”

Grant noted the look of panic that flashed across the doctor’s features. Was he worried about his colleague getting hurt or that Grant was going to screw up his experiment?

As though he had settled on how he should be reacting, he said, “Don’t hurt her.”

“I won’t, if you cooperate,” Grant answered in a hard voice, acting like he was a two-bit thug who’d broken into this place to steal drugs or something. “Tell me what’s going on here,” he said, asking the same question that he’d asked the woman and wondering if he was going to get the same answer.

“Wait—you’re Mack Bradley’s brother?”

“Yes.”

“Your brother is in a very new program.”

“That you were supposed to get permission to put him in,” Grant spat out.

The doctor blanched. “I thought we had permission.”

“I think you’re lying about that little detail.”

Instead of denying it, the doctor challenged, “What do you want me to do about it?”

“Get him out of here.”

“I’m sorry. That’s impossible. If he leaves this lab, he’ll die.”

While Grant coped with that, the doctor kept speaking.

“But your brother is lucky to be here. We call this the Phoenix Project. We’re saving people who are the victims of traumatic brain injury.”

Grant looked toward the beds of sleeping patients. “They all look like they’re the next thing to dead,” he answered, wincing when he thought of how that applied to his brother.

“No, we’ve created a place where they can live. A virtual reality.”

Wardman had told him that, and he hadn’t really wrapped his mind around the concept.

“Which means?”

“They are living normal lives—in a controlled environment. A place where they can feel healthy and productive.” He became more enthusiastic as he continued. “Like what if people who had been in car wrecks or been shot or had heart attacks could be kept alive and functioning in another reality?” Now the doctor sounded like he was making a funding pitch. “You’ve heard of Seymour Cray, right? The genius behind high performance computers who died after an automobile accident.”

Grant had some vague memory of the man and nodded. He’d certainly heard of the Cray Computer.

“What if he’d had a place to keep working designing computers instead of having to go off life support because the doctors thought his case was hopeless? Multiply his circumstances by hundreds.”

“And what about my brother? I was told he was dead, but there was a dummy in his casket. If he wasn’t stolen for this project, then what’s going on?”

“All I know is that he was registered as a legitimate subject,” Hamilton denied, but his sick look told Grant that he was either outright lying or suspected that there had been something funny about Mack’s participation.

Lily cleared her throat.

“What?” Mack snapped.

“I’m not going anywhere. Would you turn me loose and put the gun down?”

When he loosened his hold on her, she moved quickly away, then turned to face him and Hamilton. She fixed her gaze on the other man.

“The project’s not exactly going the way we expected. I mean like Jay Douglas having a total mental breakdown.”

Hamilton’s voice rose. “Do not talk about any of that in front of an outsider.”

She looked like there was a lot more she wanted to say, but when she glanced at Grant, she fell silent.

He let his gaze travel from one to the other of them. They both looked upset, but he had the feeling that their concerns were somewhat different. He’d bet Lily cared about the people in there—and Hamilton cared about his research.

“Is there any way to contact my brother and find out what’s going on in there,” Grant asked, thinking that he needed something more reliable than the ability they’d shared when they were kids.

Hamilton looked relieved that the focus of the conversation had shifted somewhat. “We can ask Sidney Landon.”

“Who’s that?”

“Our programmer. He designed the whole setup.”

“Okay. Get him,” Grant ordered.

Hamilton walked to the desk along one wall and picked up the phone.

Grant stayed beside him. “No funny stuff. Put it on speaker.”

“Yes.” The doctor pressed the speaker button, then punched in a number. When a man answered, he said,

“Can you come down to the lab?” he said.

They heard an agitated voice say, “I’m kind of busy up here.”

“Because?” Hamilton asked, his tone sharp.

“I spent a lot of time designing that VR and making the system secure. But it looks like someone has hacked into it. I’m trying to figure out who it is and what the hell they’re doing.”

Lily gasped. Hamilton’s face had turned ashen.

“You said it was impregnable,” the older man bellowed.

“I thought it was. It should have been, for God’s sake. But it looks like someone went to a lot of trouble to get past the barriers I set up. You know, similar to the crap that’s been going on with companies like Sony and Target. Someone made a concerted effort to get in
there.
But they’re public companies. Who would know about the Phoenix Project?”

“I don’t know.” The doctor’s face hardened as he went on the attack. “I’m paying you good money for a quality product.”

“It
is
a quality product.”

Grant interrupted the angry exchange.

“Is there any way to communicate with the people in there? They may be able to help figure out what’s going on—or give you some clues.”

“Who’s speaking?” Landon asked.

“This is Grant Bradley, the brother of one of the patients.”

“Mack Bradley?”

“Yeah. How can I get in touch with him?”

“I . . .”

Dr. Wardman jumped into the conversation. “Mack and I both had some extensive contact with the hacker.”

“Jesus. How?” Landon asked, his voice wavering between upset and hopeful.

“We saw him in the woods on the other side of the wall at the back of the hotel. He came up with a fantasy show for us.”

“Like what?”

“Weird vegetation. Weird animals. Warlike little men.” Mack can tell you more about it.”

“Okay,” Landon said. “I’ll be right down.”

The connection snapped off, and the three people awake in the lab looked at each other.

“Why would someone hack into your virtual reality?” Grant asked Hamilton.

The researcher shook his head. “I have no idea. I mean, who even knows about it?” he asked Landon’s question again.

The way he said the last part made Grant’s skin tingle.

“I think you have an idea who knows about it,” he answered keeping his gaze on the doctor. It was tempting to raise his gun again and point it at the man, but he managed not to make a threatening move.

Hamilton looked torn but finally said, “My backer. But why would he get someone to hack in?”

“To check up on you.”

Hamilton had turned pale.

oOo

Before Grant could back the guy into a corner, a wiry young man burst into the lab. His collar-length hair looked like he’d been running his fingers through it every few seconds for the past few hours. His blue work shirt and plaid slacks looked like he’d been wearing them for weeks. And his face had the pasty color of someone who’d been living in a cave for months. Too bad you couldn’t get a healthy tan from a computer screen.

Grant wanted to ask Hamilton where he’d gotten this guy, but that would have to wait until later. And really, from his appearance, it looked like he was a genuine programing geek.

“You can put me in touch with my brother?” he asked.

The man glanced at the chief researcher. “I thought we agreed there would be no contact with the outside world until they acclimate.”

“We may not have that luxury,” Hamilton answered. “Not if someone from outside is screwing with the system.”

“Yeah, okay,” Landon muttered. “He looked at Grant. “I have a way to get in there that will seem fairly normal to the people in the hotel. I don’t know if he’ll get the message.”

“He’d better,” Grant warned, wondering what he was going to do if the guy’s plan didn’t work.

Landon settled himself in front of a computer terminal at the side of the room and started typing. Grant paced back and forth as he watched the man typing on the keyboard.

oOo

Mack had just come down to the lobby to find out what was going on among the other hotel guests when he heard people calling his name.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“Where were you?” Paula Rendell asked.

“In my room.” Not exactly accurate, but he wasn’t going to say he’d been in Lily’s suite making love with her. And then she’d vanished. He imagined how the others would react to
that
.

Paula’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe we should have everybody’s room number, since there’s no good way to get in touch with each other.”

“About what?”

“Well, you might want to know that your name is flashing on the computer screens in the business center.”

“Jesus.” He’d been trying to act laid back. Now he dashed across the lobby and into the center, where he saw that the words “Mack Bradley” were indeed flashing in red on the three screens.

He went to one of the computers and looked at the setup, frustration and excitement warring inside him. Finally he saw an instant message icon and pressed it. When a chat box popped up, he typed a question mark.

“Mack?” The answer came back immediately.

“Who is this?” he asked.

“Grant.”

He hadn’t known what he was expecting. Maybe he’d been secretly fearing something like what had happened in the woods. Certainly not a communication from his brother.

“Is that really you?” he asked cautiously. This could still be some kind of scam.

“Yes.”

“Prove it.”

“You were the captain of the football squad when Cumberland won the championship,” the person on the other end of the line typed back.

“Anyone could look that up.” Mack looked back at Paula. “Maybe you’d better give me some privacy.”

When she didn’t move, he propelled her out the door and closed it before turning back to the screen.

A new message said, “Okay. We used to send each other silent messages. Nobody knows about that. And a little while ago, I called out to you—and I’m pretty sure you answered.”

He felt a chill travel over his skin. Yes, he thought he had heard Grant, calling him from some place outside this setup. “My God, how did you find me?”

“Long story.” There was a pause, and Grant came back. “Are you alone?”

“Yes.”

“They said I can switch to a video hookup.”

Mack waited with his heart pounding, still unable to quite believe that this was really happening.

When his brother’s face appeared on the screen, Mack felt a wave of relief so profound that he fought not to choke up. He’d been wondering where he was and sure it wasn’t the real world. Now Grant was going to tell him the truth.

He stared at his twin, seeing from his expression that his reaction was as emotional as Mack’s. What did that mean?

“Hey,” he managed to say.

“Back at ya,” Grant answered.

“Where are you?” Mack clenched his fists, then struggled to relax. “Well, maybe more important—where am I?”

When he saw Grant swallow hard, he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to like the answers. “I’m at a facility called Hamilton Labs. To give you the executive summary, you were supposed to be dead. I got here after finding a dummy in your coffin.”

Mack’s shocked curse ran through the business center and apparently into the lobby. When someone—probably Paula—pounded on the door, he shouted, “Later.”

“Are you all right?” she yelled back.

“Yeah. I’ll get back to you in a while.”

“What was that?” Grant asked.

“I’m in the business center. The others are wondering what’s up. So why don’t you explain what the hell is going on before they break down the door,” he pressed. “Where is this place?”

Grant waited a beat before answering. “You’re in a virtual reality. Do you know what that means?”

After taking a moment to process the answer, he asked uncertainly, “Like in a video game?”

“Something like that. I was told you’d died in . . . well in whatever country where you were flying missions.” His brother gave him a quick account of the missing body in the coffin and Grant’s demands for information.

“You and the other people in there are part of an experiment,” Grant added.

“Like how?”

His brother swallowed hard before answering. “The good news is that it’s a place where you can function. The bad news is that everyone there is in a coma back here at the lab.”