Tainted Cure (The Rememdium Series Book 1) (8 page)

“Repeating…the White House has just confirmed First Lady Roxanne Thompson succumbed to ovarian cancer less than an hour ago. President Thompson will give a press conference at nine a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the President and his daughter Melissa during this trying time, especially with Christmas less than a week away. As we’ve reported before, the first lady has been battling the disease for several months now and…”

Panic welled up inside Everett at the news report. He’d been keeping up with the first lady’s fight against cancer online when he had down time. Hearing the news report made his fuzzy brain aware he wasn’t dreaming. When Everett opened his burning eyes, he was greeted by darkness and a faint tinge of neon green not far away. Mind still on the fritz, it took him a few seconds to recognize the glow was from a dashboard.

“You’re awake? Oh, thank goodness! I was afraid you might have suffered permanent damage. You took a nasty blow to the head. Pretty sure you need stitches but I didn’t have time to patch you up. Too much was going on. Getting you to safety was my main priority.”

Everett felt a rush of relief at the familiar voice. He forced his body to move and sat upright in the seat. Reaching up, he felt the knot on the back of his head. The lump was the size of a walnut, and he could feel a two-inch gash. When he pulled his hand away, he felt the wetness and assumed it was blood on his fingertips. “Want to tell me what the hell is going on, Riverside?”

Daryl turned down the radio before responding. “Not sure where to even start, Dr. Berning. I’m still not quite sure myself.”

“Gee, that’s helpful. Okay, how about this: explain to me why it feels like someone whacked me with a two-by-four, and where we’re going. I’ll formulate more questions after you answer those.”

“It was from the floor.”

“What?”

“The bump on your head. You got it when you hit the floor.”

Everett closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. “Are you trying to tell me I passed out and you’re taking me to the hospital or something?”

Riverside chuckled, but the sound was anything but humorous. “No. After Dr. Flint put you in a chokehold and you passed out, she let go and you fell onto the floor. Your head bounced off the concrete like a ripe watermelon. The sound was disgusting.”

The memory of walking down the hallway flashed by in Everett’s head. He looked out the window and noticed it was dark. “Dr. Flint did what? Why in the world would she…?”

Riverside let off the gas and pulled onto the shoulder. He put the truck in park and turned around to face Everett. “Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is that I was coming out of the lab and saw her attack you. I didn’t have a chance to ask what was going on because just as you hit the floor, the alarm went off, followed by screaming from all the test subjects in the conference room. Dr. Flint ran in the opposite direction the second the power went out. By the time the backup generator kicked in, she was gone. Then, I smelled smoke and felt the ground shake. I grabbed you, flung you over my shoulder and took the stairs until I reached the surface.”

“Are you saying there was an explosion of some sorts? What about the others? Whose vehicle is this?”

Riverside tried yet couldn’t hide the fact he was shaking. “It would only be an educated guess to say there was an explosion. I didn’t see any fire, nor was there any structural damage, at least none I could see. I just felt the rattle—you know—like the whole place was going to collapse around us, so I grabbed you, my backpack, and took us to safety. Not a clue as to the owner of the truck, and honestly, I don’t care. Lucky for us the keys were inside, so I tossed you in the back and waited for a few minutes to see if anyone else made it out. When no one came out the door, I took off. Just as I started up the vehicle, I heard another rumble and smoke billowed out the front entrance.”

Everett looked out the window again. Nothing but woods as far as he could see surrounded them. The trees and terrain looked unfamiliar. “How long have you been driving?”

“About ten hours.”

“Holy shit! Where in the hell are we?”

“Close to Laredo. I think about twenty miles out.”

Stunned, Everett sputtered, “Laredo…as in…Laredo, Texas?”

Riverside nodded. Everett noticed the kid had no color in his face and looked terrified.

“Look, I don’t really know how to say this so I’ll just spit it out. I’m pretty sure the lab is gone. It sounded like the cave was about to collapse in on itself when I was hauling you up the stairs. Judging by what I found out before running into you in the hallway, I’d lay my life down on the bet the incident was from internal sabotage.”

Everett blinked twice, trying to absorb the words. “Are you saying you think Dr. Flint destroyed all our work? Killed our test subjects? Why in the world would she do that?! What about Dr. Thomas? Did you see him? Did he make it out? Oh, and did you contact the authorities? Are they sending backup?”

“I don’t know about anyone but us. And yes, I’m saying Dr. Flint did all this. In terms of backup, you are kidding, right?”

“No I’m not kidding. You didn’t call anyone and inform them what happened?”

The look of incredulity on Riverside’s face would have been funny under other circumstances. The kid looked at Everett like he’d just asked the stupidest question ever. Riverside arched an eyebrow. “You’re serious? Oh, man, you really don’t have a clue, do you? No, I guess you wouldn’t. You’ve been too obsessed with your work.”

Frustrated at not only the pain in his head, but the feeling of walking in the dark on jagged rocks, Everett could only shake his head.

Riverside let out a long sigh. “We haven’t been working for any government entity, Dr. Berning. This whole project consisted of me, you, Dr. Flint, and Dr. Thomas. All funded and put together covertly by one individual: Dr. Thomas.”

A wave of dizziness swept over Everett at the news. He wondered how in the hell he’d been so easily duped. “That’s going to take a minute for me to digest. Okay, okay. So, we were on our own. Let’s get back to what you found out before you rescued me.”

Riverside leaned across the seat and grabbed a bag resting on the passenger side. He opened it up and retrieved several sheets of crinkled paper. “I overheard Dr. Flint talking to someone on the phone in her office about two hours before all this happened. She didn’t know I was at her door since her back was to me. I have no clue who she was talking to, but I did get the gist of their conversation. None of it was good for us. I was going to come find you first, but figured you wouldn’t believe me without proof, so I went back to the lab and hacked into her email account and found these.”

Everett reached out to grab the handful of papers but stopped short. An overwhelming sense of fear ambled up his spine. The thought of turning the interior light on made his stomach clench as paranoia set in. “Just tell me the specifics of the communications, Riverside.”

“These are email exchanges between Dr. Flint and someone named B.S.N. They go all the way back to the day after the discovery last year. Discussions about the cure, how the test subjects reacted to treatment, everything. Though I only heard her side of the conversation, it was apparent she was to shut down the operation, get rid of the formula and evidence, including us, and leave before we had a chance to share the discovery with the press next week.”

Everett felt the air leave his lungs. The throbbing in his head was a fleeting memory, overshadowed by raw terror thrumming inside his chest. “Oh, my God. What about the formula? Please don’t tell me all our hard work is lost!”

Riverside smiled for the first time during their conversation while patting the bag on the seat. “Don’t worry, I’ve got five full vials right here. I also have a flash drive containing all of our notes on formula 10,899. The lab may be gone, but our work isn’t. Even if we lost the vials, we can simply create a new batch.”

Everett tried to quell the anxiety inside his mind. Taking a deep breath, he shoved the fear down deep and counted to ten. “Okay, let me think for a minute. What time is it?”

“A little after four a.m.”

“And we’re almost to Laredo, correct? You’ve been driving the entire time?”

“Yes. Only stopped twice for gas.”

“So, where was our starting point?”

Riverside snickered. “You mean you don’t know?”

Everett shook his head.

“Wow, all these years you’ve worked at the lab and had no clue where you were?”

Irritated, Everett snapped, “I was busy doing research, Riverside. Trivial things like my location didn’t rank high enough on my priority list. Where did we come from?”

“Arkansas. The lab was underground in the Ozark Mountains about fifty miles south of Blanchard Springs Caverns, to be exact.”

Stunned, Everett mumbled, “I’ve been in Arkansas all this time? Unreal.”

For a few minutes, neither man said a word. Everett’s head was still pounding and he felt a bit lightheaded from lack of food and water. “Please tell me we at least have some water.”

Riverside turned around and fumbled under the seat. He produced a plastic bottle and handed it to Everett. Though he wanted to gulp down the entire sixteen ounces, Everett only took a few sips.

Just like the day he found out his entire family had died, a dark cloak of uncertainty draped over Everett’s mind. The implications of what Riverside told him were almost too much for Everett’s brain to comprehend and it wasn’t just from the bump on his head. He took one last drink and twisted the cap back on.

“Okay, son. Guess it’s just you and me for the moment. First of all, thank you for saving my life—and our work. Secondly, tell me why in the hell we’re heading to Laredo. Thirdly, do so while driving. The thought of staying stationary makes me uncomfortable.”

Riverside nodded and started up the truck. In seconds, the road whizzing by in a blurred rush, they passed a sign welcoming them to Webb County, Texas.

Clearing his throat, Riverside finally answered Everett’s question. “Figured both of our homes weren’t a safe choice to head to. You know, since we really don’t have a clue who’s behind all this. My uncle died last year and he left me a cabin outside of Laredo. It’s near the Mexican border. No one but my family knows about the place, and, well, technically he wasn’t my uncle. He’s really my mother’s ex-boyfriend, but we stayed in touch over the years. He never remarried or had any kids, so he left what he had to me. If my gut feeling is right—which it usually is—the government is behind all this, so they’ll be searching for us once they realize we made it out alive. We might not be able to stay at the cabin long, but at least maybe enough time to gather ourselves together and form a workable plan.”

Everett wanted to argue with the kid yet the moment, he didn’t have the mental faculties to formulate a better plan of action. A nagging sense of distrust rumbled around in his mind. It took him a few minutes to pinpoint the reason. Thoughts raced inside at a blistering pace, so he forced them to slow down.

The time.

That’s what was bothering him. Nearly twenty-four hours had passed since he’d left Susan and the others. Even though Everett was only a few months’ shy of sixty-five, he was in good health. There simply was no way a bump on the head would have rendered him unconscious for such a long time period. He had to have been drugged.

So who the hell did it?

The realization made the distrust and unease in his gut increase.

Without all the real facts to review, it was impossible for Everett to know if he should really trust anyone at this point, even Riverside.

“Fine. Just stay under the speed limit and adhere to all traffic laws. By now, this vehicle is probably listed as stolen.”

SHOWDOWN IN LAREDO - Friday - December 18
^th
– 10:00 p.m.

The two-room cabin was situated on a small rise overlooking the Rio Grande. The arid, open landscape was full of short, scrubby plants that looked more like bushes than trees. The sparse scenery did nothing to help quell Everett’s fears of being discovered.

Ever since their arrival two days prior, Everett had been on constant edge. Rather than sleep, he took catnaps lasting less than an hour. He was exhausted physically yet his mind refused to shut down.

Riverside tried his best to make Everett comfortable, answering all the rapid-fire questions Everett threw at him with his usual flair for humor. Though aware Riverside was probably trying to help ease Everett’s worried mind, the casual way the kid answered his questions set Everett’s nerves on edge.

Everett faked falling asleep earlier on the bed, waiting for Riverside to do the same. His plan was to hold still until Riverside was in deep REM sleep and then snatch the keys and backpack. Doubt festered inside his mind about his companion’s true motives until Everett couldn’t stand another minute locked inside the cabin.

The first inkling something was amiss happened inside the truck on the way to the cabin. The second one arrived when they settled themselves inside the dusty place and Everett asked to read the emails. Riverside agreed, but kept requesting help settling in. After locating the candles, checking for snakes, and unloading the truck, Everett asked again. Riverside said to wait until he used the bathroom so they could go over them together.