The Boy Who Glowed in the Dark (5 page)

“Why the precaution?”

“Genesis II has confided in me as a friend. He believes he has something of extreme value. Something that could change the world. He has led a troubled life, and as a result is not a trusting person. He sometimes suffers from anxiety and delusion. He is constantly fearful.”

“At the train station, you said we can’t assume we’re alone.”

“I have no reason to believe I’m being followed, but Genesis II said to expect the unexpected. He said that you should do the same. I trust him, and believe in him and the power of the treasure he possesses.”

“Tell me what you know about the treasure. I need to be convinced this is all real.”

Nakamura started to answer and stopped. Two men in slick suits walked by their table. One of them glanced alternately at Nakamura and Johnny. The men seated themselves at a table closer to the stage. Johnny spied bulges under their jackets. He was reminded of what his teachers had told him during his first day as an exchange student. The further from the center of Tokyo, the greater the influence of the
Yakuza
, the Japanese organized crime syndicates.

“That was a very American question,” Nakamura said.

“What do you mean, American question?”

“Blunt, direct, inappropriate. I could ask you the same. What do you know about the treasure? But that would be rude, and a waste of time. Because you would merely deflect the question and we would engage in a battle of wits until our drinks arrived.”

“You’ve got the wrong man, friend. I don’t deflect questions. Ask anything you want. You might not like the answer, but I won’t waste your time.” Johnny kept his voice down and maintained a calm expression on his face. He wanted his demeanor to contrast with his words to lend them even more power. “That’s me being very American, as opposed to the Japanese, who’ll wait twenty years to publicly own up to a mistake and then commit suicide. Is that your idea of appropriate behavior?”

Nakamura appeared stunned.

“Oh, have I got your attention? Are we done bullshitting each other here?”

Nakamura stared at him.

Johnny said, “In the e-mail, Genesis II used the phrase, ‘Fate of the free world depends on us.’ What did he mean by that?”

“You know what the treasure is, so you know what he meant by that.” Nakamura smiled. “See? The battle of wits begins despite your assurances to the contrary. Who will reveal himself first?”

“I’m not the one wearing the kimono. You can see right through me and I wouldn’t have it any other way. What made him choose those exact words?”

“Genesis II said those words would have meaning to Nadia and Adam Tesla. And that given you were their representative, they would have meaning to you. Was he right?”

Johnny shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

“Says the man without the kimono.”

Johnny smiled.

The waitress arrived with their drinks and two bowls of salty Japanese crackers and nuts.

“I have to ask you another question,” Johnny said. “It’s going to sound blunt, direct, and inappropriate.”

“No kidding,” Nakamura said.

“Who is Genesis II?” Johnny didn’t expect Nakamura to answer the question or unintentionally reveal a clue, but he knew Nadia would be disappointed if he didn’t ask.

Nakamura looked away. “I expected more from you. But you are such an American, aren’t you?”

“Yes, and proud of it. Does Genesis II know Adam?”

Johnny studied Nakamura’s reaction for a tell of some kind. He got nothing. Instead, Nakamura continued looking stone-faced at the stage.

“How did you and Genesis II meet?”

Nakamura sipped his whiskey. “I’ve given you enough information for you to answer that question yourself.”

Johnny remembered their earlier conversation. “You’re a doctor. You’re working in Fukushima. You must have met Genesis II in Fukushima. Genesis II is a survivor of the earthquake, tsunami, or the nuclear disaster.”

Nakamura’s eyebrows furrowed a smidge. It was just enough of a physical reaction to tell Johnny he was wrong.

“No,” Johnny said. “He’s not a victim. He’s a volunteer.”

Nakamura lifted his chin.

“Hot dog. Score one for the boy from Jersey.”

They sipped their drinks some more. A moment of silence passed between them. Johnny’s victory proved momentary. He still needed proof the locket existed and contained a formula, and he was no closer to that than when he arrived.

“So you know who I am,” Johnny said. “I know who you are. I travelled here to meet you. You’re calling the shots, but I may or may not play along. What do you suggest we do now?”

Nakamura slid a flash drive memory stick across the table to Johnny.

“What’s this?” Johnny said.

“A token of good faith. When you see it on a computer monitor, you’ll understand.”

“Understand what?”

“That the second half of the formula exists.”

Johnny’s heart thumped. “After I take a look at it, I’d like to meet with Genesis II.”

Nakamura straightened the lapels of his jacket. “I’m sure you would. But that’s not going to happen. He will only meet with the boy. He will only meet with Adam. Adam must come to Fukushima. He must come immediately. And he must bring the locket.”

Nakamura stood up, knocked back the rest of his whiskey, and left.

Johnny went to the business center to use one of the computers. He slipped the flash drive into the USB port. It contained a single file. The file was called “Genesis II.”

The file consisted of two strings of chemical symbols. Each string contained four hexagons and a chemical formula. It could have been gibberish or proof the second half of the formula existed. There was only one way to find out.

Johnny rushed to his room to call Nadia.

CHAPTER 6

N
ADIA SAT OPPOSITE
Dr. Eric Sandstrom in his office at Columbia University on Monday afternoon. He was a professor emeritus, a respected radiobiologist who taught one class a week to keep his mind active at age eighty-five.

“This is interesting,” he said, after studying the symbols Johnny had e-mailed from Tokyo.

“What is?” Nadia said.

“It’s a modified version of Five-Androstenediol, just like the one you showed me three weeks ago. Except it contains an additional enhancement. The formula you showed me before had a partial description of two new proteins. This one further describes those two proteins but doesn’t fully define them.”

“Meaning some symbols are still missing.”

“Yes.”

“Can you draw any conclusions from what you do see, Professor?”

He removed his glasses, sprayed a lens cleaner on them, and began wiping them with a soft tissue. “Five-Androstenediol is a direct metabolite of a steroid produced by the human adrenal cortex. That steroid is called DHEA. The Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute discovered Five-AED, as it’s called, in 2007. They performed clinical trials using primates with the pharmaceutical company Hollis-Eden. Their initial results were excellent. Close to 70 percent more monkeys treated with Five-AED survived acute radiation syndrome than those that were not treated.”

“I remember being told about that,” Nadia said. Karel, the zoologist in Chornobyl, had explained Five-AED to her. “I never quite understood why the research project was dropped a short time later when the trials were so successful.”

“No formal explanation was given,” Sandstrom said. “But it’s a major leap to treating humans from treating monkeys. The scuttlebutt in the scientific community was that the production of white blood cells and platelets was insufficient. White blood cells are essential to life. Platelets promote blood clotting. To increase production of platelets and white blood cells, an additional protein or proteins needed to be introduced to the formula.”

“Thus creating a modified version of Five-AED.”

“Precisely.”

“And could the symbols you’re looking at be part of these missing proteins? Could they be part of the solution?”

Sandstrom put his glasses on and studied the paper again. “They might be. On the other hand, they might not be. Regardless of how promising the formula looks—and it does look interesting to me—you would simply never know until clinical trials were conducted. No one could answer that question for you by simply looking at chemical data.”

“Why do you say the partial formula looks interesting?”

“For the simple reason that it appears to be relevant—incomplete but consistent with the formula that you brought in a week ago. And given you have come here twice, I’ve inferred you’ve gotten them from two different sources. All of which leads me to believe the results of a prior experiment—perhaps in a different country—are being recovered piece by piece.” His eyes widened. “Am I right?”

Nadia had been afraid of confiding in anyone—even a stately old professor—but what choice had she had? She needed to trust a scientist to understand the formula.

“Can you at least tell me the scientific source of your discovery?” Sandstrom said.

Nadia hated to say no, but she had no choice. She remained mute.

Sandstrom nodded with understanding. “Can you tell me the country of origin?” When Nadia didn’t answer, he leaned forward in his seat. “The former Soviet Union, perhaps? There was an old recluse there. A genius there by the name of Arkady Shatan.”

Nadia lost her breath for a moment. Arkady Shatan was the name of the Russian scientist who’d conducted experiments in the Zone and supposedly given the formula to Bobby’s father, her uncle Damian. Like Damian, however, Arkady was dead, leaving the partial formula Bobby had been given a mystery.

“It’s best for both of us if I don’t elaborate any further,” Nadia said. “I have to ask you to trust me, Professor. And in turn, I have to put my trust in you, sir.”

“You have it, my dear.”

“Have you spoken to anyone about my previous visit? About the partial formula you’ve seen before today?”

He didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely not. To what benefit? You asked me to keep our discussions confidential. And I have done so. Besides, at my age, if I told anyone about what you’d shown me, they would assume I was suffering fantasies. It was in my best interest not to discuss your discoveries with anyone.”

“Good. Let’s keep it that way.”

“Do you understand the medical implications of such a formula? If the risk of radioactive contamination were mitigated, it would open up an entire new world of medical treatments. Millions of lives would be prolonged and saved.”

“Yes,” Nadia said. “But there may also be military implications, if one country were to get a hold of the formula and keep it from others.”

Sandstrom frowned. “That could not be allowed to happen. If you disseminated the formula to the world at large that risk would be eliminated. Surely that is your plan, is it not?”

“Yes,” Nadia said, honestly. “That may be a bit trickier than it sounds, but that’s the plan.”

Before that plan could even be contemplated, another one would have to be carried out. Nadia and Bobby would have to travel to a country where they didn’t speak the language or know anyone. Nadia wished there were an alternative solution, but there wasn’t one.

The stakes were too high.

They had to go to Japan.

CHAPTER 7

B
OBBY RAN HIS
hand along the sleek black suitcase Nadia had just bought him. It was one of those Swiss Army designs, with a neat aluminum handle that popped out with the press of a button. Nadia said it was made for the young business traveler. It looked like something James Bond would stick in the boot of his Aston Martin after a night of gambling. The Swiss sure knew how to make cool things. Bobby imagined closing the trunk of his own sports car . . .

Come on, focus, man. Focus.

He wheeled the suitcase to the corner of his room and left it there like a piece of modern furniture he could admire. Then he pulled his old duffel bag out from his closet and began to pack.

From the moment he read the e-mail his thoughts had been consumed with Eva. Bobby had grown up living with his father’s friend, a disgraced former hockey player. The man became Bobby’s guardian, hockey instructor, and personal tormentor. Bobby simply referred to him as the Coach. Bobby had thought Eva was the Coach’s daughter, but he later learned she was his niece.