The Deep Beneath (23 page)

He was about to sit down in the chair opposite Erika, but the guard told him to sit beside her. Ian did as he was asked without putting up a fight and sat to Erika’s left. He reached for her hand under the table. The guard either didn’t notice or chose not to say anything about the touch and left them alone. He closed the door behind him, and as soon as they were alone, they hugged. Neither had bathed in over two days, and Erika’s nostrils were hit with the pungent smell of Ian’s body odor and dirty hair. But she ignored the stink and hugged him anyway.

While in her cell, Erika had forced herself not to cry. Tears had come to her when she thought about the possibility that she’d never get to live the life she’d dreamed of riding toward. She chose to do jumping jacks instead of cry.

But when Ian wrapped his arms around her, fat tears sprang from her eyes. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

Erika felt wetness on her shoulder and knew that Ian was crying too. “Me too.”

Ian held her back from him and looked into her eyes. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you or anything?”

“No, they didn’t touch me. I’m okay. Just scared. And in need of a friggin’ shower.”

Ian forced a wan smile to his lips. Two days ago he would have laughed instead of giving her a strained smile. “That you are.”

“Hey.” Erika punched his shoulder lightly. “Look who’s talking? You don’t smell so good yourself.” Erika tried on a grin as she held her nose.

Ian did not rib her back. “Why do you think they brought us here?”

Erika had been so focused on escape that she hadn’t stopped to wonder why they’d been brought to a conference room. She considered Ian’s question. “Remember, Sturgis said she’d debrief us. Whatever that means.”

“She sure did wait long enough. Do you think this means we’re going home?”

Before Erika could answer, the door banged open again and a guard pushed Jack in. He looked worse than Ian. His chin was covered with a light peach fuzz that Erika wanted to shave off. His hair was longer than Ian’s and fell in greasy, stringy strands on either side of his face. He had a huge, red pimple on his nose and his eyes were red with dark circles under them. Or was it …

“Jack, what happened to you?” Erika asked.
He has a black eye.

The guard shoved him roughly forward and told him to sit next to ‘the girl’. Jack did as asked but glared at the guard before he took his place by Erika.

“We’re going to be just outside this door, so don’t even think about trying anything,” the guard said. He glared back at Jack for a second then left and closed the door behind him.

Erika wrapped Jack in her arms and Ian patted him on the back.

“Whad’ya get in a fight with yourself?” Ian teased.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Jack said.

Erika pushed Jack back so she could see his face. “Really, what happened?”

“Ah, you know me. I shot my mouth off one too many times on my way back from the doctor’s office, and I guess the guy had had enough and decked me.”

“So they took care of your shoulder?” Erika asked.

“If you can call it that. More like a vet than a real doctor. The doc got the bullet out, anyway.” Jack pulled the neck of his shirt back to reveal the bandage on his shoulder. “Still hurts, but I’m getting used to it.”

Erika gently touched the spot with the bandage. Jack caught her other hand with his and their eyes met. There were tears at the corners of his eyes and his lower lip quivered. He looked as though someone had died.

“Jack, what is it?”

“I saw Tex. When I was with the doctor.” Jack’s voice quivered and came out hoarse.

“Is he okay?” Erika asked.

“Yeah, he’s fine. But he told me something that he said to tell you and Ian but to not let Sturgis know that we know. He said –”

Jack was interrupted by the clang of the door. Sturgis breezed into the room with a man behind her carrying a folder and pens. Erika caught a whiff of soap and shampoo and freshly starched suit. It made her long even more for a shower.

And walking in quietly behind Sturgis was a girl with an overly large, bald head and enormous black eyes.
H.A.L.F. 10. It has to be.
If Alecto in fact shared DNA with Tex, you would never know it. Alecto was much smaller, no more than five feet tall. Her head was much larger than Tex’s and entirely hairless. Her eyes were even bigger than Tex’s and darker as well. Her nose was smaller than Tex’s, but her lips fuller. But like Tex, Alecto’s body looked lean and fit, not emaciated or spindly like aliens in movies.

Erika’s palms were sweaty, and she wanted to shrink away from 10. She scooted her butt further back in her seat. She had never felt half as uncomfortable around Tex as she did when 10 walked into the room.

Sturgis pulled out a metal chair across from them and sat down. 10 remained standing. “You may sit, Alecto,” Sturgis said.

So she named 10 but not 9? I wonder why.

Alecto sat directly across from Jack. She stared straight ahead, not making eye contact with anyone, and said nothing. Her face was as emotionless as a chair leg.

The last time Erika had seen Commander Sturgis, on that long night that took forever to become day, Sturgis’ hair had been mussed and blown about by the helicopters. The woman had looked frazzled, her eyes red and droopy with lack of sleep. But now her hair was in a perfectly tight French twist. She wore little makeup but maybe a hint of mascara and a light pink on her lips. Her eyes were no longer red or tired, and there was a glint in the steely blue irises. Erika thought that if Sturgis wasn’t such a nasty person, she might be pretty, for an older lady.

“You three have had quite the adventure.” Sturgis sounded as if she was talking to a group of five-year-olds about a trip to the zoo. She smiled at them as she talked, but she seemed unpracticed at smiling. Despite the fact that Sturgis’ lips curled upward, she looked more like she had gas than happiness.

“Not exactly what I’d call it,” said Jack. He took Erika’s pinkie finger in his hand. His hand was so warm, and his fingers were not calloused but rough enough to feel like a man’s hand. Sitting next to him now, it seemed impossible that only a few days ago she had tried her best to avoid his touch and his love. Or was it a dream of another lifetime? No, it had happened. She’d rejected his kindness in a pointless attempt to steel her heart.

But now she’d give just about anything to be able to bury her face in his chest and let him hold her and stroke her hair and tell her, “It’ll be okay,” even though she was pretty sure it wouldn’t. His touch made her feel mushy inside. Soft and weak. In the moment when she should have wanted to be at her strongest, she longed for a minute or two to let someone else carry the weight from her shoulders. Jack’s hand was a welcome lifeline.

“Perhaps not how you planned to spend your weekend. But the three of you have seen incredible things. Things that you weren’t meant to see.”

None of them responded. Erika grabbed for Ian’s hand under the table and squeezed Jack’s. It felt like Sturgis was getting ready to send them to a firing squad. A herd of horses galloped in her chest.

Commander Sturgis continued. “You present a huge predicament for me. The time has not yet come for the world to know about the H.A.L.F. project, yet here you are, fully aware of the program. In order to protect the sanctity of the work we do down here, I
should
make you three disappear.” Sturgis’ face lost its fake smile but only for a brief instant. She sighed and brought the smile back. “But I made a promise to H.A.L.F. 9.” When Sturgis spoke, it was as if she were reading lines she’d memorized.

“You mean Tex,” Erika said.

Commander Sturgis rolled her eyes. “That is a ridiculous name. Why would you choose such a name?”

Erika shrugged her shoulders. “It seemed to fit at the time.”

As Erika and Commander Sturgis spoke, Jack used his finger to trace letters on Erika’s leg. She tried to focus on what he was trying to tell her, but she had a difficult time reading the letters while also concentrating on what Sturgis was saying.

“My hybrid creation became enamored with you. And because he is attached to you, if I terminate you, he may never forgive me. After all the time and money we’ve put into him, I really do need him to be on my side.”

“He’ll never be on your side,” Erika said. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wished she could pull them back in.

Erika expected Sturgis to respond with rancor or snark. Instead, she widened her smile and said, “We shall see about that. But let me get to the point of this meeting.”

“Please do,” Ian said.

Jack’s fingers continued to lightly trace letters on Erika’s leg. She focused her attention on them and made out the word ‘she’.

“My predecessors and I have operated this facility for over forty years with not so much as a whisper in the public domain that it exists.”

Jack wrote another word out on Erika’s thigh. ‘Lies.’
She lies
. Erika wondered why Jack was taking the time to tell her something she already knew.
Lies about what?

Jack stopped tracing letters. “You’ve got your secret mad scientist thing going on down here. But say the aliens come and blast us with their ray guns or whatever. You think this will be a secret then? The people have a right to know and they’ll find out.”

Sturgis leaned across the table, her eyes wide and blazing. “You speak of the coming alien war with condescension in your voice. I assure you, Mr. Wilson, it is not a fantasy. A true nightmare is about to be unleashed on our planet. And yes, when the mother ship arrives we’ll no longer have to keep the H.A.L.F. program a secret.” Sturgis sat back in her seat, pulled her jacket down by the hem and reworked her mouth into her phony smile. “When the war starts, I – we – will need H.A.L.F. 9. And it is for this reason that I have decided not to terminate the three of you.”

Sturgis’s words flew over Erika’s head but rounded back on her again.
“Not to terminate you
,” she had said. There was a fluttery feeling of excitement in Erika’s stomach.
We’re going to live. We’re going home.

Jack’s fingers madly scribbled again. ‘A lie,’ his fingers said.

Alecto turned to look at Commander Sturgis. “Commander, I must –”

“Not now, Alecto. Remember yourself.” Sturgis’ eyes blazed with anger.

Alecto returned her gaze to somewhere just over Jack’s head and resumed her stoic quiet.

Erika’s excitement gave way to confusion. Sturgis’ words said ‘live’ but Jack’s fingers said ‘lie’. Which was it? Erika looked at Jack, and when he looked back at her, she knew that somehow he knew something that she didn’t. His eyes were red and full of sorrow.

Why would he be so sad? She said we’re going home.
As Erika thought about what Jack had tapped out on her leg, it came to her. Jack had been with Tex and said Tex had told him something. Erika squeezed Jack’s hand in hers and he squeezed back.

Commander Sturgis was talking, but Erika tuned her out. Sturgis’ voice droned on and on while Erika wrestled with understanding fully what Jack was trying to tell her. Sturgis’ hand opened the folder that she had laid on the table in front of her. She pulled out three pieces of paper and placed one in front of each of them along with a pen. The woman’s lips moved, but Erika couldn’t hear what she was saying over the sound of her own blood rushing in her ears. She felt as though she may pass out. Erika took a deep breath and tried to listen to what Sturgis said.

“So you cannot flap your lips to anyone about what you’ve seen down here,” she said.

“You can sew my lips shut if you need to so long as I get out of this place,” said Ian.

Commander Sturgis’ lips curled up into a toothless smile. “I’m sure that will not be necessary, Mr. Frew. All will end well for you so long as you keep up your end of the bargain and follow the mandates of our agreement.”

Ian leaned back in his chair, reading over the words on the page Sturgis had given them. Jack had already signed his name, apparently not bothering to read it.

Erika looked down, and the paper was filled top to bottom with words and a signature line at the end.
Seems like a lot of words just to say ‘keep your mouth shut’.

When Erika looked over at Jack, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “Best sign it.” But his fingers traced letters on her leg that said ‘she kill us’ then ‘go along’. Erika didn’t want to go along and had no idea why Jack would suggest such a thing. Why should she go willingly like a lamb to slaughter?

“Commander, I really must –”

“Alecto, you are here for protection, nothing else. If you say one more word, you will force me to send you for a session of programming. Do you understand?” Sturgis’ voice was stern and low.

“Yes, Commander.” Alecto’s face registered no emotional reaction to Sturgis’ threat of ‘programming’, whatever that was. But she didn’t speak again either.

“You’re doing the right thing, Mr. Wilson,” Commander Sturgis said. She held out her hand for Jack to put the paper in it.

“Probably not,” he said. He handed the page with his signature on it to her anyway.

Erika stared down at the words, but she couldn’t read them. It was a smear of ink to her. ‘She kill us’ Jack had said. The realization hit her like a punch to the stomach. Death was the only way she was getting out of A.H.D.N.A.

Erika looked up, and Sturgis’ smug face stared back at her from across the table. ‘Go along’ Jack had said. It didn’t feel right to do nothing. To cooperate with the devil. Erika looked back down to the page and picked up the pen. Her hand shook and the pen wobbled between her fingers. She looked back up at Sturgis and the affected smile had given way to a sneer. The woman’s duplicity was like a rabid itch that Erika wanted to scratch until it was gone.

Erika’s forehead was slick with sweat and hot. Her head was dizzy and her stomach sour. She didn’t think out a plan of action. She was on autopilot.

She jumped out of her chair and leapt across the table before she had time to talk herself out of it. The pen was poised in her right hand and she aimed it at Sturgis’ neck.

But before she could plunge the tip into Sturgis’ skin, Erika was flung backward. Her back hit the concrete wall and she fell to the ground beside Jack.