The Leaves in Winter (39 page)

“And you’re assuming too much.”

Mass considered his choices. If test results had been different, their conversation would have been so easy. As it was, an unease tempered his brashness.

“All right. I’m willing to put everything on hold pending the outcome of tests. I agree with you; we have to find out what’s going on with sterility. But once we work that out and have an explanation or fix, then everything’s back on the table. We both have to take a hard look at what kind of future we want. Is it a deal?”

Leah accepted his concern as genuine. Finally, she was sensing an effort to compromise. No doubt the shock of the test results had brought him to the table. No longer dismissing her apprehension, if anything he seemed shaken that a wider problem, beyond Jayden, had been discovered. She wondered; was there more to it?

“Yes, but I’m curious. Why be so conciliatory?”

Mass set down his fork. “I guess I’m tired. Overly tired.”

“There’s something else. You’re worried about something. What is it?”

He thought twice about sharing. “It may be nothing.”

“Maybe…” Leah held her gaze on him.

“It’s just that we might not be the only ones willing to do something.”

“Do something how? You mean social reordering?”

“Yes. Along the lines we were planning.”

“What makes you say that?”

Mass leaned back. “Oliver Ross is dead.”

“But that’s old news.”

He rocked forward and whispered. “I spoke with Javier. It wasn’t him.”

The full meaning hit Leah and set her on edge. If Javier had not succeeded with the hit on Ross, then what should they conclude about his death?

She opted to deny snap judgments. “The official report says it was suicide.”

“I think someone else is in the game – and they’re not afraid to go all the way.”

“In what way?”

“I imagine in every way.”

“Is it The Group?”

“Who else?”

“Why now? Why would they change and act this way.”

“Don’t forget; Curtis’ name was on the memo. And it’s now public. He has to have seen it. How would The Group react to that? Especially when we had the media spin it to say the leaked material was nothing but a smear campaign against me.”

For Leah, the dominoes started falling. “Orchestrated by GeLixCo.”

“Yes, with a little help, it didn’t take long for the press to connect a name like Labon with GeLixCo.”

“My God, I never thought The Group would react this way to the exposure. Still, having Labon’s name out there draws attention to them.”

Mass added, “The one, absolute thing that must never happen.”

For Leah, the implications filled her with unsettling dread.
Eugene
had narrowly avoided one assassination attempt in
India
. Then Carlos Pena’s boat had blown up. Now Oliver Ross’ suicide might have been planned by others.

If The Group had abandoned their long-held reservations on aggressive behavior and tactics, what else might they be planning? Had The Group finally come to the same conclusion that caused Mass to split with them so many years ago?

“Too bad Malcolm is dead. He could have leveraged the Mouse to find out so much more from the inside. Aren’t you curious how the kid might be reacting to changes in The Group?” Leah couldn’t help broaching a sore subject between them.

Mass resented the injection of Malcolm and the information gained from blackmail. He ignored it and returned to his food.

“It might not matter if I put our projects on hold. The need to do something probably has occurred to someone else. Someone with the means to see it through.”

The suggestion dismayed Leah. After convincing
Eugene
to a moratorium on 3rd Protocol, the specter of a rising menace from The Group was disturbing. Worst of all, what if they now agreed with him? Were they ready to take desperate action to save a planet in peril – even at the cost of something horrific? If so, containing what might happen next was no longer up to Leah and Eugene Mass.

Unable to accept it, Leah fought to find logic to diffuse the threat. “There’s no way of knowing how much of the violence is being done by New Class Order. André Bolard is much bolder and more militant.”

“Yes, but NCO can’t be behind all of it. They had no reason to go after Ross.”

Leah was done with dinner. She was done with so many things. “All the more reason to stop this. It’s time to step back from the edge.”

“And what if you’re wrong? What if we fail to seize the one moment we could have made a difference? Think about the legacy we’re building.”

“We’ll be all right,” insisted Leah. “Look how easily everything that Janis posted was disregarded. People don’t believe you could do such a thing. Let that work to our advantage.”

Mass sneered. “It took a lot of work behind the scenes to get people to realize that easy conclusion.”

“Perception is what we say it is. Opinion becomes reality. Use that to buy us time so we can finish the testing. Regardless what The Group may be doing, we have to find out what’s going on with the children.”

Mass finished his wine. “If the problem’s real, there’s only one thing I think it could be – but I hesitate to even say it.” His mood sunk somber and grave.

“What are you talking about?”

“It just occurred to me – the cause of the sterility.”

Leah was wide-eyed. She never expected
Eugene
to admit he took the subject seriously, let alone offer up an explanation for why it was happening.

“Tell me,” she demanded.

Mass let the moment ride on the weight of what he was about to say. “What if sterility results from a bad interaction –
GenLET
and 1st Protocol.”

Leah was stunned. “But The Group couldn’t have planned it that way; 1st Protocol was complete long before
GenLET
was developed.”

“Even worse. Somehow, maybe it affects only the offspring…”

Leah gasped, “If that’s true, then
GenLET
is a dead end – it can only be used on people over fourteen years old. What will we do?”

Mass finished his wine. “Disturbing isn’t it. A plan can be defeated. But chaos knows no bounds. The future might get away from us no matter what we try.”

Chapter 37

Spa Club

Financial District,
New York

Curtis Labon got up off the massage table, put on a robe, and stepped into slippers. After an hour of bodywork he was relaxed but remained agitated. So far, the evening diversion at the spa wasn’t helping his mood. The body was willing but the mind wouldn’t release all it held onto.

A steam-infused sauna was the last thing to try. The spa closed in less than an hour; more than enough time to sweat away the remnants of the day. Curtis returned to his locker and traded the robe for a wraparound towel. He found the sauna hot and deserted, just as he had hoped.

Lounging back on the hot tiles, he let the steam’s intensity become a sweltering meditation. Silence and seclusion settled around him and purified the moment. The heat could not be ignored. In demanding his attention, it added quiet to his mind.

A timeless passage of silent warmth flowed through and around him. In reality, only a few minutes had passed. The door opened and the sanctuary was no longer solitary. Curtis opened his eyes on the sound and sized up the man coming towards him. Annoyance became surprise when he realized the man was Hasuru Tamasu.

Curtis was in no mood for greetings. “Where did you come from?”

Hasuru sat down on opposite tiles and adjusted his towel. “I was hoping to talk to you after the benefit tonight. You left early so I asked around and found you here.”

Curtis used both hands to wipe sweat from his face. “Remind me to better cover my tracks next time.”

“Any reason you’re keeping to yourself?”

“Am I?”

“You missed the last Group meeting.”

“No I didn’t. Which one?”

“The one right after the Senate hearings.”

Curtis closed his eyes. “Oh, that. Wasn’t that optional? It was all discussion. Nothing needed to be voted on.”

“You’ve never passed up a chance to discuss things before.”

“I’ve never had so much to contend with before.”

Hasuru got to the point. “You mean the memo.”

“As I remember, your name wasn’t on it.”

“I never took you for one who worried about conspiracy theories.”

Curtis rolled his head on the tile so he could look straight at Hasuru. “I’m concerned about the publicity, as you should be. The memo connected me with Ross. And the other material that got posted was mostly old think tank studies that Group members commissioned years ago. Don’t you see? Mass let this stuff leak out hoping to expose us or if that didn’t work, at least disrupt what we’re doing.”

“I’d be more concerned if there was more reaction. So far, people don’t know what to believe. They have a short attention span anyway.”

“You think that’s good? We don’t need them so curious this close to us.”

“What are you afraid of – blowback against GeLixCo?”

Curtis leaned forward and raised his voice. “Didn’t you read the memo? Do you think it’s fake? I don’t. Everything it talks about checks out. We know how Mass uses Javier. He obviously bought off Ross. The last time I checked, a poultry virus was not part of delayed fertility studies. He flat-out talks about 3rd Protocol.”

“Yeah, and the government stopped him before he could trigger it. They have the virus now. They can study it. Mass can’t release the same virus; he wouldn’t be sure if the government was waiting with a vaccine.”

“And that’s it? It’s over? Why a poultry virus? It doesn’t make sense. What went on in
Kansas
couldn’t have been 3rd Protocol.”

Hasuru gave his head a shake. “You know very well what Mass was doing. He wanted 3P to be blamed on a
U.S.
biodefense lab. And what better lab to pick than the one where you are running a project. To him, it sweetens the pot.”

“So Mass just walks away. Game over.”

“No, but you’re talking about two different things. What Mass is up to with 3P is one thing. Whether or not the memo and the crap that got posted on the Internet is a threat to us is something else.”

“Aren’t you worried about either one of them?”

“Sure! What do you think? Mass is not going to give up. He’ll regroup. But it’ll take time; I imagine quite a bit of time. He has to come up with a variant, something new he can be sure they haven’t prepared for.”

“There’s no relief in that.” Curtis sat back. “We have confirmation that he got close to doing it for real. The idea of population collapse is no longer hypothetical. It almost happened. Why do you think all the media are saying the memo was fabricated by GeLixCo as part of a smear campaign against its major competitor?

Hasuru shrugged. “The government probably needs to set up GeLixCo to take the fall in case the
U.S.
theft of
GenLET
gets discovered.”

Curtis paused. The idea hadn’t occurred to him before but it was plausible.

Hasuru prompted, “So why the smear campaign?”

“Because it hides the fact that the memo is real. That keeps the field of play open for Mass. Mass needs that memo to be fake to keep the heat off him.”

“To be expected if he wants to regroup. But the heat isn’t off. He knows it. You made sure of that when you convinced Oliver Ross to commit suicide.” Hasuru waved off Curtis’ impulse to explain. “Don’t bother denying it. The Group knows you were behind it.”

“Who said I was going to deny it? Ross had to go; he was the only one at the lab in
Kansas
who could connect me with the delayed fertility studies. The Group was adamant about that, remember? The three reports shouldn’t be traceable back to us. I wasn’t covering only for myself. I was protecting The Group.”

“That’s not the only heat you’ve supplied. We know about the assassination attempt in
India
. By now you have Mass worried and confused. He needs to figure out who’s after him. That’s even more of a problem, one that makes him a greater danger. Without a certain target, he might be forced to shatter-shot at all of us.”

Curtis tried to read Hasuru’s expression but it was impenetrable.

“So why have you followed me here? To tell me The Group is displeased?”

“They’re displeased about being kept in the dark. You’re now operating on your own, no discussion, no voting. And the actions you’re taking are not minor.”

“The Group has never shown interest nor the will to make the hard decisions.”

Hasuru sneered. “Excuse me, but that sounds like Mass talking.”

“No one is all good or bad. Mass has his strengths. To deny that is to underestimate him. If you have something to say, say it. I think I’ve had enough of the heat in here.”

“Very well. The Group would like to know what you’re hiding in
Puerto Rico
, at the research center.”

“Wow, just like that. Am I under surveillance?”

“You weren’t – until your personal couriers started visiting GARC.”

“I see. And since when were our personal couriers on The Group’s agenda?”

“They weren’t – until they started carrying materials labeled as biohazard.”

Curtis grinned. “Amazing how you knew that without surveillance.”

For Curtis, provocation met irritation. He stood and headed to the door.

Hasuru braced himself. “They need to know. What are you going to do next?”

“I’m going to take a shower.” Curtis paused in the doorway. “If you want to know more, you’ll have to follow me. This place closes in twenty minutes.”

The two of them walked into the shower room. Curtis dropped his towel and stepped into the cooling spray.

Intent on getting an answer, Hasuru joined him under the next nozzle.

Curtis closed his eyes. Jets of water cascaded onto his head and down his back. “First of all, you have to realize. The Group is no longer viable. It’s useless, passé. Events have overtaken it. We have to be realistic about what’s going on.”

Hasuru didn’t respond. It was more important to listen.

Curtis rubbed his face awake and spat out a mouthful of water. “I’ll tell you the truth because I consider you a friend. But if you can’t keep what I tell you a secret, then dry off and leave me alone. It’s your choice.”

Hasuru stood motionless, oblivious to the shower hitting his back. “No matter what you tell me, it stays between us? How can I do that? Why would I do that? Why won’t you share what you know with The Group?”

“I told you. They don’t matter. They can only get in the way.”

“Under those conditions, why tell me? You don’t want a partner.”

Curtis turned and stepped out of the spray. The two men stood face to face. “I’m not alone on this because I walked away. I’m alone because the rest of them stopped walking with me. I have no reason to exclude you.”

“All right. Then tell me. Between you and me.”

Curtis looked around to make sure they were alone. “A
United States
biodefense team has Alyssa Insworth at GARC. They’re studying her. They’re the same ones who kidnapped her.”

“What for?”

“I’ve been trying to find out. The secrecy around the project is like nowhere else. You would think the owner of GeLixCo could find out what’s happening in his own research lab but all I get are cover stories. I’ve had to piece it together.”

“But you did find something?”

“Some of the team down there are the same ones who worked on swiping
GenLET
from NovoSenectus. It makes sense it has something to do with
GenLET
.”

“But why Alyssa?”

“She’s Janis’ daughter. Janis co-created
GenLET
with Riya Basu. You know whatever advances Mass developed for
GenLET
, Janis has to know about them.”

“What advances? You mean quick-therapy approaches Janis was working on?”

“Possibly, but I don’t think so. It has to be something to warrant all the rushing around and trouble they’ve gone to in setting things up and maintaining secrecy.”

Hasuru stepped closer. “Then what?”

“I’ve narrowed it down. It can only be one thing. It has to be the solution to Mass’ greatest problem.”

“What the hell is that?”

Curtis held up his hands in revelation.

“How to protect
GenLET
people from the plague of 3rd Protocol.”

“Immunity?”

“Yes. Janis must have devised a way to build in 3P immunity inside
GenLET
.”

“Inside?” Hasuru had to process the idea.

“Sure, why not? They don’t have to be two separate things. We always suspected Mass would develop an immunity agent for 3P if he decided to go that far; it only makes sense if he wanted to release an agent of that magnitude in the wild. Why not package them together. One therapy does both?”

“I see that but what’s that got to do with the daughter?”

“Janis and Riya were Mass’ top scientists. They gave him the fountain of youth. Of course he let them drink from it. If for no other reason, he would want their experience and talents with him for as long as possible in the future. And you know Janis didn’t get extended life without also giving it to her daughter.”

“Then the
U.S.
should have kidnapped Janis. She’d be more valuable to them.”

“Who said they didn’t try? We’ll never know what really happened in the park in
Hyderabad
. Was it a busted operation? Janis testified to the Indian police that she saw three men in the getaway car. Three men to grab one girl? No, they wanted both of them but something went wrong. They had to settle for Alyssa – until recently.”

Hasuru showed surprise. “They have both of them now?”

“Yes, Janis is there. Now you know it has to be something critical if they were willing to step on Indian authorities to get her.”

Hasuru took a moment to patch things together.