Necessary Evil, page 29
"Was 1220 a Tilok?"
"She was. She was exposed to the naturally mutated vector-virus RA-4TVM when they discovered quite by accident that she was immune. They studied her, they studied others. She was the reason they became so intensely interested in the Tiloks in the first place. It was the immunity thing."
"According to the summary the antivirus and vaccine AVCD-4 appeared to work," Kier said.
"Our guys think so too."
"So it was the immunity theory that kept them studying the Tiloks."
"Yup. But the Tiloks apparently have another genetic difference. Evidently a retroviral event in the Tiloks' history left a DNA segment in their genes that combined with Tillman's vector virus, RA-4TV, through natural reassortment. Out came a mutated version of the RA-4TV, called RA-4TVM, and it's a killer. Actually the original RA-4T virus was not as harmless as they thought. They got in a hurry because they were so excited about the vector application.
"Tillman's people couldn't cure either RA-4T or RA-4TVM until just recently. But it escaped into the U.S. population and Tillman's known it for two years. Often people have no symptoms for four or five years. Then they start dying. Some could live a long time. We think Tillman's been working over the past months to make it look like the virus originated on a mink farm on the Tilok reservation."
"So how did the Tilok get RA-4TV in the first place?"
"The short answer, we don't know, but we sure as hell want to find out. We do know he was using the Tilok people to test the progress and cure rate of the AVCD-4 antivirus when used to control the run-amok RA-4TVM virus. And any of its mutations. When the RA-4TV reassorted itself and mutated to become RA-4TVM-that part we're sure was an accident. Probably isn't likely to happen in anything but a Tilok body. The bad news is that we don't have the cure for the RA-4TVM. Tillman does. It's in Volume Six. And the antivirus and vaccine were on that plane."
"So my tribe and the rest of the country are at risk if we don't get the cure?"
"Yes. From the now long escaped RA-4TVM. Do you have Volume Six?" Doyle stared into Kier's eyes when he asked.
"How widespread is it?"
"We don't know exactly. Tillman purposely gave it to quite a few Tiloks at the clinic because he and Rawlins were desperate to know how it would spread and how it would act with the vaccine and the antivirus. Through some absolute fluke Rawlins's wife got it early on. By the time they got the cure fully developed, she was too far gone. If left untreated long enough it invades the brain. Although it's curable if you treat it early, the later stages cause neurological damage with symptomatology similar to Alzheimer's. The brain damage is irreversible, even if you kill the virus. The virus spreads from person to person in a manner similar to AIDS, but frankly more easily. It can be passed by saliva, I'm told."
"That would really make them desperate."
"It sure would. Imagine the liability. Even if they could cure it. Now, do you have Volume Six or don't you? I must know."
Kier's face was a stony mask. "I don't know how the FBI could let this happen. You know so much."
"Listen, we've got to find the cure for this mutated virus before we take in Tillman. Otherwise he bargains with it for his freedom. We've also got to find Volume Six and get the evidence. A lot of our information came from a witness who was on that plane and is now dead."
Kier shook his head.
"Their technology is the discovery of the century, if not the millennium." Doyle struggled to get up, but Kier kept him down. "Rawlins made this sixth volume to take the power out of the hands of an absolute nutter. If the FBI can get Volume Six, we might find the house of horrors where they keep all the brain-damaged clones. Maybe what he's done with the Tiloks and how to fix it. Heard enough to help me?"
"What about the plane and the soldiers?"
"Tillman must have learned Rawlins was turning on him. He had to bury Rawlins and all records of illegal activity. So he thinks up a plane crash. Step one is to get Rawlins to agree to move the lab. Step two is to make sure that all the evidence of illegal or controversial stuff is destroyed except what's being moved on this plane to the secret new lab. Step three is to load Rawlins and his closest cronies on the plane with all their records. Four, drop the important research materials to Tillman before a preset bomb explodes the plane over the ocean. Five, convince the government that all the records are gone, destroyed in the 'accidental' crash.
"We watched while the bastard got the plane off right under our noses. Somebody on our team screwed up. I'm guessing that when Tillman's men pulled their guns and prepared for the drop, the scientists were ready. They had prepared for something like this, brought their own guns maybe. The thugs were supposed to parachute down with the lab equipment and records. Instead, there's a shootout and the plane crash-lands near the drop site instead of exploding over the ocean."
"That would explain the second explosion."
"They picked your mountain for the drop because it was near their clinic and in line with a runway on the coast. Those footprints from the plane must have been somebody who survived the crash." Kier shrugged in reply.
Kier hesitated.
"You gotta tell me."
"How do I know you're the FBI?" asked Kier. "How do I know you or the FBI haven't made a deal with the devil? It wouldn't be the first time."
Doyle sighed. "Look, I don't know where you get your ideas, but this isn't the movies. Sure, Tillman has friends in high places like you'd expect, but if we can get hard evidence, he's cooked."
"Where's Tillman, then? Let's find him."
"What's not getting through here is that Tillman's going after Mayfield. It's the best way to get you alive."
Kier felt the words like an electric shock. Of course. Tillman knew about him and Jessie. The way she walked so close. From the track.
"I should have realized," he said, standing. "He's already tried that once. I've got to backtrack. Alone."
"You'll have a lot better luck with me. Think about it. The two of us can walk right out in the open as long as we're together."
Kier considered. Doyle was right.
Chapter 32
The lessons we're taught as children must be learned again in hard times.
— Tilok proverb
Kier and Doyle backtracked Kier's trail toward Jessie. When they reached the edge of the forest next to the pasture, Kier stopped. Using a small light, he examined the tracks in the earth near a puddle. All of the imprints were made by large boots. After proceeding another fifty yards, he once again examined the ground. He found a track-Jessie's boot-and a print immediately behind hers. Kier recognized it as that of the lone stalker on the mountain. A few yards farther Kier could see that Jessie had been scuffing.
The look on Kier's face told Doyle what he needed to know.
"He found her."
Kier nodded, his hatred of Tillman and fear for Jessie displacing everything else.
"What's your name again?" Kier asked, now able to see the man's face clearly for the first time. He was square jawed, with handsome Anglo features dominated by bushy red eyebrows and long, neat sideburns.
"I'm Quartz on the radio. The men know me by Doyle."
"Okay, Doyle, it looks like he's taking her to the house. I'd guess if we wait, we'll hear from him over the radio. If we follow them, we'll walk into a trap."
At that moment, Doyle's radio crackled. "Base to Iron. Do you copy?"
"That's the guy you killed back there. I'd better answer." Kier uncuffed him. "Base, this is Quartz. Iron went to check on some suspicious movement."
"This is base. Why can't he tell us that?"
"Don't know. Last I knew he was on his hands and knees in the bushes."
"It sounds like you better check it out. Find out for sure. Everybody else stay put and keep your eyes glued."
The man from base then completed a roll call. Kier counted twenty responses, which meant that at least that many ringed the house.
As the roll call ended, Kier's radio, set to a different channel, came on. "Dr. Kier, do you copy?"
"Tillman?" Kier asked Doyle.
"The very same."
"I hear you."
"I've got your friend Jessie. I think it's time we talked."
"Tell him yes," Doyle whispered. "We'll go in and see what he has in mind. Before we go, you've got to tell me where the sixth volume is."
Kier's mind whirled.
"Well?" Tillman persisted.
No option seemed good. Gambling everything on Doyle and his scheme didn't seem wise. On the other hand, it was direct, simple. He had no better plan. And stalling while his family, his whole tribe, could be infected with Tillman's virus made no sense. Jessie was in the most immediate danger. This would get him in the house, near her.
"Listen, Dr. Kier, I wasn't kidding. I've got your mother, your sisters, the whole damn tribe. I've got them. Every one of them has viruses inside them. They'll be in a world of hurt within a week or so. I've put a little goody in the Tilok reservoir that raises their susceptibility to this disease like a tinder-dry forest feeds a fire. I've got the only stuff that'll kill the virus. Come and talk to me, or your tribe and your girlfriend here die."
"Okay," Kier finally replied and ended the transmission.
"Where's the volume?" Doyle asked again.
"Not yet."
Claudie's kitchen had been turned into a command center. Maps were spread around, their corners held in place by cups of stale coffee and butcher knives. Judging from the glass filled with cigarette butts and ash, somebody was a heavy smoker. Probably they were nervous. The only sound in the place was the creaking of the hot metal of the stove.
Tillman's arms were folded across his chest, his face a mask of arrogant confidence. Coldness glistened in his dark eyes. The man had a hard angularity that came from a lean, muscled body without an ounce of rounding flab. Four men in addition to Tillman stood by. They all wore taut faces and leveled guns at Kier, mindful of their fallen comrades. At first Kier did not see Jessie, but as he moved into the kitchen, his eye found the corner of the living room where she sat handcuffed and tied to a kitchen chair. He winced at the lines of dried blood on her swollen face.
He took two steps toward Tillman, a low moan escaping his lips. "Hold it!" Tillman shouted, holding up his hand. The guns in four hands quivered with tension.''One more step and you're dead."
Kier stopped, his gaze returning to Jessie. Around her torso were bands of heavy plastic tape confining her belly and upper arms. Her hands were cuffed in front of her. Each calf was fastened to a chair leg. She was totally immobilized, unable to do no more than blink her eyes in frustration.
Only Tillman appeared relaxed, leaning against a countertop with his gun holstered. Kier had surrendered his pistols to Doyle before entering. For appearances, Doyle held a gun fixed on Kier's back. Of course, it was a real gun, it was loaded, and it could just as well be used for killing as for appearances. Kier wondered if he had made the right choice.
"So, Dr. Kier Wintripp, tracker and survivalist extraordinaire, special deputy sheriff on occasion, youth leader, martial arts expert, and country vet-not to mention wine connoisseur-how nice of you to come and see us." Tillman's face broke in a self-satisfied smile. "Tell me, Doyle, could you have gotten him in here with the FBI story if I didn't have little Miss Muffet here?"
Kier reeled at Tillman's words, forcing himself not to turn and stare at Doyle. So it had all been part of the game.
"Frankly, I doubt it. He's a mistrustful bloke. Doesn't have much confidence in the government,'' Doyle replied. Kier could hear him smile.
''Well, we have that in common, Kier and I." Tillman pushed off the counter and moved to Jessie. "So tell me about the missing volume and the footprints." Tillman pulled a thin, black knife from his pocket. "I'm listening."
"Not much to tell. There was one set of tracks leaving the plane, and I found a hole big enough for one missing volume in the metal box."
Tillman unfolded the blade and began scraping the underside of his nails. "Did someone come from the plane?"
"I saw no tracks leading into the area, only a set of tracks leaving."
"You're a tracker. You know a lot more."
It was true. It hit him like a bolt from the blue. Kier did know more. Yet until this moment even he had been unable to solve the puzzle.
"It was a man who swaggers, makes a lot of noise. Puts his heel down heavy, a lot of snap, crackle, and pop. Except for once," Kier said. "One time he took a stalker's stride, with straight feet, one almost in front of the other. The two or three steps that followed were an Indian's walk. The rest was all city man. He was small and traveled fast. He couldn't find natural breaks in the forest. He just bulled his way through. Seemed headed in a lost man's circle that would have intersected with the county road. No blood in the track, but he did walk with a slight drag like he was hurt."
"Old man or young?"
"I can't always tell the age of a man by his track, but in this case it was an old man who wanted to make fools of us all. You will never find the book by yourself." Kier said it with the utmost conviction.
"What do you mean?"
"This man who has your book is the only living Spirit Walker of the Tilok tribe. He lives in the mountains. You will not find him unless he wants you to find him."
"And why would this old man be at the crash site minutes after the plane hit the ground?"
"I don't know if I can give you an explanation that would make sense to a white man."
"Try me."
"The old man believes in omens. Think of it as the past and the future meeting at a point in time and space with a silent witness."
Tillman snorted.
Kier looked at the ceiling before he continued. "Yeah, well, if you're small-minded like the rest of us, consider that you left an elephant-size trail in his mountains. I saw your tire tracks going up by the old Murdock place. Don't think he would miss them, or the details of your camp, or your number, or the maps you studied, or the guns you carried, or your whispering in the night, or the food you ate, or the spoor you left. If you camped near Murdock's, then you were within three miles of the crash site. It would only take a tiny bit of intuition, or a single crow's head for clever luck, for him to be at the crash site if he was already on the mountain, watching you. And he surely was. You were like a circus in his living room."
"He must have a place where he goes."
"He goes where the wind blows him. His living room is Iron Mountain on this side; his bedroom in the summer its north shoulder; his kitchen in the summer the north face; his playroom the backside; his backyard the Wintoon wilderness; and his exercise area the Marble Mountains. His church is the sky, where they say he walks if he becomes tired of the earth. So you tell me-where would he go with your horror?"
"Could you track him?"
''You haven't been listening.'' Kier allowed a look of amusement to cross his face. "And why would I want to?"
"Because of the little extras I will do to your woman if you don't. Because I'll kill your tribe."
Kier imagined Tillman's words floating over a road map of unspeakable things, all of them etched in the sickness of his mind. "If he doesn't want to be found, I can't track him. But I'm the best hope you've got."
"Maybe he won't resist being found by you."
"How will he know I'm the one who'll come? I expect he'll assume there's a whole army of rednecks after him."
Tillman unholstered his gun and pointed it at Kier. He had one of his men put handcuffs on him. "Leave us alone," he said to his men, who then began filing out. "You too, Doyle," he added when Doyle hung back.
After they left, Tillman spoke in a whisper. "I'll kill your damned tribe with the RA-4TVM virus. I've already infected dozens."
"How could you have done that?"
Tillman looked like he was thinking, perhaps reconsidering his disclosure.
"Remember the free cholesterol test at the fair?"
Willow had taken the test, Kier recalled distantly.
"Kissing, spitting on the food enough, living in real close proximity, it'll spread. Not well, but it spreads. Then we dosed the water here with a catalyst."
"Were you going to cure it?"
"Oh, sure. I mean, we aim to please. In the beginning you can stop it with the antivirus and a vaccine. Later it takes the addition of a special little protein molecule that clogs up the host cells so the virus can't dock. We also planned to neutralize the catalyst we put in the water. If we wait until the little bastards have taken root, so to speak, we've got to kill most of them with the usual, then the rest of them with a very powerful drug that kills the bone marrow. If we wait long, to save your friends we'd have to do a bone marrow transplant or else increase the natural immunity in each individual. So you don't want to dally. We can fix it, but if we don't, your tribe will die slowly. If we continue the test, and you do as we say, we'll call it the flu at the clinic and treat everybody before it gets serious. But if I don't get the sixth volume, I won't bother stopping the disease. I swear to you, Kier, if you don't find it, a third of your people will die in the near term. And among that third will be your mother and your sisters. It will go down as a fluke of nature."
"The CDC is gonna ask a lot of questions about where the virus came from."
"We've got that covered. It's in the mink at the mink farm owned by the Grove family. It mutated slightly and crossed over to people."
"Look, I can't find the old man if he doesn't want to be found. Especially in a day or two."
"I don't care about your theories or Spirit Walkers or any of that stuff. Your girlfriend stays. You go. If you aren't back in twenty-four hours with Volumes Five and Six- No. Better yet, you radio every hour and give me a report. If I like the report, well, nothing happens. If I don't like it, we start cutting little pieces off little Miss Muffet. First toes, then fingers, then"-he reached and cupped his own ear-"imagine what she'd look like without ears. Then maybe we'll de-lip her." Tillman smiled again. "We'll leave kind of a mewling hole for a mouth-like a newborn. Then we'll take some more interesting things. Maybe we won't do you a favor and kill her. Maybe we'll let you keep what's left."
