The Extinction Files: The Complete Series, page 61
Lin Shaw knelt, unzipped the bag, and touched her husband’s cheek.
Peyton couldn’t remember ever seeing her mother cry. But in that tropical island forest, with the first rays of sunrise beaming through the tree canopy, Lin Shaw sobbed. Peyton realized it then: in some way, her mother had always expected her father to return. Lin Shaw had had one great love in her life, and she had never given up hope of being reunited with him.
Peyton understood that. Desmond was the only man she had ever truly fallen in love with. For the first time, she realized that she had always been waiting for Desmond to return. That’s why she had never moved on with her life romantically. Just like her mother had never dated after her father was taken from them.
With her hands still on William’s face, Lin said, “A long time ago, we bought burial plots in London. I’d like to bury him there. And I’d like for you, your sister, and brother to be there.”
Peyton nodded. She found it fitting. She knew now that her parents hadn’t fallen in love in London. That had occurred on the Beagle. But they had become a family in London. It was also where her father had been adopted, taken in, and helped to become the person he was.
Lin zipped up the body bag, composed herself, and turned to Peyton. “This crisis will soon be over. When that occurs, anger will replace fear. People won’t be focused on how to survive. They’ll want someone to blame—criminals to hang.”
Peyton instantly realized what her mother was telling her: Andrew was in danger. Peyton felt conflicting emotions. Her brother had created the pathogen that had killed millions. But he had been brainwashed to do it.
“I know what you’re thinking,” her mother said. “You should know this: Yuri Pachenko is a survivor. He was a young boy in Stalingrad when the Germans came. He survived by the strength of his mind. When everyone was dying around him, he learned how to manipulate people to his will. Every person has a breaking point, weaknesses—levers that can be turned.”
“What was Andrew’s?”
“Yuri threatened you.”
Peyton exhaled.
“And yours?”
“Andrew—and you. And Madison.” Lin paused. “If we give Andrew to the world, they will try him and kill him. Or imprison him. He isn’t completely innocent, but he’s not entirely guilty, either. When he realizes what he’s done, that weight will be a punishment more cruel than any the world could put upon him. What he needs now is to find his way back, to learn to live and love again.”
Charlotte, Peyton thought. Lin detailed her proposal to Peyton, then looked her daughter in the eye, waiting for her response.
Peyton nodded. “All right. I’ll do it.”
They rose and began walking away from the bodies. Lin spoke quietly.
“There’s something else. A month ago, someone located the Beagle. I don’t know how; I can only assume the location was somewhere in the most classified Citium files. Perhaps Desmond found it and told Avery. Or maybe she found it herself.”
“How do you know?”
“Rubicon sent a US Coast Guard icebreaker, the Healy, to find it. Conner sank the ship. I still don’t know where it is. I need you to ask Avery for the location.”
“Why?”
“Because of what’s on it.”
“Which is?”
“A conversation for another time, Peyton.”
They walked in silence again, Peyton deep in thought. Like a compass returning to true north, her mind always drifted back to Desmond. She feared the answer to her next question, but she had to know.
“Desmond’s not here, is he?”
“As I said, Yuri’s a survivor. He wouldn’t set foot on this island without an escape plan. And he wouldn’t leave without Desmond and Conner. They possess Rendition and Rook, both of which he needs.”
“What will they do to Desmond?”
“They’ll try to help him regain his memories.”
The thought terrified Peyton. “I’m going after him.”
Lin turned to her daughter. “There are greater forces at work here.”
“Not for me, there’s not. You want the coordinates of the Beagle? I want Desmond back. You’re going to help me. And you’re going to tell me exactly what’s going on.”
Her mother smiled. “Now that’s the young lady I raised.”
Chapter 135
When Desmond woke up, Conner was sitting on the bunk across from him. He knew instantly that he was on a ship. A submarine, he would have guessed.
Conner cocked his head, but didn’t speak.
Desmond’s arm and leg hair were singed. Minor burns dotted his body, but he was okay. He looked his brother in the eyes.
“You pulled me out, didn’t you?”
“I did what you wouldn’t do for me.”
“I tried, Conner. I was five.”
“I was three months.”
Desmond sat silently, hoping some of the anger would drain away. “Where are we going?”
Conner smiled. The hideous scars contorted on his face. “We’re going to finish this. You’re going to help us.” He stood and walked to the hatch. “Get some rest. You’ll need it.”
* * *
In the passageway, Yuri was waiting.
“Don’t worry, we’ll reach him. Thirteen years ago, I helped him rehabilitate you. You had lost your way, just as he has lost his. Together, we’ll save him. And we’ll complete the Looking Glass.”
Chapter 136
Peyton was sitting in Avery’s tiny hospital room when she awoke.
She rose and walked to the bed. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
For the first time since the two women had met, there wasn’t an undercurrent of tension in their voices.
Peyton still felt like clearing the air. “Listen, I know you and I haven’t always… seen eye to eye.”
“I applaud your skill at understatement.”
Peyton laughed. “Thank you.” She sat on the edge of the bed. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I want to start over.”
Avery nodded, but said nothing.
“How’re you feeling?”
Avery glanced at the ceiling and opened her mouth, but quickly shut it, biting off a snide remark, Peyton thought. Maybe they really were starting over. Without making eye contact, she mumbled, “I’m okay.” A pause, then she stared at Peyton. “Desmond?”
“We’re searching the island. Haven’t found him yet.”
“You won’t,” Avery said flatly.
“We’re working on the assumption that Yuri and Conner escaped with him in custody.”
“You’re going to go after them.”
“Yes. My mother knows the Citium—and Yuri—better than anyone alive. She’s going to help me. And I’d like your help. No. I want—”
“You want us to be partners?”
“I think there’s no two people in this world who will work harder to find him.”
“You got that right.”
“So what’s it going to be, Avery?”
“Yeah. Count me in, Doc.”
Peyton smiled. “Call me Peyton. There’s one more thing. I need you to make a call for me.”
“What kind of call?”
“An important one. We need the coordinates of the Beagle’s wreckage.”
* * *
Ten minutes later, Peyton opened the hatch to her mother’s stateroom.
Lin Shaw looked up from her notebook. “Did you get it?”
Peyton placed the scrap of paper on the desk.
Lin studied the handwritten GPS coordinates as if they were an ancient treasure, thought lost forever.
“You’ve been looking for it for a very long time,” Peyton said.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Her mother exhaled. Peyton knew the reaction well. She was digging in.
“Mom.”
Lin still said nothing.
“We made a deal.”
“Very well. If you want to know, I’ll have to show you.”
Day 20
final death toll:
31,000,000
Chapter 137
On the deck of the US Coast Guard icebreaker, Peyton breathed in the cool morning air. She heard footsteps behind her, and turned to find her mother approaching.
“It’s time.”
Minutes later, they were in a submersible with two research assistants, drifting toward the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. The four of them donned protective suits, docked with the wreckage of the Beagle, and disembarked.
The dark, frigid tomb gave Peyton the creeps. There was so much history here. This was where her parents had met and fallen in love, and, according to her father’s account, where her brother had been conceived.
The LED lamps on their helmets cut through the dark vessel, revealing it in swaths. Frozen, dead bodies lay on the deck. Others had died in their bunks, a book by their side, covers pulled over them.
In the labs, they found some more recently deceased bodies: members of the Rubicon team that had found the Beagle. They had starved. Conner had sunk the Healy, stranding the team here, to preserve Citium secrets. Peyton wanted to know what was so valuable that it was worth taking the lives of these brave souls.
Rows of doors lined the wall of the lab. They reminded Peyton of cold chambers in a morgue, except these doors each had a small peephole that could be uncovered.
Peyton’s mother moved to a safe on the wall and turned the dial. It clicked open, and she withdrew a set of keys. She turned to the two research assistants, who had brought with them several airtight containers.
“When I place the specimens inside, seal them quickly.”
They acknowledged her orders, and Lin moved to the closest door, opened it, and slid the drawer out, revealing a set of bones. They were human. No—the skull was different, and so was the pelvis.
Lin gently took hold of the skull and placed it in the first container. To the two team members, she said, “Quickly now.”
When the drawer was empty, Lin closed it and used the key to open another.
More bones. Human, but not that of a Homo sapiens sapiens. A prehistoric ancestor, forgotten until now.
The team Lin had brought with her made trip after trip, returning with empty containers, filling them, then leaving to return the specimens to the ship waiting at the surface. Peyton watched in amazement as the chambers were emptied. She counted five different human species in total. The other chambers held other animal species: a large feline, a seal, a porpoise, and many more.
Peyton activated her comm. “Mom, what is this?”
“Let’s speak when we’re done. We have to preserve the samples.”
When the last cold chamber was empty, Lin told the research assistants to wait at the submersible. Then she gestured for Peyton to follow.
They snaked through the dark passageways to a series of cramped offices. Lin pulled open a drawer and rifled through the files. She opened one that was scribbled with German handwriting, then began to read the pages to herself.
“Mom.”
Lin looked up as if she had forgotten her daughter was still there. She seemed almost possessed.
“Whose research is this?” Peyton asked.
Lin said nothing.
“It’s yours, isn’t it? You collected those bones. Why?”
Lin took the folders out of the drawer and piled them on the desk. Finally, she faced Peyton. “Switch to channel seven.”
When they were alone on the comm channel, Lin spoke again.
“Our Citium cell was the original. Committed to the core belief. The founding question, we called it.”
“What question?”
“The question every sentient mind asks itself at one point or another: Why do I exist?”
“The answer’s here on the Beagle?”
“Yes and no. We named the sub the Beagle in honor of another famous ship of the same name.”
“The ship that carried Charles Darwin around the world—when he formed his early beliefs, what became the theory of evolution.”
“That’s right. We believed that Darwin’s theory was only half of the true picture of the nature of humanity—that the full truth was even more shocking.”
“And you found evidence of your theory?”
“Yes. We called our work the Extinction Files. We believed that by studying the genomes of extinct and living species, we could finally unravel the greatest secrets of the human race. What we found was… it was something none of us would ever have imagined.” Lin paused, as if considering what to say next. “But we needed more data to confirm our theory.”
More data, Peyton thought. “In the cordons, they took DNA samples from every patient.”
“I was only told that the data would be collected, not how. Nevertheless, right now, somewhere in a Citium lab, those billions of genetic samples are being sequenced. If we can obtain that data, and combine it with the samples down here, we’ll finally know the truth.”
“What are you telling me, Mom?”
“There’s a code—buried in the human genome. And if our theory is correct, what it leads to will change our very understanding of human existence.”
Epilogue
In the days after the X1-Mandera pandemic ended, the South Australia Relief Alliance, or SARA, was inundated with refugees seeking help. Luckily, they had a new staff member.
Andrew was thankful for the work. It kept him from thinking about what had happened and what he had done. He would never forgive himself, no matter how many patients he treated, how many lives he saved. For the rest of his life, he would carry a debt that could never be repaid.
Charlotte had tried to get him to move on, but he couldn’t. She insisted that time heals all wounds. He wasn’t sure he believed that. But he wanted to.
He stepped into a patient room and closed the door. His prosthetic arm held a simple attachment, his other hand a clipboard with the patient’s name. His own name had been something of a dilemma. Andrew Shaw was technically dead. And if anyone ever came looking, he didn’t want to be found. In that sense, the remote, outback aid camp was the perfect place for him. All there was to do here was work and spend time with Charlotte. They had a lifetime to catch up on.
“Hi,” he said. “My name’s William Moore. I’m the attending physician today. How are you feeling?”
* * *
Avery sat in the conference room in the low-rise building in Research Triangle Park, the same room where she had interviewed with Rubicon Ventures so many years before. The same man who had interviewed her back then, David Ward, sat across from her.
“I’m proud of you,” he said.
“I’m proud of me too.”
“Seriously, Avery. Listen for a second. What you did was beyond the call of duty. There’s no award this nation confers that even begins to recognize the type of risk you took or the skill you displayed. What I’m trying to tell you is, I know what you did, and everyone up the Rubicon chain of command knows. And we appreciate you.”
Avery fidgeted in her seat, unsure what to say. After a moment, she asked what she’d come here to ask. “My father?”
David nodded. “Was very well taken care of. We had him transferred to the Dean Dome. He’s still there. I’ll call and let them know you’re coming.”
“Thanks.”
David leaned back in his chair. “Can we trust them?”
Avery knew he was asking about Peyton and Lin Shaw. What she didn’t know was what to say. “Time will tell.”
“It would be nice to know ahead of time.”
“I don’t see what option we have.”
David let the chair ease forward. “Lots of people are unhappy about Lin Shaw’s immunity agreement.”
“I don’t blame them. But they’ll have to get over it. We need her.”
“You’re sure?”
“This isn’t over. We don’t know what’s next. It could be worse than the pandemic. We need to start dismantling the Citium. We need somebody who’s been on the inside to do that. We can sort everything else out once we’ve finished this.”
“All right. I can live with that.”
Avery stood, and David walked her out. At the door, his tone softened, “Don’t worry, okay?”
“About what?”
“You know what, Avery. We’re going to do everything we can to find him. Every resource we have is at your disposal. I know what Desmond means to you.”
* * *
At the Dean Dome, Avery weaved through the rows of makeshift cubicles. She had waited until she was well enough to pretend she wasn’t in any pain. She didn’t want her father to know—just in case he recognized her.
At his cubicle, she waited at the opening for him to see her. His reaction to her always told her what sort of day he was having. The Alzheimer’s had progressed a lot in the last few years. Good days were becoming more and more rare.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“No,” she said quietly. “I was just coming by to visit. See if you needed anything.”
He glanced around. “No. Think I’m all set.” He scrutinized her face. “You look… Do I know you?”
She walked into the cubicle, scanned it, and found what she was looking for. She pulled out the folding metal chair, sat at the small table, and moved the deck of cards to the middle. “How about a game of Gin Rummy?”
He raised his eyebrows as he sat across from her. “Sure. Why not? It’s my favorite game, actually.”
After the second game, he asked, “So what did you do during the pandemic?”
“Oh, nothing important.”
* * *
Peyton sat in the car outside the stately home, waiting for the line to connect.
Millen Thomas was laughing when he answered. “Yeah, hello?” He was distracted—and amused by something.
