“The first?” Dryden asked.
Gaul nodded. “Western Dynamics has its own generation of operatives whose development is based on Rachel’s. Subjects treated in utero. They dosed the first group not quite five years ago. Those subjects are four years old now, and all appear to have Rachel’s capabilities. Early trial runs with them, using the antennas, could start any day now. They might not be made to do very much at first, but in a few years’ time…” Gaul’s mouth seemed to have gone dry. He licked his lips. “In a few years’ time, I think we’re going to find ourselves in a very different world.”
Dryden felt as if the room had suddenly cooled by five degrees. The skin on his arms seemed to tighten. Before he could say anything, a heavy engine approached and stopped outside the building. Two of Gaul’s men left the room, and Dryden heard them speaking to someone down the hall. Footsteps followed—hard soles ticking lightly. When the door opened again, Holly Ferrel stepped through it.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Gaul introduced her to Dryden. He’d seen her at a distance outside her town house in Amarillo; up close she looked like someone who’d been getting by on reduced sleep for a while. The skin was dark under her eyes, pale everywhere else. When she shook Dryden’s hand, her grip seemed almost powerless. He’d been right about her age: forty, give or take.
“Were you one of the researchers who worked on Rachel?” Dryden asked.
She spoke without meeting his eyes. “I wasn’t part of the project at first. I worked at NCI-Frederick, a branch of the National Cancer Institute, based there at Detrick. I’d been there for about a year when I was approached to get involved in … the other stuff. I was told that certain research grants I had pending at Frederick could be approved quickly if I helped with—”
She stopped. She shook her head. “That’s all bullshit. It’s true, but it’s still bullshit. I knew what I was saying yes to. I was scared to turn them down, and part of me really wanted to get involved. It was bleeding-edge stuff. It was fascinating. So I did it.”
She left it at that. Her gaze stayed on the floor.
Gaul spoke. “I’m going to tell you how Rachel and the other two managed to get free from Detrick, Mr. Dryden. It’s the last part of the story. But you should understand something about Audrey and Sandra—and Rachel’s mother. You knew all those subjects came from prison, felons with long-term sentences. In Rebecca Grant’s case, the crimes were drug related. Mostly possession, some minor trafficking. She wasn’t the best decision maker, but she was no monster. Audrey and Sandra were. Both had been convicted of murder. Both were almost certainly sociopaths.” He composed his thoughts, then said, “There were two escape attempts from Fort Detrick, actually. One failed and the other succeeded, but the first attempt was … the nice version. That was the one Rachel and her mother preferred. Keep in mind that Rachel was seven when all this happened.”
Dryden waited for him to go on.
Gaul turned to Holly. “Can you show him?”
Holly nodded. She reached into her pocket and withdrew a thick square of folded notepad paper. When she opened it, Dryden saw it comprised three sheets. The first was covered with writing. The penmanship looked like that of a child: messy and too careful at the same time. Holly separated it from the others and passed it to Dryden.
“What is this?” he asked.
Holly struggled for an answer.
“You’ll see,” Gaul said.
Dryden turned the sheet around in his hands and read.
Holly it’s me Rachel. I am afraid to ask you this when your here with us, because I know the people here are always watching, and my mom says there are probably machines recording sound in this place, day and night. This is the only way I know how to send you this message, and ask you for help. My mom thinks if you tell a reporter at a newspaper or on tv what is happening here, all the things you know, then it would make it so they have to let us go, my mom says it is illegal that they are keeping us here forever. Holly, please talk to a reporter and get them to let us out of here. I know you mean it when your nice to me, and you care. Please help us.
Dryden finished reading it and looked up.