Price of a Bounty

-Guy-

The Plan



As we neared the safe house, I made another call. This one was vital. “Can you meet us at safe house four? It’s an emergency.”

When we arrived at the little yellow house, three people were waiting in the living room. They stood as we entered.

“Eberhardt. Murphy.” The burly men seemed to fill the small room. I would trust either one of them with my life. Then I turned to the woman. She was tall and slender with long shiny black hair pulled back in a ponytail.

“Ricardo?”

She held out her hand, and I accepted the handshake.

“Raquelle,” she said.

“It’s nice to meet you, Raquelle.”

Just then the door opened and another couple entered. I hurried over.

“John. Alexis. Am I glad you’re here!”

Alexis grinned. “You have a story for me?”

I motioned for her to sit, for everyone to sit. Then I began. “About an hour ago, soldiers broke into my apartment.”

Eberhardt glanced at Keira.

“They’re on our side, and with their help, we pieced together something terribly disturbing. Ramsey Corps has been committing crimes against humanity, and we don’t have a minute to lose if we’re to have any hope of stopping them.”

I looked at my team. “Murphy. Keira. You’ll be in charge of getting all of us in and out of the Ramsey Corps lab safely.”

Keira sized up Murphy. He was almost as big as Eberhardt, a real muscle man. It occurred to me then that this would be her first real opportunity to work with a larger group, including a number of people she’d never met before.

“Raquelle, you’re our high tech expert. We may need your help getting through security, but once we’re in, the most important part of your job begins. We’ll need whatever information is being stored on the internal Ramsey Corps system.”

I turned my attention to Alexis, a beautiful and brave woman who not enough people recognized. “I’d like you all to meet Alexis Palamara, world renowned investigative reporter. Most of her stories never air in Terene, but I have a feeling that what we’re about to discover at the Ramsey Corps lab will interest people everywhere. This could be an impetus for change. We may finally have enough evidence to wake people up.”

I smiled at the tall red haired man who sat next to her. “And this is John Maes, biophysicist. His job will be to validate what we find in there. I’ll likely need your help afterward to check through the information Raquelle recovers.”

John nodded.

“Eberhardt, you’re on double duty. First, I’ll need you to babysit. We’ll be bringing along someone whose best interest will not be to help us. It’s your job to make sure he cooperates. Second, depending on what we find in there, I may need you to destroy the place. Did you pack enough for that?”

He nodded. “It’s in the car.”

Just then we heard another car pull into the drive. “Eberhardt, please welcome Dr. Ross.”

Eberhardt stood and moved to open the door. When the doctor saw all of us, his eyes went wide, and he took a step back. Eberhardt’s gun convinced him to join the group.





-Keira-

Modified



“There’s something you all need to see,” Guy said. He looked at me, and I nodded. I went into the kitchen and returned with a large bowl, a sharp knife and a few paper towels.

Then Guy turned to the others. “Alexis, I know you brought your camera. You’ll want to turn it on now, but I’m trusting that you’ll keep everyone’s identity a secret. Can you agree to that?”

“You know I can, or I doubt you would have invited me here today.” She removed some equipment from her bag.

Everyone else waited in silence.

Alexis aimed her camera directly at me, and I felt a nervous twinge. I’d never been vid-recorded before except by surveillance cams, but this was important.

Guy spoke to the group and to the camera, “What you are about to see was done without this young woman’s knowledge or approval.”

I raised the knife and once again, cut my arm. I held the wound over the bowl. Blood gushed, but only for a few seconds. I picked up a paper towel and wiped away the blood. Alexis filmed for a few more seconds, then turned off the camera and set it down. She and John both stood up and walked over to get a closer look.

John looked at Dr. Ross in surprise. “You’ve done it!”

“But what has he done exactly?” I turned to Dr. Ross, “What did you do to me?”

John answered first. “He’s modified you at the molecular level, using nanotech.”

“What does that mean? Is there something inside of me?”

“Nothing that wasn’t there before. You’re still you. He’s improved your white blood cells so they’re better able to fight off disease and heal after injury.”

Alexis looked at John and said, “Can I have an interview?”

“Of course, but later, I have a feeling there’s more.” He returned to his seat and looked at Guy. Alexis did the same.

Guy looked at each of us before he continued. “Does there need to be more? Like I said, this was done without Keira’s knowledge or approval. That’s illegal, even in Terene, no matter what her social status. Furthermore, Ramsey Corps is trying to keep this project secret. Why? What are they hiding?” He turned and looked at Dr. Ross, so did the rest of us.

“We’re not hiding anything. We’re still in the early stages. That’s all. We’re simply not ready to present our findings yet.” Dr. Ross turned toward me and took a few steps in my direction. He smiled. “What a gift you’ve been given!”

“A gift?” I glared at Dr. Ross. “People can accept or reject a gift. They’re given a choice. I wasn’t.”

“But my dear, had you been given the choice, wouldn’t you have accepted this? A person would have to be crazy not to accept the gift of healing, of life. You of all people should know that. Just imagine if this had been available to your parents.”

I could only stare. He had no right to bring them into this. “You really don’t get it, do you?” My father should have been cared for, but he didn’t need this. He’d just needed antibiotics. And my mother…if my father hadn’t died so young, she never would have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Dr. Ross continued to explain. “I’m working to save people’s lives, to help people.”

“Reliance on citizens makes us great!” I recited the motto of the realm. “We should all do whatever we can to help improve society.”

“Yes, exactly!” Dr. Ross said.

Guy moved closer and stood next to me. His support was exactly what I needed. “Curing the sick and healing the wounded. We should strive for that.”

Dr. Ross smiled and nodded in agreement.

“Even without their permission.”

“But why wouldn’t the sick and wounded want help?” Dr. Ross was truly at a loss.

Guy said, “Dr. Ross, taking away free will and independence…that is and always will be, wrong. Your tests have been done illegally and unethically. We will stop you.”





-Guy-

Who Else?



Dr. Ross’s grin faded. “It’s all of you who don’t understand. Can’t you see how this will help people everywhere?”

Why were they after Keira? There was something he wasn’t telling us. “Doctor, have you given yourself the injection?”

“No.” He looked at the ground, clearly uncomfortable.

“Why not?”

“Unfortunately, not everyone’s system accepts the treatment.”

My heart skipped a beat, and my hands went cold. “Please explain.”

“Only a small percentage of volunteers have had such positive results.”

“By volunteers, you mean soldiers, don’t you? Were they given an option? Did they know what was in the injections they were receiving? Were they aware of the risks?” Our earlier conversation with Sgt. McGraw led me to believe they had not been given an option, and they did not know the risks.

Dr. Ross said, “They gave up those rights when they enlisted. It’s all legal.”

“Who else? Soldiers, Keira and April, and who else?” I pressed.

“That’s classified.”

I nodded at Eberhardt who clicked off the safety on his gun and held it against Doctor Ross’s head.

He faltered. “Curtis Ramsey. I warned him about the possible side effects, but he insisted.”

“Side effects? Death is one of the side effects? And you gave this treatment to unsuspecting people? You gave it to Keira?”

“With her it was different. We weren’t even sure the formula could be ingested. I didn’t think it would have any effect at all.”

“What about April?” Keira asked. “You could have killed her!”

“No, my dear, I think not,” replied Dr. Ross. “You and your brother had already responded so well, better than any of our other test subjects. Coming from the same stock, April had a very good chance of surviving the treatment.”

“Did you ask her for permission? Did she know what you were doing?” Keira asked.

“No, I didn’t want to frighten her after what she’d been through.”

A small sound escaped Eberhardt. He’d heard just about enough.

Dr. Ross nervously cleared his throat. “April’s injuries were worse than either of you guessed. She had signs of internal bleeding. It was an emergency, and knowing that her chances of surviving the treatment were high…I really did mean to help her. Is she all right?”

Keira turned away. She was right. He didn’t deserve to know.

I looked at the team. “Have you heard enough? Does anyone want out?” The room was absolutely silent.

There was one more thing I needed to know, for everyone’s safety. I pulled Dr. Ross away from Eberhardt and spoke quietly. “What have you told Ramsey about the Resistance?”

“Nothing! I’m a doctor, not a spy. Believe what you will, but I truly value human life. That’s why I’m conducting these studies. Ramsey Corps is the best way to finance this project. Elaine Ramsey provides the means to further science. We’re helping humanity.”

“You’re lying. You must have told Ramsey something, or she wouldn’t know that April had been given the treatment.”

“I never said Elaine knew about that. Per our agreement, I never document the work I do for you. Like I said, I gave April the injection to help her. Until I checked her blood work later, I didn’t even know…not that it would have changed anything. Please tell me it worked. I need to know that they’re okay.”

I looked at Dr. Ross in surprise. “They?”

He nodded.

I’d have to tell Keira about this, but not now. Now we needed to focus on Scott.





-Keira-

Infiltration



We drove southeast toward the city limits. Raquelle sat quietly next to me. She fidgeted with the handle of her bag and squinted into the bright sunlight that reflected off the hood of Guy’s silver automobile. Eberhardt and Dr. Ross sat in back. Murphy followed with the others in Dr. Ross’s red sedan.

I slowed as we neared the main gates. Two guards stood silhouetted in the windows of the gatehouse. As we approached, I recognized their military uniforms. I pushed two buttons, and the front and rear windows rolled down simultaneously.

I smiled. “We’re here for a tour with Dr. Ross.” I tilted my head toward the doctor.

“Yes, of course,” said the younger of the two men. He reached over to open the gates.

“What are you doing?” asked the other. “Have you completely forgotten protocol?”

Without hesitation, Eberhardt shot him. He slumped against the first guard who gently set him on the ground and then opened the gates for us. The young soldier looked directly at me, and his gaze traveled down to my gold pendant.

“I’m glad to be of service, Miss. I’ll make sure the security vids are erased and disabled. You’ll have no further trouble from the military personnel on duty here today.”

“Thank you.” His response took me by surprise. Sgt. McGraw had been true to her word. My belief that military personnel were as close to the Gov as one could get without actually being the Gov completely shattered once and for all.

Dr. Ross directed me to an underground parking area. From there, we walked. We kept our tools and weapons hidden or disguised, all except Alexis. John pointed her camera straight at her as she described the building we were about to enter. Raquelle stood to John’s side. She carried her own bag of techno tools but looked like part of the media team. It was the same for Guy, only his bag was full of Eberhardt’s explosives.

When Alexis finished her intro, John turned off the camera and held it casually at his side. Dr. Ross led our entourage into the building. Eberhardt followed close behind, and Murphy and I took up the rear.

The doctor led us directly to the receptionist, a pretty young woman in a blue dress. A few other soldiers were stationed at desks around the room working at their data processors.

“Good morning, Lisa. I’ll be taking a tour through today. Would you please open the door?”

“Certainly, Dr. Ross.”

Despite what the soldier at the gatehouse had said, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was all too easy. That’s when I noticed Lisa’s fingers moving toward two buttons. I spun behind her and held a knife to her throat. From the corner of my eye, I noticed that Raquelle and Murphy had pulled their guns and stood ready to protect the group. Eberhardt remained focused on Dr. Ross. The soldiers throughout the room remained intent on their work. It was as if they hadn’t even noticed us.

I spoke quietly into Lisa’s ear. “Which button are you going to push?”

“The one that opens the door,” she said.

“Good choice!” I patted her on the shoulder.

She pushed a button, and the door slid open.

Dr. Ross, Eberhardt, Guy, John and Alexis passed through the open door and into the corridor beyond. Keeping my knife at the girl’s throat, I followed. While we waited for Raquelle and Murphy to confirm that the soldiers in the front room were indeed with the Resistance, I moved Lisa into the first room on our right, a small examination room, and bound her wrists and ankles securely with cable ties from Murphy’s bag. That’s when I saw it clearly, the detail that had slipped into my subconscious.

“Your name isn’t Lisa.”

She looked at me in surprise. “How would you know that?”

I indicated her name badge. It read, ‘H. Schmidt.’ “Lisa doesn’t start with an H.”

A short while later, Murphy and Raquelle joined us. Raquelle smiled as she held up a mini data storage device. I knew this meant she had copied at least some of the information we needed.

We moved further down the corridor. A number of doorways led into more empty exam rooms. At the end of the hall, we had two options.

Guy peaked through a small window in the door on the left. “It looks like dorms.” He spoke quietly. “There’s an open area at the far end.”

Then he turned to Dr. Ross and asked, “Why do you need living quarters on site?”

Dr. Ross looked incredibly sad. “We really don’t at the moment.”

I was beginning to think the man was insane.

The door on the right required both a passcode and authorized handprint to open. It was there that Dr. Ross finally took a stand.

“No, I won’t open it. I really didn’t think you’d make it this far.”

Raquelle made her way up to the front and opened her case. She attached some wires to the keypad next to the door and pushed some buttons. Numbers, letters and other symbols flashed across a small vidscreen in quick succession.

“Put his hand on the plate,” she directed Eberhardt.

Eberhardt tried to pry open the doctor’s fingers, but they kept curling up again before he could press his hand against the metal plate next to the door.

Raquelle sighed and looked at me. “You still have that knife?”

I nodded and approached the doctor. Eberhardt pulled Dr. Ross’s hand up and away from his body. He slid his index finger along the doctor’s wrist and spoke in a casual tone.

“Just hack it off right here. We’ll need the hand intact.”

Dr. Ross’s eyes widened with the grim realization that he was about to lose his right hand, sans anesthesia. His fingers popped open, and Eberhardt placed the doctor’s still attached hand to the metal plate.

The door opened to reveal the central lab.

“Oh…my…God…” Alexis turned on the camera as she spoke. She slowly panned across the room so that viewers would be able to see for themselves.

At first glance, I guessed this looked like any large hospital room. I’d only ever been as far as a reception room before because my father had been denied treatment. Maybe the others recognized the techno devices throughout the room, but other than a data processor in the corner, I sure didn’t.

Boxes that looked like refrigerators lined the wall immediately to our right, storage for the tissue and blood samples they took from the soldiers, I guessed. Along the far wall I saw a row of small machines that projected amplified images onto attached vidscreens. Mysterious squiggly things split and moved around on the screens. To the far left were rows upon rows of clear boxes filled with some kind of fluid. Floating in the fluid, were human babies. Some were as small as my thumb. Others were as large as a small purse. Many were moving.

Despite my ignorance, even I could see that the “genetic screening” that Ramsey Corps advertised was just a cover. They hadn’t just crossed the line. They had leaped right over it and sailed far to the other side.

Dr. John Maes was drawn to the babies, and I followed a step behind.

“Are they alive?” I whispered. I moved closer to study the tiny male and female forms in the clear boxes along the wall. There were 18 of them, all at different stages of development.

Alexis turned the camera toward John as he turned toward me. She caught him in the frame, with the containers of babies clearly positioned behind him.

“Yes, they’re cloning humans,” he said. “This was outlawed centuries ago, in every realm.”

Four exam tables stood in the middle of the room. Two doctors faced away from us, intent upon whatever or whoever was on the exam table in front of them. What looked like an adult form was covered with a blanket on the far table to my right. Tubes and wires connected that person to even more mysterious medical techno devices.

At the sound of John’s voice, the doctors turned.

Eberhardt grabbed Dr. Ross around the neck and aimed a gun at his head while Raquelle, Murphy and I all pulled our guns and pointed them at the doctors in the center of the room.

“What’s that? Who’s there?” It was the voice of a child. He stood on the exam table so he could see what the excitement was all about.

I lowered my gun in shock. “Scott?”

Guy hugged me from behind and whispered, “That’s not Scott.”

“But it looks just like him from when he was little! I know I was even younger…but that’s Scott.”

Guy repeated, “That child is not Scott.” He turned me toward the figure on the other exam table. “That’s Scott.”