CHAPTER 51
Immari Corp. Train
Outside Burang, China
Tibet Autonomous Region
Kate sat in silence, watching the green countryside fly by at 90 miles an hour. Across from her, David shifted a little on his side of the closed train compartment. How could he sleep at a time like this? He would have a crick in his neck from sleeping like that. Kate leaned forward and nudged his head a little.
Even if her nerves weren’t going crazy, Kate’s legs hurt too much to sleep. David’s brisk pace on their hike from the plane’s “landing site” to the train station had taken its toll. And so had the sprint inside, to the bank of lockers and #44, which had been their salvation.
Inside the locker they found two outfits — a security outfit for David and a white coat for Kate. There were ID badges too — Kate was now Dr. Emma West, research associate in ‘Bell Primary - Genetics Division,’ whatever that was. David was Conner Anderson. The pictures on the IDs didn’t match, but they only had to run them through a swipe machine, like a subway or credit card reader, to get on the 10:45 train — apparently the last train of the morning.
As they boarded the train, Kate had turned to David and said, “What now? What’s the plan?” David turned her back around and said, “Don’t talk, they could be listening. Follow the plan.”
“The Plan” wasn’t much of one — her goal was to find the children and get back on the train. David would take out the power and join her. It wasn’t even half a plan. They would probably be caught before they got off the train. And he was sleeping.
But… he probably hadn’t slept much the night before. Had he stayed up to see if the men searching the cottage would find the entrance to the bomb shelter? How long had he laid on that concrete floor? And then the three hour flight in that vibrating antique death trap of a plane. Kate wadded up some of the clothes from her bag and put them between his face and the wall.
Another thirty minutes passed, and Kate felt the train slowing. In the corridor, people were making a line.
David grabbed Kate’s arm. When had he woken up? Kate looked at him, panic creeping into her face.
“Stay calm,” he said. “Remember, you work here. You’re taking the kids for a test. Director’s orders.”
“What director?” Kate hissed.
“If they ask that, tell them it’s above their pay grade and keep walking.”
Kate tried to ask another question, but David yanked the compartment door open and shoved Kate into the moving line. By the time she looked back, he was several people behind her and moving the other way — putting distance between them. She was alone. She whipped her head back around and swallowed a few times. She could do this.
She moved with the flow of people, trying to act casual. The workers were mostly Asian, but there were quite a few Europeans, possibly Americans. She was a minority, but she didn’t stick out too much. There were several entrances to the giant facility, each with three lines. She spotted the entrance with the most white coats and drifted over to it. She stood in line, waiting to swipe her card, trying to get a glimpse of the badges around her. ‘Bell Auxiliary - Primate Housing.’ She looked in the line beside her. ‘Bell Control — Maintenance and Housekeeping.’ What was she? Bell something. It had genetics in it. She had the overwhelming fear that if she glanced down at her fake badge that someone would point at her and scream “Impostor! Get her!”, like a playground kid calling you out for peeing in your pants.
Up ahead white coats were marching forward, scanning their badges like automatons. The line was moving quickly — just like the train station. She now saw something else —six armed guards. Three were spread out, one stationed at each line, scrutinizing every face. The other three loitered behind a chain-link fence, drinking coffee and talking quickly, horsing around with each other like officemates the day after the super bowl. Each man had an automatic rifle slung over his shoulder as casually as if it were a messenger bag with inner-office memos.
She had to focus. The badge. Kate slipped her card out and sneaked a peak — ‘Bell Primary - Genetics Division.’ In the line beside her, she saw a tall blond man, 40ish, holding a card with the same division. He was several people behind her. She would have to wait for him to get through, then follow him.
“Ma’am—”
They were talking to her!
“Ma’am.” The guard pointed to the wide post with the magnetic card reader at the top. Beside her people were swiping and hurrying past.
Kate fought to steady her hand as she ripped her card across the slot. A different beep. A red light.
Beside her two more people swiped. Green lights, no beep, they were off.
The guard cocked his head and took a step toward her.
Her hands were shaking visibly now. Act casual. She got the card in the slot and ran it through, slowly this time. Red Light. Bad Beep.
The guards behind the fence had stopped talking. They were looking at her. The guard in her line looked back at the other guards.
She tried to line up the card for another try, but someone grabbed her hand. “You’re backwards love.”
Kate looked up. The blonde man. She couldn’t think. What had he said? “I work here,” Kate said quickly, looking around. Everyone was looking at them. They were blocking two of the three lines.
“I certainly hope so.” The man took her card. “You must be new,” he said as he perused the card. “Haven’t seen you befo—. Hey, this doesn’t look like you.”
Kate snatched the card. “Don’t— Don’t look at the picture. I’m, uh, new here.” She ran a hand through her hair. She was going to get caught, she knew it. The man was still staring at her. Kate tried to think. “They used an old picture. I’ve lost… some weight.”
“And apparently dyed your hair,” he said skeptically.
“Yes, well…” Kate sucked in a breath. “Hopefully you’ll keep my secret. Blondes have more fun.” She tried to smile, but she imagined she looked more scared than confident.
The man nodded and smiled. “Yes they do.”
From the back of the line someone shouted, “Hey Casanova, work your mojo on your own time.” Laughs rang out across the line.
Kate smiled. “How does it go?” She swiped the card again. Red, the beep. She looked up.
The man grasped her hand, flipped the card, and ran it through. Green. Then he turned to his post and swiped his own card. Green. He glided gingerly past the six scowling guards, and Kate chased after him.
“Thank you Doctor—”
“Prendergast. Barnaby Prendergast.” They turned another corner.
“Barnaby Prendergast. I was actually going to guess that.”
“Well you’re quite cheeky.” He looked over at her. “Quite quick on your feet for someone who couldn’t operate the card reader.”
Did he know? Kate tried to seem embarrassed — it wasn’t a stretch. “Guns make me nervous.”
“Then you’ll truly hate it here. Seems like everyone without a white coat is ‘packin heat,’” he said with an American accent. He swiped his card and pushed open a set of wide doors that might have divided sections of a hospital. “Guess they’ll be ready if the trees ever attack.” He snorted and muttered, “Bloody idiots.”
Ahead of them, several overweight men pushed rolling metal cages across their path. Kate stared. The cages were filled with chimps. When they had passed, Kate realized she was alone in the hall. She jogged down the corridor and caught sight of Barnabus, or whatever his name was. She rushed to catch up with him.
He stopped at the swipe terminal to another set of doors. “Where did you say you were going, Dr. West?”
“I… didn’t.” Kate tried to flutter her eyes at him. She felt like a fool. “Where… are you going?”
“Uh, to my lab in viral. Who are you working with here?” He looked at her, confused. Or was he scrutinizing her?
Kate panicked. It was so much more complicated than she had thought on the train. What did she think, she’d just walk in like it was a day care and say, “I’m here to pick up the two Indonesian kids?” David’s advice, “just tell them it’s above their pay grade,” seemed so simplistic, so off-base now. It was obvious now that he had only said it to put her at ease, to get her off the train and in motion. But her mind was blank. “It’s above your pay grade,” she blurted.
Barnaby was about to swipe his card, but he pulled up short, his card still dangling in the air. “Excuse me?” He looked at her, then glanced around as if trying to figure out which direction a sound was coming from.
Kate had the urge to run as fast as she could away from him, but she had no idea which way to go. She needed to figure out where they kept the children. “I’m doing autism research.”
Barnaby let his card fall to his side as he turned to face Kate. “Really? I’m not aware of any autism research.”
“With Dr. Grey.”
“Dr. Grey?” Barnaby’s eyes rolled back as he thought. “Haven’t heard of him…” His skeptical expression slowly faded as he shuffled toward a white phone on the wall beside the door. He reached back for it. “Maybe I should, ah, get you some help finding your way.”
“No!”
Kate’s outburst stopped him in his tracks.
“Don’t. I’m not lost. I’m working… with two children.”
He drew his hand back to his side. “Oh, so it’s true. We’ve heard some rumors but everyone is so hush-hush about it. So cloak and dagger.”
He didn’t know about the children. What did it mean? Kate needed to buy more time, needed to think. “Uh, yes. I’m sorry I can’t say more.”
“Well I’m sure it’s above my pay grade, as you say.” He mumbled something else, maybe ‘as if you know my bloody pay grade.’ “Honestly though, I have to say, what in the hell would you be doing with kids in a place like this? We’re talking about a zero percent survival rate. Zero percent. Guess your ‘pay grade’ justifies it. Is that it?”
But Kate didn’t hear his last words. A new thought gripped her, a terror she hadn’t considered: zero-percent survival rate. The children could already be dead.
“Did you hear me?”
But Kate couldn’t answer. She just stood there, frozen.
He could see it — the fear in her eyes. He cocked his head to the side. “You know, there is something off about you, something’s not right here.” He reached. He had the phone.
Kate leapt for him, grabbing the phone from his hand.
His eyes grew wide, a look of ‘how dare you.’
Kate looked around. David’s words “they could be listening” echoed in her head. It might already be too late. She hung the phone up and took Barnaby in a hug, whispering in his ear. “Listen to me. Two children are being held here. They’re in danger. I’m here to rescue them.”
He pushed her away from him. “What? Are you mad?!”
He looked exactly the way Kate had two days ago in that van when David had questioned her.
She leaned in again. “Please. You have to trust me. I need your help. I need to find those children.”
He searched her face, then puckered like he had tasted something awful and couldn’t spit it out. “Look, I don’t know what you’re playing at, some security drill or sick game, but I told you I don’t know anything about those children — if there are any. I’ve just heard rumors.”
“Where would they keep them?”
“I have no idea. I’ve never even seen the subjects. I just have access to the labs.”
“Guess. Please, I need your help.”
“I don’t know… the residential wings I assume.”
“Take me there.”
He waved his card at her, “Hello? I don’t have access. I just told you, I can only get into the labs.”
Kate looked down at her card. “I bet I can.”
The security guard watched as the woman accosted the man, took the phone from him, then grabbed him and whispered in his ear — possibly a threat. The man certainly looked scared. They had just had another seminar on sexual harassment, but it was mostly about men making women have sex with them. So this wasn’t that. But it could be something. The guard picked up the phone. “Yeah, this is post seven, I think we may have a problem in Bell Primary.”