The Memory Painter

A sound came from outside. Linz froze like a burglar caught in the act and turned off the light. She waited in the dark until she heard the footsteps pass.

Not wanting to take any chances, she finished working by the light of her computer. Forty-five minutes later, she filled a large vial with the liquid from the Petri dish and capped it. Her replica of Renovo was complete.

*

Bryan sat upright on the bed, constrained by the straitjacket. Everything about his prison—the sterile smell, the white walls, the barrenness—reminded him of the years he had spent in psych wards as a child.

He looked at the camera mounted on the wall above him, sensing that he was being observed. A minute later, someone keyed in the code for the electronic lock and the door opened.

Conrad entered. “Good, I see you’re awake.”

Bryan knew Conrad had orchestrated his abduction, but seeing him ignited a new rage. “I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing—you can’t just kidnap someone like this!”

“But I just did.” Conrad gave him a patronizing smile. “No one knows you’re here, and I own this hospital.”

Bryan spoke in Japanese. “Was it my paintings that gave me away? Did the one you bought hit a nerve?”

“This conversation is pointless right now.”

“Why? I don’t seem to be going anywhere.” Bryan pulled at his jacket. “Linz is going to wonder where I am and come looking for me. She knows about Renovo. She has the file.”

Conrad smiled without humor. “Which I’m quite aware of. Lindsey loves puzzles, always has. But she won’t find anything in the file.”

“Except the formula.”

Bryan could see the hesitation in Conrad’s eyes. “I know how to handle my daughter. I’ve given her the best life, and I will not have her dragged into this. She will not be put at risk. You are never going to see her again.”

Inside, Bryan felt a surge of relief at Conrad’s words—he was protective of her. “So you know who she is?”

“I know more than you realize.”

“That’s right. You always were the omniscient one.” Bryan couldn’t help his sarcasm. Conrad hadn’t changed a bit. “It was so easy, wasn’t it? All these years—making money medicating the symptoms, never revealing the cure.” Bryan was yelling now, but he couldn’t stop himself. “We found the cure for Alzheimer’s. And you just buried it.”

“You said yourself the world wasn’t ready for Renovo!”

“Thirty years! I would have at least found a way to reverse the disease. You never even tried.”

“You have no idea what I tried or what’s at stake. I’m sorry it has to be like this, but you have to disappear. For your own safety and my daughter’s.”

Bryan tried to change tactics. “Let me go. I promise I’ll vanish. I’ll leave Boston. You’ll never hear from me again. I swear. Just don’t do this. Please.”

Conrad shook his head. “I can’t.” He unlocked the door and stepped out.

Fear blossomed inside Bryan. “Don’t leave me in here like this.”

Conrad checked his watch. “Don’t worry. I’ll have them give you something to help you sleep. Tomorrow we’ll be starting you on your first round of Renovo. It should go rather quickly, since I’ve perfected the formula. We need to know everything that’s in that head of yours.”

Bryan’s heart froze in terror. He didn’t want to be given Renovo.

Conrad turned back to him. “I’ll tell Lindsey you went back to Europe to paint. She’ll get over it eventually. I’m sorry, but it really is for the best.” The door closed with a definitive lock.

Bryan stood up and rushed the door. “Conrad! I won’t let you do this!” He rammed the door with his upper body again and again. His shoulder took the brunt of it.

Outside, Conrad walked away, deaf to Bryan’s screams. He stopped at the nurses’ station and smiled at the nurse on duty. “Our special patient needs something to help him sleep before his big day tomorrow.”

A few minutes later, two orderlies entered Bryan’s room. They held him down and administered an injection.

Bryan’s body went slack and he stared up at the ceiling as his psychomotor functions began to fail. He was trapped in limbo, and his mind climbed aboard a powerful ship as the drug took him out to sea.