The Delta Chain (35 page)

‘Read this,
’
he said.

The rear of the Institute
was not visible from the main roadway. However, remnants of light
spilling around the building
’
s edges
suggested activity.

There was no movement at the
front or sides of the Institute and no vehicles outside in the
covered parking station.

Further north the coast road
veered inland, with forest on either side. The road was quiet, no
other cars passed them, and there was no sign of a large truck.

‘You know,
there
’
s tiny foot trails all over those
woods,
’
Harrison said.
‘
I had a girlfriend once who was, like, into
bush walking, man.
‘
Coupla times I joined
her group for hikes out there.
’

‘And the Institute backs
onto that reserve,
’
Adam said.
‘
We could see if it
’
s
possible to approach through the woods for a closer
look.
’

‘Your call.
’

‘We
’
ll give it the old college try, John, but for no more than
thirty minutes, and we stay at all times within sight of the
roadway.
’
Adam
’
s cell phone rang.

‘Success,
detective,
’
said a buoyant James
Reardon,
‘
our signal bounced back.
I
’
ve got a record of the PING
number.
’

Adam took the number
down.
‘
Thanks, James,
I
’
ll get this traced.
’
He rang off, noting as he did that he
’
d received a text message: FLYING IN, ARRIVING LATE. WILL
CALL. KATE.

In spite of everything, he
could barely wait to see her again
–
but
he couldn
’
t dwell on that now.

‘It seems
we
’
re close to finding who planted the
Institute
’
s computer virus,
’
Adam told Harrison.

‘I remember when the
Institute first opened up,
’
Harrison
said.
‘
Big influx of international
eggheads, and local job opps. The mayor did a song and dance and
had the area re-zoned. Then all the bullshit died down. And now -
who would
’
ve believed this?
’

Adam phoned through the
PING number to Arthur Kirby. Then, he excused himself to Harrison,
and stepped out of the vehicle so he could speak privately with
O
’
Malley. He hadn
’
t been able to raise him prior to leaving the Cail
home.
‘
There
’
s
a young man hiding in Northern Rocks and a mysterious bunch of men
searching for him,
’
Adam informed the
superintendent when he came on the line.
‘
This boy recognised the face of the local drowning victim
when he saw it on the TV news.
’

‘You have my
attention.
’

‘The
boy
’
s been through some trauma,
Inspector. He
’
s safe for the moment, but
we
’
re going to need a place he can stay
and counsellors
–
people who can befriend
and reassure him and obtain his full story. I
’
ll be able to give you the details in full when we meet in
the morning.
’

O
’
Malley took a deep breath.
‘
Incredible. Okay, Adam , I
’
m on
it. And the Institute?
’

‘Doing some recon right
now.
’

Adam and Harrison kept their
torches low and moved quietly and carefully. They were able to get
close enough to the fenced-off rear of the Institute to see a large
loading dock bathed in overhead lights. An enormous 10-wheel
haulage truck accessed the dock.

‘A rig that size could
carry the mid section of a large boat,
’
Adam observed.

‘You think
they
’
d be carrying a part of a
boat?
’
Harrison was confused.

‘That
’
s something I
’
ll explain later,
John.
’

‘Okay.
’
Harrison knew not to probe further.
‘
I didn
’
t know the Institute had a
second dock area like that.
’

‘No one did.
’

‘It seems
it
’
s been built especially to accommodate
a rig that size.
’

‘It looks that way. And
the interior ramp slopes down, so there
’
s
an underground section, one of which no one on the site seems
aware.
’
This must have been part of what
had puzzled Rhonda Lagan.

Rhonda had become
suspicious of computers brought to her for repairs, then collected
by the same technicians for return…but they
weren
’
t connected to the network and she
couldn
’
t pinpoint their location.
Snooping around, she
’
d noticed late night
truck activity. She
’
d written of this in
her diary, and someone had deleted it.

Rhonda had gone to the
council requesting copies of the building plans. Before she could
follow up she
’
d been killed in a freak
road accident. Now Adam found himself questioning whether it had
been an accident.

Adam and Harrison watched
silently as the massive truck disappeared into the dock.

Late night on
Australia
’
s east coast is early morning
in North America. The Nexus private jet left the Joint Base Andrews
Air Facility, in Maryland, on its flight to Brisbane, Queensland.
From there, Asquith and his specially assembled “relocation” team
of six men would be ferried by hire cars to Northern
Rocks.

Their purpose was fourfold:
first, to issue new travel papers and destinations for the
scientific staff; second, to ensure system back-up and archiving
through to Bethesda was complete; third, to organise the removal of
all live samples and specimens; finally, the evacuation and
detonation of the Institute.

No trace of the labs or the
materials was to be left, and the sub-level was to be permanently
sealed off.

‘This would be your second
trip to Australia?
’
Michael Renshaw
said.

‘Yes,
’
said Asquith.
‘
Although the first
one was in and out, blink and you missed it. Frankly,
I
’
d like to spend longer there, scouting
new locations. But clearly not this time around. The country has
possibilities, with most of its population around the coast, and
the interior sparsely populated.
’

‘Potential for future
Babel projects.
’

‘Precisely.
’

Commander Robert “Bulldog”
Frazer had appointed Asquith, to be Director of the US
Defence
’
s Scientific Research and
Development. Later on Frazer and Asquith formed the covert Nexus
unit.

The objective of the unit was a
closely guarded secret: to develop breakthrough genetic products
for military use. This was broadly one of the same objectives of
the R&D department at large, but whereas the overall department
worked strictly within government codes and ethics, the Nexus unit
did not.

When he
’
d first suggested the secret unit, “Bulldog” Frazer had
said:
‘
It takes decades for R&D labs
to develop new products, then five, ten years, usually more, to go
through the testing and approvals. That's as it should be. But
there are certain projects that need to be fast tracked, beyond the
prying eyes of the do-gooders, there
’
s
always been an aspect of military work calling for such measures.
Right at this moment we have literally dozens of projects in hand
that are ten, twenty years away from testing on humans. Products we
need now
’

‘I agree,
’
Asquith had said,
‘
but
we
’
ve had this discussion
before…
’

‘Now we
’
re both in positions to do something about it.
’

‘You want to set up a unit
to bypass accredited approvals?
’

‘Yes. And I want you to
run it, reporting only to me.
’

‘Without the knowledge of
the Joint Chiefs?
’

‘Yes.
’

‘Bob…it would take…God, I
don
’
t know…millions, and resources in
land, buildings, people-
’

‘You will have all
that,
’
the rock-faced Commander
replied,
‘
creative book-keeping will
enable us to siphon off the budget needed. We then use it to fund
external contractors to undertake research assignments. We simply
ensure that the true nature of those contractors
’
work is kept hidden
’

And so fifteen years after
he
’
d been a captain in the Mekong Delta,
under the command of Fraser, Asquith set up the Nexus
unit.

Only the select members of the
Nexus board knew of the shortcuts taken by their specialist
contractors.

Most of those contractors had
been given assistance in setting up by the Nexus Group, and the
Westmeyer Research Centre was one of them.

‘I
’
ve always meant to ask you the actual specifics,
’
Renshaw said to Asquith after
they
’
d settled in for the long flight to
Australia,
‘
how and why Operation Babel,
and these relocations, came about.
’

‘Babel was my initiative.
You
’
re familiar with the Biblical story
of the Tower, I presume?
’

‘God scattered the people
of Babel all over the earth, speaking different languages, to
hinder their progress because of their arrogance…
’

‘Something like that. The
idea behind our Babel was to contract different, seemingly
independent research firms around the world, to camouflage the fact
they
’
re controlled by us, and working on
our projects. We ensure they have a range of assignments from
various clients and investors.

‘Should any one of them
ever be exposed, then that exposure won
’
t
lead to the other projects. Those projects are with our supposedly
unrelated other contractors. We appear only as one of many
clients.

‘And it
’
s always possible to shut down and “relocate” any
individual project, should it be in danger of exposure, without
affecting the others. Just as we did in Florida.
’

Westmeyer paced the
corridor of the Institute
’
s top level, a
man both lost and possessed at the same time. As always, he was
uncomfortable with the measures he knew would be taken by Donnelly,
where Melanie Cail was concerned.

Usually, he blotted these things
from his mind.

Westmeyer
’
s role was to stay
focused on the Institute
’
s work, but
tonight the dark thoughts invaded.

It was late, and he and Hunter
and his team were working long hours as they readied for the final
breakthrough.

He wandered the connecting labs
of the Blood Research Division. As he had so many times before he
looked along the glass cages containing the mice used in the
experiments. They darted about their cages, up and down straw
covered scaffolding, furiously turning tiny treadmills. Further
along there were canisters and tubes housing litres and litres of
blood.

Heavily tinted glass doors
separated the labs from a larger room where cryo-preservation tanks
stored more blood, this time at a specially prepared temperature of
minus 180 degrees Celsius.

Hunter was in his private
office. He was huddled over his PC, checking data. Westmeyer
noticed uncharacteristic signs of stress.

The on screen data was an
endless sea of coding sequences. TGA- TAG- ATG
–
AAT…

‘It
’
s one thing,
’
Hunter said,
without looking up,
‘
to rely on email
reports from the sub-level, but now that we
’
re
this
close, under
this
much pressure…this
ridiculous
race to a new deadline, I need those reports continually.
Instead, William, I
’
m seeing them only
every few hours if at all…
’

‘It
’
s hard for Donnelly to rush through the final trials and to
keep sending the reports simultaneously. Perhaps, under the
circumstances, if you went down and personally-
’

‘You
won
’
t go anywhere near
the Goddamned sub-level, you don
’
t want
to
know
, so what makes you think I
’
d
just truck on down? Do you think I approve-
’