The Leaves in Winter (49 page)

“This is a waste of time…”

Curtis forced composure. “Nonetheless, as much as you might discount it, I care about you. Naturally, I don’t expect you to believe it; not yet. But as a gesture of reconciliation, I’d like to make you an offer.”

Noah laughed. “What possibly could you offer me that I would want?”

Curtis stared at Noah until he caught his eye. “How about
GenLET
?”

“Oh yeah, like
you
have
GenLET
…”

The disbelieving reaction was kneejerk but insincere. Curtis could see surprise and wonder on Noah’s face even as he shook his head and sniggered.

“And why not? Because it belongs to NovoSenectus? You already believe I run an evil empire. Why should that stop me? There’s no reason to be surprised.”

“Next you’re going to say
you’ve
had the treatment…”

Curtis could tell the boy was fishing. “What’s the point of having it otherwise?”

A serious recognition came over Noah. Curtis could see it was sinking in.

The offer was real. All humor left Noah’s face.

“Something’s going on. What do you want from me?”

“I told you. I want you to take the treatment just like I did. I’m offering you extended life.”

There was a long pause. “Why would you do that?”

“Your lack of an attention span makes me repeat myself – I care about you.”

“No shit,” snapped Noah. “Out of the blue you care about me.”

“A lot of things have gone wrong. That doesn’t mean we can’t make some things right.”

A rising bitterness showed up in Noah. “You can’t buy me with this.”

“That’s not my intention. If you want, receive the treatment, go on your way; afterwards, you never have to see me again.”

“Really, you’d do that for me. How big of you.”

Curtis refilled his drink. “It’s a one-time offer. No strings attached. Considering the delicacy of the matter, you can see why I needed to present it to you in person.”

Curtis could see wheels of interest as well as rebellion spinning in Noah’s reaction. For the first time it was hard to tell whether the boy was genuinely attracted to the idea or merely confused how best to refuse in a way to annoy his father.

Noah got up and stepped to the window.

“If this is a one-time offer, then everything needs to be worked out between us right now, right?”

“Yes. There should be no misunderstandings going forward.”

Noah stared across the distant lake. “So what about my girlfriend? We’re planning on getting married. Can she have
GenLET
too?”

The suggestion caught Curtis off-guard. It was either a clever way of negotiating or a test of a father’s resolve. To win his son back, Curtis was willing to bend a long way.

“I don’t see why not,” answered Curtis. “Naturally, you both would be bound by confidentiality agreements not to tell anyone else about what you received.”

“Oh, is that the way it works...” Noah glanced back, “And what happens to those who break the agreement?”

Curtis hedged around what could be a fatal flaw. “There’s no reason to worry about that if you keep it to yourself.”

Noah nodded and turned back to the view. “I have a couple of best friends; I’ve known them since I was a kid. How about them?”

Curtis could see where this was going but it was too late. He had opened the door to others and now he was too far into the game to pull back.

“To a limited extent, some others, close friends could be added.”

Noah turned to face his father. “But wait a minute. If I’m going to have this extra long life, I’m going to meet all kinds of people. I might get remarried or have a son. I’ll make other friends. I’d want them to have it too. There’s no way I can give you a complete list of people right now. I’d have to be able to pick and choose when the time came. Is that doable?”

By this point, Curtis was beyond playing the game. He was prepared to promise the boy anything to get him to take the initial treatment.

“I see your point. I think something can be worked out.”

“Great! One last thing; no way would I want to do any of this unless
Mom
was on the list.”

The look in Noah’s eye told all. The whole thing was a ruse. The boy was playing with him, pushing him, trying to force him to his limit.

And he had just found it. Curtis set his glass down and prepared for battle.

“People who waste my time usually regret it.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, new world elitists like you who think they can hand out life to a select few are going to regret it.”

“What are you going to do? Firebomb me like the man in D.C.?”

Noah froze, guilt sweeping his face. “What are you talking about?”

Curtis was livid. “You know damned well what I’m talking about.
Washington
,
D.C.
Franklin Park
. The lobbyist on
K Street
.”

“What do you know about that?”

“I know you fucked up royally. The federal prosecutor had you and your merry band of NCO assholes lined up for hard time. How stupid can you be?”

“Why is that any of your business?”

Curtis yelled, “I
made
it my business! Like hell was I going to see a son of mine rot in jail for twenty years. You’re not brainless; you’re just too fucking young to know you have brains. You certainly have never been taught how to use them.”

Noah stood stunned. “You got involved with that? You did something?”

“Damned right I did something. You needed to be saved from yourself. You have a chance, now don’t screw it up.”

“I never asked for your help; I didn’t want your help.”

“Maybe not but you needed it.”

“Stay out of my business.”

“Wake up. New Class Order doesn’t care about you.”

“And neither do you!” shouted Noah. “You think you can bribe me to make nice so you can feel better about yourself. It isn’t going to work.”

Noah headed for the hallway intent on a return trip helicopter ride.

The moment was pivotal. Curtis knew if he didn’t somehow stop his son from walking out, he might never be seen again.

“There’s something else you should know. It’s critically important.”

Noah halted, expecting only to take a second to be dismissive.

“That’s just it; we have differing opinions about what’s important.”

Curtis slid off the bar stool and stepped slowly towards his son.

“The whole planet is about to change. Billions of people are going to die. Whatever life you and your girlfriend thought you were going to have is over.”

Stunned into interest, Noah wavered. “What kind of crazy shit is this?”

“It certainly is crazy but I assure you it’s going to happen. The government won’t tell you; most aren’t aware of the scope of what they’re facing. Those in power don’t want a panic. They’ve made sure that news of this gets sanitized.”

“News of what?”

“A plague – one that will decimate populations everywhere. You might have seen the advertisements for it – the recycle symbol…Goodwin Godspeed Diye III.”

A smile creased Noah’s face. “That shit? That was just some crazy media hoax by some old, eccentric billionaire.”

“I wish it were…” Curtis was deadly serious. He drew nearer to the boy.

Attempting to diffuse any hint of peril, Noah clung to denial. “Are you really that desperate? You’re going to try to
frighten
me into going along with you?”

“It’s already begun. Tens of thousands are dead in Africa and
Asia
.”

“There’s always something like that going on...”

“Not like this,” Curtis interrupted. “There are people in
Bangkok
, Hong Kong,
Shanghai
, all over
Asia
, starting to stay indoors. They’re worried about rumors they’ve heard. Many people in places like
New Delhi
and Mumbai have started to wear surgical masks when they go out on the street.”

“Yeah, so what? Things like that happened with the Swine Flu.”

Curtis became impassioned. “Just this once listen to me! You want proof? I’ll show you results from one of my biopharma labs. Field researchers got samples from the bodies of early victims. They isolated the pathogen and got a good look at it. The damned thing was engineered to be insidious. No one’s going to stop it.”

“Engineered?” The key word kept Noah in the room.

“That’s right. Goodwin Godspeed Diye III. What’s about to happen has been years in the making. It’s not by accident.”

“Why on Earth would anyone do that?”

“You said it – Earth. Don’t you want to save the planet – lower CO2, save the whales, stop the destruction of the rainforests? Eugene Mass believed fewer people was the only way.”

“Mass? That geezer’s dead.” Noah took a step towards the hallway.

“Thankfully, but I’m afraid his legacy lives on. You need a microscope to see it but it’s more potent and clever than anything the world ever had to contend with.”

“OK, say this is real. Then what are you doing about it?”

“There’s only one thing to do. Prepare. Until a vaccine is found, no one’s safe. Like any storm, you’re only as secure as the refuge you take. Mine will be here. Those close to me, if they choose, can ride out the worst of it here on the estate. The chance of infection will be greatly minimized by staying away from population centers.”

“You expect me to come live here?”

Curtis arrived at the central reason for the visit. Everything came down to how his son reacted to the final offer.

“Yes. I’m pleading with you to do just that. Bring your girlfriend if you want. I won’t get in the way. As you see the place is big enough we can avoid each other.”

Noah shook his head, laughed, and looked at the floor.

“Wow. You’re fucking serious.”

“I know, it’s a lot to absorb. You don’t have to answer right now. Take your time. You may think there’s no reason to trust me but trust your gut. This is critical.”

Noah held a hand to his forehead and avoided eye contact.

“I don’t know. I can’t do this right now. I’m going to take a look around.”

Unsure of his own feelings, Noah fled the room.

Curtis let him go. The boy hadn’t asked for a return flight home and for now that was progress enough. Maybe at least he’d consider the offer. It was all Curtis could hope for. But it left him feeling drained. Having everything finally out between the two of them gave no sense of relief. So much that was vital remained unsettled.

Curtis returned to the wet bar but thought better of having another drink. His phone rang. He answered it while strolling to the window. A top researcher was on the line with a daily status report.

Curtis was in no mood for long-winded explanations.

“Never mind all that; what’s the bottom line?”

The researcher shifted gears and responded as abruptly.

“There’s no evidence of
GenLET
or a 3rd Protocol vaccine in the subject DNA. We’ve run every possible test from the eggs you sent us. Except for a few variations that don’t apply, what we found matches any normal, untreated person.”

Curtis paced. “I can’t believe there’s nothing else to try…”

“Maybe if we had more eggs. We’re limited by what little embryonic stem cell production is possible. Can you get us more eggs?”

“The research center in
Puerto Rico
is wrapped tight. You’ll have to find some other way to keep working. You must keep at it.”

“But like I said, we’ve reached the point where there’s nothing else to find.”

“Somehow I find that incongruous with being a researcher. There has to be.”