While the Savage Sleeps (38 page)

The clinical trials always resulted in death for the victims. Subjects were given the serum, then put through a series of highly unconventional tests. A part of the Sentry Peak facility, called the Subjugation Unit, was essentially a torture chamber. Patients were strapped naked to concrete walls while others, under the drug’s influence, beat them to death. Other times, the subjects were confined to so-called fighting cells, where they were allowed beat one another to death.

Researchers claimed to be doing all this in an effort to study drug’s efficacy and develop lower, more manageable strength levels, however, for reasons unknown, never did.

False Pretense

The government recruited subjects for the experiments by way of the enlisted service. Those facing disciplinary actions, such as courts-martial, were given the opportunity to sign up for the trials as an alternate form of punishment.

Once the victims died, their families were advised they were killed in the line of duty.

Authorities say they do not yet know how many people died during the experiments, but it could number into the thousands. They are in the process of sifting through an inordinate number of records so that families can be informed of how their loved ones actually died during the war.

Odd Happenings

The murders weren’t the only things visiting Faith. Several local residents reported seeing a pair of strangers roaming around town. The two men, seen on several occasions, were described as wearing dark sunglasses and driving a white, older model van.

According to Dawson, the men, later identified as Samuel Swenson and Scott Faraday, were from Spesartine & Agrough, the pharmaceutical corporation subcontracted by the government to help develop the two serums. Fearing bad publicity, the company sent the men to investigate. Had the trials been a success, they stood to make millions of dollars. Among other things, Spesartine & Agrough currently manufactures Sezdal, one of the nation’s top-selling anti-anxiety medications.

But authorities later learned the two were planning to do more than that. According to Dawson, they were caught trying to start a fire in the facility to destroy the chemicals and cover up the spill. Sheriff’s deputies interrupted that process only minutes before it was to occur. The two suspects were shot to death after a confrontation with law enforcement.

The CEO of the pharmaceutical company, Samuel Agrough, grandson of co-founder Phillip Agrough, is under investigation and could face charges of obstructing justice, as well as conspiracy to commit arson.

Authorities don’t yet know if anyone will face prosecution for conducting the actual trials, as they took place many years ago, and all the key players have probably long since passed away; however, Senator Champion says a congressional investigation will follow, and anyone who played a role in the experiments will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

The names of any existing and living murder suspects are being withheld for their protection, but they are not likely to face prosecution.

Proving that the substance affected the suspects, however, may be a challenge. In an attempt to keep the serum’s components a secret, scientists designed the chemicals to dissipate quickly into the bloodstream. By the time the subjects became violent, the compound was already on its way to being undetectable, leaving no traces of ever having been present.

More than likely, experts will have to map out the path the toxin traveled by way of the Foundry River and use that to draw conclusions about who was poisoned.

Chapter
Eighty-Six

Desert Spring Motel

Faith, New Mexico

As long as the monster on the hill remained, it would always serve as a constant reminder of the darkest period in Faith’s and the country’s history, when virtue took a holiday, and depravity a front-row seat.

The government opted to tear the place
down rather than sell it. Besides having no use for the building, the administration wanted nothing more than to disassociate itself from it. Putting it out of sight would also put it out of mind.

Faith, it seemed, had gained international infamy, even becoming something of a tourist attraction. More and more, local residents saw unfamiliar faces popping up around town. It was hard not to feel like they were living under a microscope.

Cameron and Kyle had uncovered a dirty secret, one buried not only beneath the ground, but beneath an elaborate legacy of lies and deception, but one that refused to remain hidden. Ten people had lost their lives and an entire town
its sense of cohesion and well-being. Cleanup crews would purge the ground and nearby river of the poisons that for years had defiled them, but nothing would ever wash away the pain and loss left in people’s hearts.

Kyle stood in her motel room folding clothes. It was time to go home.

She’d left the door open, hoping to allow the sunlight to brighten up the otherwise dreary space and hadn’t even heard Cameron when he walked in.

“
Hey,” he said, half greeting her, half wanting to avoid startling her.

She spun around and flashed a warm, welcoming smile.

“
Good morning,” she said, then paused to look at her watch. “Or should I say good afternoon?”

“
Say good afternoon,” Cameron replied with a grin.

He looked like a shy little boy with a crush. Kyle laughed, and he gazed at her quizzically.

“
What?”

“
Your smiles,” she replied, “they’re so fleeting.”

“
I guess that’s because my happiness always seems to be that way, too.”

Kyle resumed her folding, shaking her head with a frown. “You’re awful hard on yourself.”

Those words struck a familiar note, not unlike the ones he’d heard so many years ago from the first love of his life. He wanted to give himself a break—he needed one—he just didn’t know how.

“
I’ll work on it,” Cameron finally said, forcing an unconvincing smile and an even less convincing lie.

Somehow, she wasn’t sure she believed him, anyway.

He paused for a moment to think, then said, “It’s funny, you know.”

“
What is?”

“
This whole thing. I mean … not
funny-funny
, but interesting … how people’s paths cross, what brings them together—” He stopped himself, and a pained expression suddenly materialized on his face. “I’ll miss you.”

Kyle felt a lump forming in her throat. She’d been thinking the same thing but was afraid to tell him. There still seemed to be so much left unsaid between them. “I wish there were an easier way for us to do this. I don’t want to say goodbye, but I have to.”

“
I know …” he said. But he didn’t. “Will you come back?”

“
I don’t know.” Kyle could see the loneliness in his eyes. Even worse, she could feel it.

“
Why not?” Cameron replied, half-asking, half-challenging her.

She placed a folded shirt inside her suitcase and turned around, only to find his eyes meeting hers. “Please don’t make this any harder. You don’t know how much I want to stay.”

Cameron caught her hands and held onto them, as if never intending to let them go. “Then stay. Don’t go. Stay here with me.”

Kyle sighed. She felt exhausted, as much emotionally as physically. “I have a private practice back at home, Cameron. My only family life is there.”

“
That’s logical. It makes perfect sense.” He put his hand over his heart. “But right here, that’s where you lose me.”

“
Maybe someday,” she said, turning around, and hastily moving more shirts into her suitcase.

“
Maybe…” Cameron repeated the words as if trying to make sense of them, while at the same time, sounding defeated. Then he tried to lighten the conversation. “Well, at least you got all your questions answered.”

Kyle started zipping her suitcase. Suddenly she stopped, looking up at the wall, thinking. “As far as this town goes, yes, but there will be new mysteries to uncover … there always are.”

“
What kinds of mysteries?”

Kyle laughed and shook her head. “Who knows? It never stops. I’m constantly being bombarded with information.”

“
Must be annoying as hell.”

She continued to pull the zipper but struggled. Cameron noticed and stepped forward to help. For a brief moment, they were skin to skin and she felt a strong urge to move into his arms and close her eyes. Instead, she pulled away, as if the action in some way would minimize the emotion.

“
It can be, sometimes,” she said with an awkward smile. “Other times it’s not. I guess I’ve just become used to it by now.”

“
Well, at least this one is solved. Case closed.”

“
I suppose ...”

Cameron noticed her apprehension. “Is there something more I should know? Something relevant here?”

“
I’m not sure. Can’t tell whether it belongs here, or somewhere else.”

“
It could be your next assignment:
Earth calling Kyle
,” he joked, forcing a smile.

Kyle looked down as if deliberating over something, then up at Cameron. Her expression was very serious. “There’s a strong image that’s been with me. I have no idea why. But it doesn’t seem to be relevant to anything that’s been happening here.”

“
What is it?”

“
A child.”

“
Another one? Who is she?”

“
Not a she—it’s a
he
, and he’s been hanging in the background ever since I came here. That’s why I think he may have some kind of connection to this town,” Kyle said, her tone distant. She paused, then added, “I’m just not sure how.”

Cameron felt his heart strike hard. He was afraid to ask, but did anyway. “What does he look like?”

“
He’s six or seven, maybe? Blond. Very blond, in fact—a real towhead.” Kyle laughed. “A beautiful child. Big blue eyes and—”

“
Like mine?” he asked impatiently while gazing up at her.

She looked into his eyes and a flash of recognition crossed her face. “Yeah, actually… a lot like yours.”

Cameron looked away. He focused his attention on a picture on the opposite wall. Generic motel art.

Kyle sensed his discomfort. “What’s wrong, Cameron?”

He turned around and took a deep breath.

Kyle noticed tears forming in his eyes. She tilted her head, watching him, concerned.

“
I know who he is.”

Chapter
Eighty-Seven

Desert Spring Motel

Faith, New Mexico

“
Your son? Kyle asked, still stunned. “I didn’t know …”

It made sense now, the anguish, the guilt, the deep sorrow—feelings that had been eating away at him all these years. Kyle herself had felt them when they’d first met, so strongly, in fact, they’d landed her in the hospital.

Like Bethany, Cameron’s son had not yet crossed over, was still trapped between two worlds. Kyle wondered what unfinished business the boy had that had kept him here so long. She had a feeling it involved the tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed man standing in front of her.

“
I knew the minute you began describing him that it was Dylan.” He turned and sat down on the bed.

Kyle took a seat beside him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. He could smell her perfume; the aroma wrapped itself around him like a hug. It felt comforting.

For a few moments they sat, saying nothing. Kyle had always figured she was drawn to Faith for one purpose: to help solve the mystery taking over the town. Yet, there had been another reason for coming here, one she had not realized until now.

“
What does he want?” Kyle asked suddenly. “Why do you suppose he stays?”

“
Does there have to be a reason?”

Kyle turned to face him. “The deceased usually always cross over to the other side right away, but some are left behind.”

“
You’re saying my son is one of them?”

“
Yeah. I think so … just like Bethany, who needed to exonerate her brother, your son also has something he needs to take care of before he can leave this world.”

“
What is it?”

“
I don’t know.” She stood up and walked across the room, facing a corner, her back toward him. “You could talk to him and find out.”

The blood drained instantly from Cameron’s face. After all these years—contact with the son he lost, the one he missed so terribly, and who occupied his mind every single moment. How could it be?

Kyle turned around to look at him. “You don’t have to be here, but I do need to do it. He needs my help so he can cross over. I know how painful this must be.”

Cameron met her eyes. “I want to be here. I
need
to be here.”

Kyle nodded.

“
When can we do it?” he asked.

“
Right now, if that’s okay.”