Читать книгу The Good Thief - Judith Leon - Страница 14

Lindsey closed the door and sagged against it. I was scarily close to hopping into bed with Marko Savin. I must be out of my mind!

She’d been on the verge of doing something she would have surely regretted. It was way too soon for that much intimacy. Maybe it was the intoxication of the day that had her close to losing herself with him. She’d sipped the old adrenaline cocktail and loved it. “Adrenaline fright” was definitely an acquired taste. She’d almost wet her pants with relief after they landed and had forced herself to jump again to banish any remaining doubts about her nerve. What a thrill! That’s what happened when you conquered your weaknesses. Just like K-bar said.

Thank heavens Allison Gracelyn had interrupted before Marko had slipped her sweater over her head. Stopping at that point was sensible. Sane.

With Marko’s taste, like an especially sweet orange, still lingering, the feeling of his touch still fresh in her memory, Lindsey dialed the secure number Allison had given her some time ago. The gifted computer programmer worked as a code-breaker at the National Security Agency in Ft. Meade, Maryland, and lived in Chevy Chase. There was only a six-hour difference between Florence and Maryland.

They exchanged quick hellos. “Are you still with Christine in Phoenix?” Lindsey asked. Lindsey pictured Allison and her straight, shoulder-length hair, the soft yet keenly intelligent eyes.

“Yes. I’d appreciate your attention on this, Lindsey. Have you followed the kidnapping?”

“Yes. I called the Academy and listened to the recording by Christine. What’s the latest?”

Lindsey grabbed a diet soda and headed into her office.

“FBI Agent Katie Rush traced Teal Arnett and Lena Poole to a gang of Colombian lowlifes.”

Lindsey typed in her AA.gov password and then brought up the photos of the girls, their names listed below their photos.

“The short version,” Allison said, “is that Katie went to Colombia and helped to free Lena, but Teal stayed with her kidnappers on purpose.”

“A seventeen-year-old girl didn’t escape when she had the chance?” Lindsey studied Teal’s image. She looked like a normal teenager. Blond-streaked chestnut hair pulled back in a ponytail, clear hazel eyes, vivacious. And yet, those cheekbones… There was some American Indian blood in this girl somewhere. “She looks like the kind of person people call an ‘old soul.’ Is she…?”

“Teal is definitely special. I’ll get to that in a minute. Lena says Teal thinks there is something much bigger going on. Something…well, strange and terrifying was how she put it. The good news is that we know that Teal is on a plane from Colombia to London. I’ve contacted the British SAS and called in some favors. They’ll have a team waiting when the plane lands, rescue Teal, and arrest the kidnappers. I’ve also twisted the arm of an NSA friend and we’ve got a secure satellite that will be able to pick up the plane’s arrival at Heathrow.”

“It looks like things will be okay, then. If you have the kidnappers, you can get to the bottom of this.” Lindsey sat back, swigged her soda, and wondered where she fit in.

“Yes, and no. Teal has proven psychic abilities.”

Wow. She picked up a pencil. “Okay.”

“And, Teal, like Lena, is an amazingly fast runner. Amazingly fast.”

Now tapping the pencil, Lindsey suddenly felt the conversation wasn’t going in a direction she’d anticipated.

“Jazz was the third girl. Like all Athena girls, Jazz is very bright and has her own special gifts, but nothing beyond the ordinary. We think the attempt to take her was accidental. The kidnappers wanted Teal and Lena. The girls were lured to a pickup location. And Teal and Lena share something else. In addition to having these standout abilities, there is this profoundly disturbing fact: Their mothers underwent fertility treatments—at the very same clinic, the Women’s Fertility Center in Zuni, New Mexico.”

“It’s unusual. Seems a rather large coincidence. But why so disturbing?”

“Lindsey, the clinic may have connections to Lab 33. We’re starting to think that they may be Lab 33 babies.”

“Oh, good God.” Lindsey leaned forward in the chair and tossed the pencil onto the desk. “More egg babies?”

“Exactly. An Athena grad, Kim Valenti, is working with Lynn White to decipher the files that were rescued when we took down Lab 33 a year and a half ago.” Rage and disgust boiled in Allison’s voice. “There’s still much that we don’t know about Aldrich Peters’ genetic research. The encryption is difficult to break. Very frustrating for Kim and Lynn. Also, a lot of the data was destroyed. But, yes, it appears that Peters didn’t just harvest Rainy’s eggs. He took and then secretly manipulated the eggs of other women, as well.”

“That’s sick. Disgusting.” Lindsey felt a chill on the back of her neck. “Isn’t Lynn one of Rainy’s ‘daughters’?”

“Yes. It’s a mess. If you knew Rainy’s daughters, or Teal and Lena, you’d say it’s a wonderful thing that they were born. But the method, if it’s true that they are genetically modified egg babies created by Peters, is absolutely abhorrent.” Allison’s anger shifted to sadness. “If Rainy were alive, she’d be utterly confounded.”

Lindsey recalled something that might explain Allison’s deep passions. “Weren’t you especially close to Rainy?”

“She was my best friend. She was the senior mentor to the Cassandras and every one of them will tell you that she made them the tight-knit, formidable group they became. A most extraordinary woman.” She paused, sighed. “Rainy’s murder—I still can’t talk about it.”

Last year, when the new science building was dedicated to Rainy, Lindsey had attended the ceremony. “At the dedication, I actually met Lynn. She seemed normal…but she’s—” It seemed somehow rude to call Lynn genetically modified. “Enhanced in what way?”

“All three of Rainy’s daughters, Lynn, Faith and Dawn, are a continual amazement. It’s mind-blowing. Lynn is blindingly fast. Faith is psychic. But Dawn’s abilities to heal herself are astonishing.”

“How do I fit in?”

“We’re beginning to worry that somehow, someone from the outside has learned of Teal and Lena’s talents, and that’s why they were taken. Katie is working with a psychic who is occasionally in contact with Teal. That’s how they located the plane.”

Lindsey still couldn’t see a way to help.

“Katie thinks the kidnappers are middlemen,” Allison continued, “and that they very likely don’t know the real value of the girls or who is really behind the kidnapping.”

“Ah!”

“Yes. That’s why I’ve called you.”

“You want me to scour my European underground contacts and see what’s up?”

“They are going to London. That suggests that a British, or possibly other European party, is behind the whole thing. See what you can find out. Particularly anything with a whiff of genetics involved. I’ve set up a site here at the NSA that holds everything we have about Lab 33. I’ll be updating it regularly about the kidnapping, as well. I’ll have some photos of and files on the few individuals we know who worked with Peters and escaped the lab bust. We’ve also been able to decipher scraps of information on the genetic manipulation process. We know what was done, but not how. If you have any questions, call me. Katie and I watched from a satellite when the private jet carrying Teal took off from Bogotá. As I said already, we know the flight plan they filed said London’s Heathrow as the final destination. Do you want to watch the arrival when the SAS guys pick her up in London? The plane is due to land around six this evening London time, seven your time.”

“Absolutely.”

Allison provided a Web address and two passwords that would give Lindsey access to the data on Lab 33, the kidnapping and the feeds from the NSA satellite. Lindsey checked the clock on her computer screen. The plane would reach its destination in about twenty minutes.

“By the way,” Allison added, “Lena said the kidnappers videotaped her and Teal using their abilities during staged escape attempts. This makes me think they wanted proof of what the girls could do.”

Lindsey shook off another chill on her neck. “I understand.”

They exchanged farewells and Allison hung up. Lindsey stood and stretched. She felt exhausted. The adrenaline rush from the skydiving, and from all that lovely physical contact with Marko, must have expended itself. She needed a caffeine hit before she spent time with the Lab 33 file.

As she made her way to the kitchen, a sad weight pressed on her heart for Teal, who would probably never know who her real father was. And who, if she was ever told the manner of her conception, would surely have some psychological hurdles to conquer.

Alternately sipping the strong cappuccino and scrolling through the kidnapping file, Lindsey learned a bit more. Most interesting, the psychic who’d worked with Katie Rush, Stefan Blackman, was pretty certain Teal could only make that kind of strong contact with someone like him, or like Teal herself.

She opened the file on Lab 33 and started to read about Aldrich Peters and his egg babies. At ten to seven, she put the NSA satellite feed onto one of her side screens and monitored the London airport as she continued to skim the egg baby file. The plane was late, but finally it landed and the SAS, fully armed, swarmed inside.

Ten minutes crawled by. After fifteen minutes of total inactivity, a handful of SAS men left the plane with three men, doubtless the cockpit crew, given their uniforms. Lindsey sat up and leaned toward the screen. This didn’t at all fit with what she’d anticipated. Where was the girl? The SAS men walked out with the crew, went to the cars, got in, and drove off.

Something was wrong.