The Catalyst: (Book One) Read online

  Ken stared at her silently.

  She quickly did the calculations in her head. Based on the flawed data, the virus would have little to no effect on Addar’s people. It would work far too slow to compromise their immune system. They could easily heal themselves before they even saw any effects. But a human would not have that strength.

  “What does the virus target?”

  Ken blinked at her harsh tone. “The mitochondria. Your data said it was the only weakness.”

  “They created a virus that causes degenerative age related disease,” Robin said.

  Ken stared at her.

  “When do they plan to use it?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Find out. If they release it during a battle, the air could carry it across the country. Or further. It will kill all of us.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Robin pulled back the tent flap and paused. Inside the lamp-lit interior, a dark-skinned woman and pale man sat holding hands. The man looked up when she entered, but the woman kept her gaze fastened on their joined hands.

  “Birdy?”

  At the man’s whisper, the woman’s head jerked up. Both of them stared at Robin in a mix of disbelief and joy.

  “Hello, dad,” Robin murmured. She looked at her mother. “Hi, mama.”

  The loss of the more formal ‘mother’ was the thing that broke the stillness. Her parents nearly leapt from the cot in their hurry to get to her. Then, she was being smothered by their hugs. Her father wiped at his face.

  “Are you hurt? What’s this?” At her mother’s words, the two of them froze.

  Robin stood still and let them lean in to examine the mark on her neck. Her father pulled back quickly.

  “That’s a knife wound,” he said, scowling. “How did you get that?”

  Robin looked from her father’s blue eyes to her mother’s brown. She shook her head.

  “An accident.”

  Her father’s frown deepened. “I’ve never know you to lie to us, Birdy.”

  Robin winced. “For your safety, it was an accident.”

  “Our safety?” her mother asked. “Someone hurt our baby and you can’t tell us who because of our safety?”

  Her mother pulled her deeper into the tent. “Sit down.”

  Robin sat on their abandoned cot, as her father poked his head out of the tent to look both ways before closing the flap. They moved to stand in front of her.

  “What is going on?” Her father gave her the stern expression she remembered from her youth.

  Robin sighed. “I can’t tell you.”

  “What about the rest of it? The rumors of your involvement.”

  She looked back and forth between her parents. “True.”

  Her mother took a step back to sit down on the other cot, but her father just stared at her.

  “All of it?” her mother asked, sounding winded.

  Robin nodded.

  “Why would you—?” Her mother cut herself off, staring at Robin like she had never seen her before.

  “Did you want the accolades that much?” her father whispered.

  Robin stiffened. “It had nothing to do with that.”

  “I know it hurt when Ken betrayed you, stole your work, but this…” he trailed off, both of them ignoring her mother’s shocked gasp.

  “Ken took your work?”

  Robin nodded.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” her mother asked, searching her face.

  Robin did not answer.

  “How much of this is you?” her father asked.

  “I recreated the first organism in my lab.”

  “And the second?”

  “Renon.”

  “Why did you not tell them what they were creating? That it was humanoid?” her mother cut in.

  Robin sighed. “They already knew. When I tried to warn them during the project, they already knew.”

  “They intentionally violated the ethics laws?” her father questioned.

  “Yes.”

  “And then?”

  Robin paused. “I can’t tell you beyond that. It becomes…complicated.”

  “The two organisms summoned the rest somehow,” her mother murmured.

  “Just one. Ilan.”

  “What is an ‘Ilan’?”

  “The organism created by Renon labs.”

  “You named it?” Her mother frowned at her.

  “No. That is what he is called.”

  “He?” her father asked.

  Robin nodded. “Both are male. I was able to take samples and run tests on the first one.”

  “The one who told you about the second organism?”

  She nodded at her father. “Yes.”

  Her parents fell silent. As she watched, they turned to look at each other, seeming to communicate with their eyes. Finally, her mother sighed and her father turned to face her.

  “What can we do?”

  A weight lifted from her chest. Robin gave them a rare smile. “What’s happening here?”

  Understanding crossed her mother’s voice. “You’re still in contact with the organism.”

  Robin hesitated.

  “The authorities say he lived with you for several weeks.” At Robin’s nod, she continued. “What is he called?”

  “Addar. He has been helping me.”

  “Helping?” her father asked, with a frown.

  “Yes. He saved my life several times.”

  “From his people, you mean?”

  Robin nodded.

  “He should stop this. If he is so concerned with your welfare,” her mother said with a purse of her lips.

  “He doesn’t have that kind of power.”

  “Oh?”

  Robin started to answer and paused. Addar said a scout was the leader of the attack. Could he not call it off? She frowned.

  “What is it?” her father asked, leaning closer to her.

  Robin shook her head. “I just thought of something. I will need to speak to him to clarify.”

  “Clarify?” her mother questioned.

  “I would rather not say anything until I have spoken to him.”

  “And in the meantime?” Her father crossed his arms over his chest, glancing at the tent flap.

  “I have to help the lab here.”

  “With some kind of biological weapon. Isn’t that right?”

  Robin looked at her father in surprise. “How do you—?”

  “Ken came by yesterday. He said your assistant was ill.”

  “And he told you it was the virus they created?”

  “No,” her mother answered. “But I’m a lawyer. I can tell when I’m being told a tale.”

  “I don’t have much of a choice. If I don’t help them…” she trailed off, uncomfortable with the way her parents’ gazes sharpened.

  “What?” her mother pressed. “Did they threaten you?”

  “Robin.” Her father’s frown joined her mother’s when she did not answer.

  Robin sighed. “Right now, my only use is to help them with this weapon. When that is finished, they won’t need me anymore.”

  Her parents sat back.

  “Oh, Robin,” she mother muttered. “You can’t stay here.”

  “I know, but I need to stop them from making the weapon.”

  “For this Addar character?” her father asked.

  “No. For us. Ken told me the virus is unstable.”

  “How?”

  “From what he said, it won’t work fast enough to kill them. But it will kill us. All of us. Far too fast to find a cure.”

  Her father, a tenured professor and geneticist, heard what she was not saying. “You think the virus will integrate into the DNA.”

  Robin nodded. “If they want the virus to kill their whole population, that is how they will engineer it.”

  “So, even if some of us survive the virus, it will change our DNA. Weaken it.”

  “Yes.”

  Her mother looked back and forth between
them, a look of dawning horror on her face. “Why would they create something like that?”

  “Panic,” her father said.

  “Correct,” Robin agreed.

  “From what I overheard yesterday, there are only a handful of bases left around the world. One satellite remains and that one is malfunctioning.”

  “Are other governments doing better than ours?”

  Her mother shook her head. “When I spoke to Sandra, she said her husband has been on the warpath for days. He lost communication with England two days ago. They were the last country talking.”

  “I saw the White House on the news.” Robin frowned when her parents just shook their heads.

  “It was a ruse. After the talks, D.C. was destroyed.”

  “And the president?”

  Her father sighed.

  “Oh.” Robin slumped.

  They sat in silence for a few moments, before her father cleared his throat.

  “What can we do to help?”

  Robin raised her head to meet his gaze. “You two have been spared so far. I would like to keep it that way.”

  Her mother sat up. “Do not think for one minute, we are going to let you do this alone.”

  It increased the bloom of warmth in her chest, but Robin knew she could not involve them. If anything happened to them because they tried to help her… She shook her head.

  “I will let you know when I need help.”

  Her mother nodded, but her father gave her a small frown. He was always better at reading her. Robin dropped her gaze to avoid meeting his eyes.

  …

  Robin covered her nose and mouth with the mask, before she entered the hospital room. The curtains were pulled over the window, blocking even the weak evening light. She walked across the floor to pull them back.

  “Don’t,” a weak voice spoke from the shadows.

  Robin paused. She turned to face the direction the voice had come from, but had to squint to make out the figure on the bed. As she watched, one shaky arm left the blankets to flip on a dim bedside lamp.

  “Hey, Dr. Kay,” the pale figure murmured.

  Robin stared in shock at the woman who had been her bubbly assistant. The virus worked far faster than she had anticipated. Ken said Amber had fallen ill less than thirty-six hours before. From the advanced symptoms, she would have guessed closer to three weeks.

  Amber’s blond hair had wide streaks of gray and partially obscured her dull, sunken eyes. The skin of her face seemed to almost hang from her skull, the elastin all but gone. Amber raised a hand in greeting and Robin could not help but notice the thinness of the appendage. She moved closer to her bedside.

  “You’ve been sick one day?”

  Amber shook her head slowly, as if the movement hurt.

  “Four days,” she said in a whisper-soft voice.

  “Ken said you were hospitalized yesterday.”

  Amber nodded.

  “But you had symptoms before that?”

  Again, Amber nodded.

  Robin frowned. She could have infected people before the virus finally became debilitating. Dozens. Hundreds. It was impossible to know.

  “Did you tell the others? The doctors?”

  Amber shook her head. “They won’t listen,” she breathed.

  Of course not. It would slow down progress.

  “I’ll fix this, Amber.”

  The younger woman nodded, but it was half-hearted.

  After speaking with her assistant a few more minutes, Robin left the small hospital. Her armed guard followed her, as they had been since the day before, but she ignored them. She had to find a way to help Amber. It was unlikely the virologists responsible for her infection would take the time to cure her.

  If only she could inject energy directly into her to take the place of her failing mitochondria. Robin stopped in the middle of the street, as a thought struck her. Addar had done that very thing to her the day before. Transferred energy. If she could get Amber to him, maybe he could do something. Keep her alive until Robin could find a cure.

  Robin suddenly realized the odd looks she was receiving from her guards and the nearby soldiers. She ducked her head and continued across the street. As she walked back to the small tent she had been assigned near the command tent, Robin considered the situation. She had to get in touch with Addar.

  As she pulled back the flap on her tent, a harsh grip closed around her bicep. It jerked her away from the relative safety of her tent and back a few steps. Robin struggled to free herself, even as she tipped her head back to look at who held her. The sergeant. He gave her an ugly smile and squeezed tighter.

  “Dr. Kay,” he said.

  Robin scowled. “Unhand me.”

  He ignored her and began to tow her toward the command tent. Something told her she did not want to set foot inside. She looked over her shoulder, but the armed guards blocked her view of anyone else. Robin had no choice but to let the man pull her into the tent. The flap falling closed behind them was like the slam of a door.

  “This her?” a male voice asked, while she was still looking over her shoulder.

  Robin turned her head to frown at the group of people staring at her. They sat around a long, folding table. Eight men and one woman. The woman gave her a quick once over. Her eyebrows disappeared beneath her gray bangs.

  “This is the scientist you mentioned?” the woman asked.

  From the amount of decorations on her uniform, she seemed to be someone of importance. Robin started to speak, only to have the sergeant silence her with a hard squeeze to her arm.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he answered.

  The woman let out a thoughtful hum. “Awfully young, isn’t she?”

  No one spoke, the question obviously rhetorical.

  “Right, well,” the woman pursed her lips. “The lab tells me they don’t need you.”

  Robin tensed.

  “Your notes and data were exceedingly thorough, apparently.” The woman tapped her fingernails on the table top. “So, what to do with you now.”

  “The virus is dangerous,” Robin blurted.

  The tent fell silent, even the soldiers sorting paperwork in the corner stopped to look at her.

  “Dangerous?” the woman asked, sitting forward. She gave her a humorless smile. “Dangerous to whom? Your little friends?”

  Robin stared at her.

  “Yes, I know all about you and that thing you made.” The woman stood from her chair and walked around the end of the table. “You see, someone spotted it in Quincy. Watching to make sure you went with the troops.”

  Robin opened her mouth to explain, but the woman had reached her. She covered her mouth with one hand and wagged her finger in a ‘no no’ gesture.

  “No, I don’t want to hear whatever lie you plan to use.”

  Robin’s skin erupted in goose bumps. Her eyes darted from the woman to the men sitting calmly at the table. No one moved to help her.

  “Sergeant,” the woman said, without breaking eye contact with Robin. “You can always use more soldiers, correct?”

  The sergeant nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

  The woman let her hand drop from Robin’s face. “Good. See that Dr. Kay joins you tomorrow.”

  Robin gasped. “I’m not qualified to—”

  The sting of the slap stunned her to silence. Robin stared at the woman in shock, until the sergeant began to tug her out of the tent.

  “You have to listen to me!”

  The tent flap fell closed behind them, as the sergeant half dragged her back to her tent. He shoved her inside and she heard him give her guards strict instructions not to let her leave. Robin waited until his footsteps faded, to peek through the space between the tent flap and the wall. She saw nothing but a guard’s back.

  Robin slowly sank down on the small cot. She had no idea what city the soldiers were going to the next day, but it was guaranteed they would engage Addar’s people. From what she understood, they were in another state. There was no w
ay of knowing if Addar would be able to find her over state lines. It was entirely possible that another ship would be in charge of Iowa.

  She doubted another one of his people would have his affinity for her. Robin covered her face with her hands and focused on breathing. Panic would not help her. The moment the thought entered her mind, a scream rose from beyond her tent. Robin was on her feet before it ended. She pushed open the tent flap to see her guards shifting nervously.

  The chorus of screams and shrieks moved closer to her tent in the center of the town. Robin stepped outside. It showed how distracted the guards were that they did not make any move to force her back. She stood between the two soldiers and looked toward the noise.

  The first bloody person stumbled into the street a moment later. The woman looked directly at her, before running past them. Another person raced past. Soon, a stampede of people ran toward them. Men, women, and children. Some limping, others all out sprinting.

  “What’s happening?” one of her guards yelled.

  A few people glanced their way, but none of them slowed down.

  “What the heck?” one of the guards muttered.

  Robin inched away from them, backing in the direction the people were fleeing. Something very bad was coming.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  She had no choice but to stumble along beside them. One of the guards had a firm grip on her arm. The other jogged on her left, tossing glances at her as they ran. Past the sign for the school, the parking lot gave way to the football field. In the middle of the large space, a cluster of tents buzzed with activity.

  The guards pushed their way through the panicking crowd to pull her toward the tents. As they got closer, Robin tried to tune out the deafening screams all around them and focus. The largest tent seemed to hold nothing but stacks of large containers. That was where most of the activity was centered.

  The guards led her there, switching off as the one who held her arm broke away to gather around the tent with the rest. Robin could hear only bits and pieces of shouted sentences. When the guard returned with a larger rifle, she put two and two together. Weapons. The soldiers were planning a counter attack.

  As she thought it, the guard still holding her pulled her forward. In a flurry of grabbing hands and rough handling, she was strapped into a heavy vest and handed a weapon. Robin stared at the gun in her hands, allowing herself to be shoved back out of the way as others took her place to receive their gear.