Symbiote Page 15

  Markov tried to stand up but the brute behind him forced him back down into his seat. For good measure, Brown squeezed the muscle on his shoulder with incredible power. That was going to leave a mark.

  “What happened to Neil Meriwether will happen to Detective Hall. She’ll change.”

  “Into what?”

  This all seemed a bit far-fetched for Detective Markov. He knew she was sick, but he couldn’t believe Shaw was telling him the truth. There was more to it; there had to be.

  “I think you know what’s happening to her. What she’ll become. You saw it on that rooftop, didn’t you?”

  Markov hesitated. If Shaw actually was telling the truth, then there wasn’t much time to save Karen. If he was lying then Markov didn’t know what his motivation was. Several scenarios played out in his head. Perhaps Shaw really was a Federal Agent who was trying to contain a dangerous parasite. Perhaps the government created this parasite and they’re doing experiments to test its efficacy. Regardless, Markov needed to say whatever it took so he would be brought to see Karen. They could figure it out together from there.

  “What do you want from me?” Markov asked.

  “The parasite has affected her neurological pathways. Her emotions are heightened. When she’s calm she’s non-violent. When she gets riled up,” Shaw said, then continued along a different line, “I need you to ensure she remains calm while we complete the procedure. If she has an episode we could all be in danger.”

  “And you’ve done this procedure before? It’s safe?”

  “It’s perfectly safe.”

  Markov didn’t like the sound of that. Nothing in the medical world was ‘perfectly safe.’ Everything had side effects and those side effects usually involved anal leakage, seizures, and/or death. Call him a cynic, but he was pretty sure whatever the procedure involved wouldn’t be ‘perfect.’

  “Run me through it.”

  Agent Shaw was becoming antsy. Markov could tell he wanted this over with as soon as possible. He needed answers first.

  “The parasite affects the part of the brain that exerts free will. The foreign body has its own wants and desires which generally conflict with those of the host.”

  Agent Brown squeezed his shoulder tighter. Markov was starting to think the two of them weren’t on the same page.

  “Let’s call her Karen. Isn’t ‘host’ a bit clinical?”

  “Soon, Karen won’t be able to control her actions. She will be merely a passenger in her own body. Simply along for the ride.”

  “So the extraction thingamajig does what exactly?”

  “The Extraction Chamber will confuse the parasite, making it believe the host is dead. It will then move to find a new host.”

  “And this new host?”

  “Will be a vacuum chamber inside the machine. From there we can isolate it and store it in our lab.”

  Markov didn’t understand the science behind it, but the process made enough sense. Except…

  “How will the chamber make the parasite think Karen’s dead?”

  “We will need to sedate her enough that her heart stops momentarily. I assure you it will be quick and we will be able to bring her back.”

  Detective Markov stared at Agent Shaw in disbelief. Did he actually expect him to go along with this? How could he trust Shaw to bring her back? This wasn’t some movie where you knew things were going to end happily, they were messing with his partner’s life. Markov needed a cigarette.

  “I’ve seen one of these things in autopsy before. It’ll try to revive her to stay alive.”

  A bead of sweat rolled down Shaw’s face.

  “The science is much too complicated to explain to you, Detective,” Shaw said impatiently. “Suffice it to say the chamber prevents the parasite from exhibiting that response.”

  Markov was done asking questions, he wanted to see Karen. Nothing else mattered.

  “I need to see Karen before I’ll agree to anything. Have you told her about any of this yet?”

  “She’s been sedated since the incident.”

  If they were going to kill her they could have shot her, gassed her, shocked her, or done any number of grisly things to make her dead. They needed him because whatever they wanted they couldn’t get on their own. Maybe they needed the parasite alive and killing the host, Karen, would have killed it too? He didn’t like it, but he didn’t seem to have much choice in the matter.

  “If you’re expecting me to keep her calm, I don’t know if you came to the right guy. She can be abrasive, even with me. Let’s just get this over with.”

  Hold on Karen, Markov thought. I’m going to get you out of there.

  26

  1810 Hours – Day 3 – The Extraction Chamber

  Agent Shaw entered a four-digit code into the keypad and the heavy metal door to the Extraction Chamber slid aside. Detective Markov entered the room, realizing only after he crossed the threshold that Shaw didn’t follow him in. The door closed firmly behind him. If Shaw was trying to keep Karen calm, not being in the same room with her was a good start.

  The Extraction Chamber was a stark white room with a high-tech dentist’s chair at the center of the far wall. Detective Hall lay etherized in the chair, her hands and bare feet bound by brown leather straps. Above the chair hung a multitude of sharp instruments which Markov assumed had something to do with the extraction process. For a moment he was glad he wasn’t in her position. He hated needles.

  Behind the chair was a machine that took up a good portion of the wall. That must have been where the vacuum chamber Shaw mentioned was housed. Markov turned and looked at the mirror that ran the length of the side wall. He could feel several sets of eyes trained on him as he jogged to Karen’s side.

  “Karen,” Markov said, putting a hand on her cold cheek.

  Karen stirred, her ice blue eyes creaking open and focusing on him. Her short blonde hair was streaked with sweat that darkened the tone. She wore a white gown with a slit down the side. Markov blushed. He hadn’t taken the time to notice her in more than a professional manner in a long time. He promised himself when this was all over, if they were both alive, he’d have that conversation with her. When she locked eyes with him she smiled.

  “Took you long enough,” she said meekly.

  Markov took her clammy hand in his and leaned in close so their monitors wouldn’t hear.

  “Listen,” he whispered. “I don’t know what this machine actually does, but I know we can’t trust these assholes.”

  Karen nodded. She tested the restraints but wasn’t able to make them budge. Markov noticed all of her cuts and bruises from earlier were healed. Even her weight loss was less pronounced. She did, however, look a bit woozy from whatever drug they’d used on her. This was going to complicate things. It’s not like he could just carry her out of there.

  “We’ll begin shortly,” Shaw’s voice said over the intercom system. “Detective Markov, you’re up.”

  Detective Markov shot a glance at the mirror and then returned his gaze to Karen. If they were going to get out of there it had to be now. In her current state it didn’t look good. He did have one idea, but it was crazy. It would never work. Even thinking it made Markov cringe.

  “Karen,” Markov began, “You know those doctors you took out?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You think you can do that again?”

  Karen smiled and her eyes flashed like a cat’s. The ice blue faded and turned an eerie shade of green. Her muscles flexed and she pulled on the restraints. Karen seemed to have complete control over it now, using it at will. Whatever ‘it’ was, she was in control. Markov backed away and looked at the mirror of the observation room, shrugging stupidly.

  “I can’t calm her down, I think she just needs to work this one through,” Markov explained.

  “Calm her!” the intercom said.

  The devices above the chair jumped to life and began to lower. Markov swore and moved to release her restraints. When he approach
ed, she pulled free of the leather bonds, and then undid the restraints on her ankles. In a moment she was out of the chair, the device behind her injecting a needle into the vinyl of the seat cushion.

  “Shit, Karen. I was going to let you out.”

  “Good job,” she said sarcastically before pushing past him and punching the wall next to the door. The hole in the wall revealed a network of wires from the keypad on the opposite side. She reached in and pulled out a handful of the multi-colored cables. The door opened. Markov stood in disbelief. Sirens sounded and red LEDs flashed throughout the room. A fan started and white gas started seeping out.

  “Come on!” Karen ordered.

  Markov didn’t have to be asked twice. He followed her out of the Extraction Chamber and into the maze of concrete hallways. This portion of the facility was older, like a remnant of World War Two never renovated for 21st century use. Karen looked back and forth and then up to Markov.

  “We came from this direction,” Markov said, pointing to the left.

  They took off at a sprint down the corridor. Markov fell behind several times, but Karen slowed down each time to compensate. If he’d known escaping a secret underground facility was in his future he might have hit the treadmill a bit more. Four men in paramilitary gear entered the passageway twenty meters ahead. They stopped and turned around. Two more paramilitary agents appeared right behind them and pulled Tasers from their vests, pointing them at Karen and Markov.

  They were pinched. Six attackers was a bit much for Markov, hell, it was a bit much for anyone. He started to put up his hands when he caught the look in Karen’s eyes. It wasn’t a new look by any means. It was the look she had when she was about to do something incredibly stupid.

  Detective Hall snatched the Taser from one of the men’s hands and shocked him at the nape of his neck. She kicked off the concrete wall of the tight corridor and flipped over the man she’d Tased, connecting a foot across the other man’s face, sending him headfirst into the wall where he crashed with a sickening thud. Karen landed on her feet with ease. Markov couldn’t help but be impressed.

  The other four paramilitary troopers approached with their M4 Rifles drawn. They must have had orders to take them alive because they had plenty of opportunity to fire but didn’t. Karen knelt down and grabbed something from the vest of the agent she’d Tased. She threw it down the corridor and it landed next to the lead trooper’s feet. He looked down, horrified.

  Karen grabbed Markov’s arm and pushed him through a side corridor he hadn’t noticed before just before an explosion rocked the passage. He shielded his face from the heat of the flames, which still nipped at his face around the corner. There was a deep rumbling as bits of concrete caved into the main hallway.

  “Let’s go,” Karen said.

  They were in a small hallway with an even older look to the walls. Bits of the wall were crumbling with age, leaving Markov feeling a bit wary of the integrity of the passageway. He hoped Karen didn’t pull another stunt like that or they might get stuck down there forever. Being buried alive wasn’t exactly how Markov had wanted to die. He always figured he’d die at the age of 65, days after retiring from the force.

  They wound along the corridor, turning every so often as the walls of the hallway grew more and more narrow. Markov spotted a dead end up ahead. He yelled for Karen to stop. She turned her head and looked at him questioningly with those strange, inhuman eyes. The tunnel had become darker, the last light more than a dozen meters from the end.

  “Dead end,” Markov said hunched over with hands on his knees, breathing heavily.

  “Not yet,” she replied.

  Karen ran to the end and pointed at the left side of the wall, which was shrouded in darkness. Markov took a closer look and saw hand holds. How had she seen that? He gazed up and saw nothing but darkness. Markov wasn’t scared of many things. Sure, he didn’t like snakes or spiders, but those didn’t count because everyone hated them. Above all else, Markov hated enclosed spaces.

  “You want me to go up that?” Markov asked.

  “Move, Yuri!”

  Detective Markov flinched at the sound of his first name. She only called him that when he was about to get an ass-chewing. Karen knew only his mother and the Captain called him Yuri. Markov made a sound of discontent and began climbing. Karen followed close behind as they ascended. Below them he could hear voices. Some agents had caught up with them.

  Karen took one hand off the makeshift ladder and hit the concrete with the side of her fist. Chunks of concrete and dirt rained down on their pursuers. Markov heard another noise, this one far more disturbing. Whatever Karen had done left the shaft they were in unstable.

  “Hurry!” Karen screamed.

  After ascending a few more rungs Markov found a metal ladder rung. They’d reached an actual ladder. Markov thought that had to be promising. He was feeling a little better about the shaft now. They continued to climb for what seemed like several floors until Markov hit his head on something hard and metallic. He fumbled around in the dark until he found a small metal wheel. He turned it hard and chunks of rust fell onto his face. Markov continued turning the wheel until he heard a click, and then pushed the hatch up, flooding the hatch with the lowering sun.

  Markov climbed out of the hole and helped Karen up. The bright red sun made it harder to get their bearings. They were somewhere in the forest near the metal structure from which they’d entered. Karen looked around before sniffing the air.

  That’s new, Markov thought.

  Karen turned her head and found herself nose to barrel with Agent Shaw’s Beretta.

  “Even your reflexes aren’t fast enough, I promise you,” Shaw assured her with his dark voice.

  27

  1830 Hours – Day 3 – Outside the Facility

  Detective Markov put his hands in front of him and stepped between Agent Shaw and Detective Hall. Shaw’s jaw was clenched tight and his forehead dripped with sweat, his thick five o’clock shadow darkened in the dimming light. Markov thought he looked deranged; not that he ever exuded what he’d call a carefree attitude, but the look didn’t suit him any better. Shaw was the kind of man who liked things to go his way and only his way. He was born in the Year of the Dragon after all. Markov held back a smile at that thought.

  “You’re testing my patience, detectives.”

  “Let’s take a step back, Shaw,” Markov said. “You’re the one pointing a gun at a law enforcement officer.”

  Markov was worried Karen might make a move and not be quick enough. He had to defuse the situation and wait for a better time to act. Maybe he would lead them back toward the facility and they could make a break for the van. It wasn’t the best plan but it would be less risky than the alternative. That is, if he could keep Karen from acting before he made his move. She was always unpredictable, a trait Markov liked in her when his life wasn’t on the line.

  “You don’t know the seriousness of the situation,” Shaw said, wiping sweat from his rough upper lip. “If we don’t get that parasite this world is doomed.”

  Markov cocked his head to the side and asked, “You had Neil Meriwether’s body. You could have gotten a sample from him. Why Karen?”

  “No, you fool. We need a live sample. The parasite inside Mr. Meriwether died before we could extract it. The one in the pathologist was dead too. Even the winemaker up north. All dead. She is our last hope.”

  “If that’s true, put the gun down and let’s talk about this. You don’t want to slip and kill your last hope, do you?”

  Shaw cackled crazily.

  “Don’t think I’m so stupid. It’s inside her head,” he said waving his free hand in circles around his ear. “It doesn’t want to be found. Everything it’s made her do so far has been to keep it from my hands.”

  Markov looked to Karen, whose eyes had returned to their normal, innocent, ice blue hue. There was no way that thing had been in control the whole time. She’d spoken to him. He would have been able to tell. It was
her. Her face was stony, unflinching. A bit of dirt hung on her cheek from the long climb to the surface and her hair was a tangled mess despite its short length.

  “Why do you need a live sample anyway?”

  Agent Shaw was exasperated, as though he were explaining Calculus to a toddler. He tightened his sweaty grip on his Beretta and moved his eyes between Karen to Markov cautiously. Markov tried to guess what he was thinking like he dissected the behavior of murderers. Somehow the task was more daunting in this situation than at the interrogation room in Homicide Division. Markov didn’t want to know what was going on inside that head. He only wanted his partner back.

  “We need to protect ourselves, Detective. The time is coming and we need a defense.”

  “What time? Do you hear yourself?”

  “They’re coming. So many more.”

  Karen’s eyes were glued to Shaw. He hadn’t seen her look that serious since they were out of bacon at Fred’s Diner. That was a dark day in San Francisco.

  “What’s coming?”

  “The aliens, they’re in the meteorites!”

  Markov suppressed a laugh. It sounded crazy, but was it? Karen did first exhibit symptoms after examining the meteorite at the BART station. Maybe this thing wasn’t government-made. What if it was from outer space? Markov thought of a flaw in Shaw’s logic.

  “Hold on, don’t you think our astronomers would have noticed a bunch of rocks hurtling toward Earth?”

  “They’re small, Detective. So small. Astronomers look for the world-enders, the big ones you see in movies. They don’t notice the thousands of smaller ones that hit the Earth every day.”

  Markov grew restless. Some of what he said made sense, but he still found himself doubting Shaw. Call it personal bias. Call it what you want. Markov didn’t want to believe what he was hearing.

  “If the government knows a bunch of meteorites with aliens onboard are headed this way, why don’t we see it on the news?”