The Traveler

“You really have to work on your vocabulary, Doctor. The procedure isn’t wrong. It’s necessary.”

Nathan Boone stood up and returned to the doorway. “Study the information on the DVD. In a few days we’ll send you some more data.” He smiled one last time, then disappeared down the hallway.

Dr. Richardson felt like a man who had just learned that cancer had been found inside him, the destructive cells spreading throughout his blood and bones. Because of fear and ambition, he had ignored all the symptoms, and now it was too late.

Sitting in the lab, he watched as different monkeys appeared on the computer screen. They should break out of the cage, he thought. They should run away and hide. But an order was given, a button was pushed, and they were forced to obey.

56

Breaking into buildings was considered a minor but important Harlequin skill. When Maya was a teenager, Linden spent three days teaching her about door locks, security cards, and surveillance systems. At the end of this informal tutorial, the French Harlequin helped her break into the University College London. They wandered through the empty hallways and slipped a postcard into the black coat covering Jeremy Bentham’s bones.

The electronic blueprint of the research facility showed a ventilation duct that led underground to the basement level of the genetic research building. At various points on the blueprint, the architect had written “PIR” in small letters, indicating a system of passive infrared motion detectors. There was a way to deal with that particular problem, but Maya was worried that another security device might have been added later.

***

HOLLIS STOPPED AT a mall west of Philadelphia. They purchased rock-climbing equipment from a sporting goods store and a small canister of liquid nitrogen from a medical equipment warehouse. A home repair store was close to the mall, and they spent an hour strolling up and down the enormous aisles. Maya filled the shopping cart with a hammer and chisel, a flashlight, a crowbar, a small propane blowtorch, and a pair of bolt cutters. She felt as if everyone was watching them, but Hollis joked with the young woman at the cash register and they got out of the store without being stopped.

Late that afternoon, they reached the town of Purchase, New York. It was a wealthy community with large homes, private day schools, and corporate headquarters surrounded by landscaped parks. Maya decided that the area was the perfect location for a secret research center. The facility was close to New York City and the local airports, but the Tabula could easily keep their activities hidden behind a stone wall.

They checked into a motel and Maya slept for a few hours with her sword beside her. When she woke up, she found Hollis shaving in the bathroom. “You ready to go?” she asked.

Hollis pulled on a clean shirt, and then tied back his dreadlocks. “Give me a couple of minutes,” he said. “A man should look good before he fights.”

Around ten o’clock at night they left the motel, drove past the Old Oaks Country Club, and turned north onto a two-lane road. The research center was easy to find. Sodium security lights were mounted on the wall and a security guard sat in a booth at the entrance. Hollis kept glancing in the side mirror, but no one followed them. A mile later, he took a side road north and parked on the shoulder near a grove of apple trees. The apples had been picked weeks ago and dead leaves covered the ground.

It was very quiet in the truck. Maya realized that she’d gotten used to the music coming from the speakers; it had sustained them during the journey.

“This is going to be difficult,” Hollis said. “I’m sure there are a lot of security guards inside the research center.”

“You don’t have to go.”

“I know you’re doing this for Gabriel, but we got to save Vicki, too.” Hollis looked out the windshield at the night sky. “She’s smart and brave, and she stands up for what’s right. Any man would be lucky to be part of her life.”

“It sounds like you want to be that person.”

Hollis laughed. “If I was lucky I wouldn’t be sitting in a beat-up truck with a Harlequin. You people have way too many enemies.”

They got out of the pickup and pushed their way through a dense thicket of pin oaks and blackberry bushes. Maya was carrying her sword and the combat shotgun. Hollis took along a semiautomatic rifle and a canvas bag filled with the tools. When they came out of the trees near the north wall of the research center, they found a ventilation duct coming out of the ground. The opening was covered with a heavy steel grate.

Hollis cut off two padlocks with the bolt cutters and pried up the grate with the crowbar. He shone the flashlight in the duct, but the light beam didn’t reach beyond ten feet. Maya felt warm air touch her skin.

“According to the blueprint, the duct goes straight to the basement,” she told Hollis. “I can’t tell if there’s room enough to maneuver, so I’ll go headfirst.”

“How will I know if you’re all right?”