The Tesla Experiment

Chapter 30

Professor Westdijk kept looking in his rear view mirror.

“Listen, Sam, where are we going?” he asked.

Sam did not want to relay all the madness of the experiment to the professor for fear that the old man would not believe him.

“It is a long story, professor, but I promise I will fill you in as soon as we are safely inside the property and get rid of this maniac,” he told the old man at the wheel. “For what it is worth, you would find it fascinating.”

“Well, I’ll say this… you don’t have a boring life, my boy,” Professor Westdijk replied, changing lanes again to keep their pursuer from catching up. “You will have to give me an address, or else I am not going to know where to go!”

Foster was right on top of them, occasionally slowing down enough not to draw too much attention. But he had the eyes of a hawk, never losing them ahead of him. Along the Rhône they sped towards Jenner Manor. Sam punched the address into the GPS while watching the speeding red vehicle in their wake, keeping up with them every step of the way.

“Sam, if I am risking my life to help you, the least you can do is tell me where we are going,” Professor Westdijk implored and he wove the car through traffic.

“A friend of mine asked me to stay and help him and an old university colleague with an experiment. That is all. Remember when I first met you?” Sam asked.

“Yes, at the hotel and at CERN,” the old man affirmed.

“The interview I conducted with the engineer?” Sam asked again.

“Yes?”

“He was murdered and they think it was me,” Sam disclosed. Westdijk looked at him with wide eyes, but said nothing. “I didn’t do it, I swear to God!”

“So this chase is to get away from the Cornwall people?” he asked Sam.

“Aye. We have to get to Lydia’s house before he catches up with us, because I think I have done enough to stretch their patience. They are aiming to kill me this time,” Sam said, turning again to look behind him.

They turned into the last street, shedding most of the traffic to only match speed and wits with Foster as they raced to make it to Jenner Manor. Sam called Nina, but the signal was too weak. The rain was pouring on the road, forcing Prof. Westdijk to slow down around the corners. Foster came so close that Sam could look him in the eye.

“Honk the horn. God, the place is soundproof!” Sam recalled to his dismay. But he underestimated Nina. Knowing that her cell phone signal would be perturbed and that she would not hear them coming, she stood on the balcony outside her guest room.

“Here they come, Lydia!” she shouted down to the lobby, where the hostess waited for her alert. From there she opened the gates for Sam and Prof. Westdijk to come roaring into the yard. Unfortunately the gates did not close as quickly as they needed.

As they raced through the gate Foster pushed down the accelerator pedal of his car and crossed the gateway just as the steel plated gates slid shut. The edge of the gate caught the rear brake light and bumper as it closed, but he made it through.

In the pouring rain Sam and the professor rushed for the back door. The low branches of the backyard would make it difficult for Foster to move fast. With the gate shut the doors to the mansion was unlocked until Sam was inside.

“Nina! Where are you?” he shouted.

“Chamber! Hurry, so Lydia can lock the door to the basement area!” Nina cried from down the hall.

“Come, Professor! We have to go downstairs. It is safe there for now,” Sam said, dragging the confused old man with him. As they descended the ramp toward the underground area where the ladies waited, they could hear gunshots outside the kitchen. Foster used his colossal frame to ram the door after shooting the electronic locks.

Sam and Prof. Westdijk rushed in and Nina shut the door.

“Thank God you’re safe!” she panted, flinging her arms around Sam in a passionate embrace. He was soaking wet and his body was shivering from more than the cold. The nerve wrecking encounter he had endured since he was abducted had his body shaking uncontrollably. “Oh, Sam, I was so worried that you would never come back,” Nina said, looking deep into his dark eyes. He kissed her with the same affection she showed him, not wanting to let he go this time.

“I don’t mean to break up this happy union,” Prof. Westdijk said, “but there is a man trying to kill us.”

“He won’t get in here,” Nina said confidently. “This door in enforced steel with an electrical current running through it.”

“Nina! Nina! He has made contact! Come!” Lydia shouted frantically, summoning Nina to the control board.

“Purdue,” Nina smiled at Sam’s befuddled expression. “Purdue is about to come back through! Come!”

Sam followed Nina as the loud crackle started. Lydia had disappeared into the small soundproof room to avoid the amplified sound frequency from killing her. Sam watched Nina handle the board like an expert scientist. One by one she turned the four field knobs to exactly the frequency and voltage directed on the paper Lydia drew for her. Sam took up his recorder to get footage of the process. As the crackle increased in sound, and the entry time neared, the power failed.

“Oh sweet Jesus! No!” Nina screamed, bashing her fists on the table next to her. It was pitch dark.

“It’s not the weather,” Sam voice came through the darkness. “Foster tripped the power from the kitchen, the son of a bitch!”

Lydia opened the door to ascertain what had happened. Distraught, she cursed furiously. “What the fuck is happening? Why now?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get him back as soon as we get rid of Foster,” Sam reached for the battery powered spare lights under the wall desk while Nina and Lydia collectively fumed at the failure to bring Purdue back.

“Who is Foster?” Lydia asked.

“A mercenary the Cornwall Institute hired to kill me, because they think I killed the CERN engineer that witnessed your little trip back in time, Lydia,” Sam explained while switching on the lights one by one. They were faint, but adequate for them to check the breakers, at least.

A thunderous din echoed from the door as Foster tried to fight his way through.

“Open the door, Sam! I just want to speak to you!” Foster shouted.

“Aye, of course you do!” Sam hollered back through the door. Without the electrical currents running along the steel plating the house was not half as secure as before.

“Christ!” Lydia screamed. “Not you!”

Sam and Nina turned to see Westdijk aim a weapon at Lydia.

“Professor! She is not the enemy!” Sam exclaimed harshly. “Our problem is on the other side of this door!”

“Hello Professor Jenner,” he greeted Lydia with the hiss of a snake. “Holding out on us, are you?”

“Sam, open that goddamn door!” Lydia screamed.

“No way!” he refused, but Nina knew to trust Lydia’s judgment.

She lunged past Sam and unbolted the door, and Foster burst through. Sam tried to stop him, but he knocked the journalist off his feet with one jab. Westdijk cocked his weapon, holding it steady on Lydia.

“Go and switch on the power!” he insisted. “I want to see what comes through the ether this time. And here we thought the Tesla Experiment did not work. Switch the power on,” he spelled it out for Nina. Nina shook her head and moved in behind Foster.

Professor Westdijk lost his patience. He turned the gun toward Nina and shot Foster in his tracks. He fell at Nina’s feet, exposing her to the gun. Hysterically she screamed and crouched down next to Sam, holding him. “Sam, wake up!” Another shot rang just short of them, evoking another scream from her.

“Go and switch on the power or I will kill everyone in this house,” he roared. “I have spent enough time and money trying to bring the Tesla Experiment into fruition and here you go behind my back, Lydia?”

“You wanted this experiment to work so that you could build the death ray, and that is as far as your loyalty towards science stretched, you money grabbing charlatan!” Lydia growled at him.

“That’s why this big monster tripped the power?” Nina asked.

“To prevent Purdue from coming through with the schematic. So that this piece of shit would not get his hands on it!” Lydia ranted. “He would build the teleforce weapon so that he could become the master of war, bringing the governments of the world to their knees with its undeniably destructive reach.”

“Why else, Lydia?” Westdijk asked. “Why else would you create something so brilliant and not use it to keep the world’s terrorists in check?”

“Because it would mean that you are just another terrorist, imposing your will on others by means of tyranny, you idiot!” she seethed. “But you don’t care. As long as you end up stinking rich and exempt, you don’t care where the weapon ends up.”

“Well, whatever you tried to do is down the drain now, pal,” Nina said. “The time window for Purdue to come back through has passed. You will never have the design now.”

Sam opened his eyes. With a motion of his head he directed her to the video camera he left on the desk from where he gathered up the battery powered lights. Nina smiled. No matter what happened next, there would be proof on camera of the professor’s involvement in the web of deceit surrounding the CERN fire incident.

“That remains to be seen, my dear girl,” he told Nina. “I can always call Penny Richards and tell her that Sam Cleave killed Christian Foster too.”

“Go ahead,” Sam said. “We’ll implicate her too. After all, Tägtgren was working for both you and her. I am sure she would love to know that her dear friend, the professor, was the one trying to sabotage all the experiments conducted by the Cornwall Institute all along.”

“Now it seems we have a problem,” Professor Westdijk said calmly. “I will not leave until you bring your associate back with my schematic. And it is no use you all getting killed for nothing, is it?”

“It is too late,” Lydia lamented. “His energy would have bonded to the point where he is now, so there is no way to come back anymore.”

“Oh my God, Lydia. For a genius you really possess a very restricted mind!” Professor Westdijk shrieked in exasperation. He paced around the chamber she had built, but kept the gun on her. “You are going to get this contraption up and running. And Sam Cleave will be your…” he smiled, “…voyager. Just because your other friend is a thing of the past, doesn’t mean we cannot follow up. Let him go get it for us, while I make sure we can bring him back safely, right?”

Sam and Nina looked at Lydia. She did not move for a long while, before finally letting out a deep sigh. “I suppose there is nothing else we can do,” she shrugged. “Purdue was an unfortunate casualty, but we did all we could do.”

“There is no fucking way I am getting in that oven of yours, Professor Jenner. You can shoot me first!” Sam protested.

“I’ll shoot your girlfriend,” Westdijk smiled, “if you don’t go, Sam. Easy as that.”