Nightstalkers

CHAPTER 25

There were four Ivars in the basement lab now, taking turns pedaling the bike backward. The really hard part for Ivar was that there were moments he wasn’t sure which one he was. His mind was teetering on the precipice of going insane. Sometimes he blinked and he was on the bike, but he’d been the one tinkering with the device just a second ago.

There was only one Burns. But he was sitting in a chair, doing nothing, just watching the Ivars.

Ivar had lost track of what he was doing, but it was apparent at least one of the Ivars was paying attention, because Ivar watched that Ivar throw the switch and another mini-Ivar appeared in the chamber, crawled out, and began growing to normal size.

The Ivar who’d thrown the switch went over to a new machine, one the second Ivar had built, and opened a panel. He pulled out a circuit and held it out to the real Ivar. Then held up two fingers. Then pointed at the door.

“You need two more or two, which means just one more?” Ivar asked, because the labeling was a bit confusing in the sign language.

The other Ivar blinked as if processing that question through a long series of synapses, then put the circuit down on the table and pointed one finger at it. Then pointed at a blank spot near it with two fingers.

“He wants two more,” Burns contributed.

Ivar was happy to leave the lab.

“Hey,” Burns said. He held up the toggle switch.

Ivar nodded.

“See you soon,” Burns said. Then he and the other Ivars suddenly stiffened. They all looked at each other.

“Only one is left,” Burns said. “We must work faster.”

“What—” Ivar began, but Burns pointed to the door. “Go. Hurry.”

Ivar went up to Winslow’s lab. It was late in the day and the building was mostly empty. The weirdest thing was that despite there being more Ivars and this getting really crazy, he was starving. As he raided the fridge, he noticed that the door to Doctor Winslow’s office was ajar.

Ivar went over and stepped inside. As he reached for the light switch, he felt something metal press against his temple.

“Do not move,” a man whispered, more hissed, “or I’ll splatter your brains all over this place. Where is Doctor Winslow?”

“I don’t know,” Ivar said.

The metal moved away and the man stepped in front of Ivar. He had a gun in his hands with a bulky suppressor screwed onto the barrel. He was a tall man who spoke with the trace of an accent Ivar couldn’t place. His face was expressionless.

“When did you last see him?” Stone-face asked.

“Three days ago.” Was it only three days? Ivar wondered.

“What’s with the Feds at his house?”

Ivar held his hands up helplessly. “I don’t know anything about that or his house.”

“What do you know?” the man asked, raising the gun so that the black hole at the end of the barrel was pointed directly between Ivar’s eyes. “What did he buy that he needed five hundred thousand dollars for?”

Ivar couldn’t blink. He was mesmerized by that black hole. He felt as if his entire being was being drawn into it.

“The hard drive.”

“A hard drive cost half a million?” Stone-face shook his head. “I think Winslow skipped town with my boss’s money. Where is this hard drive?”

“Doctor Winslow has it.”

“Then he either ran with it or the Feds have it. How can a hard drive cost so much?”

“It wasn’t the drive, it was what was on the drive,” Ivar said. “A program.”

“What kind of program?” Stone-face cocked his head, and for the first time Ivar noticed he had a little white wire running from inside his coat to his ear, like the Secret Service. “My boss is coming. He will not be asking as politely as I am. He is in a very bad mood.”

Stone-face stared at Ivar. “What kind of program?”

“You’ll have to see it,” Ivar says. “I can’t explain it.”

“Where is Burns?”

“Downstairs in the lab. The program is running.”

He waved with the barrel of the gun. “Sit down.”