The Chemist

CHAPTER 10

It took her one second to realize what had happened, and by that time the rabid wolf was bounding into the tent.

There was still a little bit of extra adrenaline in her system, apparently. She was on top of the desk before the animal was all the way inside, and her nervous system, not satisfied with that distance, launched her toward the PVC framework overhead before she had time to realize what she was doing. She caught hold with both hands, flipped her legs up and crossed her ankles around the pipe, then wrapped her elbows tightly around as well. She turned her head to the side to see that the creature was right below her, big paws on the desk as it strained to get its teeth into her. One paw mashed down on the keyboard, which was too bad. A little gassing would help a lot right now, and she already had both masks.

The dog snarled and slavered under her while she tried to maintain her hold. She’d used the heavy-duty five-inch-diameter, class 200 pipe, but it was still shaking from her sudden attachment to it. She was sure it would bear her weight… unless someone attacked the base. Hopefully Kevin wouldn’t think of that.

Kevin started laughing. She could imagine how she looked.

“Who’s chained to the floor now?” he asked.

“Still you,” Daniel muttered.

At the sound of his master’s voice, the dog gave a little whine and looked around. It dropped off the desk and went to examine Kevin, with one parting growl in her direction. Kevin patted its face while the dog leaned down to lick him, still whining anxiously.

“I’m okay, buddy. I’m good.”

“He looks just like Einstein,” Daniel said, wonder in his tone. The dog looked up, on guard at the sound of a new voice.

Kevin patted Daniel’s foot. “Good boy, he’s cool. He’s cool.” It sounded like another command.

And sure enough, dropping the whine, the huge beast went to Daniel with its tail wagging furiously. Daniel stroked the gigantic head like that was the most natural thing in the world.

“That’s Einstein the Third,” Kevin explained.

Daniel scratched his fingers through the thick coat appreciatively. “He’s beautiful.”

Her arms were getting tired. She tried to readjust while still watching, and the dog bounded right back to the desk, snarling again.

“Any hope of your calling the dog off?” she asked, trying to keep her voice composed.

“Possibly. If you throw me the keys.”

“And if I give you the keys, you won’t kill me?”

“I already said I’d call the dog off. Don’t get greedy.”

“I think I’ll just stay up here, then, until the gas knocks you all out. Daniel’s probably got enough brain cells to spare.”

“See, I think I’ll be okay. Because even though Einstein can’t reach you, Daniel can. And if the gas hits you after he relieves you of those masks… well, the unconscious fall to the floor won’t kill you, obviously, but it won’t do you any favors.”

“Why would I do that?” Daniel asked.

“What?” Kevin demanded.

“She’s on our side, Kev.”

“Whoa there. Are you insane? There are two very different sides here, kid. Your brother is on one, and the sadist who tortured you is on the other. Which side are you on?”

“The side of reason, I guess.”

“Good,” Kevin grunted.

“Um, that’s not your side, Kev.”

“What?”

“Calm down. Listen, let me broker a truce here.”

“I can’t believe you aren’t reaching up there to throttle her yourself.”

“She was only doing what you would have done in her place. Be honest – if you knew some stranger was going to kill millions of people and you needed to find out how to stop him, what would you do?”

“Find another solution. Like I did. Listen to me, Danny – you’re out of your league here. I know people like her. They’re sick. They get some twisted high off other people’s pain. They’re like venomous snakes; you can’t turn your back on them.”

“She isn’t like that. And what’s the big deal to you, anyway? I’m the one who got tortured. What do you even know about that?”

Kevin just stared at him, deadpan, for one moment, then pointed with his secured left hand to his secured left foot. He wiggled his four toes.

It took a few seconds for comprehension to hit, and then Daniel sucked in a horrified gasp.

“Amateurs,” she scoffed from the ceiling.

“I don’t know,” Kevin said coolly. “They seemed pretty good to me.”

“Did they get what they were after?”

He made a disbelieving noise in the back of his throat. “Are you kidding?”

She raised one eyebrow. “Like I said.”

“And you could have made me talk?”

Her lips pulled into a bleak smile. “Oh, yes.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Daniel shudder convulsively.

The dog was quiet now but still alert underneath her. It seemed unsure of the situation, with its master talking so calmly to its target.

“Hey, I know who you are,” Kevin said suddenly. “Yeah, the girl. I heard rumors about you. Exaggerations. They said you’d never had a miss. You were batting a thousand.”

“Not an exaggeration.”

His expression was skeptical. “You worked with the old guy, the Mad Scientist, they called him. The Agency called you the Oleander. Honestly, I didn’t put it together at first because I heard you both died in some lab accident. And also, I always imagined the Oleander was pretty.”

Daniel started to say something, but she interrupted.

“Oleander? That’s just awful.”

“Huh?”

“A flower?” she growled to herself. “That’s so passive. A poison doesn’t do the poisoning, it’s just an inert agent.”

“What did your unit call you?”

“The Chemist. And Dr. Barnaby was not a mad scientist. He was a genius.”

“Tomato, tomahto,” Kevin said.

“Back to the truce I was speaking of,” Daniel interjected. The way he looked at her hands and arms, she thought he might have guessed how much they were hurting her. “Alex will give me the keys, and Kevin, you will call off Einstein. When I think everything is under control, I’ll let you out. Alex, do you trust me?”

He looked up at her with his wide, clear hazel eyes while Kevin spluttered in inarticulate fury.

“The keys are in the left front pocket of my jeans. I’d hand them to you, but if I loosen my hands, I’ll fall.”

“Be careful, she’ll stab you!”

Daniel didn’t even seem to have heard his brother’s warning. When he climbed onto the chair, his head was actually higher up than hers. He had to stoop, his head pressed against the foam roof. He put one hand under her back, supporting some of her weight, while he fished gently in her pocket for the key.

“I’m sorry my brother is so socially inept,” he whispered. “He’s always been that way.”

“Don’t you apologize for me, you moron!” Kevin yelled.

Daniel smiled at her, then took the key and stepped down. She was actually in agreement with Kevin. How could Daniel be like this with her? Where was the totally natural resentment? Where was the human desire for retribution?

“I’ve got the keys, Kev. Do you have a lead for the dog?”

“A lead? Einstein doesn’t need a leash!”

“What’s your suggestion, then?”

Kevin glared at him balefully. “Fine. I’d rather kill her myself anyway.” He whistled at the dog. “At ease, Einstein.”

The dog, who had followed Daniel anxiously as he approached Alex, now went calmly to its master’s head and sat down, his tongue lolling out in what appeared to be a smile. A very toothy smile.

“Let me out.”

“Ladies first.” Daniel climbed up on the chair again and offered her his hand. “Need some help?”

“Er, I think I’ve got it.” She dropped her legs toward the desk, her arms extending as she tried to touch down with her toes. How had she gotten up here? Her tired hands started to slip.

“Here you go.” Daniel caught her by the waist as she fell and set her carefully on her feet, one on the desk, the other with a clang in the middle of the prop tray. His blanket skirt loosened; he quickly grabbed the fabric and tightened it.

“I can’t believe this,” Kevin muttered.

Alex stood cautiously, watching the dog.

“If he tries anything,” Daniel murmured to her, “I’ll distract him. Dogs love me.”

“Einstein isn’t stupid,” Kevin growled.

“Let’s not find out. Now your turn.” He climbed down from the chair and crouched beside Kevin.

Alex slithered off the desk as quietly as she could, one hand reaching out for the keyboard. The dog didn’t respond; it was watching Daniel release its master. She opened the system preferences. Screen saver wasn’t the only way to release the sleeping gas, and she still had both masks.

But she knew that would just make things difficult. She would have to trust that Daniel could handle Kevin for now. She eased herself into the chair.

Daniel had started with the ankle and it was going slowly – he was keeping one hand on his blanket.

“Just give it to me, I’ll do it,” Kevin said.

“Be patient.”

Kevin huffed loudly.

The key turned and Kevin was immediately on his feet, crouching beside his tethered arm. He snatched the key from Daniel’s hand and had his wrist free in less than a second. He stood tall, stretching his neck and rolling his back muscles. The torso pieces of his Batsuit hung down like an avant-garde skirt. The dog kept still at his feet. Kevin turned to Alex.

“Where are my guns?”

“Backseat of the car.”

Kevin stalked out of the tent without another word, the dog at his heels.

“Don’t open any doors or windows!” she called after him. “Everything’s armed again.”

“Is the car booby-trapped?” he called back.

“No.”

A second later. “Where are the magazines? Hey, where are the firing pins?!”

“Pins in the fridge, bullets in the toilet.”

“Oh, come on!”

“Sorry.”

“I want my SIG Sauer back.”

She frowned and didn’t answer. She got up stiffly. She might as well disarm the traps. It was time to go.

Daniel was standing in the middle of the tent, staring down at the silver table; he had one hand wrapped around the IV pole as if for support. He seemed to be in a daze. She went hesitantly to stand beside him.

“Are you going to be okay?” she asked.

“I have no idea. I can’t understand what I’m supposed to do next.”

“Your brother will have a plan. He’s been living somewhere, he’ll have a place for you.”

He looked down at her. “Is it hard?”

“What?”

“Running? Hiding?”

She opened her mouth to say something soothing, then thought better of it. “Yeah, it’s pretty hard. You get used to it. The worst part is the loneliness, and you won’t have to deal with that. So that’s one minor plus.” She kept to herself the thought that loneliness might be a better companion than Kevin Beach.

“Are you lonely a lot?”

She tried to laugh it off. “Only when I’m not scared. So, no, not too often.”

“Have you decided yet what you’re going to do next?”

“No… The face is a problem. I can’t walk around like this. People will remember me, and that’s not safe. I’ll have to hide somewhere until the swelling goes down and the bruises fade enough to cover with makeup.”

“Where do you hide? I don’t understand how this works.”

“I may have to camp out for a while. I’ve got a bunch of subsistence food and plenty of water – by the way, don’t drink the water in the fridge without checking with me first, the left side is poisoned. Anyway, I may just find someplace remote and sleep in the car until I’ve recuperated enough.”

He blinked a couple of times, probably thrown by the poison thing.

“Maybe we can do something about your problem with conspicuousness,” she said more lightly, touching his blanket with one finger. “I think there might be some clothes up at the house. I doubt they’ll fit you, but they’re better than what you’ve got.”

A wave of relief passed over his face. “I know it’s a small thing, but I think that would actually help quite a bit.”

“Okay. Let me go turn off the lethal-gas trap.”

In the end, she did surrender the SIG Sauer, although with some regret. She liked its weight. She’d have to find her own.

The farmhouse owners’ belongings were stashed in the attic, in a set of dressers from six or seven decades back. The man was obviously a lot shorter and wider than Daniel. She left Daniel to sort that out while she went back to the barn to pack up the car.

Kevin was there when she entered, tightly rolling a big swath of black fabric into a manageable armload; it took her a moment to realize the fabric was a parachute. She kept her distance as he worked, but the truce felt solid. For some reason, Daniel had put himself between her and his brother’s animosity. Neither she nor Kevin understood why he was doing it, but Kevin cared too much about Daniel to violate his trust today. Not when he was still reeling over years of lies.

Or that’s what she told herself to muster up the courage needed to walk past the dog to her car.

She was an old hand at packing, and it didn’t take her very long. When she’d come out to meet Carston, she’d stowed her things and dismantled the security at the rental house, just in case she didn’t make it back. (One of her nightmares was that the department would get her while she was out, and then some innocent, unsuspecting landlord would enter the premises and die.) She’d stashed everything outside DC, then come back for it when she’d started setting up for Project Interrogate the Schoolteacher. Now she fitted it all into the worn black duffels – the pressurized canisters, the miles of lead wires, the battery packs, the rubber-encased vials of components, the syringes, the goggles, the heavy gloves, her pillow, and her sleeping bag. She packed her props and some of the new things she’d picked up. The restraints were a good find, and the cot was decently comfortable and folded down into a small rectangle. She put her computer in its case, grabbed the little black box that was just a red herring, like her locket, pulled down the long cables, and rolled up the extension cords. She was going to have to leave the lights, which was a bummer. They hadn’t been cheap. She dismantled the tent, leaving just a pile of meaningless foam and PVC pipe, and shoved the table back to where she’d found it. There wasn’t anything to do about the holes she’d drilled.

She could only hope that she’d obfuscated things enough that the owners would only be confused and angry at the destruction rather than suspicious that something nefarious had happened here. There was a chance they’d report their destructive tenant to the authorities, but local police wouldn’t be able to construe anything from the mess either. As long as certain words didn’t go into the report, there was no reason for anyone in the government to notice. She was sure there were Airbnb stories of destruction much more interesting than this one.

She shook her head at the door to the bunk room. The dog had chewed or clawed a hole two feet high and a foot wide right through the center of the solid wood door. At least it had only jumped over the car rather than eating it on its way out.

She was finished loading the trunk when Daniel came back in.

“Nice capris,” Kevin commented, winding the cable of his grappling hook into a neat coil. Alex wondered if he’d climbed back up onto the roof to retrieve it and, if he had, how she’d missed that.

It was true that Daniel’s pants made it only halfway down his shins. The cotton shirt was a few sizes wide, and the sleeves were probably too short as well – he had them rolled to the elbows.

“If only I had half a wet suit.” Daniel sighed. “Then I would feel ready to face the world.”

Kevin grunted. “I’d have a whole wet suit if the psycho wasn’t such a perv.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, I was looking for weapons.”

Daniel watched her close the trunk.

“Are you leaving?”

“Yes. I need to get somewhere safe so I can sleep.” She imagined she looked haggard enough that the explanation was a little redundant.

“I was thinking…” Daniel said, and then hesitated.

Kevin looked up from his rifle, alerted by Daniel’s tone.

“What were you thinking?” Kevin asked suspiciously.

“Well, I was thinking about the scorpions in the jar. Alex said there were only two outcomes – one kills the other, or both die. And I imagine that the people who wanted to kill you thought the same thing.”

“So?” Kevin said.

“So, there was a third option,” she said, guessing the direction Daniel was headed. “The scorpions walk away. They won’t be expecting that. That’s what will make you safe, Daniel.”

“But there’s a fourth option, too,” Daniel answered. “That’s what I’ve been thinking about.”

Kevin cocked his head. He clearly didn’t get it. She did, just before Daniel said the words out loud.

“What if the scorpions joined forces?”

She pursed her lips, then relaxed them when that pulled at the split.

Kevin groaned. “Stop messing around, Danny.”

“I’m serious. They’d never expect that. And then we’re twice as safe, because we’ve got both dangerous creatures on the same team.”

“Not happening.”

She walked closer to him. “It’s a clever idea, Daniel, but I think some of the personnel issues might be too big to overcome.”

“Kev’s not so bad. You’ll get used to him.”

“I’m not bad?” Kevin snorted, peering through his sights.

Daniel looked straight at her. “You’re thinking about going back, aren’t you? What you said about visiting the pantry.”

Insightful for a civilian.

“I’m considering it.”

Kevin was giving them his full attention now. “Counterstrike?”

“It might work,” she said. “There’s a pattern… and after looking at it, I think that maybe not so many people know about me. That’s why they’re going to such lengths to have a fifty-fifty chance at taking me out. I think I’m a secret, so if I can get rid of the people in on that secret… well, then nobody’s looking for me anymore.”

“Does that hold true for me?” Kevin wanted to know. “If they’re relying on this to get to me, do you think I might be a secret, too?”

“It’s logical.”

“How will you know who’s in on it?”

“If I could be in DC when I send my little note to Carston, I could watch to see who he goes running to. If it’s really a secret, they won’t be able to do it in the office.”

“They’ll know you’re close – the IP will give you away.”

“Maybe we could work together in a limited way. One of you could send the e-mail for me from a distance.”

“What’s your experience in surveillance?” Kevin demanded abruptly.

“Er… I’ve had a lot of practice in the last few years -”

“Do you have any formal training?”

“I’m a scientist, not a field agent.”

He nodded. “I’ll do it.”

She shook her head. “You’re dead again, remember? You and Daniel get to disappear now. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“That’s a stupid saying. If the Trojans had looked in the horse’s mouth, they might have won that war.”

“Forget the saying. I’m trying to make things up to Daniel.”

Daniel was quietly watching the back-and-forth again.

“Look, Oleander, I have had training. A lot. No one is going to catch me watching and I will see more than you will. I have a place to stash Daniel where he’ll be totally safe, so that’s not an issue. And if you’re right, and this Carston guy goes running to his coconspirators, he’ll show me who in the Agency thought this up. I’ll see who put Danny in danger to get to me. Then I can clean up my problem and you can clean up yours.”

She thought it through, trying to be objective. It was hard to keep her dislike for Daniel’s brother from coloring her analysis. That dislike wasn’t fair. Wouldn’t she have felt the same way as Kevin if it were her sibling shackled to a table? Done the same things, insofar as she was capable?

But she still really wished she could inject him with something agonizing, just once.

“First of all, don’t call me Oleander,” she said.

He smirked.

“Second, I see what you’re saying. But how do we coordinate? I’ve got to go under for a while.” She pointed to her face.

“You owe her for that,” Daniel said. “If you have a safe place for me, maybe she should go there, too. At least until her injuries have healed.”

“I don’t owe her anything – except maybe another punch in the face,” Kevin growled. Daniel bridled and took a step toward his brother; Kevin held up his hands in an I surrender motion and sighed. “But we’re going to want to move quick, so that might be the easiest arrangement. Besides, then she can give us a ride. The plane’s a loss – I had to bail out on the way down. I had us hiking out of here.”

Daniel opened his eyes wide in disbelief. Kevin laughed at his expression, then turned to her with a smile. He looked at the dog, then back to her, and his smile got bigger. “I think I might enjoy having you at the ranch, Oleander.”

She gritted her teeth. If Kevin had a safe house, that would solve a lot of her problems. And she could spike his food with a violent laxative before she left.

“Her name is Alex,” Daniel corrected. “I mean, I know it’s not, but that’s what she goes by.” He looked at her. “Alex is okay, right?”

“It’s as good as any other name. I’ll stick with it for now.” She looked at Kevin. “You and the dog are in the back.”